[paula_w]

This is not a post for the newly diagnosed.

I have finally begun gathering up information about what i may have following my death. I have a couple of life insurrance policies and discovered something that i would like to ask you all about. I've borrowed against my policy a couple times and the dividends pay the interest on the loans so i'll still end up with a decent amount n o m atter when I'm gone. in addition, they pay the premiums because i am disabled and it's essentially free money.

To cash it in however, you need a doctor to say you will die within the next 12 months. So they basically will pay for the nursing home for a year, maybe- don't think it's enough but it wll get thrown in the pot,

Parkinson's is different.i have had it more than 20 years and its likely that i could die tomorrow or in a few years. shouldn't they have a clause that says we could die at any time? it's not my only policy and i want to live debt free. anyone else -checked into their life insurance?

too off to edit

[d0gma]

PD isn't considered a life limiting disease by insurance. It is enough ironically to consider you uninsurable for many things unless you owned the policy previously. My ins made this very clear during my divorce when I ran out of medical insurance after my ex got himself fired to avoid paying insurance.

I don't think you could find a doc that would write you as 12 months from death. It is quite a bit deal for them to do that. I base this on what I know of a friend that died of Alzheimer's recently and what his family had to go through to get him certified as 6 mos from death. To qualify for paid institutional care he had to be dx'd as 6 mos from death. He was leaving the house and getting lost and clearly a danger to himself for a loooong time before the doctor would do that.

His poor wife ran herself ragged trying to keep him safe. Yet his doctor didn't want to write him as near death because he was still healthy in general. The only way for him to otherwise qualify for monetary aid to be in a safe facility was for her to use all of their money on his care. This to the point where they had so little that he qualified for government assistance. This meant she would have basically nothing to live on the rest of her life.

During my divorce it was made very clear by my doctor and the judge that PD was not life limiting and I was expected to live a normal US race/gender based life time. I haven't per se checked with insurance but I'm betting they wouldn't allow it.

If for no other reason the ins co will consider inflation which averages 3% per year. Dollars today are worth more than dollars in the future. The longer you live, the less they have to pay you, considering inflated dollars are worth an average 3% less every year longer they can delay. Plus they get to keep that money longer, invest it, collect profits on it etc. Net lost to insurance being a minimum 10% per year the earlier they pay out.

Docs seem hesitant to go out on that ledge. Possibly being sued by insurance companies for fraud or similar due to lost profits. Call me jaded but ins are bottom line companies. I'm guessing a bit at this. If you feel comfortable enough with your doc you could ask. Some docs might get weird and depending on the legal reasons maybe not want to treat you.

I had one doc decline to treat me further when I asked for medication to help me continue working longer. I think she mistakenly thought I wanted to be declared disabled. I said I was worried about how long I could work or something rather innocuous. My worry was how long would she be able to keep me working.

My thinking is the ins co would probably sue any doc that wrote you as 12 mos from death unless there was definitive evidence you were. This if only to discourage other docs from doing the same so ins wouldn't lose cash on early payouts.

Originally Posted by paula_w

This is not a post for the newly diagnosed.

I have finally begun gathering up information about what i may have following my death. I have a couple of life insurrance policies and discovered something that i would like to ask you all about. I've borrowed against my policy a couple times and the dividends pay the interest on the loans so i'll still end up with a decent amount n o m atter when I'm gone. in addition, they pay the premiums because i am disabled and it's essentially free money.

To cash it in however, you need a doctor to say you will die within the next 12 months. So they basically will pay for the nursing home for a year, maybe- don't think it's enough but it wll get thrown in the pot,

Parkinson's is different.i have had it more than 20 years and its likely that i could die tomorrow or in a few years. shouldn't they have a clause that says we could die at any time? it's not my only policy and i want to live debt free. anyone else -checked into their life insurance?

too off to edit