RELEASE ON RECEIPT - April 10, 2006

Hot New Profit Booster for Area Organizations: Long Term Care Insurance

Guidebook Available from LTC Financial Partners of Felton

Felton, CA, April 10 -- For working Americans and their employers, caring for an incapacitated parent or spouse can be expensive. "It's costing an estimated $659,000 over the lifetime of each and every employee," says Barbara Hanson, Partner of LTC Financial Partners, publisher of a new guidebook on the subject. That figure includes time spent away from work caring for family members, lost wages, and lost contributions to Social Security and pensions. In addition, companies suffer from reduced productivity as employees worry about their loved one or rush off to handle emergencies. Talent pools drain as a firm's most seasoned people leave to become full-time caregivers.

"Caregiving and productive work just don't mix," says Hanson. "But who says performance needs to suffer just because an employee's family member needs help?" The answer, says Hanson, is long term care insurance, "so money is available to pay someone else to tend the loved one." Hanson's guide, Long Term Care Insurance at the Workplace: An Overview, was produced to help employers quickly learn the advantages of offering long term care protection to some or all of their people.The 16-page guide gives illuminating facts, including --

• Home health care currently costs $66,000 per year on average, beyond the means of most uninsured workers. When uninsured workers assume elder care responsibilities, it costs the employer $3,412 per employee per year in lost productivity.
• More than 37 percent of U.S. workers are more concerned with caring for a parent than a child.

After documenting the problem, the guide outlines a simple process for offering long term care insurance to employees, utilizing free advisory services available to owners, executives, and human resource managers. The guide also gives the bottom-line benefits of doing so, including –

• Increased productivity, higher morale, lower turnover and absenteeism, and reduced employee stress. Deductibility of premiums as a business expense for the company.
• Grateful employees when they learn that policies are portable and available to spouses and family members at a discount (subject to health screening).

Providing a multi-life long term care solution works for organizations of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to giant corporations. Copies of the guidebook may be requested, free of charge, by calling 831-335-4949.

Barbara Hanson has specialized in long term care insurance since 1995 and earned the respected status of Master Agent Emeritus from one of the largest long term care insurance carriers in the industry. Today, as an independent agent representing all major carriers, she is ideally positioned to help individuals, families, and businesses design customized long term care strategies to fit their budget. She has served her community as an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and is a major supporter of her local Alzheimer’s Association. Having had extensive personal experience with long term care in her previous career as an activity director in long term care facilities as well as in her own family, Hanson understands the challenges people face when a friend or family member needs help to stay home safely. She has helped over 1,000 families plan for the potentially devastating financial risk associated with long term health care problems. Barbara shares her expertise through public seminars, guest media appearances, corporate education, and individual consultations.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Barbara Hanson of LTC Financial Partners - 831-335-4949 - www.eranova.com/LTCFP-BarbaraHanson
Jonas Roeser of LTC Financial Partners - 425-284-4863
Dick Samson of EraNova Institute for LTC Financial Partners - 973-335-3699 – media@eranova.comLTC Financial Partners LLC - Felton, CA

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Photo of Barbara Hanson: