Arthur Rudnick
Guru
- 1,652
AN IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT FROM TRANSAMERICA LONG TERM CARE
On July 10th, 2012, Transamerica Long Term Care announced that due to the ongoing, historically low interest rate environment and current industry dynamics, a series of changes to our current product offering would be implemented to ensure that our long term care business continues to grow in a financially responsible manner. Approval for those changes has been received from the Interstate Compact. The new rate changes announced on July 10th, 2012 will be available to quote on Tuesday, September 25, 2012. Additional announcements will follow as we receive approval from non-Interstate Compact states and as new illustration software and marketing materials become available. CHANGES EFFECTIVE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012
- An across the board 15% increase on all new business premium rates.
- The current "spouse/partner applying" discount of 30% will be reduced to 20%. The "spouse/partner not applying" discount will be reduced from 15% to 10%.
- The Preferred Health Discount will be 10% for individuals and spouse/partners.
- We are suspending sales of all of our limited pay options, including Single Pay, Pay-to-65, and 10-Pay in all states except NY.
- We will no longer accept 1035 Exchanges for our long term care product.
- We are eliminating the Lifetime (Unlimited) Benefit Period in all states except NY. We will continue to offer all benefit periods up to and including those benefit packages that produce a 6 year benefit period.
The changes listed above will go into effect in all Interstate Compact states. (See map below.)
TRANSITION PERIOD: WRITING NEW BUSINESS
For Individual applications and Association Groups:
The new rates will be available on TransQuote® Illustrations for the impacted states on Tuesday, September 25, 2012. Transition for individual business from the old rates to the new rates will be 5 business days. The old rates will no longer be available after Monday, October 1, 2012. Association cases will be treated as individual cases.
In order to receive the old rates, applications must be properly completed, signed by the applicant, and received in our home office by end of business hours on Monday, October 1, 2012.
Transition rules for states where TransCare® II 2012 is released in the future will be communicated at that time.
For Multi-Life Cases:
For the states where TransCare® II 2012 is released on September 25, 2012, the old rates are set to cut off on Monday, October 1, 2012. Fully completed Service Group Requests (SGRs) with a complete census file must be received by October 1, 2012 in order to receive the old rates. Enrollments for these cases must be completed within 90 days of the date that TransCare® II 2012 was made available or within the terms of the implementation memo agreed upon by Worksite Administration.
Previously approved enrollments are not impacted.
HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN OLD AND NEW PRODUCT
Old product can be distinguished by the name TransCare® II; the refreshed product can be distinguished by the name TransCare® II 2012.
MARKETING MATERIALS AND TOOLS
Marketing materials for agent use will no longer be available for print order; they will be available for download only. Some consumer materials may temporarily be unavailable for print order at launch (September 25) but will be downloadable.
The following marketing tools will not be available at the launch; a separate announcement will go out once these materials become available:
- TransQuote® Mobile for Android smart phones will be available at launch; TransQuote® Mobile for iPhone and iPad will follow within 10-15 business days. BlackBerry will no longer be supported and will no longer be available in the BlackBerry App World.
- eApplication for TransCare® II 2012 will not be available at launch.
- StrateCision for TransCare® II 2012 will not be available at launch.
Applications and disclosures for the existing product will continue to be available through October 1, 2012.
Applications and disclosures for TransCare® II 2012 will be available under the Order Supplies tab on the Agent Resource Center on Tuesday, September 25. Simply select "Applications and Disclosures" from the material type dropdown list, select your state from the state dropdown list and search.
There are two ways that you will be able to differentiate the new applications from the old: (1) the SKU number will now match the form number of the application/disclosure, and (2) the new form can be identified in the form description.
For example, the current SKU for the single Texas multi-life application is ICC-ABCAPP-TX; the new SKU will match the form number listed on the application, which is ICC10 TLC-ABCAPP-TX. The current application description reads, "TransCare II Single Application Package"; the new applications will have an additional note which will read, "Revised 2012 Version".
The formatting will be the same for all states; the only difference will be the two digit state identifier within the SKU.
Q&A
Where can I go for the latest updates?
As additional states are approved updates including transition plans will be communicated on the front-page of the Agent Resource Center (www.taltc.com), through email, and in the weekly TALTC Newsletter.
Where can I get applications and disclosures for the old product after the 5-day transition period?
Call the Internal Wholesalers: 888-545-2713, option 3.
Where can I quote TransCare® II 2012 at launch?
TransQuote® Illustration software on the Agent Resource Center, Vital LTC, TransQuote® Mobile for Android devices
