What Have You Read Lately About Long-Term Care Insurance?

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,". I am sure Mark Twain wasn't thinking about Long-Term Care or today's news media when he said this long ago. Today it is very easy to place a news story for people to consume. Between traditional TV and radio, an expanded 24/7 news cycle with cable news there is a lot of information available. The biggest difference today, like the old days when anyone with a printing press could print anything they like, now you just need a computer to create a news story. It seems almost everyone has a computer or smart phone and they are not afraid to use it.

The topic of Long-Term Care has become a big one with an aging America. By 2030, 1 in 4 Americans will be over the age of 50. By 2050, 1 of every 5 Americans will be 65+ according to data from data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It seems like once you get around the age of 50 the conversation about Long-Term Care starts coming up. In today's world that means you hit the internet and see what information you can find. However, some articles are providing misleading or even completely erroneous information on Long-Term Care Insurance.

We have heard the term fake news, but perhaps the best way to define what is being written about Long-Term Care is just "lazy news" or "advocacy news". It seems like everyone with a computer, including myself, has an agenda. How much of this is "truth" is a matter to discuss.

Generally, there is more to a story... and the stuff left out is usually very important. The stories about Long-Term Care insurance premium rate increases are very misleading. They usually leave out many details. The reporters or "professionals" writing these articles often have an agenda to push the public in one direction or another.

The other thing to remember is the internet is also "old news" as nothing on the internet usually gets deleted. You may find and read something that is old but that story may have been updated numerous times since the first story was published making the information you are reading outdated. You must do more due diligence today to see if you are getting accurate information.

Since the issue of planning for the financial costs and burdens of aging is so important to American families you should know the facts. Often the reason the articles talk about premium increases is to scare the consumer. Maybe the writer wants the government to pay for all long-term care (not going to happen as too many people require care and budgets are tight as it is trying to take care of those with little or no savings). Perhaps the writer wants to have the consumer spend large sums of money of certain type of financial product they are selling. The consumer should understand the truth, so they can plan in advance with more peace-of-mind.

These increases that are being reported are primarily on "legacy products" These are older plans that were priced well before the interest rate crash and rate stabilization regulations.

Today, all plans are priced with the very low interest rate environment in mind (interest rates have been low in the United States over the last decade). These older plans which had increases were based on a few factors:

· Interest rates

· Lapse rates (meaning, how many people drop their policies. In practice, very few do, but this was not factored into premium pricing on many older plans)