Elderly Woman Denied Insurance

The august NY Times is covering the challenges the elderly face better than any periodical in the USA. In this article they explore how an insurance firm denied long-term-care payments for Mary Derks, who has early-stage dementia, hypertension and diabetes. She bought the policy to avoid burdening her family, but it was forced to sell part of its farm-equipment dealership to pay for her care.

Mary Rose Derks was a 65-year-old widow in 1990, when she began preparing for the day she could no longer care for herself. Every month, out of her grocery fund, she scrimped together about $100 for an insurance policy that promised to pay eventually for a room in an assisted living home.

On a May afternoon in 2002, after bouts of hypertension and diabetes had hospitalized her dozens of times, Mrs. Derks reluctantly agreed that it was time. She shed a few tears, watched her family pack her favorite blankets and rode to Beehive Homes, five blocks from her daughter’s farm equipment dealership.

At least, Mrs. Derks said at the time, she would not be a financial burden on her family.

But when she filed a claim with her insurer, Conseco, it said she had waited too long. Then it said Beehive Homes was not an approved facility, despite its state license. Eventually, Conseco argued that Mrs. Derks was not sufficiently infirm, despite her early-stage dementia and the 37 pills she takes each day.

Hopefully, Mrs. Derks and others like her can be helped by the emerging array of Assistive Technology products....and with the help of family, stay at home.