LTC
Bullet: Medicaid Pushers Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Orlando, FL-- LTC Comment: Another
NAELA member offers easy Medicaid LTC and seduces insurance producers
with a promise of huge incomes, after the ***news.*** ***
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PUSHERS LTC Comment: How
do drug pushers attract gullible new customers?
They make their insidious product look good as candy, offer it
seductively with promises too good to be true, and quickly entrap the naïve
and unwary. See any parallels with a Medicaid planner who
promises government-funded LTC to clients and windfall profits to
insurance agents without disclosing the myriad downsides of Medicaid
long-term care? What if the
attorney advertises his firm as "The Teddy Bear Lawyers" and
offers a 1000 percent guarantee, at least $10 back for every $1 you
spend with him? Here's
the story: Two
weeks ago, Center member Rick DiLaurenzo, QFP, ChFC, LTCP, CASL,
President of Insurance Marketing, Inc. in Montgomeryville, PA, forwarded
to me an email invitation he'd received for a "Medicaid Planning
Update" webinar. I
decided to check it out. You
can too. The program is
archived online and I'll tell you where, but first here's a summary of
the 45-minute infomercial for self-impoverishment. An
insurance agent who seeks to sell "Medicaid qualifying
annuities" introduces a Medicaid planner who is a member of the
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.
NAELA is the Medicaid planners' national trade association. The
lawyer laments how awful it is that government welfare programs attempt
to require people with income and assets to pay something toward their
own long-term care before going on the dole.
So cruel! So
uncaring! He
then explains how a Medicaid Qualifying Annuity (MQA) can make huge
amounts of otherwise countable assets disappear and qualify someone for
public assistance immediately. He
gives an example involving $387,000, much of which would have to be
spent for long-term care except for the sweet deal he's promoting. Graphically
he shows Superman changing clothes, but with a big "MQA" on
his super-suit, instead of the man of steel's trademark "S." So,
is a single-premium annuity a good investment for clients? Heavens no, the lawyer says.
It's a lousy investment and pays very little return.
But it's a great investment, he says, compared to spending your
money privately for long-term care. And
then to insurance agents: want
to sell these magical Medicaid qualifying annuities, get lots of free
referrals from attorneys, and double or triple your commissions? This lawyer has his very own "private label" MQA.
Just come to his training sessions and you could enjoy this easy
income too by promoting annuities that put middle class people on public
welfare. All
this and not a word in the whole program about the access and quality
problems associated with Medicaid, the institutional bias, the loss of
independence and control. And
of course, not a hint of civic responsibility toward preserving Medicaid
as a safety net for the truly needy.
Just quick and easy ways to profiteer on the public assistance
system and divert its scarce resources to affluent clients and
"professionals" of dubious ethics. That's
about it. If you need to
see this webinar to believe it, go here,
register, and watch the archived webinar. If
you still want more, check out this NAELA lawyer's website at http://www.lawelderlaw.com/.
Here are some examples, extracted from the site on May 28, 2007,
of what you'll find there: "We
know the legal rules to help qualify a loved one for Medicaid and to
preserve the maximum amount permissible.
Many of our clients have been told by nursing home intake staff,
social workers, Medicaid workers, and others that they do not qualify
for Medicaid. Nonetheless,
we regularly save our clients between $100,000 and $500,000 of their
life savings." "The
1000% Guarantee: We
guarantee that our advice to you will result in a measurable financial
and/or care benefit of at least $10 for every $1.00 invested - That's a
1000% Return. If we are
unable to present you with a solution that provides you with $10 of
benefits for every $1.00 invested, we will immediately return your
check!" "Never,
ever file a Medicaid application until you are sure that the Medicaid
applicant qualifies! "Once
you apply for Medicaid, you will lose the opportunity to protect your
assets. Do not throw away
the flexibility that exists prior to an application! If your assets show that you have more than the allowable
amount, you will be required to spend-down those assets. Call us first before completing any Medicaid application!
We can tell you within hours and sometimes minutes whether or not
we can save you money. You will lose money and flexibility if you file
for Medicaid too soon or too late.
Let us calculate the exact date that the Medicaid application
should be submitted. We can
usually determine the amount of money that you will save and the
appropriate date that the Medicaid application should be filed. . . . "We
will detail all of the strategies that our clients have used to qualify
for governmental benefits while safeguarding assets. . . . "We
will represent you through the application and all face-to-face meetings
with Medicaid caseworkers or higher-level officials." LTC Comment: How can responsible senior financial advisors compete with that kind of shysterism? Can NAELA claim professional respectability with such members? Make no mistake. These are the people making easy money off long-term care even as insurers and LTC providers take all the media criticism. It isn't fair and the real professionals in the LTC field should rise in protest every time they see this kind of "dope" being peddled. |