Calm During the Storm

What we’re starting to see in Canada is a greater awareness in terms of providing health-care and insurance products to clients. It has a lot to do with the limitations of the provincial health-care system that we have here. Currently, there is a real strain on our system. Our waiting lists to see doctors are getting longer. People are having to wait longer between seeing a general practitioner and a specialist and between seeing a specialist and having an operation done.
Plus, we continue to have fewer doctors and nurses but more people needing to be serviced. In the next 20 to 30 years, our population will have an abundance of older people. People are living longer because of advancements in medicine.
A recent Canadian study revealed that many people here are starting to withdraw their retirement savings or liquidate their assets, including their principal residences, to offset their health-care needs. Obviously, this results in severe tax consequences and erosion of retirement capital.
About 90 percent of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Many people will travel to the States to get health care, even thought they have to pay the noninsured price. We’ve seen people paying $100,000 in Canadian dollars for a heart transplant or a series of chemotherapy in the United States. They’re willing to pay more to be seen and treated quickly.
Even in the United States, about 50 percent of all foreclosures are due to a critical illness. So I’ve seen that people are more receptive than ever to hearing about ways they can protect their assets. It’s actually easier to talk to people about health-care products than life insurance because they’re more willing to accept the fact that they’ll get sick than they are to accept the fact that they’ll die!
Especially in light of the current situation, I feel strongly that it’s our fiduciary responsibility to get our advisors in front of people and to make sure that everything is in place for them.
Our company has begun to take a more proactive role in talking to people about critical health-care and personal-health insurance. The urgency of the current situation has opened up opportunities for us to do a complete needs analysis with our clients and to supplement benefits that the government health-care program doesn’t cover.
We explain to our clients how long-term-care (LTC) insurance products can ensure that they’ll receive income after they retire. It can cover, for example, the cost of having a registered nurse at their home around the clock. We can show them that what they’ll pay on a premium will be much less, in the long run, than sustaining a huge loss to their retirement account or selling their home.
Our supplemental policy won’t help someone get in to see the doctor faster, but it will pick up the tab for medical treatment, even if they get it in the United States.
There are numerous cross-selling opportunities among our existing clients. This gives us a huge opportunity to help people to improve their coverage and minimize their financial risk.
To get our products in front of even more people, we have established relationships with other professionals, such as attorneys who handle real estate transactions. They inform their clients about our services and explain that we can help them protect their home and other assets if they should develop a critical illness.
Because this is such a pressing issue on everyone’s minds, we have had a lot of success with asking for referrals from our clients. Just about everyone knows someone who has had a heart attack or cancer, and they welcome the opportunity to help their friends and loved ones protect their financial assets.
We also conduct workplace meetings with employees. Employers will allow their employees to spend time with one of our advisors to help them understand their group plans and coverages. We’ll give a presentation on existing and new benefits. Then we’ll gather feedback and meet with those who request a one-on-one meeting.
On December 1, 2002, one of my best friends came to my surprise 40th birthday party. He told me that he had changed jobs and no longer had benefits. He wanted me or one of my advisors to meet with him, and we made an appointment for Friday the 13th. That day, his wife called to say that he had the flu. My friend has always been a procrastinator, so I thought maybe he just wasn’t ready to talk about new coverage. Then on the 17th, I was in a planning meeting when my wife called. She told me that my friend, only 39 years old, had suffered a stroke.
I went to see him in the hospital’s intensive care unit. “I wish I had come in to see you,” he said. Then he told me that the previous evening, two people in intensive care had passed away during the night and that he was thinking a lot about his wife and little girl.
Never did I imagine that when we finally did get a chance to meet with him, it would be in the hospital, with him hooked up to infusion pumps. At one point, he got up, weak and unbalanced. He walked like a 90-year-old man. And I saw fear in his eyes.
Miraculously, my friend recovered. The doctors said that he could’ve ended up paralyzed and blind. His balance was affected, and he had difficulty walking. But within a few days, he was back home. When he went back to work, he found out that he was no longer eligible for coverage!
I hear it so often: “I’m not going to get sick.” I’ll respond with, “Do me a favor. Can I see this crystal ball of yours? Tell me the exact day you’ll be uninsurable or the day you will die, and I’ll make a date with you for the day before that.” That usually makes them realize that what they’re saying is unreasonable!
Now I am even more insistent that it is our fiduciary responsibility to get people sufficient coverage now, not later.
Salvatore (Sam) Lentini
Clarica
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
20/F, AIA Building, 1 Stubbs Road Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com

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