Agent or Insurance Company? Who Does What With Your Long-Term Care Policy
The insurance company issues your policy, sets its terms, and pays claims. An independent insurance agent isn’t the insurer. The agent helps you understand your options, apply, and work through the process, and works with select insurance companies. Your policy carries the insurer’s name, not the agent’s.
What does the insurance company do?
The insurance company issues your policy and is the other party to your contract. It sets the terms and the price, decides whether to approve your application through underwriting, and pays claims. The guarantees in a policy are backed by the issuing insurer’s claims-paying ability.
What does an independent agent do?
An agent explains your options, helps you compare them, completes the application with you, and supports you through underwriting and after you buy. An independent agent isn’t employed by one insurance company. It works with the insurers it has agreements with, and each insurer decides which agents can sell its products.
Whose name is on the policy?
The insurer’s. Your policy is a contract between you and the insurance company, and the agent appears as the agent of record.
What does “independent” mean, and what doesn’t it mean?
It means the agency isn’t owned by or tied to a single insurer. It doesn’t mean the agent represents every insurance company or can compare the whole market. Ask which insurers the agent works with and why.
The NAIC’s consumer guide suggests comparing several policies side by side before you buy. (NAIC Shopper’s Guide)
How are agents paid?
Typically the insurance company pays the agent a commission when a policy is issued. Ask every agent how they’re paid and whether it differs by product. At Staying Power, there’s no fee to work with us, and the insurance company pays us a commission.
Who decides and pays a claim?
The insurer decides whether you qualify for benefits and pays the claim. A good agent can help you understand the process and stay in touch, but the insurance company makes the decision.
How can you check an agent?
- Verify the license with your state’s insurance department. In Oklahoma, that’s the Oklahoma Insurance Department.
- Ask which insurance companies the agent is appointed with.
- Ask for illustrations in writing.
- Ask how the agent is paid.
Staying Power’s license details are on our license information page.
Questions to ask any agent
- Are you licensed in my state?
- Which insurance companies do you work with, and why?
- How are you paid?
- Will you give me an illustration in writing?
- What happens when I need to file a claim?
See also Working With a Long-Term Care Insurance Agent and Researching Long-Term Care Insurance?.
Staying Power is a licensed independent insurance agency that works with select insurers. The coverage we describe is issued by the insurer, not by us.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Staying Power an insurance company?
No. Staying Power is a licensed independent insurance agency. The insurance company issues the policy and pays claims.
Does the agent or the insurer decide if I’m approved?
The insurer decides, based on underwriting. The agent helps you complete the application.
Do I pay the agent?
Ask every agent. At Staying Power there’s no fee to work with us, and the insurance company pays us a commission.
