John Hancock Long Term Care is a Scam!

[hbaileyteacher]

Understand that I am not here to defend John Hancock or any carrier. I will only say that in 16 years of selling LTCi and being involved with dozens of policyholder's claims, I have never had a situation where someone legitimally qualified for benefits but was denied. (other than 2 cases with Conseco, but that's another story)

Now, that doesn't mean a claims department doesn't make a mistake or for whatever reasons unjustifiably denies a claim.

And, if you feel that's the case here, then I certainly agree with you, Bob & John, that you need to start an appeal with Hancock and if that doesn't work, hire an attorney. There is no room in the industry for any company giving a policyholder a hard time when filing a claim.

The industry does not need any more Consecos or Bankers Life.

Just out of curiousity, what was their reason for denial?

JH may be a good at writing LTC policies but their customer service and knowledge is not acceptable.

I am currently trying to get help for my Mom with her JH LTC policy. I called two years ago when she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. On my initial inquiry no one mentioned the "90 day qualification period". I let them know that I did not have the policy in front of me and did not know much about LTC. I asked for information to help us make some decisions. What would we need to do to start the policy? At the time, they made it sound good. Gave me the three types of care allowed and the basic dollar amounts that she had.

Fast forward two years. She now has stage 4 cancer and has been fighting it well. However, is starting to need a lot more help. I called again, last week, and was informed of the 90 qualification period. Yikes! That's a lot of money to pay for a senior or really anyone to dish out. Oh and you still must pay the premium during this 90 period. Wish I could have started my fund raising efforts two years ago. Okay so the conversation continues. I get the information and they say they will send out a packet of information to start the claims process.

Then my sister is able to read the policy. (My Mom and sister live in CA. I live in Florida and try to help in any way that I can. Hence the calling and checking on policy information.) My sister reads a section in there about needing to qualify for the 2 of 6 daily living activities. Wow! How come the first person, two years ago, didn't tell me about that. Then what about the person I called last week. They didn't mention it either.

So now we see that most likely my Mom will be denied. But . . . $2952 dollars could have been saved in premiums if they had just mentioned this when I called two years ago.

My Mom took out this policy 18 years ago thinking she was helping her three girls. So she would not be a burden on us. Not that I think of her as any sort of burden but that was her mindset. Then she gets a little order, time and working too hard take their toll on her. She gets mild Dementia at times and we start helping with her paper work but she can basically maintain normal routines. Then cancer and more "chemo brain" add to difficulty making decisions.

So John Hancock might be a good policy writer but they need to work on their staff's informational abilities.

Even if she did have "2 of the 6" daily living needs and required an assisted living facility it would cost her $195*90 days = $17,550! For the average person, this is not possible. But. . . had we known two years ago we could have started raising money.

That's my info for what it is worth. None of us are perfect. There are many details of why my sisters and I did not check into this policy sooner. Details = LIFE, KIDS, and Other serious illnesses in family. But in this day and age customer service is suppose to be at it's highest point. John Hancock's customer service falls seriously short.

 

[Arthur Rudnick]

hbaileyteacher,

Sorry to hear about your mom's medical issues.Hopefully she stabilizes and does well.

You jumped into a thread that is 3 years old and I'm not sure what your agenda is other than to vent. And, if that's the case, that's fine. But unfortunately, no one on this Forum can solve your problems, only John Hancock can do that.

Just a few points:
At the end of the day, your mother's policy will determine whether care is justified and if so, what type of care she would be best suited for.

Your first mistake (which you admit to) is not having the policy in front of you, considering that you don't know much about LTC. The policy clearly states the terms of qualifying for benefits. That's true for any insurance product, not just LTCi.

A diagnosis of ovarian cancer by itself, is not a qualification for benefits. The policyholder needs to require assistance with any 2 of the 6 activities of daily living or have a diagnosis of cognitive impairment, which would require a caregiver to watch over her for her own safety & welfare.

You should have been told this by the company's customer service rep. Or, customer service should have directed you to the claims department which would have requested additional details in order to determine whether your mom was benefit eligible.

Don't confuse the 90 day qualification period with a 90 day elimination period. The qualification period requires a licensed health care professional to attest that your mother's care will be for a minimum of 90 days. That's a key for accessing benefits. This is not "short term care" it's "long term care"

Once you qualify, there is a waiting period (elimination period) before the company will pay. The elimination period is clearly stated on the Policy Schedule page. At purchase, your mother had a chance of choosing 30 days or 90 days. That's the amount of days that she will have to pay for care on her own.

If she chose 90 days (which is usually recommended) her premium was 20%-30% less than the 30 day option. You can't blame the company for a choice that your mother made on her own.

Your mother's intention for taking out the policy 18 years ago so she wouldn't be a burden on her children is one of the main reasons people purchase a LTC policy and she should be commended for that.

I can't speak for John Hancock, but from what I'm hearing from you is that not knowing what her policy is about might have caused you not to ask the right questions.

My suggestion would be for you or your sister to call Hancock's claim department and start from scratch.

History shows that if your mom does qualify for care, her policy will pay.

Good luck..............

 

[ltcadviser]

John Hancock pays out 3 million per day in LTC claims. One thing you can not accuse JH of is stonewalling or denying claims.

 

[billberry12]

Just curious. Anyone know what their premium income is per day?

 

[ltcadviser]

Just curious. Anyone know what their premium income is per day?

Well, John Hancock states it has sold 1.4 million policies. If John Hancock has 600,000 policies currently in force at an average of $2000 year premium it can cover its daily claims.

 

[Bob_The_Insurance_Guy]

While this may not be a popular idea from the others on this board, I would recommend two things:

1. though it's a long shot, try to find the name of the agent of record, and if he or she is still around, get hold of them, and have them go through the policy with you and your sister

2. even a longer shot - having to rely on the kindness of strangers - try to find a local agent who represents the company, and have them go through the policy with you. now, this is entirely up to them. they will not make any commission on your family, but maybe they have the "there but for the grace of god go I" mentality. something tells me that your anger will be alleviated if someone personally goes through your mothers plan.

This is why I implore people who have adult children to get them involved from jump.

Talking to someone on the phone is not the best way to get the specifics of the plan. It's always better to talk to someone in person, if that's possible.