When someone calls for help for their loved one, we are happy to hear that they have Long Term Care insurance. Depending on their policy, this can help relieve the financial burden with varying reimbursement offered for caregiver support, assisted living or nursing home expenses. With the high cost of elder care, it can make the difference between someone being able to afford the help that they truly need.
There are always caveats that have to be followed, which include if the insured person medically qualifies for the insurance to kick-in as well as privately paying for the cost of care during the policy’s required waiting period.
We know that the generation that is currently aging does not easily ask for help or believe that they even need help. They are fiercely independent. They have the forethought to set up this insurance benefit for their future but then may wait too long to tap into it. And this is exactly what happened.
We received a phone call last week asking for caregiver support for a loved one. Their Long Term Care insurance required that a Registered Nurse be on staff, which we have. The forms to begin the claim were confusing and overwhelming to the client so we scheduled a time to work on it together.
Typically, the first hurdle is the paperwork to file a claim, the second would be waiting for the insurance company to send out a nurse to do an assessment, and the third is the policy’s waiting period after a claim has been approved for the reimbursements to commence. These are the hurdles when the claim goes smoothly. When it doesn’t, it can take many hours of phone calls and redundant paperwork being faxed in again and again. It can be an exasperating process.
The day before our appointment to complete the paperwork, the client passed away. The care that could potentially have made these clients more comfortable during this difficult time in their life was never accessed. And sadly, the Long Term Care policy that was so thoughtfully set up (and paid for over many, many years) was never utilized.