If you know your representative…ask them to support Senator Toomey’s plan to fund LTCi plans without penalty through retirement planning vehicles.

You may never even have considered an LTCi plan (long-term care insurance plan) for yourself or your family, but when you see the light…you will want to have funding options.  This is why I have been advocating for politicians to allow you to repurpose resources to pay for your LTCi plan.  I’ve asked anyone who would listen to bring experts to D.C. and find a tax-qualified funding solution…and this message is working!!

Over the last 18 months I’ve met with members of the United States Congress on both sides of the aisle about the importance of systemic change in the education of personal responsibility for Extended Healthcare (EHC) costs.  Also known as Long-Term Care (LTC) and Long-Term Services and Support (LTSS), as a nation…we have failed in educating about the two most critical issues:

  1. Yes, if you have access to healthcare and average SES…LTC is very likely to happen to you and the cost could devastate your financial plan.
  2. The government will not pay for your care until you have lost control of most of your assets, and at that point you will most likely lose control of the type of care and location of care you receive.

The Bipartisan Policy Center published an LTSS Report in 2017 (linked here) which very clearly outlines the massive problems we face in education and funding.  To learn how other nations have educated their populations (and in most cases mandated LTCi plans) click on this link.

Now Senator Toomey (R-PA) is proposing the first of several recommendations from the BPC report…allow people to purchase LTCi plans through their tax-qualified retirement accounts without penalty.  Click here to watch the U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring leading experts on LTC delivery and funding.  One of the expert witnesses is a gentleman who received our industry’s lifetime achievement award, and one of the experts that BCBSAL brought in to train our LTC team almost 2 decades ago.  Dr. Marc Cohen holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a PhD. from Brandeis University.  Although he is one of the most humble professionals that I’ve ever known…he is usually the most intelligent person in the room on this subject.  Now the politicians are listening to him (and others) and proposing alternative funding methods to LTCi plans.  For those who have read this far in the post, please find out who your representative is here and tell them to support Senator Toomey’s initiative to allow you more options.  Help me help you!

-John