LONG-TERM CARE
Marketing to caregivers —
selling to women
Tracey Edgar, RN, BSN, CLTC, is vice
president of sales, Care Solutions ,
for the companies of OneAmerica.
Formerly leading the OneAmerica
Care Solutions suite of asset-based
long-term care products, Edgar has
been helping brokerage general
agencies for 20 years;
[email protected]
Why should you be having conversations with women about long-term care (LTC) protection?
If you answered, “because they’re more likely to need long-term care than men,” you’re
missing half the story.
That approach assumes women will be interested in LTC protection so that someone can
take care of them as they age. It’s true that women, on average, need care longer than men.
They also are more likely to be affected by a long-term, progressive disease like Alzheimer’s or
other dementias, which typically require many years of care.
But that conversation focuses on one person — the woman who might need care. The
conversation you probably aren’t having focuses on how LTC protection can help caregivers of
others — a role most women understand well.
The Alzheimer’s Association publishes some great research about caregivers, and the effects
of caregiving on them. While their numbers focus on Alzheimer’s and other dementias, the
same caregiving issues apply to other aging-related conditions.
Caregivers for Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Here’s why your conversations should focus on women:
More than 60% of Alzheimer’s
caregivers are women.
Nearly one-fourth of
caregivers of people
with Alzheimer’s and
other dementias are
“sandwich generation”
caregivers — caring
for aging relatives with
the disease while also
supporting their
children and/or
grandchildren.
30
Perspectives
Q1 2020
Nearly one in five of these
women had to quit work
to become a caregiver, or
because their caregiving duties
became too burdensome.
One-third of Alzheimer’s
caregivers are daughters.
Thinking about these statistics — and how the issues apply to other illnesses as well — it
becomes easier to see how not planning for LTC needs affects multiple generations financially.
Caregiving is also emotionally and physically demanding. As care needs progress, the amount
of lifting, transferring and physical help is likely to increase.
LTC protection becomes important because even if family members are overseeing care, LTC
benefits can help pay for assistance to help provide that care — both the physically demanding
aspects and for respite to alleviate the emotional burdens.
With asset-based LTC protections, the benefits can help families if LTC is needed, and with
a death benefit to heirs if LTC benefits aren’t exhausted. It can also provide protection for two
people on one policy, and even benefits that last a lifetime.
As family caregivers, women are realists. They know the demands and understand the needs
of caregiving. Having conversations with them about LTC protection and planning now for
future needs can provide them with tools to take care of the people who matter most to them.