How Genworth Handles Policyholder Services

In a recent short video about Genworth’s Long Term Care Insurance division, President and CEO Tom McInerney addressed the company’s approach to policyholder services.

Consumer Needs

McInerney expressed what a fantastic job Genworth does of meeting the needs of consumers looking to get coverage for long term care. They also perform well when the consumer is in the most need, which is when they are actually making a claim.

Genworth has a great reputation in the industry, according to McInerney, of paying claims reliably and helping guide claimants through the entire process. Whether that means explaining the benefits, helping initiate the claim, or choosing the right care setting, Genworth strives to help customers in a quick, efficient, and friendly manner.

Planning for Long Term Care

Long Term Care Insurance is something that more Americans need to be thinking about, as our life spans continue to get longer and the chances of needing care continue to go up. According to government estimates, 7 in 10 American seniors will need long term care at some point, so this isn’t a tiny risk we are talking about.

Planning for long term care can make all the difference in retirement, when spending anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000 a year for care simply isn’t feasible. Transferring that huge financial risk to the insurance company is a wise decision for anyone with a nest egg to protect.

Find Out More

Read more about planning for long term care or if you are interested in a quote, request one now. We will be in touch with you shortly to help you navigate the many different options for long term care and provide you with all the information necessary for you to make the most informed decision possible.

How to Protect Against the Risk of Long Term Care

As long term care makes its way to the forefront of the mainstream news, largely in part because of the Congressional Commission on Long Term Care, more Americans are finally beginning to understand the implications of this type of care.

Too Big to Ignore

Long term care is something that the majority of people simply don’t want to think about, so they simply don’t. Instead of trying to plan for the risk of long term care, too many people ignore the risk of long care and wrongly assume someone else will pay for their care should they ever need any assistance. Unfortunately, that assumption is incorrect.

Though many still believe Medicare or health insurance cover the cost of long term care, neither are structured to do so. Medicare may cover care for a brief amount of time, but only if you meet a number of requirements, including a 3 day hospital inpatient stay, which is not the case for most people who end up needing care.

Because 7 in 10 American seniors will need long term care at some point, it is important to consider your chances when you are mapping out your retirement plans. Have you allotted money for health expenses in retirement? A long term care situation can set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars if you haven’t established a plan in advance, so now is the time to do so.

Coverage and Peace of Mind

Whether you want to acknowledge your own risk of long term care or not, the truth is, it exists. Ensuring that you are ready when the time comes will help in a number of different ways by alleviating stress that most people experience when hit with a large medical bill.

Long term care coverage helps you avoid this stressful experience by helping you pay for the cost of care at a much lower rate than it would be out-of-pocket. This type of insurance helps protect your hard earned retirement nest egg from the risk of depletion. The last thing you want after spending years accumulating assets is to lose it all because you need medical attention or day to day assistance with tasks.

Factoring long term care into your retirement plans will put you ahead of the curve and give you peace of mind that you won’t be thrown into financial chaos should you ever need care.

Retirement Plan

Americans are delaying retirement at a higher pace than ever, many pushing it back to 70 and sometimes even later. Working into retirement has become more common in an age where life expectancies and day to day costs both continue to increase.

A recent Northwestern Mutual study identified some of the issues people are facing when planning for retirement and found that the average expected age of retirement is now 78.

Read more about planning for long term care or if you are interested in long term care coverage, request a personalized quote today with a comparison of all the top companies.

New Long Term Acute Care Facility Opens in Round Rock

A new long term acute care facility opened in Round Rock this week. Cornerstone Healthcare’s newest facility began operations a Monday, less than 1 year after breaking ground.

Growing Need

Ranked the 2nd fastest growing city of more than 100,000+ nationwide, the city of Round Rock has still been without its own long term acute care facility. The closest are in downtown Austin and Temple.

Recognizing a need for this type of care in the area and supported by the city Chamber, Cornerstone began working late last year on construction. The 60,000-square-foot facility holds 54 beds and caters to those who are too sick to enter a regular long-term care facility but need acute care for longer than the average hospital stay.

