Long-term care needs will only increase as more Americans age

The age wave means more older Americans need long-term care – and that need will only increase.

That was the word from Bryan Langdon, Ash Brokerage’s national spokesperson for long-term care, during the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Peak 65 Impact Day.

“People are seeing their parents, their grandparents, their neighbors needing care at an advanced rate,” he said. “Our clients, our friends, our neighbors are coming to us asking, ‘What do we do about long-term care? Do I have a need? Is insurance an option?’ There are many tools out there to help with this, and we must get ready for it.”

The baby boom generation is changing the way society and the industry looks at long-term care, Langdon said, and consumers are beginning to ask about LTCi at younger ages.

“It used to be that people ages 65, 70 started asking us about long-term care insurance,” he said. “Now we’re getting questions about it from people in their 50s.”

'Enormous pressure' on the care system expected

The baby boomers will “put enormous pressure on the care system, not only because there are so many in that generation but because they are living longer,” Langdon said. If the supply of care in the form of long-term care facilities or home care workers doesn’t accelerate to keep up with demand, the price of receiving care will skyrocket.

Langdon suggested advisors help their clients devise a care funding solution that considers all income streams – not depending only on LTCi to cover care costs.

“Look at where they are in retirement, what income streams they have. Maybe long-term care insurance doesn’t cover 100% of the cost but you can layer it in with income sources such as Social Security, pension, retirement funds or rental income don’t make the insurance cover 100% but layer it in with a supply of income, SS, pension, retirement funds, rental income.”

Clients who have most of their wealth in qualified funds, such as 401(k) accounts, need their advisor to help them find nontaxable ways to pay for future long-term care, he said.

“There are many tools available for us to pay for long-term care,” he said. One tool is permanent life insurance with an LTC rider. In addition, he said, group LTCi is making a return to the marketplace.

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at susan.rupe@innfeedback.com.