This morning, I was reading an email from a friend and colleague about the cost of long term care and the concept of how Medicare can contribute to the funding of a care event. A point that was made is that Medicare and Medicare Supplement insurance policies have been commoditized.
Simply, people expect to have to receive Medicare along with the responsibility of filling the gaps with private insurance.
The next thought was to the Washington state debacle and the intention of the program. (Remember, intention and execution are far different things.) The intent was to provide a public safety net by the state providing funding for some low level of benefits. Great intention … As we have seen, the execution was not very solid.
Then, I thought back to Medicare and the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) that just passed and an opportunity that many of us might have missed. The opportunity to add another “commodity” to our clients retirement health plan – a long term care insurance plan.
I hope that you notice that I use the word plan and not policy.
In the past, I have mentioned that we all have a default plan which if engaged due to an extended healthcare event could produce results on more than just a financial level. Sadly, most people rely on the default plan. Last week, I shared a couple tools that might help make the conversation easier.
Anyway, back to the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period … as part of the conversation and once the paperwork is completed, the pump is primed to interject the follow-up meeting to “review your extended healthcare plan.”
Inevitably, the question will be what do you mean.
Your response – “an extended healthcare plan can provide benefits and are unable to care for yourself while you recover from a stroke or a fall or even something as significant as a permanent condition brought on by age like Alzheimer’s. The whole point is that this is a gap that we need to plan for.”
Note – I am not pitching any product. I want to plant the seed for a conversation about developing a plan to pay for an extended healthcare need. How that plan is funded is not limited to an insurance conversation – it should be an open discussion which leads to a product solution.
“A policy is not the plan; the policy pays for the plan.” – Bill Comfort, Director of Training & Development with the Certificate for Long Term Care (CLTC) designation program.
Good words to learn and incorporate into your practice.
In summary – talk to clients about their PLAN first, then discuss how they plan to pay for it.
For more ideas, join Michael Florio and me on our weekly webcast LTC Coffee Break where we share new ideas with you every Tuesday morning at 10 am at LTCcoffeebreak.com.
For more ideas around the long term care plan discussion and ways to fund that plan, you can call or text me at (678) 512-9627 or via email at kevin.fisher@oneamerica.com
For product questions and illustration assistance – call Justin Fox at (844) 658-3725 or email at justinfox.isp@oneamerica.com
IMPORTANT REMINDER
- OneAmerica will be following a holiday schedule for the next two weeks, please review that information. HOLIDAY HOURS OF OPERATION.
- I will be on vacation from December 23 to January 3 – during this period, I will have limited access to email and cell service.
Fridays with Fisher 