Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Now or Never: Long-Term Care Strategy is a podcast for all those seeking answers and solutions in the long-term care space. Too often we don’t fully understand the necessity of care until it’s too late. This podcast is designed to create solutions, start conversations and bring awareness to the industry that will inevitably impact all Americans.
Marc Glickman: Maybe you have
three kids, and they all live
around the country, and they
don't know what your wishes
were. And they all have
different opinions as to what it
should be. And the one that's
closer to you is the one that
bears the brunt of that and
becomes resentful to the others,
right? Are these things that you
guys hear all the time because I
hear them every single day.
Caroline Moore: Welcome to Now
or Never Long-Term Care Strategy
with Kosta Yepifantsev a podcast
for all those seeking answers
and solutions in the long term
care space. This podcast is
designed to create resources,
start conversations and bring
awareness to the industry that
will inevitably impact all
Americans. Here's your host
Kosta Yepifantsev:
Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all,
this is Kosta and today I'm here
with my guest, Marc Glickman,
founder and CEO of buddy ins an
organization helping 1000s with
the process of long term care
planning and aging in place. 90%
of seniors report wishing to
remain at home as they age. But
the question at hand is aging in
place an option you can afford?
Welcome, Marc. For those who
might be new to the show. What
does long term care planning
entail? And why is it important
for those who wish to age in
place?
Marc Glickman: Yeah, great
questions. And thanks for having
me on today. Long term care
planning entails figuring out
how do you want your final years
to be right. How do you do you
want to get care at home? Do you
want to be more in a community
setting? And letting your family
know those wishes is half of the
planning process? And then it
becomes well, how do I fund my
final wishes? Right? Do I want
to fund it by investing the
money and self funding? Does
insurance make sense? And that's
what we help clients navigate
every day is trying to figure
out what's the best way? What's
the optimal way to fund what you
want those wishes to be.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So Marc,
you've got over a decade of
experience in long term care
planning. What led you to this
particular field of work?
Marc Glickman: Sure, well, I
grew up in the long term care
insurance industry. My dad,
actually one of the pioneers
developed many of the
traditional long term care
products that were in the market
in the 90s, early 2000s. And I'm
an actuary by background. So I
actually started my career,
designing and developing
products for the insurance
companies. And then I switch
gears and now I represent
clients and use my knowledge to
help them find the best value in
the marketplace.
Kosta Yepifantsev: How much has
the industry changed? And
specifically, what has changed
about the industry since your
father essentially started it?
Marc Glickman: Yeah, just tell
you back back in the late 80s,
and 90s, there wasn't a lot of
data about the insurance
marketplace. And people got a
lot of value from their
policies. But it turned out a
lot of those policies were
actually underpriced. Oh,
because of that, you know, we've
seen rate increases on older
products. So the insurance
industry's learned quite a lot.
Those clients that use those
policies got a lot of value out
of them. And we've only seen the
demand, which we've seen, you
know, on the horizon for a long
time continue to grow. So now
becomes well, how do we do this
in a sustainable way where the
insurance companies can offer
these products and have
sustainable rates. So we're
seeing a proliferation now of a
lot of newer types of products?
Believe it or not, we use eight
different types of insurance
products to solve long term care
planning that cover you at home,
or in a facility setting. And
because of that, you just have
to be much more specialized in
being able to navigate the
marketplace than you used to
when it was just one product,
traditional long term care. And
that's what everyone got.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So when you
say there's eight different
products, like I mean, what are
they? Pretty complicated.
Marc Glickman: Yeah. We have
health based comp products,
which are like traditional and
short term care is another type
of product, which is like a one
year type of policy. We have
life insurance based products.
And there's all kinds of
different varieties of hybrids,
where they're attaching long
term care to a life insurance
based product. And we even have
annuity based products, which
are great because you put in a
lump sum, and they give you a
multiple of that lump sum tax
free if you need long term care,
they can also be more
accommodating due to clients
with health issues. So we have a
lot of different tools in our
toolkit at the end of the day to
solve different client's needs.
