Need a quote on LTC insurance?  Used to be that the only way for a consumer to get premium numbers was to contact an insurance agent.  And while it is true that a consumer still needs to buy LTC Insurance from a licensed agent, their ability to find what premium rates is getting easier to occur on-line.

LTC premiums are filed with the state departments of insurance, so it is not like the information is secret.  In fact, here are three types of organizations getting the information out:

Government: Some states, such as Texas, require carriers to provide information on their most popular plans and publish premium rates.  Here is a link to their site with rates

Distributors: It is fairly easy to find on-line premium rates for all types of insurance, from auto, home, life and health insurance.  Some direct to consumer online insurance agencies also have LTC rates available, and this trend will continue.

Carriers: Carriers use their websites as a consumer resource and a way to drive consumer leads to distributors.  For example, John Hancock has a consumer premium estimator (see below).  You can test drive it here.

If consumers can run their own quotes, what do they need agents or brokerage general agents for?  The fact is they will need them less for left brain straight knowledge and more for the emotional decision to engage in planning and verification that they are doing the right thing.  Here's a great article on how information available on the internet is changing the world of financial advice.  To show how small the world is, it's written by an advisor in the Netherlands but the issues affect all financial advisors.

What do you think?  How will the ability for consumers to run quotes change an advisors business.