Lincoln Moneyguard is the original hybrid based long term care insurance policy, first introduced into the marketplace in 1987. Followed shortly thereafter in 1989 by the OneAmerica Asset Care policy, Lincoln Moneyguard has been at the forefront of long term care insurance underwriting for 36 years.  

Hybrid long term care policies (aka asset-based) differ from stand-alone long term care insurance in that the hybrid policy includes a cash value asset, whether it is a paid up life insurance benefit or a cash value annuity. The traditional stand-alone LTC insurance policies have no cash value at all ( similar to your health insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance policies)

I receive a lot of phone calls from consumers asking about these "new" hybrid long term care policies that they have heard about which are different than the stand-alone policies their parents purchased and everyone is surprised to learn that these hybrid policies have actually existed for 3 1/2 decades. 

Lincoln Moneyguard - A Smarter Way To Self Insure

I always liked this tagline.  "A Smarter Way To Self Insure." 

20 years ago this is how Lincoln Financial Group positioned Moneyguard within the long term care insurance marketplace.

If you are like most people, it is likely you have savings set aside for emergencies, such as long term care expenses.With asset-based long term care policies such as Lincoln Moneyguard you are using a portion of your savings to purchase the Moneyguard policy which immediately increases the protection for the rest of your portfolio.

Your policy remains an asset in your portfolio (the value of your life insurance benefit) and it offers you benefits whether you "Live, Die or Quit:"

1. Inflation adjusted long term care benefits: if you need care, your policy will provide tax free reimbursements for LTC expenses
2. An income tax free death benefit: if you die, your policy will provide a tax free death benefit to your beneficiaries
3. A return of premium: if you change your mind you will receive a portion of your premium paid returned to you

It is interesting to see the evolution of the long term care insurance arena over the past 25 years. In 2000, traditional LTC policies were viewed as "insurance" while the hybrid policies were viewed as a smart alternative to consider for self-insuring the risk. Today, the hybrid policies are now simply viewed as "long term care insurance," and generally speaking the policies are preferred by most consumers today for the guarantees the policies provide.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - Continuing The Moneyguard Legacy

Lincoln Moneyguard has evolved throughout its many iterations over the years.  We have had Lincoln Moneyguard, Lincoln Moneyguard Reserve, Lincoln Moneyguard Reserve Plus, Lincoln Moneyguard II, Lincoln Moneyguard III and now we have Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage. With these policy series changes, Lincoln will add a bell here, and a whistle there, and of course Lincoln Financial Group use the new policy series to introduce current pricing to reflect where Lincoln wants to position Moneyguard comfortably within the marketplace.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage is no different.

The core policy looks essentially just like Lincoln Moneyguard III, the policy it replaced.

Moneyguard is easily identifiable, almost a cookie cutter policy with how most financial advisors will design your benefits.  

Generally speaking, the preferred design with the majority of Lincoln Moneyguard policies over the years has been 6 years of long term care benefits, with automatic compound inflation protection. Lincoln Moneyguard policies are also known for their 0 day elimination periods to give you access to your benefits sooner without incurring out-of-pocket costs once qualified.

Let's take a closer look at long term care planning and how an insurance policy such as Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage can benefit you.

Long Term Care Planning - Preparing For The Unexpected

We are all growing older and we understand that one day we will pass away, hopefully years into the future. How long we may live is our life span.  But what about your health span?  Will you always be healthy or will there come a time when an unexpected change in your health occurs and will you be prepared for it? Understanding the difference between life span and health span is critical to effective long term care planning.

My family is presently going through this with my 82 year old mother-in-law, Anita.  

Beginning last August, Anita's physical and cognitive health started to rapidly decline due to multiple hospital procedures and rehabilitation. My wife and my sister-in-law have taken turns traveling to Florida to be with their mom during her medical procedures but we have had to hire a home care agency for her care because my wife and my sister-in-law could not be in South Florida full-time.  The home care costs through the agency we are using are $26.00 hour.

This month we toured assisted living facilities in my town of Alpharetta, GA and Anita has gone through the assessment to be admitted as a resident. The monthly costs for the assisted living facility we selected will be approximately $8800 month.  The costs for her room and board for the 1 bedroom is $6450 month, and there are additional costs for her level of care needs determined by her assessment to bring the costs to $8800 month. Fortunately, Anita planned well and bought a long term care policy 20 years ago so her assisted living costs of $108,000 year will be covered by her policy.  

Anita's policy has been invaluable for our family while we have had to make difficult emotional and financial decisions on her behalf.

