Long Term Care Insurance - Monthly Feature

By Beata Everett, Long-Term Care Insurance Advisor

When Should You Start a Long-Term Care Insurance Claim?

The short answer… as soon as you qualify! It is important to know the details of your long-term care insurance policy and it is often helpful to have a cheat sheet of the critical components. For example: How many Activities of Daily Living must you require assistance with in order to qualify for a claim?

When you or your family believes you in fact qualify for a claim, contact the insurance company and begin the process. It generally takes a few weeks for all the data to be gathered and the claim to be approved. Many times we see people delaying the start a claim because they need the policy to cover their care in the event that their health suddenly worsens.

Unfortunately, the situation we see far too often is the client who passes away and does not utilize all of their benefits. Historically we have also seen family members strain themselves to take care of their loved one because they keep delaying use of the policy.

Bottom line: Our advice to families is you can still be there for your loved ones as their health declines. However it is wise during this time to make full use of the insurance whose premiums you have paid over an extended period of time. Like any investment for the future, when you need the benefits that long term care insurance provides, you should utilize this to improve the quality of your life and insure you are able live at home as long as possible. ■

Long-Term Planning Associates, LLC
Tel: (203) 331-1818 Ext. 2
Fax: (866) 297-7758
Email: BEverett@LTPlan.com
Web: www.LTPLAN.com