And it's not a one size fits
all. In fact, it probably really
hasn't ever been that way
everyone's Long Term Care Plan
is different. And whether you're
40 years old and are planning
when you're younger, or whether
you're 85 years old, and you're
hoping to have a plan, and
you're probably gonna have a
more immediate need. We have a
solution for a wide variety of
people.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Since you're
essentially in this industry or
since you've been in this
industry since the very
beginning. I have to ask, what
was the thinking when they
developed these insurance
products back in the late 80s
early 90s Like, did they think
that people just weren't going
to utilize them? And so, you
know, it was kind of like, you
know, worst case scenario type
of insurance? And again, totally
just curious. Yeah.
Marc Glickman: Well, here's the
interesting thing about it. Most
of the people assume that the
insurance companies got it
wrong, because the claims turned
out to be higher than they
expected. But that's actually
not the case. Wow. Okay.
Anything that claims frequency
was less than they expected.
Okay, what happened is more
people kept their policies than
the insurance companies
expected. They assume that each
year 97% of people would keep
their policy every year, which
was the highest, what they call
persistency of any product in
the marketplace. But they
underestimated that it turned
out 99.5% of people kept their
policies.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Wow. So it's
because Long Term Care is a
certainty, right?
Marc Glickman: That's right. And
it turns out your need for long
term care grows over time, and
people held on to those policies
like gold. And because of that
effect, it turns out they
underpriced it because there
were more people left in 3040 50
years, and they expected to pay
out claims on so the assumptions
that they got wrong are ones
that, you know, I don't know
that, in retrospect, he could
have really anticipated that.
Right? So interest rates have
been very low and low interest
rates put a strain because the
insurance companies investing
that money. And so I don't think
anyone predicted the low
interest rate environment to
occur for so long. So the jury's
still out as to whether that's
gonna change, right, we're
seeing an increase in interest
rates now. But the bottom line
is, I think the companies are
much more comfortable today,
because they've taken out the
risk of people keeping their
policies they've taken out of
the risk of low interest rates.
And so the products are much
more conservative and much more,
I think the insurance companies
are much more on board with
being comfortable offering.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah,
absolutely. So I got to ask, you
know, we talked about the eight
different types of insurance,
and the eight different types of
processes, essentially, to
affect long term care. How can
buddy ins help with the process
of planning for aging in place?
Marc Glickman: Yeah, see, our
goal is to educate consumers
about their best options and
help them find a top insurance
specialist that understands all
those varieties of products. So
we are a connector in the
marketplace. And we are also a
co agent with a specialist,
which means that we're also on
the client side with making sure
that their specialist is doing
what's in their best interest.
What we also do is streamline
the process because working with
all these different types of
products and insurance
companies, right? I mean
difficult. So we created tools
and resources to digitize the
process to make it easier and
better customer experience
overall. And that's how we can
help people get more coverages.
Sometimes they're just, like,
frustrated about the process
taking so long, and we can make
that better.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Okay, so you
answered this in the first
question, but I need a little
bit more detail. So you're not
selling Long Term Care
Insurance? You're not and you're
working with long term care
insurance agents? Are you also
working with providers as well?
Are you essentially serving as a
conduit between all those
different entities?
Marc Glickman: That's exactly
right, where we are licensed as
an agency in all 50 states, we
are a writing agent, like the
person that interacting with the
client, the specialist, but
we're more behind the scenes,
we're a facilitator, a catalyst
to make sure that people have
better outcomes. So we're like
the specialist specialist,
right, we're helping that
specialist be a better, you
know, can serve their clients
better. And we do partner with
other providers, like yourself,
folks that are in the home care
world, folks that are helping
family caregivers, is a really
important mission for us.
Because when people don't have a
plan, oftentimes the burden of
that falls on a family member,
right? A spouse or a daughter,
right? And instead of putting
them out there and not having
anything for them to support
them, we have resources to help
that family caregiver not get
burnt out.
Kosta Yepifantsev: How many
clients do you guys work with,
say, I don't know, every year,
Marc Glickman: we have several
1000 clients with it by
insurance. But picture we have
10s of 1000s of people that get
educated. Because it takes time
it might it might take a year,
two years, three years, five
years before someone's ready to
form a plan. Or there may be
some event in their life that's
dawns on them. Okay, that's what
planning is about. Now, I know
what I want to do, and they have
more confidence to do it. So
we're there to be there in the
long run, so that when somebody
is ready, they can get the
resources that they need.
