Via email an hour or so ago:
"Important Notice: Discontinuance of Individual LTC Insurance Sales
To our LTC Distribution Partners and Producers:
After a recent analysis of the macro-economic trends facing the long-term care (LTC) insurance industry, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue sales of our individual LTC insurance policies in all states. As many of you well know, the distribution landscape for LTC insurance has shrunk significantly since the peak of the industry in 2002. Today, there are far fewer outlets through which individual LTC insurance is sold, impacting the growth potential of the product. In addition, consumer demand for individual LTC insurance has fallen and remains stagnant. These trends, combined with the significant capital requirements of the LTC insurance business, are the primary reasons for this decision, which was not taken lightly."
Hancock has been an 800-pound gorilla in the Long Term Care insurance market for as long as I can recall.
So I reached out to our friend and LTCi guru Ray C for his thoughts, and he reminded me that "several years age, ManuLife purchased John Hancock.
I believe this change is now saying, they wanted Hancock for life and annuity - investments and not long-term care.
We stopped doing John Hancock three years ago.
So, we see no negative impact on our business - but another black eye on the industry."
I'm glad he reminded me of this, because I then went back and saw this in a post from '13:
"Executives at Manulife Financial ... think the benefits of staying in the private long-term care insurance (LTCI) market outweigh the benefits of getting out."
Looks like they've had a change of heart.
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