Cognitive test - Hybrid policy through Lincoln

[insurancequestion]

I have a client that I was trying to get a hybrid policy for through Lincoln...he failed the cognitive portion of the test and was declined. Does anyone know of any other carriers that would be more lenient? He is 70 years old....I know a lot of carriers have a age restriction as well.

 

[fed up]

Most times a decline Carrie's over to any additional application submitted. Why did he fail?

 

[fed up]

I had a prospect who failed because he answered a physician's question by stating'honestly doc, I dont remember what I had for lunch yesterday". Thought he was being funny. Another who was playing golf and as far away from restroom as he could get when his stomach attacked. He did not make it back to clubhouse before he soiled himself. Dr's office said incontinent

 

[insurancequestion]

they said he failed the "cognitive" portion of the test that One America gives...it was One America..not Lincoln

 

[fed up]

how much interaction did you have with the client prior to the test? How much prep did you walk though? Failing one of the ADL's is not going to be good for you moving forward. Could be time to hit the 'NEXT' button.

 

[Allen Trent]

Did he get declined for both the Life & the CIA rider/LTC extension?

Many life carriers have a non-underwritten & no cost CIA rider that works similar to how a terminal illness rider works. while it cant be accessed each & every month for a claim, it might be able to accelerate a portion of the death benefit 1x per year for 25% for 2 years instead of a CIA underwritten rider that might pay 2% of face for 50 months or 4% for 25 months or a LTC extension of benefits of a hybrid.

As mentioned by someone above, a decline is likely now posted on his MIB report which will impact how he now answers with the next carrier & also what they will see when they run his MIB

 

[LostDollar]

Caveat, not an agent.

Other partial coverage option possibilities:

I have recently learned a little bit about Oxford insurance. They have a single premium plan which has nursing home and chronic illness accelerated death benefits that allow for monthly payments.

There is another thread going right now about short term care. GTL and Aetna apparently have competing products for this. I wanted to know a little more about that coverage and found this video from goldencare


GTL and UNL have STHHC plans. I have seen several forum agents recommend the UNL version. I have the GTL plan. I have not had any need to file a home care claim so I can't comment about that. I have my first prescription reimbursement request in process. I expect most of the claim to be paid without any problem.

 

[LostDollar]

how much interaction did you have with the client prior to the test? How much prep did you walk though? Failing one of the ADL's is not going to be good for you moving forward. Could be time to hit the 'NEXT' button.

Re prep. I think that is an excellent point. I discussed LTCi with an agent a few years ago. I never pursued the policy because of concerns about both the cognitive and physical exam.
The agent just said he thought I could pass the cognitive exam.

I bought a wobble board to do balance exercises and then never used it, but I think that would have dealt with the physical exam concerns I had. I did make a concerted effort to ditch the cane.

I also looked up sample cognitive tests online. I can't remember all the areas, but one that surprised me was the emphasis they placed on time and dates. I would have flunked a cognitive exam just on that information alone. When I was fired from my last job, I had no income. When I finally got on Social Security, I just had social security. I have been on the equivalent of Covid lockdown for 6 years or so because of no money to do stuff, so the date, day of the week, even year for the most part, were irrelevant to me--unless I had a doctor's appointment or a car repair appointment.

So my family had great fun with all that for awhile. They would ask me at random moments what day of the week it was, what the date was, who the president was (They got upset with Theodore Roosevelt) and so on. My son would give me a number and then ask me a couple of days later what it was. I buy cucumbers and peppers at the store often, so I made a point of memorizing their produce codes for self checkout, instead of looking them up on a chart. My wife would stop me and say count backwards by 4's from 100.

The point of all that is, that for at least some prospects, clues from their agent about what to expect and 3-4 weeks to practice and oil their brains could be the difference between pass and fail on a cognition test.

Of course 3-4 weeks is also a time frame in which a disqualifying health event could occur. I guess it just comes down to where you want to take the chance. For me, I don't have any negative MIB stuff right now and I would rather have the knowledge and a chance to practice for a bit to improve my odds with the nurse.

 

[kpbdy99]

It's going to be pretty much impossible to get LTC insurance in any form. He MAY be able to sneak through on a chronic illness rider on a UL.

 

[ltcadviser]

they said he failed the "cognitive" portion of the test that One America gives...it was One America..not Lincoln

OneAmerica has a higher threshold on its cognitive screening than other underwriters. You need to find out specifically how many words out of 10 your client recalled. For example, if he recalled only 4 words he might be insurable with another underwriter but not with OneAmerica. Now, depending upon the circumstances you might be able to negotiate a re-try of the screening through a face-to-face interview. Generally however your client might need to complete a full neurological evaluation at his expense to obtain coverage either with OneAmerica or elsewhere. I have been fortunate to overcome the cognitive decline on appeal before but it is certainly one of the hardest outcomes to overcome because the reality is your client might truly be impaired at his age. Call your underwriter at OneAmerica and learn more. If I can answer any of your questions call me at (800) 891-5824. Good luck.