OneAmerica’s Consumer Survey

If you weren’t paying attention to this week’s LTC Coffee Break, I shared with you a bit about our recently released LTC Consumer Survey.

I’ve heard throughout my career not to sell by the numbers and “statistics don’t sell.” I do not disagree, but they do help illustrate a point and add perspective to a story.

In collaboration with Hanover Research, we surveyed 1,000 consumer. The objective was to get a better understanding of their feelings & behaviors toward long term care planning.

Here are a couple of things that our survey has to share with you.

When given a list of sources to pay for unexpected long term care needs and being asked to select all that they thought would apply to them, only 23% of the respondents indicated LTC insurance. The top responses were personal savings (63%) followed by Social Security / Medicare (53%).

What that means is that self-funding and government programs continue to be the “go to” strategy. And, that we as advisors, agents, and as an industry overall have to do a better job informing and educating people.

This next statistic is speaking directly to you about the opportunity.

18% of respondents have worked with a professional on long term care planning strategies.

What this means to you is that there is plenty of opportunity to start the conversation. And, remember, before any funding solution is discussed, it is always a good idea to develop a plan.

That plan should include the “who, what, where, and how” they want to receive care. This is the most important part of the whole conversation – until you know what they want, you don’t have enough information to craft a solution.

And, remember, according to our survey 79% of the respondents expect to receive care at home from either their partner or children. And, this “want” creates a whole different level of issues.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it is worth me repeating. We offer an outstanding planning tool The Step-by-Step Guide to Receiving Long Term Care. This is my favorite piece to use to lead a long term care planning conversation as it shares information and resources without a heavy product pitch. Check it out.

I have a couple of asks for you –

1. please download our consumer survey – https://bit.ly/LTCSurveySalesKit,
2. commit to including long term care discussions as part of every client meeting (new or existing), and
3. use The Step-by-Step Guide to Receiving Long Term Care to help open the door for meaningful conversations with clients.

Thanks for making time for me.