Prudential Affinity Alliance Established to Deliver Long Term Care Insurance to the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prudential Financial, Inc.’s (NYSE:PRU) Group Insurance business announced today a groundbreaking marketing program to market Prudential’s Long-Term Care Insurance product to LGBT individuals. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the first LGBT organization that has agreed to participate in the program.

“Prudential and LTCR studied the needs of LGBT seniors and the service gaps in the market, and now, they are requiring that sales people understand and appreciate the lives, experiences and unanswered needs of these older lesbian and gay Americans.”

“Prudential has a solid record of sponsorship support to LGBT community organizations, including HRC. But we’re also committed to ensuring that the LGBT community’s unique long-term care needs and the various options available to them are understood,” said Eric Holtzman, vice president of Long-Term Care Insurance, Prudential. “We’re pleased to have worked with HRC in partnership with the Long-Term Care Resources – the nation’s leader in long-term care affinity insurance sales – to develop this program.”

Prudential worked closely with Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) to develop a specialized LGBT training program for Long-Term Care Resources (LTCR) sales representatives. The training is designed to help financial professionals understand cultural sensitivities and unique challenges facing the gay and lesbian community. Financial professionals affiliated with LTCR are required to complete the new mandatory training prior to working with HRC members.

“There are many unique issues that the LGBT community faces as we age. We are excited to see Prudential, a long time partner of the Human Rights Campaign, announcing a program to educate members of our community about options that could help ensure their financial security during their most vulnerable years,” said John Lake, corporate development director, Human Rights Campaign

“Having choices and protecting retirement assets and personal savings from long term care costs should be important to everyone, however, it may be especially significant for the LGBT community,” said Holtzman. “The reality is the LGBT community lacks the traditional support that married heterosexuals enjoy and as a result face a greater need for long-term care insurance. Our financial professional training program will allow us to deliver a planning experience sensitive to the specific needs of this community.”

According to the 2006 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute report entitled “Make Room for All: Diversity, Cultural Competency & Discrimination in an Aging America, nearly 90 percent of gay and lesbian seniors have no children to help them, while only 20 percent of heterosexual seniors are childless. The report also noted:

• Medicaid regulations protect the assets and homes of married spouses when the other spouse enters a nursing home or long-term care facility; no such protections are offered to same-sex partners:
• Social Security pays survivor benefits to widows and widowers, but not to the surviving same-sex life partner of someone who dies:
• Federal tax laws and other regulations of 401(k) s and pensions discriminate against same-sex partners, costing the surviving partner in a same-se relationship tens of thousands of dollars a year, and possibly over $1 million during the course of a lifetime:
• State tax laws, except in states that have legalized same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships also discriminate against same-sex couples.

“LGBT seniors have historically been out of sight and out of mind, but Prudential’s specialized approach to this unique market revolutionizes how Long Term Care insurance is sold and raises the bar for sales of other types of insurance,” said Stephanie Blackwood, co-founder of Double Platinum, an award-winning LGBT-focused marketing agency that helped develop the program. “Prudential and LTCR studied the needs of LGBT seniors and the service gaps in the market, and now, they are requiring that sales people understand and appreciate the lives, experiences and unanswered needs of these older lesbian and gay Americans.”

Prudential has a long and active history of commitment to the gay and lesbian community through grants, sponsorships and domestic partnership benefits for employees of same-sex relationships. As one of the first corporate sponsors of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act legislation, Prudential was also a leader in offering domestic partnership benefits to employees of same-sex relationships. Since 2003, Prudential has received a 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual Corporate Equality Index and also proudly supports organizations dedicated to improving the lives of gays and lesbians including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

With over 20 years of long-term care insurance experience, Prudential is a leading long-term care insurance carrier serving individuals, associations, and employers. Superior service and product expertise allows Prudential’s Group Insurance professionals to work easily and seamlessly across product lines, including long-term care, life, and disability insurance.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $631 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company’s well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

Long Term Care Insurance is issued by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, NJ.

Prudential and the Rock logo are registered service marks of The Prudential Insurance Company of America.

IFS-A150311 Ed. 7/08