Comfort Long Term Care
  • TakeCare!
    • LTC Awareness
    • Partnership >
      • Missouri
      • North Carolina
    • Glossary
  • News
  • About
    • Companies
    • North Carolina
  • Contact
  • Agents/Advisors
    • MOFB

CAUTION: Do NOT Replace your LTC Insurance

2/24/2017

0 Comments

 
If an insurance agent tells you to replace your long-term care (LTC) insurance, be careful!  Take your time.  Get a second opinion.  It's probably a mistake, and the agent pushing a replacement may be breaking the law.
It is almost NEVER a good idea to replace an in-force LTC insurance policy.
We are hearing stories almost daily of unscrupulous agents urgently telling their clients to immediately replace their in-force long-term care (LTC) insurance for a variety of reasons, all bad:
  • A premium rate increase itself is never a reason to replace your coverage.  You will pay much more - in some cases two to three times more - for a new policy with the same benefits.  Even with a rate increase, your policies still have an "original issue age" price, and will cost you less than a replacement.  If you need to lower your premium after a rate increase you can always reduce your current policy's benefits to a more affordable level, which again will be cheaper than a new policy with lower benefits.
  • Just because premiums have increased for older policies, does NOT mean they will continue to increase in the future, or increase at the same rate and frequency.  In fact, today's new rates (which the older policies are being adjusted up to) are already showing evidence of being more rate stable than ever.
  • A lower financial-strength rating on the current policy compared to a replacement company is also not a good reason to replace your coverage.  The risk of financial failure of large insurance companies is rare.  (If you are told a scary story about a Pennsylvania company (PennTreaty) that is being liquidated with $8-billion-something dollars in claim liabilities, you should understand that 90% of all policyholders will still receive all of their benefits if they go on claim in the future, and the other 10% will receive most of their benefits through the state insurance guarantee associations.  That company also represents only a couple percent of all LTC insurance in-force.)
  • Finally, we're hearing that some agents are trying to scare Genworth policyholders into replacing their coverage because a Chinese investor is trying to buy the company.  First, Genworth will remain a US company, subject to all federal and state insurance regulations.  The policy reserves that provide the foundation for current and future claims payments are protected by law, no foreign OR US buyer can strip the legal reserves out of any insurance company.  Did you know that John Hancock is owned by a Canadian company (Manulife)?  And that Transamerica is owned by a Dutch company (Aegon)?
If you're being pressured to replace your current LTC insurance, CLICK HERE to contact us for a free, no-obligation second opinion.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Scroll down
    ​for older posts

    Author

    Bill Comfort
    CSA, CLTC, LTCCP

    Archives

    March 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Caregiving
    Commentary
    LTC Insurance
    LTC Planning
    LTC Tax Planning
    Medicare
    News
    Rate Increases
    Video

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

HOME
CONTACT


​© 2014-2018 Comfort Assurance Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Security Certification​
Notice
Licenses
  • TakeCare!
    • LTC Awareness
    • Partnership >
      • Missouri
      • North Carolina
    • Glossary
  • News
  • About
    • Companies
    • North Carolina
  • Contact
  • Agents/Advisors
    • MOFB
✕