Letter To The Editor:
Accepting Hybrid LTCs Will Make The Insurance Industry Stronger

Gregory G. Theis writes: As a financial services professional for over 15 years, I must comment on those who choose to dismiss or deride hybrid long term care insurance products. (I prefer to call them asset-based LTC insurance).

If I knew that all of my clients would have to pay for LTC expenses, I would sell only LTC policies having zero-day elimination period, $6,000 per month of benefits, and inflation protection. And, my clients would buy it.

However, it has been statistically proven that not all of us will need LTC. In fact, less than half will ever need such care and even then, the period of care may be brief. That is why many of my clients have purchased an asset-based product.

If a client does need care, the policy I sell pays for it in the various facilities with the same rules as found in traditional LTC insurance. If they never need a day of benefits—and truth be known, not one of us ever hopes to use our policy—they or their heirs will still gain from the policy through the equity buildup.

The glory days of old LTC insurance are over. The sooner we accept alternatives that make sense to consumers the stronger our industry will become.

Gregory G. Theis, CLU, CSA
Woodbury Financial Services
Homer Glenn, Ill.
gregtheis@comcast.net