“Insurance is being able to offload risk from you, as individuals, off to somebody else, an insurance company.”
- Demetri Simos, Assistant VP of Sales, Guarantee Trust Life

Innovative Financial Group's President of Life, Don Fransko, welcomes Guarantee Trust Life's Assistant VP of Sales, Demetri Simos, into the recording studio to discuss their plans in detail and bring exciting new information that nobody else is bringing to light.

Demetri shares that Guarantee Trust Life (GTL) has been a family-run business since 1936. To this day the founding family still leads GTL, making it a third-generation family-owned and operated company based in Glenview, Illinois.

GTL has made significant strides, especially in the last 15 years. With about 300 employees with an average tenure of 15 years. "So, whenever you call, the likelihood of being able to get an answer to your question is highly likely," says Demetri.

Don and Demetri begin the interview by returning to the basics: what is Insurance? Demetri tells us, "Insurance is being able to offload risk from you, as individuals, off to somebody else, an insurance company. We do that by offering a plan. But the biggest part about this is taking pennies on the dollar, which represents the premium, and providing a significant benefit for those pennies on the dollar."

Demetri explains, "Insurance is being able to offload risk from you, as individuals, off to somebody else, an insurance company."

Demetri then leads the conversation into GTL's plans, first talking about Hospital Indemnity, which GTL started in 2005. GTL designed the plan based on meaningful benefits perspective that clients can use. "So, when they need to go to the hospital, they can get copays taken

care of and be available to pay out. It doesn't matter if it's a 24-hour stay, if it's less than 24 hours, or if it's observation or confinement, it doesn't matter. In addition, the base plan has an emergency room and urgent care benefit, and a mental nervous benefit. As well as optional riders such as an ambulance, skilled nursing, cancer, or outpatient therapy rider, to name a few."

Don asks, "Diving into the cancer rider on a hospital indemnity. How does that work?"

Demetri shares, "So, you can go from $2,500 to $20,000 in benefits for the lump sum cancer. And if a person has a stage one or higher type of cancer, its growth spreading cancer, they'll get paid that lump sum benefit. Also, as part of the basic benefit of some cancer riders, there's a 25% cancer in-situ benefit, and there's also a $500 skin cancer benefit. If a person's diagnosed with basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, they could get paid $500 one time per year, three times over the life of a rider. In essence, that's a $1,500 total benefit that could be paid to the client. This is part of the base Cancer Rider which could be beneficial because the likelihood of somebody getting basal cell or squamous cells is high because a lot of people go to the dermatologist and get that taken care of very easily."

"What about melanoma?" Dons asks.

Demetri shares, "Well, melanoma, that's part of the lump sum amount because that's a growth spreading cancer. To clarify, that is from a skin cancer perspective, and then you can also add a recurrence option on the rider. What that means is that if you get diagnosed with cancer and you get paid out, let's say, $10,000, then you go through treatment, the person is in remission, for five years or longer, the benefit restores to the full amount again. If they get diagnosed with the same again or a different cancer, they'll be able to get another payout again. Now, if they get diagnosed with cancer after one year, between one year and five years, there will be a percentage amount that would be payable to the client. I can tell you that some individuals have purchased the hospital indemnity plan with us and have received over $80,000 of claim benefits since they purchased their hospital indemnity plan."

Then Demetri dives into GTL's two different types of lump sum standalone cancer plans: First, the Cancer, Heart Attack, and Stroke plan. Many carriers have traditional cancer, heart attack, and stroke plans, and you can buy each as a standalone policy. With GTL, they put the two together and have all three covered.

Second, the Precision Care Plan is a one-of-a-kind product in the market. It's a lump-sum cancer plan that also has a benefit built into the base called Genomic Sequencing for someone who has a cancer diagnosis.

"What is Genomic Sequencing?" Don asks.

"It's taking a sample of the tumor from the biopsy, looking at it under the microscope, and seeing what the fingerprint of that particular tumor is. Knowing the information on the fingerprint level can help match up the right treatment," Answers Demetri.

"We partnered with the best genomic sequencing test in the country, TGen out of Phoenix, Arizona. It's a non-profit research group, and they're not just researching cancer. They do a lot of research on various types of terminal health conditions. They are trying to utilize genomic sequencing, to get down to the genetics of everything, to take something that is terminal, get it down to chronic, and then get it down to cure." Demetri describes.

Demetri shares that GTL has several different products available for short-term care:

Option one is a product called Recovery Cash, which as a base plan offers, facility care benefit. You can get three levels of care: Intermediate, Custodial, and Skill Care. The client receives up to $300 daily benefit, a choice of benefit periods up to 360 days. You can also add a home healthcare option for up to $1,400 for 26 or 52 week benefit periods.

Option two is Short-Term Home Health Care, which covers benefits just to be treated at home. This plan has three plan options:

· Plan A has the least total benefit of $54,000, with $300 reimbursement for the prescription drugs.

· Plan B has a total benefit of $108,000, with a $600 reimbursement for the prescription drugs.

· Plan C has a total benefit of $162,000, with a $900 reimbursement for the prescription drugs.

The third aspect, under BOTH options (Recover Cash and Short-Term Home Health Care), automatically comes with a T Care Benefit, which is a benefit for a caregiver, ie: a spouse or children. T Care allows the caregiver to get support to protect against burn out and also to receive $3,500.

Of course, Don is excited to talk about GTL's options for Life Insurance!

Demetri then dives into GTL's options for Life Insurance:

Turbo Term is a fully underwritten traditional term life insurance plan.

Instead of a two to six-week decision, agents can start the interview and complete the quote and application with an instant decision at time of submission the overall process from quote to application complete could take 20-30 minutes!

FEX Plans:

Heritage Life is a simplified issue, graded benefit, whole life product. Up to $20,000 in death benefits can be purchased by people ages 40 to 85, which caps out at $10,000 lump sum benefit for people ages 85-90. How does the graded benefit work? Months zero to 12 is one year, which is a return on premium + 5% interest, 13 to 24 months year two, is 50% of the death benefit chosen, and then 25 months or longer is the total face amount. "Now, if the client passes away due to an accident in the first two years, the beneficiary will still receive the full face amount because of the accident rider, built into the base benefit." Demetri clarifies.

Demetri shares improvements on GTL's app, "A short six-question e-app. Not the long pages or booklets you have to fill out or anything like that. A real concise application that you can take a peek at."

You can download the app on your Apple or Android device, if your are doing in person meetings or visit www.gtlic.com, use the agent log-in if doing a telephonic meeting, and use the text-to-sign or voice verification option. Rest assured: Most policies are issued right away, correctly, and accurately.

To wrap up, Don asks, "Why GTL?"

Demetri answers, "You want products that are meant to be paid out as benefits. You can provide a number of different products under one roof, an easy e-app, great sales support, and our training. Our strength is our products and our service."

This interview provides a detailed look at what Guarantee Trust Life offers clients and agents, making it easier for agents to place business.

Learn from the best in the business! Subscribe to our YouTube channel (linked below) to see this and more Innovative Interviews. Let's Grow!