CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress will provide millions of American seniors a way to invest in and pay for their health care through the sale of their life insurance policies. H.R. 5958, the Senior Health Planning Account Act, will give seniors the opportunity to roll over the proceeds from the sale of their life insurance policies into a tax-free health care account. This new law will generate significant new resources for seniors to plan for their health care needs in retirement, as well as to pay for immediate medical and long-term care needs. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) and Rep. Gregory Steube (R-FL) introduced the bill on Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
The sale of a life insurance policy – known as a life settlement – is an alternative to the policy’s lapse or surrender back to the insurance company for little or nothing. Lighthouse Life Solutions, LLC, pays policyowners an average of four times or more above what they would receive from the insurance company. That is “found money” that helps seniors live in retirement. This legislation would allow that money to be used, tax-free, for health care costs.
Michael Freedman, CEO of Lighthouse Life said: “Life settlements make financial sense for seniors who are not going to keep their life insurance policies. The legislation helps seniors help themselves by maximizing the money they receive from the sale of policies they are very likely going to lapse or surrender while in retirement to fund their health care.”
“Financial professionals are recommending life settlements to their senior clients as a way to monetize a life insurance policy that is becoming too expensive to maintain or because their client’s financial or health status makes selling the policy a suitable option,” said Michael Coben, Chief Distribution and Business Development Officer, adding: “Life insurance is a valuable asset and should be reviewed over time just like all other assets that a client may own. It is often in a senior client’s best interest to have their policy appraised for its market value before simply surrendering it for little or no value back to the insurance company.”
In 2019, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) stated that “Seniors may use life settlements … to generate resources to pay for their LTC needs.” A 2017 NAIC report responding to the deepening long-term care crisis facing individuals and governments stated that life settlements are “one option seniors might use to generate resources to pay for their long-term care needs.”
Lighthouse Life supports adoption of H.R. 5958.
ABOUT LIGHTHOUSE LIFE
Lighthouse Life Solutions, LLC works with financial professionals - including insurance agents, financial advisors, accountants, and others - who advise and assist policyowners with the sale of unwanted, unneeded or unaffordable life insurance policies. Lighthouse Life is focused on educating and assisting financial professionals about the value that life settlements provide to life insurance policy owners and their families. Lighthouse Life offers a unique, fast and easy, approach for financial professionals to integrate life settlements into their practice for the benefit of life insurance policyowners. www.lighthouselife.com
