Canada’s aging population will include more than 64,000 over the age of 100 by the year 2056. For insurance brokers, this means clients will be looking for additional coverage to pay for more years of long-term or home care.
“We all want to live to a ripe old age, a ripe old healthy age, that is,” says Nathalie Tremblay, Health Products Manager at Desjardins Insurance. “But even though we're living longer than we were 50 years ago, chances are most people will struggle with illness at some point in their lives.”
As the landscape of the life insurance industry changing, Desjardins has developed Life LTC Advance – offering additional income for insureds who require certain types of care.
“People understand what life insurance is; but aging is something people are reluctant to talk about,” says Tremblay. “That's why we chose to develop a product that would make certain insureds could afford the care they need, while still leaving something to their loved ones.”
The cost of elder care has risen dramatically, as insurers try to keep pace with increased premiums.
The average price of a private room in a nursing home is approaching $90,000, and the average premium of long-term care policies have gone up 20 per cent. Some studies show that only one-third of retirement-age people will never incur any nursing-care costs, while 6 per cent of retirees will incur care costs of $100,000 or more in their lifetime, and 2 per cent will face $250,000 or more in care costs. (continued.)
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The Life portion of the Desjardins contract will pay the estate a life insurance benefit, and the LTC Advance option provides a monthly benefit to insureds who require long-term or home care, says Tremblay.
“Natural caregivers are finding it hard to juggle all of their responsibilities: working, providing for their children and caring for their aging parents,” she says. “This cohort doesn't want to put their families through the same thing and is looking for solutions to end the cycle. Life LTC Advance can help insureds and their loved ones look forward to the future.”
For example, on a permanent life insurance of $50,000, with the Life LTC Advance option, an advance of 1 per cent of the life insurance benefit, or $500/month, is paid out for insureds who are unable to care for themselves.
