Allianz
Metlife
Lincoln Benefit

In my opinion Allianz and Met are both strong carriers with solid benefits and a good reputation in the business backed by solid ratings. Met has slipped a little in terms of competitive pricing w/ the new product offerings for most situations. Like most carriers they have a "sweet spot" at the 4-year plan level for healthy couples and they seem to still treat older (65+) single applicants fairly well compared to the rest of the pack

As for lincoln benefit they are no longer in the business. They stopped selling LTC at the end of 05. I would not consider them a top LTC company.

MDS77

sorry about lincpln. I had placed some business with them last year. I just wanted to start a discussion. thanks for the reply.

Allianz not having a captive or semi-captive agency system will always hurt their chances to be in the top 3 of the placed business.

not really interested in placed business... who has the best product in your opinion??

Well I guess that depends on what you're looking for.

For a straight re-imbursement plan I find Genworth's plan to be great.

Zero day EP for home health care.

A 7 year survivorship rider that only adds 5% to the total cost.

And most interestingly, the inflation rider is is based off of the original pool of money, not the remaining.

They will also still pay for unlicensed individuals to perform chore services.

But these are things I find important in their contract.

Some people like John Hancock's shared care contract and the interesting GPO conversetion they have at age 65.

thanks Alex, I don't know if you were around a few years ago or not... but people on here would post great stuff... sales ideas, what was going on with particular companies, marketing strategies etc.. And just so you know I appreciate your input.

We've had these discussions on this board before. Unfortunately, it's pretty meaningless, in my opinion, for several reasons.

a) Health history has a HUGE impact on premiums. One company may have very competitive premiums for very healthy married couples, but they may be very expensive for someone who has health problems.

b) The policies are state-specific. One company might have a very competitive policy in one state, but in another state that company's policy may be terribly overpriced.

c) Not every policy is available in every state.

d) Most policies are MORE ALIKE than they are different. Most long term care insurance policies are very similar to each other. When you really examine the policies and think it through, there are not a lot of significant differences from one policy to the next. There's no such thing as a 'Cadillac policy' and a 'Yugo policy'. The differences are not that dramatic.


Scott A. Olson, CLTC
www.LTCInsuranceShopper.com

scott you are absolutely right. I just wanted people to start talking. It does't seem there is any passion here anymore. I got a ton of helpfull information from this board in the past.

Scott - in today's LTC insurance market, the differences between policies are not huge (some of the older policies I've reviewed on the other hand...). That's why during a policy review today, the difference between Company A and Company B's policies was only the $400 difference in premium. Not the contract language or benefits.

The big difference was one company prices clients who are age 70+ differently than the other.