Huntington Disease Lighthouse Families

I am in need of aquiring LTHI,. My husband has not been tested and is at risk, and is showing signsof Hd. What insurance is best for LTC, just in case? What company ask the least questions. How much does it cost?

Edwina

The insurance company that we got Long Term Disability Insurance with was Northwestern Mutual Life. I was pleased with them. We fully disclosed the HD in our family so that we would have it in the record that they knew before the policy was issued and there could be no ?fraudulent application? issues later.

We had one little bobble with them during the time of the insurance but my agent gave me the name of the district manager and one phone call resolved the situation in my favor. I got an apology from the company and the rep who had caused the problem was removed from being my rep.

My policy (as most do) required that we file for social security benefits and the insurance payments were reduced by the amount of the SS benefits. NML hired a company to file the claim for us and we were approved immediately.

I took out a group policy at work for all of the employees and the company pays 100% of all of the premiums for all employees. I felt I had a better chance of being approved if Tony were part of a group and also that it was a nice, inexpensive benefit for all employees. It pays 60% of the last salary.

It is not expensive like health insurance, but I don?t remember what we paid when we took it out years ago. Today it is less than $700 a month for about 30 employees. Cost will vary (usually) depending on age and if it is a group policy or not.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2009 09:03AM by Maggie.

Edwina, I'm not sure if your talking about life insurance, or what. Our insurance compnay had no problem signing my wife up for life insurance, after checking with their home office. It appears that unless the person has less than 2 years to live, they can write a policy.

The only glitch was a 2 year waiting period. Once diagnosed with HD, it was on to disability (which we got with the help of our congressman), and then after 2 years being on disability, she qualified for medicare! Then we got Part D insurance for meds.

Forgive me if I misunderstood the type of insurance you were talking about. However, we were upfront with our agent, and he worked with us. Getting insurance before being tested, or getting insurance without telling them you are at risk or have HD, could come back to bite you later. Honesty is the best policy, in most cases. Of course, different states may have different rules, so perhaps my advice is not useful, but hopefully you will consider.

Where do you live again, Edwina?

jl

I am pleasantly surprised that you were able to obtain LTC insurance after disclosing HD status. If you don't mind me asking, are your premiums reasonably priced? ie. less then $350/month

It is risky to buy any insurance without disclosing HD if any question is asked on the application that would cause the ?reasonable man? to disclose it. The company can later deny benefits because of ?fraudulent application?.

When I bought a policy, LTC, I told the agent about HD in the family and had him put a note in the comment section of the application which becomes part of the policy, of course. It says that Tony?s mother died of complications of Huntington?s Disease but that no signs of it were obvious in Tony at the time of application. So, today, when I have started to use the housekeeping benefits they cannot deny them because of ?fraudulent application?.

I had the option to buy additional policies over the years from the company and now have three policies with them and all are under $300.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2009 05:56AM by Maggie.

I got LTD and did not disclose the status of HD. In doing estate planning the lawyer advised me to answer the question that was asked. Do not volunteer any info that is not specificly requested.

Notice I used the lawyer word. I ran EVERYTHING through them. Now that my spouse is using the LTD, and they are paying, methinks it was monies well spent. I also think it helped that all corespondence went through said lawyer.

With differences state to state, and in some states jurisdiction to jurisdiction I would not make any decision this important (and costly) without making sure every dot and cross had been properly examined.

Good advice. I never found one person who ponied up for a lawyer, regret it. I know one who didn't which goes back to my wisdom prayer and screw ups..