Benefits July 21, 2009

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%).
Reported by

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.

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