“We see challenges with LTC (long-term care) adoption rates,” says independent agent Kelly Augspurger. “In my opinion, it's an awareness and education issue because people don't know what they don't know.”
Kelly Augspurger
Long-Term Care Insurance Specialist and Certified Senior Advisor®
Westerville, Ohio
How did you get started at your agency?
My husband, Adam, and I started Steadfast in 2019. I began exclusively selling life insurance, while Adam handled all the property & casualty insurance. Six months later, I had a conversation with a mentor and friend of mine who was interested in long-term care (LTC) insurance. She had questions and needed answers. At the time, I didn't know the answers to her questions, but it lit a fire in me to find the answers.
I was on a quest to learn as much as I could about not only LTC insurance solutions, but also how we can best protect our families and finances by having a plan. I read as much as I could on the topic, studied carrier guidelines and product info, went through trainings, and earned three designations: CLTC® (Certification for Long-Term Care) and CSA® (Certified Senior Advisor), and LTCCP® (Long Term Care Claims Professional).
Challenges in the LTC insurance market?
We see challenges with LTC adoption rates. In my opinion, it's an awareness and education issue because people don't know what they don't know. It's our job to proactively highlight the importance of planning for LTC and educate them on how LTC can be an effective and efficient funding solution.
Future trends?
Hybrid policies became more popular around 2010 and have continued to gain traction in the market. These policies can either only allow you to accelerate the death benefit for care or they can allow you to accelerate the death benefit for care and have an extension of benefits—an additional bucket of money for care beyond the death benefit. The latter will also typically allow you to add inflation protection, which is typically desired. I think hybrids will continue to be popular, and I anticipate other carriers will come out with new hybrid solutions of their own. I also anticipate more worksite LTC solutions becoming available to people through their employer.
Advice for a fellow agent?
Selling LTC is not like selling other life and health solutions. To effectively sell it, you need to provide a lot of education to clients about comprehensive LTC planning—where do they want to receive care, who the caregivers will be, and how they will pay for care—and how Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits work, because most are unfamiliar with it or have misinformation. Connecting with clients on a personal and emotional level and understanding their personal experience, longevity in their family, concerns, finances and detailed health history are very important.
Olivia Overman is IA content editor.