When planning for an unexpected care event, owning a long term care policy such as Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage will provide you with the flexibility to meet your future health care needs while helping your family and loved ones to be prepared to make these decisions on your behalf.

Let's take a closer look at Lincoln Moneyguard and how the policy can benefit you.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - What is It?

Moneyguard Fixed Advantage is a universal life insurance policy with a long term care benefits rider (LTCBR) that accelerates your specified amount of life insurance to you to pay for covered long term care expenses and continues long term care benefits to you after the entire life insurance specified amount has been paid.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - What's Covered?

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage is a comprehensive flexible policy that will cover your care needs in a variety of settings:

In-Home Care - if you are like most people you will probably prefer to have assistance in your home for as long as possible.

Assisted Living - if you reach the stage of life where you choose to downsize or you can not stay at home any more, and you prefer a social atmosphere.

Nursing Home - If you need round-the-clock skilled care services.

Adult Day Care - If your primary caregiver needs a break for a few hours.

Alternative Care Services - Caregiving options and services not specifically mentioned in your Moneyguard policy or options that may evolve in the future, if cost effective and in your Plan of Care

Flex Care Cash - Access cash 7 days a week to compensate caregivers, including family or spouses; limited to 50% of your monthly reimbursement amount, and only up to the specified amount of your death benefit limit. Must either elect the 50% cash or the 100% reimbursement option on each day, but can not use both.

Other Care Services - Bed reservation 30 days per calendar year, caregiver training $500 maximum, respite care of 21 days per calendar year, hospice care, concierge care coordination.

International Coverage - 36 months maximum, and only if you are confined to a nursing home or assisted living.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - What's New?

Lincoln has added one new benefit to the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy not previously available on Lincoln Moneyguard policies.

The Fixed Advantage policy now includes a Benefit Transfer Rider which allows two policyholders listed as each other's beneficiaries to have flexibility to use the death proceeds to enhance their in-force Moneyguard coverage.

This Benefit Transfer Rider is included at no cost and will allow any beneficiaries listed in Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policies that also own Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage coverage to increase their Total Long Term Care Benefits on their policy rather than taking some or all of the death benefit.  Your monthly benefit available will not increase however if you elect to transfer the death benefit to your policy.

So, for example your spouse and yourself each buy Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policies and your spouse dies.  You could elect not to take your spouse's death benefit and add LTC coverage to your Lincoln Moneyguard policy.  For example, if you bought 6 years of LTC benefits, by not taking your spouse's death benefit and adding coverage on the back end of your policy you may now receive 7 1/2 years of LTC benefits.

I think it's an interesting idea, but I absolutely would have preferred if Lincoln would have enhanced your Monthly LTC benefit as well.

I suppose that is the Gotcha!  By transferring the death benefit to the backend of your policy for extended LTC benefits, you are losing the control and flexibility of using your spouse's death benefit for your potential monthly care needs at the front end of your potential future claim (Years 1-6), while also forgoing possible investment growth of the life insurance benefit.

I hope for Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage II, Lincoln rethinks this Benefit Transfer Rider and enhances your monthly LTC benefit too, if you elect to exercise the Benefit Transfer.

But what can we expect for a no-cost rider! :)

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - How Do You Qualify For Benefits?

Qualifying for benefits is an easy process with Lincoln Moneyguard.  When you contact Lincoln's claims department to file a claim, Lincoln will request an assessment to be completed by a licensed healthcare practitioner to determine your benefit eligibility. Your doctor may perform the assessment, or Lincoln may provide the assessor to you at no cost.

Your assessor will need to certify that you are chronically ill.

There are two ways that you may be determined to be chronically ill.

1) You are unable to perform at least 2 activities of daily living for a period of at least 90 days without assistance from another individual.

The 6 activities of daily living are bathing, eating, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence

or

2) You have a severe cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's or dementia and you require substantial supervision to protect you from threats to your safety and health.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - How Do You Get Approved For Coverage

The Lincoln Moneyguard application has a very easy streamlined underwriting process to get approved for your policy. Unlike traditional life insurance applications, there are no exams or bloodwork/urine samples required.

The one general requirement is a health interview which you may complete by phone or electronically; and a cognitive screening to test your short term memory recall. Medical records are generally not ordered.  Underwriting decisions are generally made after reviewing your health interview, cognitive screening results and your prescription drug report.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - How Do You Buy The Coverage

Lincoln Moneyguard, like all hybrid long term care insurance policies, guarantees your premium payments will remain fixed and will not increase over time.

Unlike traditional long term care insurance policies which do not guarantee your premiums, and may increase the cost of your plan, Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage and all hybrid long term care policies provide you with fully guaranteed premiums.