Most hospital stays last no more than 1 week, but at a long term acute care facility, the average stay is closer to 1 month.

The Process

“Cornerstone has a long-term commitment to the Central Texas market. Our new hospital in Round Rock, together with our existing hospital in Austin, is a critical element in our strategy to be the leading provider of complex acute care services in Austin, Round Rock and surrounding communities,” stated David Smith, President of Cornerstone in a press release.

Plans are in place to expand the facility to 72 beds when the need arises, and room has been left for those new spaces. During construction, the facility was built using local materials. It provides a warm, open setting replete with natural light, something often missing in many hospitals and long term care homes.

The new hospital is located on College Park Drive, adjacent to Texas State University and the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center. It is expected to create 85 new jobs in the community within the first year, increasing to 110 the second year.

Rapid Changes

As the state of Texas ages rapidly, the number of seniors continues to increase at a greater number than most other generations. Preparing for the huge influx of both acute care and traditional long term care patients is important to both the state’s economy and ability to care for its older citizens.

Read more about long term care development in Texas or find out more about the rapidly aging population within the state.

Austin Home to Fastest Growing “Pre-Senior” Population

study released by the Metropolitan Policy Program at Bookings Institute in Washington, DC highlights the extreme growth that is happening in the aging senior population across the United States, specifically in Texas.

The report compiled by the Bookings Institute drew from data released in the 1990, 2000, and 2010 US censuses. The age classifications according to the study are as follows: “younger population” (under age 45), “older population” (age 45 and above), “pre-senior population” (age 55-64), and “senior population” (age 65 and above).

According to the data released, Austin, Texas is home to the fastest growing “pre-senior” population and the 2nd fastest growing “senior” population in the country.

“Pre-Seniors” and Seniors

Between 2000 and 2010, the metropolitan area of Austin experienced a 63% increase in the “older population”, anyone 45 years and above, the second highest growth rate of any area behind Raleigh, North Carolina.

Similarly, Austin saw a 53% increase in the number of seniors, those ages 65 and up, in the area over the 10 year period.

Lastly and most importantly, Austin ranked #1 with the fastest growing “pre-senior” population of any area in the nation. The number of “pre-seniors”, those aged 55-64, in the Austin-Round Rock area grew 110% between 2000 and 2010, a massive explosion in the city’s aging population of Boomers.

Addressing the Growth

In order to address the growing population of aging Texans, the state needs to begin addressing the so-called “Silver Wave”. This June, Texas state legislature passed a bill, signed by Governor Rick Perry, that would allow Texans to use their life insurance settlements to help  pay for Medicaid long term care expenses.

The bill is a step in the right direction of helping people plan for their long term care needs. Unfortunately, it does not address the entire issue. The life settlements used may not cover the entire cost of care, leaving the claimants stuck again with no way to pay for care, other than forfeit all of their assets, enroll in Medicaid, and move into a nursing facility.

Fortunately, Long Term Care Insurance offers a way for people to safeguard their assets from this potentially devastating situation and receive substantial assistance when paying for care. Despite the hype about rate increases, policies can still be affordable. Even a small amount of coverage will help you tremendously in the future.

Is There Room?

Finding a good facility that provides care can often be as taxing as paying for the care itself. Not to mention the fact that with the number of Texans with Alzheimer’s or dementia expected to triple in the next 35 years, a lack of beds is a major concern for seniors across Texas. Fortunately, the state is leading the way in senior housing construction and assisted living facilities continue to be built in various cities.

US Memory Care is one of the major players opening up a number of facilities across the state over the next several years. They recently opened a memory care center in Colleyville and are currently in the process of building 2 more, one in Cedar Park outside of Austin and one in Houston.

The growing population necessitates a shift in industry and Texas has quickly caught onto the need for more assisted living facilities and memory care centers. Although these facilities provide seniors with a place to live, that isn’t the only thing needed in the age of the Baby Boomers.

Texas communities need to begin brainstorming different ways to provide resources to seniors who live at home, as the trend of “aging in place” continues to grow. A long road of long term care issues lie ahead, and to face them successfully, education and preparation are key.