Turn Long-Term Care Avoidance Into Growth and Loyalty

• August 25, 2025

By Don Connelly

Most Americans don’t want to talk about long-term care (LTC) planning and many advisors and agents don’t want to bring it up either. I call this “Long-Term Care Talk Avoidance Syndrome.” It’s a market-wide blind spot that, for independent agents, is a golden opportunity.

The reluctance is both real and concerning.  Recent research also shows a short-sighted attitude regarding long-term care services. While 70% of retirement-age Americans will need ongoing care at some point, merely 14% of retirees are very confident they’ll be able to afford it. Further, our country’s health is bleak, having the lowest life expectancy among high-income countries. 

Further, the national median annual rate for assisted living is $70,800, with $111,325 for a semi-private nursing home room and $127,750 for a private room, according to the Genworth “2024 Cost of Care Survey.” All these costs are trending upward, yet most people underestimate them by half.

Clients dodge the conversation because it’s uncomfortable. Agents avoid it because they fear upsetting the client, they don’t want to derail a positive meeting or they aren’t confident in their LTC product knowledge.

That’s where the gap lies. One that independent agents are in the perfect position to fill.

They have freedom from corporate scripts, the ability to shop multiple carriers and the flexibility to design custom-fit solutions. Selling LTC coverage isn’t about pushing a policy; it’s about delivering emotional security and the peace of mind that comes from knowing a care event won’t cause chaos.

When there’s no plan in place, care decisions are made in a crisis. Families may argue, and assets may have to be liquidated at the wrong time. Choices are limited by what’s affordable, not by what’s best. Agents can guide clients through LTC planning, helping them keep control of their care, their assets and their dignity. That level of leadership builds relationships that no price comparison can touch.

Agents should integrate LTC planning into their standard process, rather than treating it as a “special topic” that is only addressed when the timing is right. By making it a standard agenda item in an annual or semiannual review, agents remove the awkwardness and send a powerful message: This is essential planning, not optional add-on coverage.

Here are four tips agents can use when selling LTC to clients:

1) Use stories and analogies. Statistics and stories persuade people to act. Share the success stories of families who had a plan and were prepared for an LTC event. Share cautionary tales about families who were not prepared—who had to sell investments in a down market, argue about care choices and become mired in panic and stress.

Stories and analogies keep it simple because clients freeze when they feel overwhelmed by too many choices.

2) Customize solutions. Agents should narrow the choices down to one or two well-matched solutions and link those solutions back to the emotional benefits: choice, dignity and family harmony.

Yet, even when agents keep it simple and tie everything to emotional benefits, some clients will still hesitate. That’s not resistance to you. It’s human nature.

3) Be prepared for objections. One common objection agents might hear from clients is, “We’re too young to think about that.” Explain that LTC coverage is cheapest and easiest to secure before health issues arise and that they are not buying it for today; they’re buying it for the person they’ll be in 20 or 30 years.

Agents may also hear, “My kids will take care of me.” That may be true, but wouldn’t you rather give them the choice instead of the obligation?

“It’s too expensive.” Compared to what? The annual cost of a nursing home often exceeds $100,000, and those dollars have to come from somewhere.

4) Offer a variety of products. Hybrid products, such as life insurance or annuities with LTC riders, overcome the “use it or lose it” objection by delivering value whether or not care is needed.

Independent agents who make LTC planning a normal part of client discussions aren’t just providing a service, they’re building a growth engine. When you step into a space most competitors avoid, you position yourself as both a problem-solver and a long-term partner. It’s about asking the questions your competitors are afraid to ask and, in doing so, becoming the trusted advisor clients never want to replace.

When you make LTC planning part of your client relationships, you’re not just protecting assets, you’re giving people the peace of mind that their future, and their family’s future, is secure. That emotional security changes everything.

You create staying power, too. Clients who feel you’ve safeguarded their independence and lifted a future burden from their loved ones don’t see you as interchangeable with the agent down the street. You become their long-term partner in keeping life stable.

Also, LTC discussions often leads clients to say, “What else should we be thinking about?” That opens the door to broader reviews of life, disability, Medicare supplement, and retirement strategies.

Don Connelly, CEO and co-founder of Don Connelly & Associates, is a speaker, motivator and educator for financial professionals with more than 50 years in the business in various positions.