Give Your Employees TLC by Spreading the Word on LTC

August 31, 2010

Most employees know every year to expect to make key decisions about their health insurance coverage, usually each fall.  But, are they aware that there are other critical decisions regarding voluntary benefits that may not even be subject to an open enrollment timeframe?

I recently facilitated a Retirement Readiness workshop for a group of pre-retirees in Chicago, where the biggest buzz centered around the group LTC policy available.  I try to encourage open dialogue during my financial education workshops, so when I began to talk about some of the risks in retirement, an audience member shared with her co-workers what she is currently facing now with her mother, who at age 75 had entered a nursing home just last year.  Her mother’s retirement nest egg is just about gone, and she is now going through all the red tape and paperwork to try to qualify her for Medicaid.  I brought up the fact that a LTC policy could have helped avoid the spend down her mother faced, and asked how many employees had signed up for the group LTC that was available through payroll deduction.  Not only did no one raise their hand, but none of the employees even knew it was a benefit offered by their employer!  I’m sure there had been flyers and payroll stuffers, and of course there was an online link on the website, but none of the employees had actually considered what the LTC policy was or how it was an important piece of the puzzle for retirement planning.

A few weeks after the workshop, we typically survey our attendees to determine what action steps they have taken based on the financial education they learned, and almost everyone from this particular workshop indicated they had gone out and ran a quote for the group LTC policy.    So get the word out, not just as a sales push from the insurance carrier, but as part of an overall benefits planning perspective so your employees can take advantage of all the voluntary benefits available, and they will have a much better appreciation of their benefits package.