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LTCI

Genworth to Suspend Life Insurance and Annuity Sales

On February 5, shares of Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) plunged by 20% as of 11 a.m. ET, after reporting the end of another low quarter the Thursday before. The company reported a net loss of $292 million. Earlier that day, Genworth announced its decision to suspend sales of all its traditional life insurance and fixed annuity products, including Total Living Coverage. …

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A Watchman on the Wall

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I am a student of history.  Reading about lost civilizations and their culture is fascinating.  Their customs and traditions (as well as their myths and legends) tell us much about what they valued.  The social, religious and political interactions amongst these ancient people are intriguing, and reveal that we aren’t that different from our distant ancestors. In ancient times, city-states …

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15,000,000 and Counting: The Ticking Time Bomb of Long Term Care

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If you don’t know the statistics, they are alarming.  The United States Department of Health’s website, longtermcare.gov, states that 7 in 10 seniors will require long term care assistance prior to death.  That number is staggering if you consider the fact that the Boomer generation is turning 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day and will do so for …

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Long-term care insurance rates bill clears House

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The Associated Press, 4/28/2014 HARTFORD, Conn. — A bill that attempts to buffer the effect of rising long-term care insurance policy rate increases is heading to Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk. The House of Representatives on Monday voted 142-0 in favor of legislation requiring insurance carriers to spread premium rate increases of 20 percent or more over at least …

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The Prudential Life Insurance Company of America, known in their commercials as the one with the Rock of Gibraltar symbol, has just announced it will discontinue the sale of long-term care insurance (LTC). Obviously, the product has proven to be a disappointment for many companies in the life insurance business, as Prudential is just the latest of many carriers to …

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Not Your Father’s Long Term Care Insurance Anymore!

My, how things change. Probably no insurance product has gone through more changes and variations than long term care insurance (LTCi). Clients used to routinely buy lifetime coverage with a 5% compound cost-of-living rider and limited pay policies were all the rage, but today that landscape has changed. Most policies sold have a benefit period of 3 to 5 years …

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Ancillary Products: Could They Be Your New Bread and Butter?

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Most medical insurance brokers would agree that since the introduction of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the past several years can best be described as being strapped-in on a winding roller coaster that has continuous ups and downs, stomach-dropping plummets and several upside-down loops thrown into the mix. Now that the ride has stopped, or at least …

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A New Kind of Insurance Could Expand the LTC Marketplace

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For demographic reasons, growth prospects for the long-term care insurance (LCTi) market remain attractive.  Agent frustrations, however, are mounting with ever tougher underwriting standards, longer underwriting turnaround times and rising premiums.  The result is a growing population of consumers who either want LCTi but don’t qualify, or want it but can’t afford it.  Fortunately, a metamorphosis of sorts is taking …

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Insurance for Critical Times

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Consider for a moment the following statistics: Every 21 seconds, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer.1 Every 25 seconds, someone in the U.S. will have a coronary event, and about every minute someone will die from one.2 Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke.2   All of us know someone who has been touched by …

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Place Over 95% of Your Cases Regardless of Age or Health

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Many agents walk away from potential sales because they think the client is too sick or too old to obtain coverage. Years ago, there was a true impaired risk market where companies such as US Life and State Life would underwrite cases using different criteria and many times accepted risks that other companies would not. That is no longer the …

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