Your Business is About to Get a Whole Lot Healthier Transamerica has adopted a new brand that exists in this simple message: Wealth and health are inextricably linked. So, what does this mean for financial professionals like you? Build Your Value By Connecting Wealth + Health Offering holistic guidance that considers everything happening in a person’s life means offering a better value. Linking wealth and health allows you to have an ongoing discussion with clients while helping them understand how different aspects of their health can impact their long-term financial future. When people were asked what they want to have
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Form Required August 1, Model Replacement Form
Model Replacement Form Required Aug. 1, 2017 Effective August 1, 2017, NGL will be following the state-mandated Model Replacement rule for the state in which you are licensed. Your state’s Model Replacement rule required a form to be submitted with applications whenever a proposed insured states they have existing insurance coverage, even if they don’t plan on replacing that coverage. Two simple questions are asked on the form: Are you considering discontinuing making premium payments, surrendering, forfeiting, assigning to the insurer, or otherwise terminating your existing policy or contract? O YES / O NO Are you considering using funds from
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“What We Know for Sure About In-Retirement Withdrawal Rates,” by Christine Benz, Morningstar
“How retirees expect their lifestyles to evolve during retirement–along with whether they’ve purchased long-term care insurance–should play a role in their spending plans.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): People with LTCI can safely withdraw a little more from retirement savings than those without the protection. What We Know for Sure About In-Retirement Withdrawal Rates #goldencareagent
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UPDATE: EssentialLTC New Partnership State Release – Delaware
National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is pleased to announce that an additional state has approved their new long-term care insurance plan, EssentialLTC! As of May 30th, 2017, EssentialLTC will become available for sales in the state of Delaware! This is also the newest state to have approved Partnership status. Watch for additional announcements as more states approve the new EssentialLTC product, and begin approving Partnership status. #goldencareagent #ngl > Related: EssentialLTC Product Approved In Delaware
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“Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear,” by Ben Steverman, ThinkAdvisor
“There’s a time in everyone’s life to save. There’s also a time when you’re supposed to spend. That time is commonly known as retirement. Millions of Americans aren’t doing that, however, which has put the U.S. in a perverse situation. Younger generations aren’t saving enough as their income slips further behind previous generations. Older Americans meanwhile sit atop unprecedented piles of assets built through stock market and real estate booms. (Related: Cash Is the Riskiest Investment for Retirees) Yet these retirees, or at least the affluent ones, aren’t spending it. It turns out they’re afraid of the unknown.” LTC Comment
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“Nebraska’s new Medicaid managed care system blamed for problems with billing and getting approval for care,” by Martha Stoddard, World-Herald Bureau
“Nebraska’s new system for administering the bulk of its Medicaid program has gotten off to a rocky start. Nearly five months after its launch, the system has left behavioral health and home health providers fuming over unpaid claims and frustrated about getting care authorized for patients. Unpaid Medicaid claims topped $300,000 for one agency, prompting it to take out a line of credit for the first time in its 44 years. Providers also are worrying about how long they can afford to keep seeing Medicaid patients.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Read this
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“Medicaid can collect SNF room-and-board costs, state high court rules,” by Emily Mongan
“Nebraska’s Medicaid program can claim reimbursement from beneficiaries for skilled nursing room-and-board costs, the state’s high court ruled on Friday.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Chalk up a win for the good guys. Why should heirs profit from shunting LTC liability onto taxpayers? Medicaid can collect SNF room-and-board costs, state high court rules #goldencareagent #medicaid #nebraska
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“New Gene Tests Pose a Threat to Insurers,” by Gina Kolata, New York Times
“But for companies selling long-term care insurance, these tests could be a disaster, sending risky patients in search of policies even as those with fewer risks shy away, damaging an already fragile business. ‘There is a question about whether the industry is in a death spiral anyway,’ said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America. ‘This could make it worse.’” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): There is a simple solution to this dilemma. Allow LTCI carriers to make testing for the “Alzheimer’s gene” a condition of applying for coverage.
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“Annuities may create too much income,” by Cassandra Jones, The Record-Courier
“One of the questions I regularly get is whether a person is automatically disqualified from Medicaid if he or her income is too high. The short answer is no. . . . As a practitioner in elder law, one of the biggest areas of concern I have is the over use of annuities to provide for the care of an individual. Done wrong, the asset you just converted to an annuity may cause an individual to have too much income if the applicant needs to apply for government benefits. It may ultimately result in someone converting retirement assets into a
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“IRS announces bump in 2018 HSA limits,” by Kathryn Mayer, Employee Benefit News
“The annual limit on deductible contributions to a health savings account will jump by $50 in calendar year 2018 for individuals and $150 for families, according to the IRS. For 2018, the annual contribution limitation for a person with self-only coverage under a high-deductible health plan is $3,450, up from $3,400 in calendar year 2017, the IRS announced last week. The annual limit on deductible contributions for a person with family coverage under a high-deductible health plan will be $6,900 in 2018, up from $6,750 in 2017.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): HSAs
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