Steve Webb, the UK’s ex-pensions minister, and Royal London’s director of policy and external communications, has said the problem of providing financial products for long-term care (LTC) needs is that “no one wants to buy it”.
Speaking at Life Insurance International’s recent Innovation Forum & Awards 2017 held in London Webb said insurers should be doing more to make long-term care plans more appealing to consumers.
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The difficulty of marketing long-term care products is a problem within the industry. As Webb said at the conference: “People don’t want to see leaflets with wrinkly hands on it.” He said that this is a sign it is being marketed to the wrong generation.
Webb said long-term care products are being targeted to those who are already needing care, or will be in the near future, when it is too late to sign up for an insurance policy. Long-term care products need to be sold to a different generation, those who are currently middle-aged, or younger.
Marketing strategies therefore need to be revamped and modernised to make these products appealing to a younger generation. More needs to be done by the insurers to help the consumer overcome their apathy towards long-term care.
While the actual products need to be enhanced to provide a definite pay-out, it is primarily the marketing of the products that need to be enhanced to be more appealing to a younger generation.
