In this month’s Coffee Break, we are talking about claims. It is what we sell – the promise to be there when our policyholders need us the most.
For 35 years, OneAmerica has fulfilled that obligation – virtually every other linked benefit / asset-base long term care product has less than a decade of experience.
Today, I want to share with you a few claims statistics for the industry as a whole. If you want to more on these numbers, go to the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance website at aaltci.org
From 2018 to 2021, with traditional products, long term care claims grew by about 10%. They went from $10.3. billion to $12.3 billion. That trend is expected to continue as our population ages. Remember, the Baby Boomer generation is just getting into the long term care claims filing window.
You will want to keep in mind for your planning and comparison purposes, that most claims occur between ages 80 and 89 – almost half of the claims begin in the timeframe. And, 19% of claims begin between ages 75 and 80.
This is a very similar experience to that of the OneAmerica Care Solutions products. The four most frequent age groups for initiating a Care Solutions claim are:
75-79 13.17%
80-84 26.50%
85-89 30.34%
90-94 17.13%
According to industry statistics, about 3 out of 4 claims begin at home. Of course, this is where most people prefer to receive care – in a familiar environment. And, this is why a long term care insurance policy is important – it provides the opportunity for the insured to remain in their home as long as they can safely.
One last note, for claims that last beyond a year, the most common malady is a cognitive issue. And, as you might recall, the “average” Alzheimer’s patient has a care need of 8 years. In fact, in more than half of the Care Solutions claims, cognitive issues were cited as the reason for the claim.
OneAmerica offers several tools to help with the long term care claims experience. One is the Step by Step Guide to a Long Term Care Claim and the other is the Claims Concierge service. (Scan or click the QR code to the left for the Step by Step guide)
I want to spin this conversation to you now and ask one question – are you designing long term care funding solutions with a potential claim in mind?
If not, maybe you should while think about who the plan is protecting – your client, their family, and your business.
My “big ask” of you for the million dollar annuity strategy is to identify 3 or 4 annuity owners 75 or older who might be viable candidates for our leverage strategy then give us a call.
It is the end of the year which makes it an ideal time to review your book of business and identify your clients who are over 75 and own annuities that are on the sideline and earmarked for an emergency. The share the story how that money can be transformed into a tax-free long term care insurance strategy. That is what the million dollar annuity strategy is all about. Learn more about it at https://fridayswithfisher.com/million-dollar-annuity/.
Fridays with Fisher 
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