Longterm Care Ins

Has anyone as a type 1 or 2 etc. on insulin purchased long term care insurance? I inquired about this with one company and they said they will not insure anyone on insulin, but there may be others who will.

I have, however I first bought it as part of an employer offered insurance. You might talk to your companies benefits person to see if they could offer it as an optional employee pay benefit.

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My long term care plan involves an ice floe.

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I do not have great benefits and have to buy into my ins so I may not be eligible that way or it will cost a fortune. I am looking for something for us in case there is a disaster before we go back to Canada.

Yeah that is about where it is at in the US anyway. :unamused:

I was able to get life insurance but I was turned down for disability ins. That was 20 years ago and my life insurance will expire in 2 months. The could have gotten my disability ins payments. But alas they missed out.

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How can it expire? But disability is not ltc right?

Same here purchased through employer.

I bought term life. At a 20 year term. Employers offer some disability insurance. That’s about all we can get.

I also have some life insurance through work, but it expires when I leave the company.

I don’t really need life insurance anymore, my one kid is in her last year of high school. House is paid off.

If we died today, my daughter would be financially in good shape. That’s the only reason we got life insurance anyway.

The long term care thing worries me a little, but I don’t want to live in a hospital, so I would rather take a long walk in a bear infested woods to wasting away in a bed.

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My experience with researching long term care (LTC) insurance availability goes back 25 years or so but I suspect things haven’t changed much for people with diabetes. I found that insurance companies who offered LTC either directly excluded people with diabetes (sometimes dependent on insulin use) or the premium they charged was not affordable to me.

Most people who make a claim against their LTC insurance only get about two years of actual coverage. The major exception to this are long-lasting medical conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Another thing to consider when buying this product is the stability of the company. If the insurance company goes bankrupt, the policy holder is out of luck. And all those premiums paid over many years are lost. This risk must be considered as well.

I see the risk of needing long term care as real and if I could buy insurance at a reasonable rate, I would. But I can’t, so now I live with that knowledge and hope for the best. This is not ideal but what else can we do?

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For many types of insurance, one would be better served to take the money and invest it (in index funds for example). At least that way, should you ever require it, you won’t be fighting with the insurance company over it, and all too often, be denied it!!

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Lol!

But you can have disastrous financial results if something catastrophic happens and you need longterm care. At that point you are not gonna be able to take that walk. This is pretty much what happened with my father, but he passed last month and we cared for him at home. He was murdered by the hospital. We are trying to stop this from happening to us possibly before we can go back to Canada. They can and will take all of your assets and give you terrible care here in facilities. The best answer is care at home and there has to be a way to pay for it. It is not covered by medicare or private ins. Your family caregivers could also end up bankrupt and or lose any inheritance in these situations. You need to set up a protected trust way in advance.

What are index funds? Due to the high cost though you can quickly lose all of your money in a short time.

Index funds are generally time based funds. Meant for retirement. So if you intend to retire 2030. You buy a 2030 index which will be disinvested by 2030 just in time to retire.

They are famously known to not be great investments because they don’t respond to markets only dates.

They are also not terribly risky.

I will have to read about them, but they don’t sound very good. A trust set up to protect you assets done well in advance is what you really need.

Hoping for the best can put you in a very terrible situation. I would look into some sort of trust to protect your assets. Consult an elder care attorney.

What Is an Index Fund?

An index fund is a type of mutual fund or (ETF) with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a financial [market index], such as the [Standard & Poor’s 500 Index] (S&P 500). An index mutual fund is said to provide broad market exposure, low operating expenses, and low portfolio turnover. These funds follow their benchmark [index] regardless of the state of the markets.

My experience with insurance is that the companies will frequently do everything they can to get out of paying.

I agree with the above. Long term care can be very expensive. Separating your assets can be one way to protect them. And yourself from bankruptcy.

Many years ago, when I was about 50 yrs old, I bought a LTC policy. It will pay $180/day for up to 2 years. It costs me $3,003/year. I am totally uninsurable now (major cancer surgery 3 weeks ago with at least two more surgeries to come), so I pay without complaint.

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Hope that you are doing well Rob5. My husband has had 4 bouts of cancer in the last 11 yrs. Nerve racking times. Wishing you all of the best.