[quote=njtosd]I know nothing about this provider specifically. But one thing that I learned (earlier this year when both my mother, father and mother in law suddenly had health issues that triggered their LTC policies) is this: be sure to understand very clearly what is required to trigger the policy, and how long the health problem has to go on before the insured qualifies for payment. My Dad had a very fast moving cancer (diagnosed in Nov. 2010, passed away in Mar. 2011). I believe that he did not qualify for benefits until 90 days after the policy was triggered. So for 75% of the time that he needed the policy, he was waiting to qualify for benefits (even though he had brain surgery and needed home care from almost the moment he was diagnosed). My mom (83 years old), on the other hand, didn’t have Alzheimers (one triggering event) but had mild mental impairment that made it difficult for her to care for herself. It was a bit of a struggle to get the company to pay benefits, although they eventually did.
One thing, it seems to me, that the LTC companies bet on is that the insured with die quickly or will die before enough time elapses to allow them to collect. I’m not saying that the companies are not honorable, but I’m going to look into the statistics before we buy for ourselves.[/quote]
Sorry to hear about your dad, njtosd. That’s such an awful and depressing thing to have to deal with.
My mom also went through the same thing. By the time she qualified for the LTC insurance that she had been paying for over many years, she was well on her way toward the end. She also died within that 90-day window, and never got to use a single cent of those benefits.
Guess that’s how insurance companies make their money. They’ve got their actuarial tables down to a science.