Kosta Yepifantsev: As you're
working with people, are you
identifying a common theme that
keeps coming up in the
conversation? And also I want to
ask, is affordability a big part
of the of the process
essentially,
Marc Glickman: that's exactly
actually where I was going when
you said that Add the common
theme is everyone thinks it's
it's expensive, or it's going to
be expensive reality of the
world is that you're never
insuring or self funding, you're
always doing some degree of
both. And you can decide as a
consumer, how much you pay for
your insurance policy, it's just
a matter of how much benefits
you're going to get out of that
policy. We'd have some people
that buy 50 or $100,000 of
benefits, which isn't a large
amount, given the cost of care
and what we expect it to grow to
into the future. But having that
as a starting point, and a
foundation can be really good
for forming that plan and
figuring out what to do if it
turns out to be a longer term
event. We have people that buy
millions of dollars of coverage
and in transfer more of that
risk to the insurance company.
There's no right or wrong
answer, you have to figure out
what value are you getting? What
is your financial situation look
like that you can afford to pay
this over a longer period of
time. But having some plan in
our belief is much better than
having no plan at all. So we
encourage everybody to do
whatever is right for them
financially.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So I'm
assuming the majority of the
time you're talking to people
who want to age at home, they
don't want to go to an assisted
living facility or a nursing
home, their first thing is, I
guess I just want to live in my
own home. How can we make this
happen? How can you guys help?
What are the, I guess the
financial limitations and then
also, I want to talk a little
bit about how each home has to
be changed or modified so that
it's handicap accessible?
Because a lot of people think
like, well, you know, I can just
retire here. But there's a lot
of Americans who are living in
two storey homes, you know, and
they can't get up and their
bedrooms are upstairs and they
can't get upstairs, right?
That's right. Right. So I'm just
curious, like, what are those
conversations like? Do you ever
encounter somebody that's just
waited too long? And then you
know, it's kind of like Game
over? We can't help you know,
how does that go?
Marc Glickman: Well, the good
news is, it's never too late to
do a plan. Of course, you don't
want to wait until you need it
to buy your insurance, like find
your insurance when your house
is on fire. But we have, we have
crisis types of planning
solutions as part of those aid
solutions. You're right that 80%
of people probably want to age
in place age at home. But
there's ways to fund that as
well, right? Reverse Mortgages
are a good example, right? Or
you can use your home equity to
potentially fund it. And there's
a lot of different ways to buy
policies that have benefits
called Cash indemnity benefits
that will allow you to pay for
home improvements, like what
we're talking about, right. So
even the policies themselves
have been designed, some of them
reimburse for just the you know,
the custodial care. But some of
them also let you do whatever
you want with the money. And
that could be improving your
home. So again, it's one of
those things where you have a
lot of choice. And so you want
to build a plan that's going to
suit you. At the end of the day,
you know, you wanted to be
flexible enough where let's say
you've been planning, you know,
early enough where it's 20 or 30
years out that it's flexible
enough, where if your plan has
changed, you know, you'll still
have that that product will
provide good value to
Kosta Yepifantsev: do enough
people know about the things
that you sell, or the
connections the the conduit,
essentially, as that you're
acting as do enough people know
about what you're talking about?
Marc Glickman: Now, I would say
the biggest misconceptions, and
there's many right Medicare is
gonna pay for long term care. Of
course, it does not, right,
Medicaid is gonna pay for me.
And of course it doesn't until
you spend down your assets. And
even those type of situations,
it's hard to get waivers in many
states to get home care, right.
And there's long waiting lists,
and they're underfunded. So
those types of things come up
versus in the government gonna
come in, take care of me. And
yeah, this is one of those
things that you really have to
plan on your own. And then
there's misconceptions about the
insurance market itself, right,
people think about what it used
to be. And it's a very different
marketplace today than it used
to be. There's a lot of
different ways to cover it, like
we've talked about, there's a
lot of different ways to fund
it. And health plays a much
bigger role today than it used
to play. Meaning that if you are
in really good health, you might
offer a certain set of options.
