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Securian SecureCare Review- Cash Indemnity Hybrid Long Term Care Insurance

by Jack Lenenberg

Securian Minnesota Life Secure Care Hybrid Long Term Care Insurance

Securian SecureCare Long Term Care Insurance Review and Rating (Minnesota Life)

Updated March 8, 2022

Application Deadline March 25th, 2022 --- Save 20-35%

A terrific hybrid combination life and long term care insurance policy just got better.

Minnesota Life, a subsidiary of Securian Financial, has launched an enhanced version of SecureCare, a combination life and long term care policy that will protect your assets should you have a long term care event.   

Now, Securian SecureCare pays out 100% cash indemnity benefits.

SecureCare is one of the new breed of hybrid long term care policies that allow you to use your policy up to three ways.

1. If You Need Long Term Care - You Receive Tax-Free Long Term Care Benefits

2. If You Pass Away - Your Beneficiaries Receive Tax-Free Death Benefits

3. If You Want Your Money Back - You Receive Your Cash Surrender Value

Not only do you receive benefits whether you "Live, Die or Quit" but also you receive fixed guaranteed premiums.

Unlike with the non-guaranteed premiums inherent within traditional LTC policies, your SecureCare premiums can not be increased by Securian Financial/Minnesota Life.

So, what makes SecureCare different and better?  SecureCare is now a 100% Cash Indemnity policy.  The submission of receipts are no longer required by Securian/Minnesota Life.

Minnesota Life Secure Care Cash Indemnity SecurianSecurian SecureCare Cash Indemnity Hybrid Long Term Care Policy - The Ultimate Flexibility

Most long term care insurance policies are reimbursement models.  With reimbursement policies you are required to submit your receipts to your insurance company to evidence your out-of-pocket expenses for qualified care.  The insurance company will subsequently reimburse you for your qualified expenses under your policy contract.

Securian SecureCare is different.  It is simple.  It is flexible.  Cash is King.

With cash indemnity long term care policies you do not have to save and submit your receipts and justify your costs.  You may spend your long term care insurance monthly benefit amount however you want, without restrictions or limitations.

Your benefits may be used for all settings and a wide variety of support situations including Home Healthcare, Assisted Living, Adult Day Care, Hospice, Nursing Home Care, Home Modifications, Caregiver Training.  So long as you are determined to be chronically ill you will have access to 100% of your monthly long term care benefit without receipts.

This flexibility with SecureCare will allow you to spend your benefit dollars in the manner your prefer such as on informal home caregivers, or to pay for other ancillary care expenses like housekeeping, transportation, medication or home maintenance needs.

Securian/Minnesota Life SecureCare Long Term Care Insurance - How Does It Work?

So, how is SecureCare designed?

SecureCare is designed like most long term care insurance policies.  You select an initial monthly long term care benefit amount, a benefit period, and optional inflation protection. (Or you can reverse engineer your benefits through the election of a fixed premium deposit)

LTC Benefit Period Options:  2-7 years

Represents a combination of the Acceleration for Long-Term Care Agreement and the Extension of Long-Term Care Benefits Agreement.

Your benefit period is comprised of two components:

Acceleration For LTC Agreement: 2 or 3 Years

Receive a monthly acceleration of your life insurance benefit for either 2 or 3 years.

Extension of LTC Benefits Agreement 2 or 4 years

Add the optional Extension for Long-Term Care  Benefits Agreement which increases your benefit payments for 2 or 4 years, extending your total benefits up to a maximum of 7 years.

Your benefit period could be longer should you request less monthly benefit than 100% of your available amount.

Inflation Protection Options

Increases your monthly LTC benefit and Total Benefit Amount as a set percentage annually.

3% simple, 3% compound, 5% simple, 5% compound

Return of Premium Vesting Schedule

Year 1: 80%

Year 2: 84%

Year 3: 88%

Year 4: 92%

Year 5: 96%

Years 6+ 100%

Elimination Period

90 Calendar Days; 0 days Home Modifications and Caregiver Training.

Guaranteed Residual Death Benefit

10% of the base face amount or $10,000 whichever is less.

Payment Options

Single Pay - Pay your entire payment upfront; or

Multi-Pay - Pay for your policy in fixed equal payments over 5, 7, 10 or 15 years

Minnesota Life Insurance Financial ratings

A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best

AA (Very Strong) from Fitch

Aa3 (Excellent) from Moody's

A+ (Strong) from Standard & Poor's

Securian/Minnesota Life SecureCare Long Term Care Benefits Comparison

If you are like most of my clients, undoubtedly you will want to know:

"What is the best long term care insurance policy for my money?"

This is a fair question to ask.

Today, there are a half-dozen or so hybrid long term care insurance policies available in the marketplace. 

Other available policies are Lincoln Moneyguard II, Pacific Life Premier Care, OneAmerica Asset Care, Nationwide CareMatters, Mass Mutual CareChoice One and New York Life Asset Flex.  

Of these hybrid linked-benefit policies, 100% cash indemnity benefits are also available through only one additional linked-benefit policy, Nationwide CareMatters II.

Pacific Life Premier Care will also offer an indemnity option at claim time, however with Pacific Life PremierCare your indemnity benefit is 80% not 100%.  And your decision to opt for indemnity with Pacific Life is irrevocable.  So, you might forfeit 20% of your long term care insurance benefits forever with Pacific Life.

