Letter to the Editor: Boomers and The Urgency to Buy Long Term Care Insurance Now

Jack Stayer writes: Here are some questions to raise with boomer clients (or yourself), to help them understand why they need to buy LTC insurance now.

"How long do you keep a car? Two years? Three years? Six years? How many miles will you tolerate on your car before you start to worry about possible mechanical problems? When you purchase a new car, the possibility of mechanical problems or failure are probably the furthest from your mind, right? But as the car gets more and more miles (years) on it, that little nagging doubt starts to creep into your mind about the possibility of 'something going,' right?"

Then, point out how we all believe we are invincible, up to some point, even though we are not.

You might say: "Haven't you been hearing more these days about baby boomers who are no longer in the picture of health? They are having heart attacks, bypass, and angioplasty. Others are suffering from cancer or diabetes. Their outside the 'warranty years.'"

The point is, boomer clients can't "afford," health-wise, to wait any longer to buy long term care insurance. As I tell my own clients, "health buys LTC insurance, not premium." It doesn't hurt to point out that there's no "extended warranty" on this, either.

Jack Stayer
President
Northern States Brokerage, In
Menomonee Falls, Wisc.
nsb@execpc.com.