But if you're in have waited
longer, and you're not in as
good health, we still have
solutions for you. But we have
to look at other types of
products. And the value
proposition is different because
you're probably going to need
this sooner. Right, right. But
we have products designed to
provide you immediate protection
and tax free benefits and
leverage to accommodate that.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Can you speak
a little bit about those
products if people are in
crisis? And because I'll tell
you a lot of times, you know,
people get on YouTube and
they're usually in crisis when
they're watching these videos,
like you know, they're kind of
backed into a corner to try to
figure out how to solve this
problem that they have. So what
what type of services can you
guys offer?
Marc Glickman: Okay, well, I'll
give you three different
scenarios. First one is my
father in law at five years old,
right? thought it's too late for
me to plan for long term care.
All right, a lot of the
traditional products don't even
go past age 80. And so you don't
even have an option? Well, we
were able to get them a short
term care product in his state
one year of benefits. So not
going to cover the full risk.
But great peace of mind for my
family. And I right to know
that, okay, that first year is
taken care of it covers some at
home cash benefits. And then if
it's a longer term event, it
gives us more time to plan. That
product also does not have any
height weight restrictions. We
have a lot of clients that come
to us where they're saying, you
know, what, I've been declined
from long term care because of
my weight. Well, this we have a
product that actually doesn't
use that as one of their
underwriting criteria, right,
right, a great value there. We
have a product where you can,
and that's a pay as you go. So
very affordable plan, we have a
product for people that have
more assets where they can put
in a lump sum. So instead of
paying it over the course of you
know, 1020 30 years, they can
pay it all at once. But it gives
them immediate benefits. And if
they don't use the long term
care, they actually get their
money back with some growth,
because it's built around
annuity chassis. It's designed
to do long term care, but it's
designed to also have a
backstop, right. So you're not
putting in a lump sum, and
you're not ever getting anything
out of it. And then we have a
third product that's not an
insurance product at all. It's
called True freedom. And it's a
subscription, homecare service,
meaning that you're paying an
annual subscription, which kind
of looks like a traditional long
term care insurance premium. But
you're actually getting a bank
of ours that you can use to
cover homecare. And again,
another way to do planning. So
there's there's three right
there that are flexible enough
for people that have health
issues, or waited long, long
enough. There's a new product
that's coming out which if
you're already needing care, you
can actually put down a lump
sum, and then they'll give you a
monthly payout for the rest of
your life. Because they know
that you're already health
impaired, they give you a larger
monthly payout. The worst your
health is like reverse
underwriting. Yeah, where they
say like if you're in bad health
will actually pay you more. And
so that's kind of an interesting
tool as well. So that there
isn't that uncertainty about how
long am I going to need care
for? You're actually protecting
the risk. And that's also an
annuity based product, like a
SPIA product.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Okay. Now,
Marc Glickman: there's there's
four different answers for you.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Thank you.
Thank you. I think that as as we
progress into kind of an aging
population, I think people are
finally starting to realize
like, oh, wait, like, we need to
start getting creative. Because
we should or weren't creative
the last 20 years, you know what
I'm saying? So there's not a
plethora of resources available?
And the federal government sure
doesn't want to foot the bill,
you know? So I'm glad, I'm glad
to hear that, that companies
organizations are getting
created to creative to try and
meet the demand.
Marc Glickman: Yeah, we don't
want to ever say to somebody,
no, we don't have anything for
you for your plant. Right?
That's the bottom line is nobody
in our business. Like, we're
really building relationships,
we really want to help clients.
We want to have something there
to build some financial
financial, and maybe it's not
the fit for somebody, but we can
even you know, prepare plans
that can coordinate with
Medicaid even so it's, it's an
you're familiar with that space.
So it's not. It just depends on
what your particular needs are.
Kosta Yepifantsev: What age do
you think or age range? Do you
think is the best time to start
planning for? I guess you would
consider it even retirement
planning. It's just long term
care planning is like tacked on
to retirement planning. Yeah, so
Marc Glickman: generally
speaking, most people are
planning today between the ages
of 45 and 70. Okay, you know, 20
or 30 years ago, most people
were actually above 70, that
plan for long term care. But in
the last 10 years, the average
age of people buying Long Term
Care Insurance has dropped to
the mid 50s. So it's really come
down within 10 years, or, you
know, normal retirement age
seems to be when most people are
starting to become aware of it
and starting to want to follow a
plan. And they're beginning to
become caregivers for their own
parents. And that's a big
driver, right?
Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, they
see it firsthand.
Marc Glickman: That's right.
There's over 50 million family
caregivers today. And they're
like, I don't want to have
what's happening to me happened
to my kids or my spouse. And so
that's why we're seeing people
coming to us. It's almost an
epidemic of people that are
family caregivers today. But
it's never too young. And I'm an
example of that my wife and I
just got a policy I'm 39 years
old. And the younger you plan,
oftentimes the better value you
can get, especially if in your
in your in your best best health
because the insurance company
has a long time to invest that
money and they can do much
richer benefits. So you know,
for us, we got a great value. My
brother is 35 years old, he got
his long term care insurance,
and I've never seen a better
value plan because of how young
he was when he's buying it. So
that's a big, pretty wide range.
We've talked about 35. We've
talked about 85. But most people
are going to be right in the
middle, like you said, kind of
closer to figuring out what
their retirement plans are.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Okay, sounds
is good. What do you think is
the most important factors to
bear in mind while planning
financially for aging in place?
Marc Glickman: Well, first of
all is to figure out, you know,
that you do have your retirement
costs covered. Because your long
term care generally speaking is
going to be come after like you
have your living expenses,
right, your rent your home, that
was kind of thing. So typically,
we're looking at people that
have that are savers that are
buying long term care insurance.
And then within that
marketplace, then you'd say,
okay, for every dollar of
premium I spent on an insurance
policy, how many dollars of
benefits Am I getting? I call
that the insurance leverage, how
much is the insurance company
giving to you and then talk to
your agent, your specialist,
hopefully about chopping the
market and showing you what is
that leverage look like? When we
compare that to self funding,
typically, it's much greater
than if you were to invest in
that bond type of investment.
And that's really where the
insurance company providing
those tax free benefits makes it
make sense financially, then
there's like extra benefits. On
top of that, for example, if you
or your spouse own a business,
you can actually have the
business pay your premium. And
the IRS in many cases treats it
like health insurance where you
can take it as a tax deduction.
So your premium is deductible as
a business expense, and your
benefits are still tax free. So
you can layer extra value on top
of the value that the product
provides. So again, as you talk
to your your agent about this,
they can help you identify these
sources of value. And that will
also tell you how much you
should buy. Meaning that if
you're getting really great
value, you should probably
transfer more of the risk. If
you feel like the value is more
marginal, I would buy a smaller
plan as a foundation, and maybe
invest the difference. And so
there's like I say, it really
isn't a right or wrong answer.
It just depends on what offer
you're getting from the
insurance company.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So you said
agents and I can tell you right
now that I live in a town that's
in between Nashville and
Knoxville. And I doubt that
there are any agents in my area
that know. I don't know if they
know about any of the plans that
you're describing, except for
maybe the annuity plan, and the
details of it. So like, you've
been in this industry for a
while. You're working with
insurance agents all the time.
Is there a gap in knowledge for
professionals who are in this
industry? And how do we fix
that?
Marc Glickman: Yeah, there are
fewer long term care specialists
in the country today than there
ever have been interest.
However, the good news is that
almost all of them are licensed
in multiple states, they're
available on camera on Zoom, you
can meet them just like you
would in your local community.
And we're licensed in all 50
states. So it doesn't matter
geographically where people are
just find the person who has the
best knowledge and skill set.
And then again, you can meet
with them as many times as you
need to, in a you know, a zoom
type of environment. That's what
I would look for is talent. Now,
that being said, we know a lot
of wonderful long term care
specialists in Tennessee, in
both, you know Knoxville and
Nashville, and I'm sure that you
can find someone local. But you
should look for somebody who
really presents themselves as a
specialist and that offers
multiple types of products.
That's the way you can really
tell anybody that offers
multiple types of products
probably knows what they're
talking about. Anybody who only
has one product that they know,
that's also doing financial
planning, and life insurance is
more of a generalist may not
have all the tools in their
toolkit, but they may be able to
partner with someone else that
does. So I wouldn't necessarily
discount that either.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Interesting.
What advantages can Aging in
Place offer seniors? And are
there any situations where it
can end up having a negative
impact, either socially or
physically?
