What the heck is Cash First Long Term Care and why should I care?

Cash first Long Term Care Insurance pays just like traditional long term care coverage, as a reimbursement for facility care, home care, and/or adult care services, but with a big twist...This type of LTC policy will also give the policy holder a choice to take a cash first benefit, usually equal to 30-40% of the daily or monthly benefit at the time the cash benefit is turned on. Additionally, a good cash benefit policy will allow you to switch back and forth from facility care to cash payout from month to month as your needs change.

That was a lot of insurance jargon I just threw at you, let my simplify it. Long term care is usually paid out based on a monthly amount that will pay out for covered home care and/or facility care. (Sometimes this monthly pay out amount can be set to grow at 3 - 5% compound or simple interest, and the cash benefit will also be set to do the same.)  So, at the time that you need your payout to cover LTC, you can choose to take your cash benefit instead of the monthly reimbursement amount. For easy math's sake, lets assume that your LTC policy was paying out $5,000 a month at the time you need the coverage, then 40% of $5,000 a month = $2,000 a month in cash direct deposited to your bank account instead of $5,000 reimbursed after you have paid for the care. This is a great benefit to have, especially if your LTC event starts out slowly, IE. 3 hours a day of home care at $20 an hour. You can take your cash and spend it any way that you like.

Also, your lifetime pool of money can last longer than planned if you are taking less money. If your LTC policy was set to payout $5,000 a month for 3 years then your policy would pay out a lifetime benefit of $180,000 or $5,000/month x 36 months). However, you could take $2,000 a month in cash for 7.5 years!

I like to think of the cash first benefit as a disability insurance / LTC care policy, it has the same premise, a cash payout due to accident or sickness that leaves you with incapacity. These new policies add a lot of value and as a LTC producer, I show these policies at EVERY long term care presentation. As a matter of fact, I have not sold a non cash benefit policy in over a year now. People see a lot of value in them. If you have any questions on cash first benefit Long Term Care coverage, please let me know. You can email me at ryanaarow@gmail.com. There are no strings attached and chances are I am not licensed in your state anyway. If you are in NC, SC, VA or GA, I can help write you policy, I will be glad to quote you and work with you pressure free through the mail on your own time. All advice and quotes are free.

Number of Uninsured in Regards to Life Insurance

Did you know that around 50% of the American population does not have life insurance? That is a high number of uninsured in such a developed country. Additionally 80% of the people that do have life insurance do not have enough coverage. So why is this is so? I have a few ideas:

1. The economy has been in recession and very contracted over the past few years. Disposable income is way down and unemployment is very high

2. Another reason is that there are not enough good and caring insurance agents out there and most people just don't get approached about coverage.

3. Insurance is a back burner issue in our lives. I am in the industry and find myself guilty of the same thing, putting off my insurance needs because in my mind I am too busy today.

4. People assume that they cannot afford life insurance or that it is expensive. This is usually not the case, a good term life insurance policy can be very affordable and some coverage is definitely better than none.

5. There are just not that many sources of good educational materials out there. The insurance industry needs better sources for consumers to go to get educated on the products and find a policy that is best for them. One good organization is the Life Foundation, a not for profit insurance education foundation, their website is www.lifehappens.org.
(make sure you check out their life calculator that will help you determine how much life insurance you should purchase.)

So ask yourself:

What would happen if I became disabled and could not work? How would I pay my bills. Does my employer offer disability insurance, if so how much will it pay and for how long?

What would happen if I got cancer, a heart attack, multiple sclerosis or any other form of critical illness and get $25,000 hospital bill that was not covered by my health insurance? ( A very common scenario by the way, the #1 cause of foreclosures and bankruptcy filings in the US are from the same types of medical emergencies.)Do I or my employer have an critical illness insurance or plan for this?

What would happen if I could no longer perform the activities of daily life? If I could no longer move myself, dress, feed, bathe, or use the bathroom without assistance how would I pay for this care? Medicare and traditional health insurance does not cover non-healing care of this type. Medicaid will step in, but only after you spend down your savings and assets to levels below their qualification standard. So do I or my employer have a plan of long term care insurance?

What would happen if I died? How would my loved ones be able to continue without me? Is my debt resolved? Is my lost income replaced? Will my family have to deal with estate tax? How much life insurance do I have through work or on a personal basis?

These are all scenarios that can we can protect ourselves and loved ones against. There is never a perfect time or economy to buy. Insurance can be inexpensive and tailored to your needs and budget. You can use our website as resource to help answer any of your questions. If that is not enough email me at ryanaarow@gmail.com. I will help you without obligation.

