Long Term Care? WHAT-EV-ER!
Okay…time to rant!
I’m not sure how many of you have long-term care insurance or have had parents
with long-term insurance, or maybe you have sold long-term care insurance…so
hopefully I won’t upset or disappoint any of you.
This week, I
have spent lots of time on the phone with the long-term care people for my
parents. We would like to have wrought iron railings installed on the front porch
and in their policy, this is indeed covered.
We decided to
do this as my Dad is having some issues with his hip and the steps require
focus and a rail would be nice. My Mom already has us escorting her but Dad,
just needs something to hold onto.
That being
said, because it was my Dad’s issues that prompted us, we decided to file a
claim on his behalf. When I contacted the company, I was told that he would
need an online evaluation to determine his “cognitive deficiency.” I questioned
hat by saying, “he doesn’t really have any deficiency, unless being a little forgetful
at 87 years of age is deficient.”
She responded
with that was their policy and they could set that up for me. Well, I knew good
and well that he would not be diagnosed as “cognitive deficient” and he would
make sure they knew that. His hip hurts. It hurts to go up and down steps and a
rail would be helpful!
They can afford
to purchase railing, but this policy is supposed to be money for the support
items needed, because we all know that they policy will not be enough to
support a nursing home in this day and age.
In addition, we
have promised both Mom and Dad that we will do whatever we can to keep them at
home, for they both truly do not want to go to a nursing home. There’s a reason
I’m living in my old bedroom!!
You know me…I’m
not going down without a fight. Today, I mailed four letters to the company; one
letter to the President & CEO, one letter to two other officers, and one
letter to the President of the Board.
Do I expect to
hear from anyone? Not really, but it made me feel better and I hope that by
reading the letter they will realize how ridiculous it sounds and who knows?
Maybe it will become a topic of conversation for some of them.
Now I know all
long-term care policies are not the same, but based on my experiences, I’m
taking my chances and praying that I’ll have a quick exit from this earth. I do
not plan to invest monthly money in a policy that has so many restrictions and
loopholes. All I can say is READ THE FINE PRINT. I’m still looking for the
evaluation part, but if it is true, it better be in there somewhere.
My second item
is a medication item. We were told about a new medication for my Mom’s arthritis
and shoulder pain. The doctor gave her a prescription for it and it’s been a
week since we have heard anything from the pharmacy. We called to check and it
seems the pharmacy needs more info from the doctor. So a call to the doctor
indicated that the medicine is really expensive and even though it will probably
be covered with my parents Medicare and their supplement, it was perfectly fine
to get the over-the-counter version. There is no difference.
So, we looked
it up online and the over-the-counter medicine was $30 while the prescription for
a sightly bigger container was nearly $5,000! You read that right…$5000!!! Friends…there is something wrong with a
system that works like this. Guess what? We aren’t getting that prescription
version…I mean we don’t even know if it will be better yet. We will start with
the over-the-counter version and take it from there.
I gotta say, as
a divorcee, I am a little nervous about those things as the years start to add
up. I would like to find the person that called these later years, The
Golden Years! Based on what I am seeing, it’s not always pretty!
My options are limited, so I’ll proceed like I do. I will also continue to question
things as I go! Those Board members need to hear from us.
In the
meantime, stay well! Hopefully we will be cognitively deficient by the time
this happens in our late 90s!! Love ya!
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