Marc Glickman: Yeah, yeah,
that's interesting. And we know
it's like a spectrum. So for
example, they may you may want
to age in place while your
spouse is with you. But let's
say one of the spouses passes
away. Now, it may be not as good
of an environment because you
just don't have that support
system that you once had, and
your dynamics change. So I think
you can't really look at it in
isolation, you kind of have to
look at it as a spectrum of how
the support is needed over time.
One of the advantages of aging
in place, though, is there's a
lot of technology coming up.
We've actually partnered with a
company that specializes in
companion robots for seniors.
Oh, wow. They've built robots
that actually learn what your
preferences are. They tell you
jokes, they take your blood
pressure. They're actually a
resource to prevent you from
having to have your family
caregiver there all the time.
They're kind of adding value and
helping support the family
caregiver. And so because of
that technology coming into the
home, we see they're making the
home environment a lot more
friendly for people and not as
lonely right. At the end of the
day, that's kind of what you
want to determine is some people
prefer to have a community type
of environment, some More
specialists even now live in
retirement communities
themselves. They don't need care
yet, right. But they know that
if they do need care, they can
advance to a higher level of
services. Some people want to
stay at home as long as possible
and just want to create the
environment around them there.
But the good thing is, is
there's more and more resources
out there to do what you want to
do. And as long as you let your
wishes be known to who might be
your caregiver in the future,
that's what leads to the best
outcomes.
Kosta Yepifantsev: You know, go
ahead, I'm sorry,
Marc Glickman: go ahead. I say
what leads to the worst
outcomes, and I'm sure you know,
you can, can relate to this, as
well as not having a plan at all
creates a crisis situation, and
fighting. You know, maybe you
have three kids, and they all
live around the country. And
they don't know what your wishes
were, and they have different
opinions as to what it should
be. And the one that's closer to
you is the one that bears the
brunt of that and becomes
resentful to the others, right?
Are these things that you guys
hear all the time is every
single day
Kosta Yepifantsev: all the time,
and it's terrible? It's
absolutely terrible, because at
some point you hit you hit him
so often, that he started to
almost lose hope, like for
society as a whole, because
you're just like, oh, my gosh,
like, at some point, this has to
stop. Right? And you just hear
it over and over again.
Marc Glickman: Yeah. And that's
really the problem we're trying
to solve more than anything else
is don't end up in a crisis
situation. Yeah, no matter how
much money you have 100% of
people can have a plan. It
doesn't cost you anything to
have a plan and to express your
wishes and to write down your
wishes for your loved ones.
Whether you buy insurance or how
you fund that plan, right?
There's a lot of choices, and
you can make intelligent
decisions there. But just start
off getting some plan in place
and having that conversation.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So before we
wrap, excuse me, before we wrap.
This is like the million dollar
question, in my opinion. You
know, there's only like 46% of
Americans that contribute to a
401 K. Okay, so if more than
half the country doesn't even
plan for retirement, how are
they expected to plan for long
term care?
Marc Glickman: It's tough. I'll
tell you the numbers and long
term care are bleak right now.
10% of people that could be
planning for long term care, are
planning for long term care one
out of every 10. So you know
what I think that difference is
their education, awareness. And
I think it's going to grow just
because more and more people are
having personal experiences.
Absolutely. And you can't avoid
that. So I think you're gonna
we're gonna see that awareness
building. And hopefully we can
be a resource to help people
navigate it.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Would it be
helpful if Long Term Care
Insurance became like, like car
insurance, where you were
mandated to have it almost?
Marc Glickman: Well, you know,
what's interesting is that
that's starting to happen to Oh,
not necessarily how people
expected it. Washington state
last year passed a law requiring
every employee in the state to
either buy private insurance,
and opt out or pay a payroll tax
through their employer to fund
this very small public program.
And there's about 11 Other
states looking at that same type
of way to fund long term care.
So yeah, if we don't plan for
it, they may be coming in to
mandate it through a payroll
tax. But I don't think a lot of
people like that outcome,
either. So it's kind of forcing
people to have this
conversation. But yeah, it's
definitely, definitely a
lightning rod of whether people
want the government to step in
and do this.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Absolutely.