New NC Long Term Care Partnership Program

Below we have copied and pasted the Advisory Notice to Long Term Care Insurance Companies doing business in NC, regarding the new NC LTCP Program. Basically, the program will allow for a "resource disregard" for the insured only of a qualified LTCP policy. (No LTCP policies have been approved yet to the best of my knowledge in NC.) A resource disregard refers to the assets needed to qualify for Medicaid. This program will allow the insured to keep assets equivalent to the amount of benefits paid out by LTCP policy and still qualify for Medicaid assistance. There is also a resource disregard at estate recovery, meaning that there is allowance for assets to be passed at insured's death as well. We will keep you posted on the details and policies as they come out.

Advisory Notice

TO: Carriers Writing Long-Term Care Business

FROM: Life and Health Division

Date: February 24, 2011

RE: Notice relating to the Long-Term Care Partnership (LTCP) Program

Session Law 2010-68, i.e. Senate Bill 1193, authorized the establishment of the North Carolina LongTerm Care Partnership Program. Implementation of the North Carolina Long-Term Care Partnership

Program was approved January 6, 2011 by the Center for Medicare Services.

The legislation also defined the requirements that a long term care policy must contain in order to qualify

as a “Partnership” policy. These items are enumerated in the legislation available for viewing at the

following web site:

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/EnactedLegislation/ELLookUp.pl?Type=SL&Year=2010&Number=68

and related administrative code at: T11 NCAC 12.1001 through T11 NCAC 12.1030

The LTCP program provides incentives for the purchase of private long term care insurance. The LTCP

program is an alliance between the North Carolina Division of Medical Assistance and the North Carolina

Department of Insurance. It is a joint effort by State government and private industry to create an option

to help individuals plan to meet their future long term care needs without depleting all their resources to

pay for care. An individual who purchases a qualified LTCP policy and has utilized benefits from the

policy is allowed a special resource disregard when applying for long-term care Medicaid and also a

resource protection at Medicaid estate recovery after death.

The amount of the resource disregard at Medicaid eligibility and Medicaid estate recovery resource

protection is equal to the amount of benefits paid out by the long term care partnership insurance policy

prior to the application for long-term care Medicaid. Once the resource disregard is established, the

amount never changes. The resource disregard and resource protection only applies to the resources

owned by the insured individual. It does not apply to any other person whose resources are included in

the Medicaid eligibility determination, such as a spouse.

The marketing of qualified LTCP policies may not begin until March 7, 2011. Products that are designed

to qualify as LTCP policies are subject to prior approval by the Department of Insurance. Prior to the

marketing or solicitation of partnership policies, insurance companies must file with and obtain approval

from the Department of Insurance of qualified product forms, rates, disclosure notices, applications, and

advertising material.

Questions or concerns about this Advisory Memorandum may be directed to Ted Hamby, Deputy

Commissioner, Life and Health Division Ted.Hamby@ncdoi.gov

or Garlinda C. Taylor, Supervising Analyst at Garlinda.Taylor@ncdoi.gov or (919) 733-5060 ext. 347

New Long Term Care Product

There is a new Long Term Care product, offered by a large reputable insurance company, that now covers 80% of your Long Term Care expenses. This policy is easy to understand and offers great piece of mind. The level nature of the benefits help prevent premium increases in later years of the policy.

A 60 year old, standard health rated, married man can get 80% of his long term care covered up to $100,000 for only $990.28 a year. This $100,000 lifetime benefit will have guaranteed increases to help off set inflation.
For any more information on this great LTCI product feel free to contact us.

Long Term Care Insurance

Long term care insurance is right for people who have assets to protect. Those assets include, retirement savings of all forms, cash, life insurance cash value, homes, cars and anything that can be sold for value. (IE. jewelry, etc) If you have any of the above then you should consider long term insurance. The risk of paying for your long term healthcare should be passed to an insurance company. In long term care planning you will need spend down most of your assets you worked your whole life to accumulate before Medicaid will pay for your care. The current look back period for Medicaid qualification is 5 years. Also, your family should be able to choose the facility and type of care you receive. As with all insurance, the longer that you wait, the more expensive it can be. Contact us for a free quote and consultation. (If you have had health challenges , then new changes to the Pension Protection Act will allow for a linked benefit annuity to payout for care in a long term healthcare facility.)

New Look for Our Web Site

We are close to finalizing the redesign of our main corporate web site at AarowFinancial.com. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our company, we are an independent insurance agency headquartered in Wilmington, NC that offers life, long term care, and accident and disability insurance policies throughout North Carolina. Our new site if full of information on our carriers' various insurance products. We are currently working on integrating online quoting functionality to better serve the needs of our more tech savvy clientele.

We also are specialize in retirement and savings plans. Whether you are new parent looking for term life insurance protection or someone nearing retirement seeking saving strategies, we can likely help point you in the right direction. Stop by our Market Street location or call us toll free at 800-343-3401.

Please feel free to offer feedback on how we can improve our new web site and thanks again for considering Aaron Financial Group for all of your Wilmington, North Carolina insurance needs.