You may fund your Lincoln Moneyguard policy with either a single upfront premium payment or with a scheduled premium over a set number of years, 10 years or less.  Single premium payments will be your least expensive solution from a premium outlay perspective.  The longer you stretch out your premium payments, the higher your overall cost of your policy will be.

Lincoln Moneyguard will only accept cash payments as well as tax-free 1035 exchanges of life insurance cash value.

IRA and 401(k) rollovers are not accepted by Lincoln Moneyguard.  If you need to use qualified retirement money to fund your long term care plan, you will have to look at a different underwriter such as OneAmerica Asset Care.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage - How Do You Design Your Plan?

There are 3 building blocks to all long term care insurance policies:

1. Monthly benefit - the amount of money your policy provides for you each month, whether you are at home, in assisted living, or in a nursing facility
2. Benefit period - the minimum number of years your policy will provide your coverage to you once you become chronically ill and make a claim
3. Inflation protection - do you want your monthly long term care benefits to grow to attempt to keep up with increasing healthcare costs

Long term care insurance is simply how much coverage do you want your policy to provide to you for your caregiving expenses on a monthly basis, and for how long?  And do you want to grow your monthly LTC benefit, or not, to keep up with healthcare inflation?

Lincoln Moneyguard will offer you the following parameters to design your benefits:

1. Specified amount of life insurance: $50,000 - $500,000
2. Initial Monthly LTC Benefit: $2083 month - ~$20,000 month
3. Benefit Period: 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 6 Years
4. Inflation Protection: None, 3% compound, 5% compound

You should think about the cost of care in your area, and review your current savings & investments, and income.  Think about the amount of money you would feel comfortable outlaying each and every month for caregiving, and the amount of insurance money you would want or need to help you to take the sting out of your caregiving costs.

For example, we are spending $8800 month for assisted living room and board and care costs for my mother-in-law.  Now, she also has $1800 month in social security income. If my mother-in-law was much younger and healthy and just starting to look into coverage today, maybe we would coordinate her social security income into our planning, and target an initial benefit of $7000 month today, with an inflation factor.  Or, if we were comfortable with paying for some of the costs of her care from investments, maybe we would target $5000 or $6000 month with an inflation factor.

There are no right or wrong answers here.

You should think about the current cost of care where you live, and examine your liquid resources and decide upon how much monthly insurance coverage you do want to have in today's dollars, and in future dollars.  What you do not buy in insurance benefits, you will simply pay for out-of-pocket.

Or, you may ultimately approach your planning from the opposite perspective.

You can reverse engineer your long term care insurance benefits.  Many of my clients approach their planning from this perspective.

You may have an idea as to the amount of money you want to contribute comfortably into your policy, and you just want to see what amount of long term care coverage this amount of money will provide for you.

So, whichever direction that you use to arrive at your plan will be fine, but you need to understand that you will have the ability to customize your benefits for your needs.  And you should design your policy benefits to meet your objectives and needs.

Should You Buy Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage?

So, let's take a closer look at a few common policy designs with Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage and see how this long term care policy might compare for you with alternative hybrid long term care policies that you will have available to consider today.

A few quick notes about the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy before we delve into these comparisons.

There are long term care insurance policies that provide you with a limited benefit period for long term care and there are long term care policies that provide you with Unlimited (Lifetime) benefit periods for long term care.

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage will provide you with a Limited benefit period, only up to 6 years.

Alternative long term care policies will provide you with longer benefit periods as options.

OneAmerica will provide you with Lifetime Unlimited benefit periods

Securian will provide you with up to 8 year benefit periods

Nationwide will provide you with up to 7 year benefit periods.

For the purposes of these policy benefits comparisons, I will use illustrations for current pricing with 6 year benefit periods with Lincoln, Nationwide and Securian.

A second point for you to be aware of.  Long term care insurance policies may either be reimbursement models or cash indemnity models.

The Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy is primary a reimbursement policy >  receipts for qualified care expenses must be submitted for you to receive 100% of your policy benefits.  Lincoln does have a partial cash indemnity benefit blended into its policy, but it is limited.  You may receive 50% of your LTC benefits in cash in lieu of 100% of your reimbursable LTC benefits, and only up to exhaustion of your specified amount of life insurance.  Once your life insurance has been paid out, only reimbursement benefits are available through Lincoln Fixed Advantage.

The alternative limited benefit period policies we will be comparing the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy to (Nationwide CareMatters II and Securian SecureCare III) are each 100% cash indemnity policies.  Receipts will never be required to be submitted by you to receive your entire benefits with either of the Nationwide or the Securian cash indemnity policies.

So you will want to keep these distinctions in mind as we examine the numbers.

