Genworth Financial Proposed Rate Increase

This is regarding the Genworth Financial Rate Increase. It is a letter to their partners. Customer letters will be coming out in due time.

July 27, 2007 To Our Distribution Partners:

We are proud of our leading position in long term care insurance and are strongly committed to providing consumers the long term care planning solutions they need. We also deeply value the long-standing relationships we have built with our distributors over the past three decades. As one of our valued business partners, I want you to be among the first to know that, after careful consideration, we have decided to implement a modest premium increase – between 8 and 12 percent – on certain long term care insurance policies introduced through 1997 and sold for a period of time until replaced by new products. I want to share with you how we came to this decision and what you can expect as we move forward.

Why We Are Taking This Action

As a pioneer in this industry and the largest underwriter of individual long term care insurance, we are in a unique position to evaluate policyholder behaviors and morbidity trends. A primary driver of this action is higher persistency than we originally expected on these inforce policies, demonstrating that consumers recognize the value of this important coverage. Higher persistency, however, ultimately leads to higher claims 10, 20 and even 30 years in the future. We continue to take a comprehensive risk management approach to address these evolving trends. For example, we leverage the scale of Genworth to drive expense efficiencies; we use reinsurance to balance risk; and we employ comprehensive interest rate hedging programs to mitigate interest rate exposure. This approach, supported by this modest premium increase, will responsibly position our business to meet policyholders’ anticipated future needs.

What You Can Expect from Us

We anticipate the earliest an increase will take effect is late 2007 because of the time required to complete the filings, obtain required approvals and provide appropriate notice to policyholders. The complete process will take place over the next two to three years. To minimize the impact on policyholders, we are offering several options. Policyholders may accept the increase or choose to keep their premium at about the same amount. This choice may include small reductions or changes to the daily benefit amount, the policy duration, inflation protection or elimination periods. We recognize this action will impact you, your producers and clients, and we are committed to providing you with dedicated support throughout the process. We are equipping you with a communications toolkit that will provide further details and tools you can use with your staff, producers and policyholders.

Our Commitment Genworth is committed to maintaining our leadership position in the long term care insurance industry. We will continue to bring you industry-leading long term care planning solutions with features and benefits designed to meet the evolving needs of today’s consumer. Our current product portfolio pricing reflects over 30 years of actuarial experience. We are extremely optimistic about the future of our industry and we look forward to continuing to build our valued relationship with you.

Sincerely,
Buck Stinson

Anti-Smoking Drug May Fight Alcohol Dependence

If you drink or smoke, there's a new pill out that may help you kick the habit. Varenicline is already being used to help smokers overcome addiction. Preliminary research shows it could do the same for heavy drinkers. Because the pill targets the pleasure centers in the brain, it may eventually be useful in treating addictions of everything from painkillers to gambling.

Developed by Pfizer as a stop-smoking aid, varenicline is sold in the US under the name Chantix. It works by adhering to the same brain receptors to which nicotine binds when inhaled in cigarette smoke. The drug prevents dopamine from being released into the brain's pleasure centers, making smoking less rewarding.

Often smoking and drinking go hand-in-hand so it's not surprising that the same drug might help curb both addictions. However, since the drug doesn't work with all smokers, it's unlikely that it will work with all drinkers. "Is this going to be a cure-all? No, not for smoking or alcoholism, because both diseases are more complicated than a single target or single genetic issue," said Allan Collins, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado. Human trials are scheduled to start soon and will be conducted by Selena Bartlett, a neuroscientist with the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco in conjunction with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Eat Like a Cave Man!

Shattering some of our most cherished myths about food and diet, psychologist Deirdre Barrett in her book Waistland explains the science behind obesity. The Harvard Medical School professor says our bodies are hard-wired for existence in the brutal environment of our cave man ancestors. That and the myths we've built around food and diet create stumbling blocks to healthy eating. She sets out to dispel the myths and remove the stumbling blocks in our path.

Myth #1: If we would just listen to our bodies, we would crave healthy food.

• Actually, if we listen to our bodies, we crave all those nasty high calorie fast foods and snacks we love! Why? Because our bodies are wired for the cave man era before agriculture when nutrients like fat, salt and sugar were rare commodities and necessary to stay alive. Our environment has changed, but our body still thinks we struggling to eek out an existence as a hunter/gatherer on the savanna. It's just our bad luck that McDonalds is around every corner!

Myth #2: Our society is uniquely obsessed with being thin.

• Our society's love affair with a svelte body image isn't new to our generation. Admiration for the lean hunter/gatherer look has been pretty consistent over the ages. Perhaps we focus our attention on athletes, movie stars and models today because they are the groups who consistently evidence our ideal body type. The difference with our generation seems to be the desire to achieve thinness instantly through unhealthy eating and diet practices. We should emulate cave men who out of necessity ate small meals and got plenty of exercise catching them.

Myth #3: You have to address the underlying cause of overeating before you can successfully lose weight.

• While it is more difficult to lose weight if you are depressed or anxious or have post-traumatic stress syndrome, you can change the habits that lead to overeating before you fix the emotional problem. In that regard, overeating is just like smoking. We get into unhealthy routines about food that our brain is wired to help perpetuate. We can change the routine and rewire our brain's reaction.

Myth #4: It takes willpower to change habits.

• Actually, it takes time, not willpower, to change habits. It takes 21 days of consistent action to create a new habit. You can train yourself and your brain to act consistently. Willpower -- resolutely following a program without getting derailed by short-term temptations -- is a trainable skill.

It seems clear that our modern habits are killing us. It's time to toss out old myths, recognize our hard wiring and eat and exercise like the cave men our bodies think we are!

Good News and Bad News About Chocolate

Well there's good news and bad news on the health front. Chocolate, at least the right king of chocolate, is good for you. It seems that dark chocolate lowers blood pressure. Yea! Unfortunately, it only takes a small amount to get the job done -- the equivalent of just 2 tiny Hershey's Kisses. (Boo!) And here I was hoping to add a box of bonbons a day to my daily diet plan. Oh, well.

New research from Germany adds to other studies that have linked chocolate with health benefits but is the first to suggest that a tiny amount will do the job. Study volunteers who ate about 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for nearly five months (the equivalent of 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses) lowered their blood pressure. A control group who ate the same amount of white chocolate did not.

Although decreases in blood pressure readings were typically small among study participants, scientists believe it is enough to potentially reduce the risk of cardio-vascular disease. Because of the high number of calories usually found in chocolate bars, the study tested small amounts of chocolate -- the equivalent of 30 calories -- which would not adversely impact weight gain.

Fruits and Veggies That Make You Healthier

I love all the fresh fruits and vegetables available during the summer. I visit our local farmer's market every Saturday to buy just-picked goodies from local growers.

You just can't beat the rich flavor and juiciness of fresh fruits and vegetables. But did you know they carry extra nutrition too? Try these fruits and veggies to increase your healthfulness this summer:

• Blueberries: rich in anti-oxidants, may reduce cholesterol
• Carrots: high in antioxidants and beta carotene
• Kale: contains calcium, folic acid, lutein, potassium and vitamin C
• Strawberries: rich in vitamin C and fiber which helps reduce cholesterol
• Tomatoes: packed with beta carotene and vitamin C; cooked, they're also rich in absorbable lycopene
• Watermelon: loaded with beta carotene, lycopene and vitamin C