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Imagine this scenario: You’re in your office when the son of one of your elderly clients walks in and angrily says, “We just put dad in a nursing home. Why didn’t you ever talk with him about long-term care insurance?” Having just calculated the devastating cost of caring for his infirm father, he realized it will consume most of his inheritance. He ends the conversation by saying that the family is considering taking legal action against you. What now?
No One Likes To Talk About It
You could have prevented this by talking about long-term care insurance (LTCI) with your client when he was still healthy. You probably refrained because the subject is unpleasant and because you didn’t feel you had enough information to make an accurate presentation.
You’re not alone: Most insurance agents feel uncomfortable discussing LTCI with their clients despite an enormous push by the insurance industry. Others fear that devoting time to educating themselves about the product will cause their current practice to suffer.
But this lack of knowledge can have serious and damaging consequences. Sometimes well-intentioned agents end up selling their clients LTCI policies that are not in their best interests—policies that are not designed properly or that omit important riders that would best suit their client’s situation. Unfortunately some of these mistakes are not discovered until years later when they are difficult to correct—for example, after the client has developed health issues that make changes in coverage impossible.
LTCI Is A Process, Not A Product
What’s the solution? Since trust is the most valuable commodity you can offer to your law clients, you need to find an insurance agent who specializes in LTCI whom you can trust and incorporate this service into your practice. It’s important to look for an agent who understands that LTCI is more of a process than a product and that there is no “one size fits all” policy. In fact, there are many innovative and creative solutions.
Take Time To Find The Right Professional
To find the right partner, ask fellow attorneys in your community whom they might recommend. You can also consult professional financial services organizations. Both The American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) and The Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP) allow you to look up members by zip code on their national databases free of charge. You can also consult your local National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU)
Once you have identified a specialist, here are some practical questions to ask:
• What are your credentials?
• How long have you focused your practice on LTCI?
• How many companies do you represent? (This is important since those who represent only one company are limited in the types of products they are permitted to offer clients.)
• What type of policy do you own?
• Which other attorneys and financial service professionals do you work with?
To make the final decision, rely on your gut feeling as to whether you can work with this person.
Next, sit in on the first few interviews that the specialist has with your clients to make sure that you feel comfortable with the presentation and style the specialist uses.
Introduce The LTCI Specialist To Your Clients
Once you’ve chosen a partner, develop a plan to incorporate this new service into your practice. Here is a non-intrusive, tried-and-true technique. During your routine consultation with your clients, ask them with whom they have a long-term insurance policy and make a note of their reply. Don’t say anything else at the time.
But when your work is completed and you are reviewing documents and answering questions, say, “By the way, I remember you saying that you don’t have any long term care insurance. Is there any particular reason you have left yourself unprotected in this area?” Regardless of their answer, tell them that you work with a long term care specialist with whom you can put your client in touch. It is always a good practice to have clients sign a waiver if they choose not to act upon your advice.
As Brad Wiewel, an attorney in Austin, Texas says, “Having a knowledgeable expert on the intricacies of long term care insurance in an elder law planning case adds immeasurable depth to the service that we can provide our clients. I am Board Certified in Estate Planning, and have my hands full keeping up with the law. My long term care insurance colleague has the skill to understand the nuances of the different policies in the marketplace, and can structure the ideal coverage needed by our clients.”
