Advisors Blog

Help Clients Close Coverage Gaps with an LTC/FIA/Wellness Combo Product

When it comes to planning for retirement, it’s no secret the costs of long-term care (LTC) are a big concern for most clients. That’s where Bridge from EquiTrust Life Insurance Company comes in. Helping retirees meet their needs means focusing on the best prospects for this product. What is Bridge? Bridge combines a fixed index annuity (FIA) with a Long-Term Care Rider and a personalized NeverStop™ Wellness Program to help your clients proactively manage their health.

Top 10 reasons to market Bridge to your clients

1. Long-term care benefits when they need them, Accumulation Value when they don’t.
2. Plenty of index account options.
3. Bridge can help your clients beat the high costs of free-standing LTC insurance.
4. No one’s declined in underwriting.
5. Easy claims with no receipts needed.
6. Direct payment of LTC benefits — and the power to use them as they choose.
7. NeverStop wellness program to proactively manage their health.
8. Flexibility for optimal balance between LTC benefits and growth of Accumulation Value.
9. Ability to earn additional LTC benefits through NeverStop participation.
10. Boosts caregiver peace of mind.

Introducing New Protection VUL '23 Effective January 9, 2023

John Hancock has introduced a New Protection VUL ’23 product effective 01/09/23.

What's new?

• Customizable no-lapse guarantee, giving more flexibility to meet specific goals, with:
• Basic Death Benefit Protection (DBP) rider — available at no additional cost and optimized to extend guarantees to age 80
• Enhanced Death Benefit Protection rider — can extend no-lapse guarantee coverage to ages 80-100, with 10% premium charge deducted from policy value if elected
• 8% reduction on endow solves on average
• 9% increase on target premiums on average

Protection UL 22 and Protection SUL 22, Now Approved in California

We are excited to announce Protection UL 22 and Protection SUL 22 are now approved in California. Before you meet with your next client, check out the following for details on John Hancock's exciting product changes.

• Industry-leading pricing for level-, short- and single-pay scenarios
• Strong no-lapse guarantees with attractive cash value potential, particularly compared to guaranteed UL products
• Protection UL now offers a new Cash Value Enhancement rider & Preliminary Funding Account for added flexibility
• Protection SUL provides enhanced target premiums, offering an additional 30% on single-pay and other early funding scenarios

Introducing Lincoln WealthAccelerate^SM IUL Effective January 23, 2023

Effective Jan. 23, 2023, subject to state and firm availability, Lincoln Financial Group is pleased to introduce Lincoln WealthAccelerate IUL to their life insurance portfolio.

Lincoln WealthAccelerate IUL is an indexed universal life product with an emphasis on the digital and automated experience, from application to policy management, and a focus on meeting consumers expectations in today’s modern world of instant decisions, exceptional experience, and simplicity.

Product Highlights

• Issue ages: 20 – 55
• Face amounts: $100k - $1.5M
• Death Benefit options: (1) Level or (2) Increasing by Cash Value
• Underwriting Classes: Preferred NT, Standard NT (up to table 3) and Standard Tobacco (up to table 3).
• Two indexed account options and Long-Term Care riders for additional protection for future needs.
• Easy and paperless online process
• Lab-free consideration for healthy clients
• Instant communication of underwriting approval for lab-free cases

Lincoln MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage® Pricing Improvements Effective 1/23/23

Effective January 23, 2023, Lincoln Financial will be implementing pricing decreases to Lincoln MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage^®, which will improve competitive positioning. There will be no pricing increases as a result of this update. Following a transition period, Lincoln MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage – 01/23/23 will replace currently sold Lincoln MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage - 09/12/22.

Pricing Improvements

• Pricing improvements range from 0-14%
• Average pricing decrease is 6%
• In general, single pays will get a larger discount as compared to flex pays

Availability and Transition Guidelines

Pending firm approval, applications for Lincoln MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage® – 01/23/23 will be accepted beginning on Jan. 23, 2023.

• For applications to qualify for the current MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage® pricing, a projection of values and the completed Part 1 must be signed, dated, and received in-good-order by Lincoln’s home office by Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.
• For pending or issued business on or after Jan. 23, 2023, Lincoln will accept requests with a revised projection of values to change to MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage® – 01/23/23.
• For placed business, normal internal replacement guidelines apply. Rewrites will not be accepted.
• As of Jan. 23, 2023, Lincoln DesignIt and WinFlex will be updated with the new product version. During the transition period both versions can be run.

Indexed Account Rate Changes

Effective Jan. 15, 2023, Lincoln will be increasing caps and participation rates on certain indexed accounts, which may improve future policy performance. The changes apply only to newly created indexed account segments for all currently available, and a select group of previously sold, life insurance products in Lincoln’s Indexed Universal Life and Variable Universal Life product suites. The Illustration software will be updated effective Jan. 9, 2023, reflecting all indexed account changes.

Care Solutions Interest Rate Update - January 15, 2023

Effective January 15, 2023, OneAmerica has made the following interest rate changes.

New Application Reminders

The new life insurance application (ICC 21) and IDI application Part B became available on October 1, 2022. It must be used for all cases in approved states, which are, all states except CA, FL, MT, ND, NY, SD, and WY. Review tips regarding the recent update to help ensure timely processing of your business.

California Form Changes

Several CA forms have been updated with revised fraud language. Start using the new versions, listed below. Prior versions of these forms won’t be accepted after February 28, 2023.

Price Decrease: Protective® Classic Choice Term - Effective January 17, 2023

Protective lowered their term Classic Choice Term rates effective 1/17/23. This puts them in the # 1 spot 54% of the time for monthly scenarios and 48% for annual premium scenarios.

Increasing Cap Rates on Index Accounts - Effective January, 15, 2023

Effective January 15, 2023, the caps will be improving for almost all Prudential products. The uncapped accounts for IUL products will also be improving.

SecureCare III Price Improvement

Effective January 23, rates for SecureCare™ III will be reduced by 25 percent across all case scenarios in all states except AZ, CA, CT, DE, DC, FL, IN, MT, NJ, ND, NY, SC and SD. SecureCare III is a long-term care (LTC) and nonparticipating whole life insurance policy. 

The next two states that will have the pricing improvement will be New Jersey and Florida, with more states to follow. We will be sure to share more details as we receive them.