Greetings, Dear Friends and Clients, Jim and I hope you'll accept our best wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season and coming year! I see some of you often, others not. If you are a client I see or hear from infrequently, know that I am still present and accountable to you. The reason we are not in touch more often is probably because you are well, and we placed your policy with adequate protection and automatic inflation protection going out of the gate, which means we do not have to upgrade it as the years pass. I remain a one-woman practice, as I have been for the past 23 years. I do rely on you to call me any time you have any questions about how your long-term care insurance (LTCi) policy works, especially if you think you might need to collect from it! I can normally return your call well within 24 hours. I've just turned 61. I have no plans to retire because I have a fulfilling, satisfying job. Even if I retire, as long as I am mentally capable, I plan on returning your calls and servicing your policies. I have never overlooked the role you, as my client and friend, play and continue to play, in my success. I am grateful to you. Rate Hikes Please know the single thing LTCi carriers most abhor is rate hiking their policyholders! You'll get a better understanding of what causes rate hikes here. I don't always know when you've gotten a rate hike letter; please call me with your questions.
LTC in 2013: A ReviewLTC Sociologically Despite Mainstream Media's decent reporting on how unprepared Americans are for the Silver Tsunami - the deluge of Baby Boomers who'll need long-term care - and how woefully, pitifully unprepared for long-term care they will be, people continue to turn their backs on conversing about responsible long-term care planning in advance:
LTC Sociologically  A new National Long-Term Care Commission was created in January 2013. Its recommendations turned out to be toothless and were disregarded by Congress, the White House, and the insurance industry. The government acknowledges that the Silver Tsunami is real and is something that may annihilate state and federal budgets. Even so, the National Commission was only able to give lip service to this crisis:
Income Inequality, and the havoc, fear and disintegration of the middle class it is causing, is something Americans are just starting to comprehend. I predict income inequality will become a more and more active part of the American dialogue. Despite Mainstream Media's better than ever coverage of our nation's accelerating LTC crisis, growing income inequality is causing people to be more fearful than ever about their future. This causes people to hesitate and fail to responsibly plan for long-term care. With LTC planning, we know that failure to plan can easily equate to planning to fail. Honey's 2013  In 2013 I traveled to chapters of the National Association of Health Underwriters ( www.NAHU.org) in Austin, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio to give continuing education classes on LTCi to my colleagues. I also taught the class at our state-wide convention in Ft. Worth and to my home chapter in Houston. The highlight of my speaking engagements this year was a trip Jim and I made to Parkersburg, WV, in August. I was the featured speaker at the Rotary club there. My talk was covered in a full-feature story in the local paper which you'll find here. I would love to give more talks to civic groups like the Rotary on the need to take responsible long-term care planning seriously. Unlike some insurance agents, I will NEVER give a "sales-y", pushy, high-pressure presentation on the need to buy LTCi. But I WILL discuss the need for LTC planning - which many people prefer to avoid - and emphasize the likelihood of the average elder needing care and the difficulties they will face without careful planning.
Warmest wishes for a safe, happy holiday season, and a healthy year to come!
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