U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Good afternoon-

Attached, please see our newest Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program brochure designed for employees who are planning to retire in the near future.

Currently, we are in the process of determining shipping quantities. If you have not already confirmed this quantity, please respond directly to this email and let me know how many "hard copies" of the brochure you'd like to receive. Please forward this email to any field offices who may also want to request a supply. I've also attached PDF and Word versions of the brochure which may be more convenient for you to use.

If you would like to send out an employee message on the importance of considering long term care insurance in retirement planning, just delete this introductory message and forward the text following the line below. As always, you're welcome to use this material as a newsletter article or other form of communication.

Thank you for your continued support!   Please call me or email me if you have any questions.

Signed:

Your agency’s Account Manager at Long Term Care Partners

Program Enrollment and Promotion

Long Term Care Partners, LLC

100 Arboretum Drive

Portsmouth, NH 03801

 ___________________________________________________________________________

Planning for Your Retirement?

Remember to Consider Long Term Care Insurance!

Understanding the Impact of Long Term Care Expenses on Your Retirement Assets…

As you think about your approaching retirement, it’s possible you may have overlooked one very important detail.  Some people concentrate only on increasing their savings — through an annuity, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), IRA, pension, or some other type of investment.  But what about protecting the money you’ve saved and preserving the lifestyle you enjoy?  Without long term care insurance, you and your family could seriously jeopardize the savings you’ve worked so hard to build for your retirement, and the lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed. 

Also, obtaining long term care insurance today can help ensure you won’t need to rely on your family should you need long term care services during your retirement. 

What Is Long Term Care?

Long term care is ongoing care for people who need lengthy or even lifelong help with activities they perform every day —such as bathing and dressing — due to an illness, injury, or severe cognitive impairment (such as Alzheimer’s disease).

Here’s Why Long Term Care Insurance Can Be So Important During Your Retirement:

·        Over half (60%) of people who reach age 65 will need long term care at some point in their lives.¹ 

·        Long term care could be the most expensive type of care you ever face — and costs are only going to get higher.  As you can see, these costs can significantly jeopardize the savings you’ve set aside for your retirement:

The average annual cost for home care is well over $20,000.  That’s $18/hour,² five hours per day, five days a week for a home health aide.  That cost is expected to climb to $68,000 by 2030.³ 

The national average annual cost for care in a nursing home is $52,000 for a semi-private room.²  That cost is expected to climb to $190,600 by 2030.³

·        Long term care expenses are not covered by traditional medical insurance plans.  Most health care programs, including the FEHB Program, TRICARE, and TRICARE for Life, cover very few long term care expenses, if any! 

·        While Medicare covers some care in nursing homes and at home, it does so only for a limited time, subject to restrictions. 

·        Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) is the Federal/state program for the impoverished. It provides certain types of coverage, including long term care; but to qualify you must “spend down” virtually all of your money and assets to state required levels.  Under Medicaid, you may have little choice or control over the care you receive.

·        Some people wonder if it would be smarter to invest their money rather than purchase long term care insurance.  The numbers show the impact of such a decision.  At age 40, if you invested $79.20 each month at 8% interest, compounded annually, you would have saved $118,824 by age 70.  BUT, if you used that same $79.20 each month to pay for long term care insurance under the Federal Program, you would have a whopping $1,191,725 available to cover the cost of care at age 70!*

*Based on a Comprehensive Plan with a $150 Daily Benefit Amount, 90-day Waiting Period, 5-year (1,825 day) Benefit Period and Automatic Compound Inflation.  This example assumes you have not used any of your benefits up to age 70.

¹ Long-Term Care Insurance, Baby Boom or Bust?, Conning & Company, 1999, page 13.

² MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home and Home Care Costs, April 2002.

³ Can Aging Baby Boomers Avoid the Nursing Home?, Stucki, B., and Mulvey, J., American Council

   of Life Insurers, March 2002, page 15.

Created exclusively for members of the Federal family…

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program is the only long term care insurance program sponsored by the Federal Government for the Federal Family!  It reflects the careful efforts of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and two insurance leaders — John Hancock and MetLife — to provide comprehensive benefits and group premiums.  Long term care insurance helps preserve your retirement savings should a long term care need arise.  The result?  Peace of mind and financial independence in your retirement.

Here are some of the great advantages offered by the Federal Long Term Care

Insurance Program:

• Competitive group rates

• An expansive home care benefit that includes informal care

• Innovative inflation options

• Premiums that can be deducted from your retirement annuity

And remember:

No other plan has OPM oversight and sponsorship.

Don’t Wait!

It’s to Your Advantage to Apply Sooner — Not Later!

Unlike some other insurance products, long term care insurance is something you must apply for, and pass a medical screening (called underwriting), in order to be enrolled.  Certain medical conditions will prevent some people from being approved for coverage.  By applying now, before you retire, you could avoid the risk of having a change in health disqualify you from obtaining coverage.  Spouses of retirees can also apply.*  But that’s not all — the younger you are when you apply, the lower your premiums!

* Spouses of living retirees can apply at any time; surviving spouses can only apply if they were elected

   a survivor benefit at retirement.

Get smart! Request a FREE Information Kit and application today. 

Visit our web site: www.LTCFEDS.com or call 1-800-LTC-FEDS

(1-800-582-3337) (TTY: 1-800-843-3557)

Sponsored by the U.S. Office of

Personnel Management and Offered

by John Hancock and MetLife

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program is administered

by Long Term Care Partners, LLC, and offered by:

John Hancock Life Insurance Company, Boston, MA 02117

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY 10010

Attachment  [PDF File]   [Word Document]