Federal Long Term Care Insurance

[bkmaxvrb]

Long Term Care (LTC) Service Program

Did anyone know this exisited? Up until a couple of months ago, I didn't. It's been out for a few years and you use it for home health care and nursing home type stuff that your regular insurance won't cover after you're released from the hospital.

I figured I'd only need it after I was retired and a doddering old fool (as opposed to the fool I am now). The benefits and retirement guy pointed out that you might get into a serious accident in your car and be hospitalized with very serious injuries. Sooner or later, the hospital is going to declare you well enough to be sent out, so they can put someone else in that bed, but not well enough to function without help or rehab. Suppose the injuries were serious enough that you still need care...your regular insurance stops at the door. You'd be responsible for paying around $100 - $150 per DAY for the care.

Well, the benefits and retirement guy woke me up and I figured it might be a good idea. So I checked into getting it. Well, when it first came out, all you had to do was be able to breath on your own and you could get in on it. Also, if you're a new hire, you can get it with no problems. It's pretty cheap.

If you're not a new hire, then you have to fill out an eight (8) page form. Guess what?

I'M NOT ELIGIBLE!!! They won't cover me. The bastards!!! They say I don't meet their height to weight ratio chart. Yes, for those of you that know me, I know I'm fat. So you don't have to point that out. I admit it and fully disclose that. But, you will admit, I can still roll with the best of them.

However, they don't know me and there are plenty of people that are my height and weight that are just diesel jacked, iron pumping fools that'll squash a man without any effort. Also, they say with my symptoms of hypertension, they won't cover me. Hello, WHERE DO I WORK???!!! No kidding, I have high blood pressure? Say it isn't so! I wonder how that happened? It's fairly mild and being treated with the lowest dose of meds that can be given. The DOT says I'm good to go (I have CDL and am one of the guys that drives the prison bus). So......

I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm wondering two things:

1.) Did anyone else know about this program when it was first offered?

2.) If you missed that "open season", did you have any problems being accepted or were you denied for fairly minor health issues?


P.S. I hope you enjoyed this fairly long speil, info-mercial and rant. BTW, if your facility EVER offers a retirement planning class or seminar, TAKE IT! There's a lot more to it than doing your 20 or 25 and getting out. That paycheck you thought you were getting might not be all you expected it to be. It pays to start investigating all the things that go into retirement when you only have a couple of years in. The earlier you start and more you do, while working and you can afford it, the less you have to do and the more you'll make when you hit the gate that last time.

[Bobshouse]

Hang tough, every now and then the Bureau will have an open season where you can enroll in closed plans or raise your life insurance without a physical.

I was working there when they first offered the plan and passed it up, figured I wasn't going to live long enough to get full benefit.

[lwinger]

Originally Posted by bkmaxvrb

Long Term Care (LTC) Service Program

Did anyone know this exisited? Up until a couple of months ago, I didn't. It's been out for a few years and you use it for home health care and nursing home type stuff that your regular insurance won't cover after you're released from the hospital.

I figured I'd only need it after I was retired and a doddering old fool (as opposed to the fool I am now). The benefits and retirement guy pointed out that you might get into a serious accident in your car and be hospitalized with very serious injuries. Sooner or later, the hospital is going to declare you well enough to be sent out, so they can put someone else in that bed, but not well enough to function without help or rehab. Suppose the injuries were serious enough that you still need care...your regular insurance stops at the door. You'd be responsible for paying around $100 - $150 per DAY for the care.

Well, the benefits and retirement guy woke me up and I figured it might be a good idea. So I checked into getting it. Well, when it first came out, all you had to do was be able to breath on your own and you could get in on it. Also, if you're a new hire, you can get it with no problems. It's pretty cheap.

If you're not a new hire, then you have to fill out an eight (8) page form. Guess what?

I'M NOT ELIGIBLE!!! They won't cover me. The bastards!!! They say I don't meet their height to weight ratio chart. Yes, for those of you that know me, I know I'm fat. So you don't have to point that out. I admit it and fully disclose that. But, you will admit, I can still roll with the best of them.

However, they don't know me and there are plenty of people that are my height and weight that are just diesel jacked, iron pumping fools that'll squash a man without any effort. Also, they say with my symptoms of hypertension, they won't cover me. Hello, WHERE DO I WORK???!!! No kidding, I have high blood pressure? Say it isn't so! I wonder how that happened? It's fairly mild and being treated with the lowest dose of meds that can be given. The DOT says I'm good to go (I have CDL and am one of the guys that drives the prison bus). So......

I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm wondering two things:

1.) Did anyone else know about this program when it was first offered?

2.) If you missed that "open season", did you have any problems being accepted or were you denied for fairly minor health issues?


P.S. I hope you enjoyed this fairly long speil, info-mercial and rant. BTW, if your facility EVER offers a retirement planning class or seminar, TAKE IT! There's a lot more to it than doing your 20 or 25 and getting out. That paycheck you thought you were getting might not be all you expected it to be. It pays to start investigating all the things that go into retirement when you only have a couple of years in. The earlier you start and more you do, while working and you can afford it, the less you have to do and the more you'll make when you hit the gate that last time.

yes I have known about and particpated in it for several years now. I had no problem being accepted.