Like Lincoln Moneyguard, the OneAmerica Asset Care policy is also reimbursement.  However, since OneAmerica Asset Care will be an unlimited benefit policy as best designed, I will leave it off of these comparisons to not throw the orange into the bowl of apples.

To help you to see the benefits of hybrid long term care insurance policies, and to see how Lincoln Moneyguard currently compares, let's examine the benefits you will currently receive for a fixed amount of premium.

Let's look at a few funding options, Single Pay of $100,000 or a 10 Pay of $10,000 annually for 10 years.

Let's also look at a few different ages, 55 year olds and 65 year olds.  Male and Female rates.

I will include Couples Discounts with all policies. The couples discounts are available for all applicants in a relationship.  You do not have to buy two policies to receive the Couples Discount.  You just need to be a married or partnered applicant.

This range should give you an idea as to the benefits you will receive with (3) of the leading underwriters today, and will help you to see the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage value proposition within the marketplace today.

Married male age 55, Single Premium $100,000, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

In reviewing the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage benefits above for a 55 year old married male, you will see that if you make as single premium deposit today, you will obtain a long term care monthly benefit of $5825 month with Lincoln Moneyguard.  Your inflation protection benefit of 3% compound annually will increase your benefits to $12,197 month when you are 80 years old.  Your long term care benefits will provide you with a total pool of money of $946,692 when you are age 80.  Your benefits will compound annually by 3% for life, even should you be on claim.

If you do not need care, your beneficiaries will receive a death benefit of $123,872, by the way.  I did not include the death benefits in the table above because generally speaking you will receive your premium back with most underwriters, sometimes a little more.  The life insurance benefit is not the main focus of these policies.

So, the value proposition is fairly good.  You can leverage a premium deposit of $100,000 with Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage into tax free benefits of $1,000,000 when you are 80 years old and possibly likely to need care.

If you do not need care, your beneficiary will receive your premium back, plus a little extra.

So, Lincoln's benefits seem very good, and are in line with the Nationwide CareMatters II benefits, also a very good policy.

What you will see however with the numbers above (and this will be a constant theme in the marketplace today for all genders and ages) is that the current pricing with the Securian SecureCare III policy is terrific.

For 55 year old married males, Securian will provide you with 25% more benefit for the same premium. 

Or, spun another way, the same monthly long term care benefit that Securian will provide for you will cost you 25% more premium with Lincoln. 

This is a big difference.

These numbers are for 6 year benefit periods which is the longest benefit period Lincoln offers.

Securian will actually offer you an 8 year benefit period with greater monthly benefits than the 6 year benefit period with Lincoln.

An 8 year benefit period with Securian will provide you $13,652 month at age 80 and total benefits of $1,456,801.  This is $500,000 more than Lincoln for the same $100,000 premium.

So, you would have a lot of room to play with to receive stronger coverage through Securian.

Additionally, Securian SecureCare III is a 100% cash indemnity policy while Lincoln is a reimbursement model with very limited cash available.  Thus with Securian, you will have greater flexibility for using your benefits.  You will not be required to submit any receipts with the Securian policy to receive your benefits.

Ordinarily, the Lincoln benefits would be attractive, and you can see its benefits are in line with Nationwide policy.

It is just that today both Lincoln and Nationwide have a problem in the marketplace, and its name is Securian.

You can see the numbers for alternative benefit periods within the following illustrations.

Securian SecureCare III illustration 

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage illustration

Nationwide CareMatters II illustration

Married female age 55, Single Premium $100,000, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

When we look at the numbers for 55 year old married females above, you will reach the same conclusion as with the numbers for the 55 year old married males.

If you are a 55 year old female, your initial application should be sent to Securian today.  your benefits will be 20% stronger, and you will receive more flexibility with the cash indemnity model that Securian offers.

Now, one advantage that the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy will have over the Securian SecureCare III policy is Lincoln will have a 0 day elimination period, while Securian does have a 90 day elimination period that will need to be satisfied.

That said, this benefit in the Lincoln Moneyguard policy would not be a reason for you to pay 20% more premium, and the 100% cash indemnity model Securian will provide you will also outweigh this feature of the Lincoln policy.

Here are the Single Pay illustrations for 55 year old females.

Securian Secure Care III illustration female age 55

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage illustration female age 55

Nationwide CareMatters II illustration female age 55

Let's see if anything changes when we move to the pricing for 65 year old applicants.

Married male age 65, Single Premium $100,000, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

Well, the gap does narrow a bit for 65 year old married males.

Lincoln is 10% less expensive than Nationwide, but 10% more expensive than Securian.

