Product Development:
Addressing Consumer Concerns with Innovative Solutions
“The last 15 years in the long term care industry has included many changes and the coverage in policies has kept up. As more customers have heard the sales pitch, shared their ideas, purchased coverage, and gone on claim, carriers have learned what’s important to them and how to make coverage more valuable. As a result, the changes in long term care insurance have truly been customer focused. Take a look at some concerns and different ways they’ve been addressed.
” Basics are Covered. Today, most policies cover all levels and sites of care. Whether it is a skilled or custodial care, provided in an assisted living facility, nursing home, or at home, the care will be covered.
” Need for Information. We’ve learned from focus groups and consumer research that the biggest issues families face at the time a family member discovers he or she needs long term care is the need for information. Many times adult children or other family members are not even in the same location as the person needing care when the need is triggered.
“To address this need, many long term care insurance policies have offered and expanded care advisory services. A care advisor assists the family in a myriad of ways, from helping them understand the type of care needed to identifying the possible local providers available and appropriate for the situation. Other policies address this through a care coordinator, a geriatric care manager, a personal care advocate, or simply have a toll free number that a family can call to facilitate the process and provide answers.
“Some polices include care managers for ongoing monitoring of care. A big concern is elderly abuse and whether a family member is receiving appropriate care. The presence of a provider care check is also now available with some policies.
” Desire to Remain at Home. It’s no secret that consumers want to stay at home to receive care if they can. And, in fact, they sometimes must stay at home if beds are scarce or rules prohibit an immediate entry. Thankfully, expansion in the home care industry has made staying at home a greater reality. The care is not inexpensive; however, long term care insurance has evolved to help provide valuable benefits.
“Enabling benefits to cover more home care costs has been the change from a daily to monthly benefit. Because home care is usually provided in an uneven manner-several hours per visit, but not necessarily on a daily basis, this change ensures more of the costs reimbursed.
” Including separate pools of money for things like home modifications, home safety checks, and caregiver training will greatly improve a home care situation both for the insured and often for his family.
“Offering no elimination periods for home care, enables customers to access appropriate home care immediately without the concern for the cost of a deductible period.