Employers Perceive a Lack of Interest in Long-Term
Care Benefit
July 21, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - When small
employers were asked why they do not offer long-term care
insurance, two leading reasons cited were the perceived cost
to implement a plan (66%) and a perceived lack of interest on
the part of employees (63%).
However, the same percentage of respondents to John
Hancock's survey reported that their employees are
concerned about the ability to fund future long-term care.
According to a press release, the ability to afford
long-term care for themselves or other family members was
second only to that of not having enough money for a
financially secure retirement (63% versus 84%).
The perception of need was more pronounced among
companies with 500 to 1,000 employees, with 72% viewing
long-term care as an employee concern.
In addition, the press release said of the organizations
that responded, more than half reported negative impact due
to employees dealing with long-term care issues, yet few
currently offer long-term care insurance to their
employees. In addition to cost concerns and perceived lack
of interest by employees, a third (33%) mentioned that they
thought it would be too time consuming to implement a
plan.
However, among respondents who offer LTC insurance to
their employees, very few (5%) had a poor experience with
cost or ease of implementing a plan.
Companies chose to offer long-term care insurance
for attraction and retention of key employees (47%), tax
advantages to the business or business owner (43%),
employee demand (43%), and exposure to first-hand
experiences dealing with long-term care issues (42%). The
rating of the carrier (82%) and being offered by a
well-known carrier (77%) were cited as important factors
when choosing a long-term care insurance provider.
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com