So, the answer for you if you are a married male age 65 will still be to start with Securian today.

Let's look at the 65 year old female single pay pricing.

Married female age 65, Single Premium $100,000, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

Whelp.  Lincoln is moving completely in the other direction for 65 year old females in relation to the Securian pricing.

Lincoln is 30% more expensive. Just a no brainer for you as a 65 year old female to start with Securian if you are looking for coverage and would like to fund your policy with a single pay.

The only other real viable Single Pay hybrid long term care insurance policy that you would want to consider today as an alternative to the Securian SecureCare III policy will be the OneAmerica Asset Care policy with Lifetime Unlimited LTC benefits.

As a 65 year old couple you could contribute a joint premium of $200,000 and you would each receive an Unlimited Lifetime long term care benefit of $7553 per month per person.

My mother-in-law Anita has a Lifetime benefit period with her policy. It is certainly comforting for us as a family to know that her Assisted Living charges will be covered for the rest of her life. I am not sure how we would feel today if her policy only provided 6 years of benefits. She is only 82.

Here is the OneAmerica Asset Care illustration that will provide you each with Lifetime Unlimited LTC benefits.

OneAmerica Asset Care Illustration 65 year old couple Lifetime LTC Coverage

This OneAmerica Asset Care joint policy will be your only option to consider other than the Securian SecureCare III policy today.

Now, let's review the premiums for funding your policy in installments, rather than as a single pay.

Your will note that as a general rule with most underwriters you will reduce your initial long term care benefits by 20% to spread your premiums out over 10 years, rather than funding your policy upfront with a single premium payment.

Married male age 55, 10 Pay Premium $10,000 annually, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

In reviewing the numbers above for the 10 Pay, Lincoln actually falls behind Nationwide too. Securian will still be your best option, though.

Here are your 55 year old male 10 pay illustrations to review.

Securian SecureCare III illustration 55 year old male

Lincoln Moneyguard illustration 55 year old male

Nationwide CareMatters II illustration 55 year old male

Married female age 55, 10 Pay Premium $10,000 annually, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

For 55 year old females, the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage 10 pay numbers are practically identical to the Nationwide 10 Pay numbers, but once again it is a Securian world today. 

Here are the illustrations.

Securian 10 Pay illustration 55 year old female

Lincoln 10 Pay illustration 55 year old female

Nationwide 10 pay illustration 55 year old female

Married male age 65, 10 Pay Premium $10,000 annually, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

For 10 Pay installment plans for 65 year old males, the numbers become closer with Lincoln and Securian, only about an 8% difference.

Securian is still the winner, but this is as close at it has been.

Here are the illustrations.

Securian  SecureCare III 10 Pay 65 year old male

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage 10 Pay 65 year old male

Nationwide CareMatters II 10 Pay, 65 year old male

Married female age 65, 10 Pay Premium $10,000 annually, 6 year benefit periods, 3% compound inflation protection

Once again, for female pricing you should just get on the plane to St. Paul, Minnesota and head straight to the Securian Financial home office. Or call me.

Until Lincoln and Nationwide react to Securian's current pricing, the decision for you is fairly clear cut today.

These pricing discrepancies do have a way of changing quickly though.

I would expect the actuaries at Lincoln and Nationwide to make changes at some point, although Lincoln and Nationwide each might be comfortable with their current distribution channels to elect to not chase the Securian pricing today.

Here are the 65 year old 10 Pay illustrations.

Securian SecureCare III 10 pay 65 year old female

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage 10 Pay 65 year old female

Nationwide CareMatters II 10 Pay 65 year old female

Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage Policy Summary

Lincoln Financial Group is a well established underwriter in the long term care arena.  It has underwritten its flagship Lincoln Moneyguard policy for over 35 years. It new policy series Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage certainly carries on the Moneyguard tradition. 

Generally speaking Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy is a good insurance value, but only in a vacuum.

Today, undoubtedly you will find better overall insurance values for your money.

Whether it is more benefit flexibility through the 100% cash indemnity policies (Securian, Nationwide, Brighthouse) that will not require you to submit any receipts for reimbursement, or much better pricing (Hello Securian!), or longer duration LTC benefit periods (OneAmerica > Unlimited Lifetime, Securian > 8 years) you will certainly have better options than the Lincoln Moneyguard Fixed Advantage policy today.

I will be pleased to help guide you through all of your long term care insurance policy options today so you can find your best value.

You may call me at (800) 891-5824 to receive personalized illustrations and to further discuss your needs. or if easier you may use the link below to schedule a call with me

I look forward to working together with you.

Jack Jenenberg, J.D.

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