Florida long term care insurance does not have to be confusing or expensive to buy. This site will teach you things you won't learn anywhere else.

This is more than just a FREE guide to Florida long term care insurance. This is the voice of reason and experience trying to help you find the long term care insurance coverage you need without going broke.

If you want to give me a call and ask questions about what you see here, I will be glad to talk to you. But please read the site first.

What makes us different - We are a Florida based agency. Most of the other long term care (ltc) sites are out of state lead generation sites (look at their addresses). That means they are selling your information to any agent who wants to buy it. Is this what you want? Be safe. Contact us and the only who will bother you with an annoying, obnoxious phone call is me.

The state test to sell long term care insurance in Florida requires 40 hours of classroom time. This time covers life, health, annuities, regulations, the works. The agents are not properly trained and quite frankly, they just want to close the sale before someone else does and move on. It is a matter of professionalism and personal pride in what you do.

But, I think you are starting to get the picture. It is not a commodity like a pound of onions. You don't just ask for the cheapest plan and call it a day. You need to think this through and have someone open up your mind so you can consider what you really need.

There are a number of professional who will work with you. Or, you could call me.

Confused About Florida Long Term Care Insurance Riders and Benefits?

You need to pick a benefit level, either monthly or daily. Then you need to pick an elimation period, length of benefits. After this, you need to go through a list of options that would make a car salesman dizzy. Let's try to get a handle on all of this.

Rather than stuff everythin on one page, I created another page just for this topic. Click here to read about Long Term Care Insurance Benefit Selection. You need to read this and now is as good a time as any.

Same plan but different prices. How can that be?

Florida long term care insurance premiums vary from company to company. You and your neighbor can be the same age and have bought virtually identical coverage at the same time. Yet, your neighbor might be paying hundreds less for his or her plan than you are for yours.

How is this possible and what can I do about it?

1. You need to decide what features are important to you and stay focused on these core requirements. Certain Florida long term care insurance riders can raise the premium considerably yet add only marginal value. The "super-deluxe" plan might sound attractive but is it really offering you better protection?

2. Some plans have 5% to 10% discounts available but the agents do not pass them on because it lowers their commission. Ask if there are any association based discounts. We always pass these discounts on to our clients. Why not? You get a much lower premium and we get a referral. Sounds fair to me.

3. You need to select a company that gives the lowest rates for your age, health, marital status, etc. For example:

• One plan will rate both husband and wife as preferred even if only one of them meets the preferred health requirements.
Another, permits you to share benefits with a spouse who cannot medically qualify for a policy at all.


• There are companies that offer better rates for certain age brackets or even certain zip codes.
A plan could be the lowest cost for someone who is 55 and the most expensive for a 70 year old applicant.


• A plan might be marginally more expensive but offer a feature that could save you thousands in the long run without buying a very expensive rider. There are good values out there but you will need help in finding them.
  
• There are carriers that have lower financial ratings and use lower rates to attract new clients.

4. Is your Florida long term care insurance company a household name? Don't pay extra because you saw your company's name on a Super Bowl advertisement or a television commercial. There are billion dollar companies with names you might not recognize that can offer you a better value.

5. There are always unexplained differences in premium between carriers. You need to have an agent who can quote from multiple carriers and give you the best balance of price and benefit.

6. The younger you are when you buy the plan, the cheaper it will be. Your neighbor might have wisely bought the plan years before you did and could pay considerably less over their lifetime than you do.

7. For reasons we cannot fathom, we have found that many people buy a plan from one of the following:
- The last agent who visits them ( they are totally disgusted at this point)
- The one who reminded them of their son or daughter
- The "sweet" one (makes you want to puke doesn't it?)
- The agent with the nice suit who made them feel stupid if they bought any other plan. (Maybe I should buy a suit)
- The cheapest plan (Wait until they start to get their increases)
- Or the agent that told you they just sold the same plan to their own mother.

The folks who buy from us are impressed with our product knowledge, professionalism and the attention we give to their personal circumstances. Although, if I were sweeter and wore a tie I could probably double my sales.

Who Robbed My Benefits?

You pay your premiums for years and then the time comes when, due to an illness or accident, you want to use your plan. Lo and behold, you do not qualify for benefits. What happend? Did anyone see the mugger?

Who determines if you are entitled to benefits?

Most plans today are tax-qualified and require that you be unable to perform a certain number of "activities of daily living," commonly referred to as ADLs. These normally include bathing, dressing, walking, moving from bed to chair, toilet, maintaining continence, and eating.

Some policies evaluate mental functions to determine the qualifications for benefits. Even though insurance regulators require policies to cover Alzheimer's disease, a policyholder who has the disease can be denied benefits if he or she is physically able to perform the activities of daily living specified in the policy, unless there is a mental functioning criteria. If the policy uses only ADL's, an insured with Alzheimer's disease may not qualify even though they are at risk for forgetting to take medications and may forget to come home after they walk to the corner store for a loaf of bread. With a mental functioning standard, a policyholder with the disease is more likely to receive benefits.

Stand-by versus Hand-on Assistance

ADL criteria are not the same from one company to another. Most insurers define what is meant by an inability to perform a particular activity such as failure to feed or bathe oneself. A definition that requires someone to physically assist in performing the activity is more restrictive than one that calls for someone to supervise the activity. It is the difference between being able to climb into a bath by yourself, needing someone to lend a hand or needing someone to actually make the transfer for you. The more specifically a company describes its requirements, the opportunities for disagreements and disputes will be lessened.

What is Care Coordination

When I started in the insurance business my "mentor" told me that you never want to sell a paln with a Care Coordinator. They work for the insurance company and will limit benefits. Today, he works for a leading insurance company that insists that everyone use a Care Coordinator to determine care levels. He now claims that it is a great thing.

Whether or not you are eligible for benefits has nothing to do with a Care Coordinator. However, once you are qualified for home health care, are you prepared to interview care providers, set up schedules, decide when and how often ancillary medical care is provided? Do you think these people magically appear at the door. What about ongoing monitoring of your needs? You can hire a private Care Coordinator to do these things for you. That can get expensive. Many times it is children living in a distant city trying to perform these tasks. Believe me, the services of an experienced Care Coordinator is priceless. Some plans absolutely require that you use one of their approved Care Coordinators. Others don't care (although that is a disappearing trend) and still others offer you enhanced benefits if you use one.

A number of plans will eliminate or reduce their elimination periods if you agree to care coordination. I believe it to be to the benefit of the patient and not the detriment to use one.

With the great number of "boomers" holding long term care and home health care policies, there is no doubt that there will be a showdown sometime in the future over benefit eligibility.

If you stay with the better carriers, you should have no difficulty when the need arises in using your benefits.

Are you still confused? Need help in deciding what features and benefit levels you should have? Need to talk with someone on the phone without feeling the pressure of having someone sitting in front of you trying to sell you a plan? Then...

Give us a call 800-986-4786 from 9 AM to 9 PM Monday - Friday and we will help you find the best plan at the best price. We wrote the book didn't we?