The remaining policies available through Lincoln, OneAmerica, New York Life and Mass Mutual are all reimbursement models.

The OneAmerica Asset Care policy is a terrific policy, however Asset Care is generally priced best as a joint life policy, and Asset Care offers Unlimited Lifetime benefits neither of which Securian SecureCare can compete with.  

So, for the purpose of comparing the Securian SecureCare pricing let's compare four linked-benefit LTC policies, all available as individually issued policies:

Lincoln Moneyguard II, Pacific Life PremierCare Max, Nationwide Care Matters II and Securian/Minnesota Life SecureCare.

Let's look at 60 year old male and female pricing with Couples Discounts.  $100,000 Single Pay Premium each.  6 year benefit periods each.

6 year benefit periods is generally a sweet spot for pricing with these policies.

Male, Age 60, $100,000, Single Pay Premium
Age 60 Age 80 Age 80 Pool
Securian 5% comp. $3468 $9254 $755,306
Lincoln 3% comp. $4820 $8706 $675,778
Pacific 5% comp $3068 $8142 $664,599
Nationwide 5% comp $3509 $9309 $759,844
Securian 3% comp. $4813 $8692 $674,705
Nationwide 3% comp. $4654 $8406 $652,445

In reviewing the benefits above for 60 year old men, you can see the monthly long term care benefits are very close at age 80 with policies through Nationwide and Securian.  

With Nationwide and with Securian, men can maximize their long term care benefits with the election of 5% compound inflation protection.

Lincoln will not offer the 5% compound inflation option with the 6 year multiplier.  Pacific Life is also not competitive.

Of these policies we have the following:

Payout Type

Securian SecureCare is 100% cash indemnity 

Nationwide CareMatters II is 100% cash indemnity

Pacific Life Premier Care Max is 100% reimbursement, or 80% indemnity; this is an irrevocable decision at claim time; 

Lincoln Moneyguard II is 100% reimbursement only

Return of Premium Vesting Schedule

Securian SecureCare has 100% vesting Return of Premium after 5 years 

Pacific Life Premier Care Max has 70% ROP for initial 15 years; 100% vesting Return of Premium after 15 years

Lincoln Moneyguard has 70% Return of Premium all years

Nationwide is a graded ROP schedule, but is the biggest penalty

Elimination Period

Securian SecureCare has a 90 Calendar Days Elimination Period

Pacific Life Premier Care has a 90 Calendar Days Elimination Period applicable to Assisted Living and Nursing Facilities

Lincoln Moneyguard has a 0 Day Elimination Period

Nationwide will retroactively refund to you your benefits after satisfying the 90 day elimination period.

So, in analyzing the benefits above you will conclude either the Secure Care policy through Securian or the Nationwide CareMatters II policy will look very attractive for you especially with the simplicity and the flexibility the cash indemnity benefits these two policies offer you when you have to make your claim.

Here are the illustrations for the above companies.

Securian Male age 60 illustration 3% Compound

Securian Male Age 60 illustration 5% Compound

Lincoln Male age 60 illustration 3% Compound

Pacific Life Male age 60 illustration 5% Compound

Nationwide Male age 60 illustration 5% compound

Now let's take a look at the numbers for a 60 year old female. $100,000 premium, 6 year benefit periods each

Female, Age 60, $100,000 Single Pay premium
Age 60 Age 80 Age 80 Pool
Securian 3% compound $4266 $7705 $598,049
Lincoln 3% compound $4060 $7332 $569,147
Pacific 5% simple $2705 $5411 $413,986
Nationwide 3% comp $4055 $7324 $568,501

The numbers for 60 year old married female applicants are best with Securian.

Nationwide and Lincoln are respectable, too.  Securian and Nationwide once again have the most flexibility within their policies, so either one of these two policies are fine, with Securian slightly better.  The policy for women to utterly avoid is Pacific Life.

Here are the female age 60 illustrations for the 4 companies.

Securian age 60 Female illustration

Lincoln age 60 female illustration

Pacific Life age Female illustration

Nationwide Female age 60 illustration

Securian/Minnesota Life SecureCare Conclusions

In what is starting to become a fairly commoditized product, hybrid long term care insurance benefits and pricing are beginning to highly converge.

To distinguish its product offerings from the vanilla masses, it is important and critical for an insurance company to set itself apart and to offer you something valuable, something better, something unique for your money.

We see something unique being offered with the OneAmerica Asset Care policy which offers you Lifetime Unlimited benefit periods, and also makes available joint coverage for 2 insureds as well.  The OneAmerica Asset Care policy is one prime example of a difference maker.

Now we have a second hybrid long term care insurance policy that is willing to offer you something different and better than what has become the norm.

This Securian SecureCare policy is priced excellent for the cash indemnity benefits it offers you.

The SecureCare policy is currently priced in-line or much better than the reimbursement Lincoln Moneyguard and Pacific Life Premier Care Max policies, yet you are not required to submit receipts to receive your policy benefits by Securian/Minnesota Life.  This is important flexibility for you at claim time, particularly should you want informal care to be provided to you by your friends or family members, or should you want the flexibility of using your benefits however you wish.  If you are seeking an individual hybrid long term care policy this Securian SecureCare policy should be high on your list of long term care insurance policies to consider.

Price Change Announced - March 25, 2002 - Application Deadline Save 20%-35%

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