Seniors Are The Target Of Long Term Care Insurance FraudAs the general population ages, long term care insurance is becoming more popular. This particular type of insurance offers different levels of care to individuals who cannot care for themselves. Everything from the services of a home care worker to a nursing home is covered under the blanket of long term care insurance. However, just as with other areas of the insurance arena, long term care insurance fraud is a persistent problem.
The reason that this type of healthcare insurance fraud has become such a serious issue is because of the age of the individuals who typically purchase this type of insurance. Most people don't even consider long term care insurance until they are nearing retirement age. Many skilled criminals have become highly effective at convincing older individuals to part with their money. With the promise of a long term health care plan that will take care of them in every way, many seniors are signing up. Virtually every long term care policy has restrictions. It may be the type of care that will be provided or perhaps the amount of the care that is covered under the plan. When a person begins paying into a long term care plan thinking they are fully protected, only to discover later that they aren't, there is little recourse. Many people who initiate long term care insurance scams do so by including hard to meet requirements in the small print that accompanies the policy. These requirements vary from insurance company to insurance company, but they often include provisions that relate to the person's health at the time they want to begin receiving benefits from the plan. One popular long term care insurance fraud scam involves the claimant having to be diagnosed with a serious illness before any benefits can be paid. For someone in reasonably good health who has suffered an injury that requires the care of a home worker, this can be devastating. It's not until they need the coverage that they actually realize they don't qualify. Another popular method that criminals employ is to state in the coverage that unless the person covered by the policy spends time in a hospital immediately before they are moved to a long term care facility, there is no coverage. For many people this simply isn't going to be the case, and even a lapse of a day in between the hospital stay and admittance to the nursing care facility can deem the benefits useless. The best approach to combating this particular type of long term care insurance fraud is for the insured to consult with an attorney before signing the policy agreement. Although this can prove a bit costly at the onset, in the long run, when they need to take advantage of the benefits, it's priceless. |