Riding the LTCi Claim Carousel

We were talking about how frustrating it can be at times that the long term care insurance carrier doesn’t give the same answer each time we call. Or maybe, we fax the required document in and they say they didn’t get it… so we fax it again, call again and still they say they don’t have it… so we fax it AGAIN…

I wish it wasn’t, but this is normal. If only you got the same information every time you called and asked questions and if only every fax went thru without a technical glitch. But the truth is that carriers hire human beings, — imperfect, sometimes well trained sometimes not, human beings. And so when you call the long term care insurance carrier , it is like opening up the box of chocolates. Sometimes you get creamy caramel delicious help…and sometimes you get the nut person. Sometimes the fax goes thru and everything hits the file with no problem…sometimes you hit a hard spot and wonder if you are ever going to get this finished.

We call it “The Carousel”. Here’s how it goes round and round…

We call the long term care insurance carrier to find out what you need to do or what documents you need to submit,
Chase the document, fax it to the carrier,
Call the carrier the next day to confirm it arrived. If it didn’t, wait a day, fax it again… and call the carrier to see if it arrived. Repeat until you are certain all pages of all the fax arrived and are in the file.
Then you ask the carrier if anything is missing – if they indicate they are missing files, repeat the earlier process for every item outstanding.
THEN… you call the carrier to see if everything is in – or is there something yet that they need?

Are you getting the merry-go-round dizziness?

If you have been working on this and are beginning to feel a little nuts about it, well… welcome to “Normal” in long term care claims carnival. After years of filing claims we are still waiting for that elusive caramel-smooth claim. Most have a few nuts – and most require a trip (or 10) around the carousel until all is finalized.

Don’t despair – if you keep going round and round enough times eventually you will get a claim decision and you can get off the carousel. If the claim is denied, you may have to mount and ride some more later…but if it is approved, things become a little [let me emphasize a LITTLE] simpler after that.

If you’re starting to get dizzy, and you need a hand, give Mrs. LTC a call. We really can help.