However, lest you think I discount the value of a well-paid claim, let’s be clear. I’ve been among our industry’s fiercest advocates for better claims reporting: I find it obnoxious that an agent can readily obtain his production numbers but not his claims paid. I think consumers give far too much deference to an inconsequential letter grade from a ratings agency when claims are where the rubber meets the road. Besides, it’s a much more compelling headline to boast that “the industry paid $7.5 billion in claims last year” rather than “we paid nothing, but the peace of mind we provided was priceless!”
Which brings us back to our linked-benefit brethren. All too quick to throw the use it or lose it stone, ask any of these glass houses to produce stats regarding their long-term care claims-paid and you will be left wanting. If there’s one truism in insurance, it’s that companies who don’t produce glossy claims fliers do so for one of two reasons: they either don’t have a track record to run on, or they’re not proud of it.
If you market yourself as a long-term care solution, then this should be the most important brochure in your supply department, wouldn’t you agree?
Our firm has marketed long-term care insurance through five different decades—there’s hardly an objection with which we are not familiar. For someone to argue that the recent deceleration in sales is the result of a use it or lose it feature is not only to fail to grasp today’s market dynamics but also to misunderstand the very concept of insurance itself.