Note From Regina: New Regular column!!

Long Term Care Insurance Expert Column - Beata Everett - How often should I review my policy?

Many of our client’s own long-term care insurance policies. Increasingly, adult children of clients are purchasing them as well. Questions and issues abound. This is the first of what will be a featured monthly column on this subject by our colleague Beata Everett, who is our resident expert on LTC insurance
Once someone purchases long-term care insurance, often the policy is stored into a file and may not be seen again for 10-30 years. At the very least, it is it a good idea to review the policy every few years and make sure you still understand it.

It may be helpful to have a “Cheat sheet” with the policy highlights to refresh one’s memory about the benefits and also what exactly is or is not covered by the policy. For example, with most policies the “illness” that is triggering a claim has to be expected to last for at least 90 days. That is often a key element of the policy.

We also recommend giving a copy of the cheat sheet to loved ones who may be helping with a claim in the future. Make sure they know your policy number, date of birth, last 4 digits of your social security number, and address.

Often policyholders are not aware of any inflation adjustments that may have been made in their policies.
In other instances they may not know the current daily benefit.

The agent from whom you purchased the policy originally may no longer be in the business or may not be able to provide an objective review of said policy.

In that case you can prepare a list of questions/concerns and contact the company directly or, for a nominal fee, have a LTC insurance consultant review the policy and provide recommendations.

Any of these options are far preferable to leaving the policy in a desk drawer or computer file for decades.

Beata can be reached at:
P (203) 493-0318
F (203) 548-9217
www.NorthStarLTCi.com ■