Well, and, you know, to your
point, if only one in 10,
prepare for long term care, that
means that 90% of the population
is going to have to rely on
either self funding, which you
and I both know isn't going to
isn't going to work, or on
Medicaid, which is going to be
publicly funded tax dollars that
support the long term care
industry. So I think it's I
think Washington's model is is
interesting, I don't think it
goes very far in terms of moving
the needle, but it's a good
experiment to see its embrace.
However, it Washington is a very
open to new ideas type of state.
And there's other states that
aren't. And
Marc Glickman: I think what's
happening too, and you can see
this, Washington is the second
highest cost of home health care
in the nation. Oh, wow. Okay.
And Minnesota, Minnesota is
number one, and they're looking
at some similar things. So it's,
it's kind of a function of
costs. Okay. The writing's on
the wall for Medicaid. You know,
in Minnesota, 22 billion out of
their $54 billion annual budget
now goes to Medicaid, like,
Kosta Yepifantsev: well, that's
$1. And that's after they raised
rates, and then they had to cut
them, which as a provider,
there's one it's one thing to
raise rates, you cut rates. It's
a I mean, it's like the French
Revolution.
Marc Glickman: To go back on
that. Yeah, exactly. So I think
that's that's kind of the trends
we see is that you're right,
that they're running out of
money. So they're saying, hey,
it's not going to be our Our
problem, we're going to have to
collect these revenues in
another way. But that's why I
would take advantage of this.
Now the one silver lining from
Washington, which is a good
thing is that if you ask any
employee in Washington, all of a
sudden they've heard of long
term care. Remember, he asked me
that question. I mean, people
know about this, I will
guarantee you that probably
nearly 100% of the employees in
Washington have heard of long
term care, which means that they
may have a chance of doing a
plan. No one's going to be
surprised when this happens. So
I think that's the silver lining
underneath this is you can't
really pay for that education,
that marketing. And other states
want to work with the private
industry not being either or to
help encourage people, right to
plan in whatever way is best for
them, whether it's insurance, or
whether it's some other funding
mechanism. But that's the first
step.
Kosta Yepifantsev: And I agree,
and like you said, as employees
become aware, there's going to
be companies that build markets
that cater specifically to that
need. And then they can come in
and they can have a group plan
like they do with with health
care, like they do with 401, k's
and then that will slowly start
the ball rolling essentially.
Marc Glickman: That's right.
Most of the issue with the
insurance industry has been
supply issues, carriers not
wanting to offer the product
because they had financial
difficulties, like we talked
about insurance agents getting
out of the market, like we've
talked about a shortage. Now
we're seeing they're coming back
into the market, we're seeing
new group products, like you
said, in reaction to these
payroll taxes, we're seeing
these eight different types of
products. That's all in reaction
to finding creative solutions to
solve this problem, because
there's so much demand consumer
demand. So I do think it's a
great thing because you will see
more people finding the option
that's right for them and not
feeling like they're limited to
something that's not attractive
financially or health wise.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Marc, thanks
for being here. Today. We always
like to end the show with a call
to action. What's your best
advice for someone entering the
long term care industry as a
patient, a caregiver, or an
industry professional?
Marc Glickman: Look around at
the resources that are available
to you. Sometimes it feels very
lonely going and getting to long
term care feeling like is
anybody hearing these these
cries, right for help from our
clients from from people in the
industry, there are a ton of
resources out there. There's
resources, like I said, for
family caregivers, they're
becoming more and more, you
know, available. There's
resources out there, you know,
even if your insurance agent
buddy ends is actually a
community of long term care
agents where we provide
education and knowledge and
there is no cost to working
having a financial professional
or an agent work with us. So
look around for those resources
right there out there. And don't
feel like you're alone, right?
It takes a village to take care
if someone for long term care
and just you know, find your
find your village right and
you'll be able to support
whatever you're trying to do.
Caroline Moore: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of
Now or Never Long-Term Care
Strategy with Kosta Yepifantsev.
If you enjoyed listening and you
wanna hear more make sure you
subscribe on Apple podcast
Spotify or wherever you find
your Podcasts, leave us a review
or better yet share this episode
with a friend. Now or Never
Long-Term Care Strategy is a
Kosta Yepifantsev production.
Today’s episode was written and
produced by Morgan Franklin.
Want to find out more about
Kosta? Visit us at
kostayepifantsev.com