The following is an excerpt from the blog post:
To avoid becoming a financial burden to her children and grandchildren, Vera Smith bought long-term care insurance. Like a growing number of Americans, the 87-year-old retiree saw it as a sensible way to cover care-giving costs not included in Medicare and conventional health insurance.
But almost two years ago, Smith's insurer stopped paying benefits, contending that she violated the policy's terms by moving in with her daughter after she became too frail to take care of herself. That forced Veray Smith, the daughter, to quit her supervisory job and sell her mother's South Los Angeles house so she could afford to stay home with her.
But almost two years ago, Smith's insurer stopped paying benefits, contending that she violated the policy's terms by moving in with her daughter after she became too frail to take care of herself. That forced Veray Smith, the daughter, to quit her supervisory job and sell her mother's South Los Angeles house so she could afford to stay home with her.
“I'm the full-time caregiver now. It's hard," said Veray, who along with her mother has sued the insurer for bad faith. The insurer, Penn Treaty Network America Insurance Corp., declined to comment.
While criticizing people for not researching enough before purchasing insurance comes easy from someone that works within the insurance industry the average consumer doesn’t know the right questions to ask or the inter-workings of insurance policies. I dare anyone that owns any insurance policy to dust off the cover, crack it open and take a gander at the dense legal language bursting off the pages. You might quickly get a glazed look and wish you were washing dishes or participating in some other more thrilling activity.
There is no easy answer as how to properly educate yourself about long term care insurance or any other types of insurance other than to read, ask questions and demand answers. Seeking out an agent by getting recommendations from friends and meeting with that agent several times before purchasing insurance will also help.
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