By: Jason A. Penrod
When evaluting long term care insurance policies, I would suggest that one reviews the clause that discusses who may provide care at an insured’s home under the policy.
The issue that I have run in to often with my clients, especially those families that are caring for a loved one with dementia, is whether payments to anyone not associated wth a health care company will be covered. For instance, many policies state that they will only pay claims if theto a certified home health care company.
But what if you have a neighbor or someone at church, that has a nursing background and can handle the care needs, but is not employed per se with a home health care company? Some policies will provide that you can use money for the person’s care in any way you see fit, while many stipulate that they will only pay a certified home health care company.
For liability purposes, it’s understandable why some policies stipulate such. However, for economic and practical purposes, you may know that a potential caregiver will do a fine job but also realize that the policy may not cover that expense. Especially when one has dementia, perhaps one only needs someone to sit with the loved one and make sure some relatively basic needs are met. Do you need to pay a licensed nurs $17/hour for that care or can you pay someone a lesser amount to provide the same care?
As always, it pays to review those details in the fine print.
By: Jason A. Penrod
