Health Requirements
Here are some questions that will help you decide if you can consider this kind of insurance.
- Are you now or have you recently been on Medicaid (medical Welfare)?
- Do you need assistance or supervision with performing activities of daily living such as walking, dressing, eating, taking medications, getting in or out of bed, bathing, toileting or bowel and bladder control?
- In the past year have you needed to use a walker, wheelchair, quad cane, catheter, dialysis machine, oxygen or ventilator?
- In the past 5 years have you been medically treated for any of the following:
- Alzheimer’s
- Amputation due to disease
- ALS
- Anemia
- Brain Tumor
- Cancer that has spread
- Cerebral Aneurysm
- Cirrhosis – liver
- Dementia
- Falls – multiple
- Fractures – multiple
- Heart Valve – double
- Incontinence
- MD
- MG
- MS
- Organ Transplant
- Organic Brain Syndrome
- Parkinson’s/Parkinsonism
- Peripheral Vascular
- Post-Polio Syndrome
- Scleroderma
- Skin Ulcers
- Strokes – multiple
- TIA – multiple
This is not a complete list, but if you answer yes to any of these questions, unfortunately you more than likely cannot apply for coverage. Further, combinations of things complicate the underwriting. However, many people are still healthy enough to apply for coverage. It is in your best interest to call us and let us ask you some heath questions over the phone. We can get a pretty good idea if you are medically eligible to apply. Feel free to contact us at 518-659-8015.
Unfortunately not everyone is medically able to apply for long term care coverage, when this happens it is equally or more important to discuss long term care coverage for the healthy spouse. Look at it this way; many people say, “Well if my spouse can’t get coverage then I don’t want it.” Would you give up your health insurance, auto insurance, or your driver’s license if your spouse couldn’t get theirs? The answer is easy, of course not. So why would you not think about covering the healthy spouse with long term care coverage. This is after all the one thing in most Seniors’ lives that has the ability to bankrupt you.
As always, the insurance company will underwrite each application and they have the final say.
If you can’t get LTCI you might benefit from certain kinds of annuities that will provide income while protecting the asset from a nursing home.