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Kiplinger’s Personal Finance: Avoid obstacles to long-term-care claims

Buying long-term-care insurance is usually a smart way to protect your finances and your family from the potentially massive cost of care.

But after paying premiums for years, you don’t want the insurance company to hassle you — or your children — when you submit a claim.

In many cases, 20 years or more have passed between buying the policy and using the benefits, and in that time the types of care and rules for new policies might have changed. Even if the insurance company ultimately pays out, the claims process can be slow and complicated.

Here are tips to help the process go smoothly:

Give your adult children a copy of the policy and let them know how to start the claim. Make sure they have the contact information for the insurance company’s claims department and the agent who sold you the policy.

Review the requirements for receiving payouts with them so that they can keep an eye out if you start to need help with activities of daily living or become cognitively impaired.

Find out what documentation the insurer requires for them to handle the claim on your behalf, such as a power of attorney and HIPAA authorization.

Some older policies cover nursing home care but not assisted living or home care. Some that cover home care will only pay a licensed caregiver who works with an agency.

But older policies may have other criteria. The documentation can be detailed and complicated, and can vary by company and policy.

But the definition of this “elimination period” can vary a lot by policy.

The agent will understand how to navigate the insurance company’s claims process and can help get a claim approved more quickly.

Your state insurance department also can help speed the process and get answers from the insurer. Find your insurance department at https://content.naic.org/state_web_map.htm.

In Virginia, the State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance can be reached at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/boi/ or (804) 371-9741.

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