Long-term care insurance: A missed opportunity for credit unions?

I frequently have the opportunity to visit with a friend of mine, “Elizabeth,” in a nearby assisted-living facility. I met Elizabeth several years ago through a local church, and I was encouraged to look after her because her deteriorating health was beginning to cause problems for her and her husband. At 63, she was diagnosed with a degenerative spine disease that slowly crippled her, causing a great deal of pain. Although her body was breaking down, her mind and wit hadn’t diminished a bit: she was as sharp as a tack. She loved to fish, and we would spend summer mornings talking and fishing together from the dock at her lakeside home. We would fish and laugh until we cried. Eventually, getting down to the dock was impossible for her, so I would go into her home to visit with her. She bought my son a fishing pole for his birthday, and insisted that we go down to the dock and fish while she watched from her living room window.

We tried to do all we could at her home to make her comfortable and see that she received the care she needed, but, unfortunately, the need became greater than we could meet. She began falling down and hurting herself. Many of the falls were serious enough to have to call for an ambulance; often she would be transported to the hospital with fractured and broken bones. She never wanted to be a burden on her family and really wanted to be at home, but without 24-hour care, being at home frightened her. We didn’t know what to do or how to help, but knew we needed to do something for her.

The part-time care she was receiving, coupled with hospital bills and prescription drugs, exhausted their income and life savings. Destitute, she didn’t know where to turn for help and eventually looked to the government. It was difficult to find a facility with a bed available, let alone find one that she liked, but her choices were very limited as a ward of the state.

For several years now she has lived in a room that she shares with another woman, separated by a thin curtain that provides very little privacy. The room is small, just 10 feet by 15 feet, but she has tried to make the space homey. This is her third facility. She is still as sharp and as witty as ever.

It has been difficult for me to walk side-by-side on this journey with my friend.  Both of us were unprepared for what this disease would do, and what would have to be sacrificed.  If we had to do it all over again, and knew what we know now, I know she would have prepared earlier in life by looking into long-term care insurance. This insurance would have allowed her to maintain her dignity, choose where she wanted to live, get the quality of care she desires, and maintain her independence and privacy. She was only 63 at the time, and we didn’t know this would ever happen. I guess you never know.

This life-changing event, among others, has caused me to ponder and reflect on what I can do, what we can do together, to educate the families in our communities about their options and the benefits of early planning for that unforeseen event that four out of five baby boomers find themselves in: long-term care.

Powerful membership values: dignity, control, choice, independence, quality, and security.

Most credit unions do not provide or even offer long-term care insurance to their members, but, collectively, credit unions serve a predominantly higher-aged consumer. How did so many miss this opportunity? Don’t get me wrong: I know that credit unions need to pursue younger members to keep future loan-growth opportunities alive, but they continue to serve middle-aged and older members like Elizabeth and her husband who will most certainly need long-term care in the future. It’s interesting to me that so many credit unions focus on offering IRA accounts with minimal yields, limited benefits, and high operational costs to help prepare members for future financial needs, but don’t offer long-term care insurance to members, even with the potential fee income associated with it.

Anyone who has had any experience in the loan department will tell you what the high-value credit life and credit disability insurance have done for those members who face the unexpected loss of someone close to them or have become permanently disabled. Ask those members and they will tell you just how highly they value their credit union. Today, millions of members have greater peace of mind because of the insurance products they purchased from their credit union. What about long-term care insurance?

If you don’t currently offer long-term care insurance, I strongly encourage you to do so. The demand for long-term care insurance is real and growing rapidly with the aging population. Like Elizabeth, an estimated 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day. The biggest concern for our aging population is that its members don’t want to be a burden on their families and they are afraid that they will outlive their money. This is a wonderful time for credit unions to broaden the coverage offered to their members and to play a significant role in their long-term quality of life and asset preservation. Long-term care insurance is a self-sustainable and profitable product that can help with today’s narrowing profitability margins.

I shared the story of Elizabeth and spoke briefly about her husband, but what about his future? Who will care for Elizabeth’s husband when she is gone?

All of Elizabeth and her husband’s assets were liquidated and used for her care. Now there is nothing left for her husband, who is in fair health and, God-willing, will live many more years. Their life story could have turned out so differently had they known of, been educated about, and had the foresight to purchase long-term care insurance.

Tens of millions of credit union members are at or nearing retirement years. How many of them will face Elizabeth and her husband’s fate? I hope you seize this opportunity to gather the resources, teach, and communicate the benefits of long-term care to your members. Consider giving your members a stronger, broader umbrella to help them retain their dignity, independence, and control over their future needs.