Options:

• Seek long term health insurance
• Seek medical assistance to TREAT the sickness
• Prevent the Condition through Preventive Medicine.

By Mike Clark

The companies that sell long term health insurance have some important information regarding future health and future insurability. As you will note below, the conditions that they say will prevent you from obtaining insurance — or at least insurance at a reasonable cost — ARE THE VERY CONDITIONS WE WORK TO PREVENT.

Our philosophy at NBH Lifetime Health is that it is better to prevent diseases and disabilities than to seek help for them at some future time.

The following is excerpted from a Long Term Insurance Company:

“Health Risks That Cost Women Their Good Health Discounts.”

Here are some health conditions that insurers look for in women (and men).  They may not limit you now – but they potentially pose a greater risk you’ll need long-term care in the future.  A long-term care insurance professional can best tell you if you’ll be eligible for “good health’ discounts.”

-       Breast Cancer

-       Osteoporosis (Lower Bone Mass)

-       Overweight (compared to Recommended Height-Weight Tables)

-       Arthritis (Affected Joints, Taking Steroids, Limitations)

-       Adult Onset Diabetes

-       High Blood Pressure (Under Treatment)

-       Schleroderma

-       Taking Medications for Depression or Anxiety

-       History of Alcohol or Drug Dependency

-       Tobacco Use

THESE ARE ALL CONDITIONS THAT WE CAN HELP PREVENT/TREAT!

“Health Risks That Cost Men Their Good Health Discounts”

Here are some health conditions that insurers look for in men (and women).  They may not limit you now – but they potentially pose a greater risk you’ll need long-term care in the future.  A long-term care insurance professional can best tell you if you’ll be eligible for “good health’ discounts.

-       Prostate Cancer

-       Heart-Related Health / High Blood Pressure

-       Overweight (compared to Recommended Height-Weight Tables)

-       Tobacco Use

-       Arthritis (Affected Joints, Taking Steroids, Limitations)

-       Adult Onset Diabetes

-       Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease)

-       Taking Medications for Depression or Anxiety

-       History of Alcohol or Drug Dependence

THESE ARE ALL CONDITIONS THAT WE CAN HELP PREVENT/TREAT!

TODAY YOU ARE HEALTHY, BUT 24-HOURS FROM NOW, THINGS CAN CHANGE

Here are some of the life-altering changes that can unexpectedly happen at any age.  They can cause the need for long-term care.  They can make it impossible for you to qualify for long-term care insurance protection.

• Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Every 26 seconds an American suffers a coronary event and each year about 700,000 will have a first attack.  CHD is the leading cause of permanent disability in the U.S. labor force.  About 22% of men and 49% of women will be disabled with hart failure.

Source:  American Heart Association, 2009 update.

• Stroke. Each year, about 500,000 Americans suffer their first stroke. 28% are under age 65.  Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability and institutional care is (still) required by 20% at three months after onset.  Source:  American Heart Association:  2009 Fact Book

• Osteoporosis. Often called a “silent disease” because bone loss occurs without symptoms, some 10 million Americans already have the disease and 34 million have low bone mass.  Eighty percent of those affected are women.  One in two women are one in four men over age 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.  Six months after a hip fracture, only 15 of patients can walk across a room unaided.
  Source:  National Osteoporosis Foundation, January 2009

• Diabetes. There are 20.8 million people in the U.S> who have diabetes and over 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed every year.  Over 500,000 of new causes are people age 40-to-59.  The risk of stroke is 2 to 4 times higher for people with diabetes.  Source;  American Diabetes Association, Statistical Update 2009

• Parkinson’s Disease. One million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s Disease and each year 40,000 new cases are diagnosed.  It usually develops after the age of 65 but 15 percent of those diagnosed are under age 50.  Source;  Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, June 2009

• Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Every 72 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s disease (AD); by mid-century someone will develop Alzheimer’s every 33 seconds.  An estimated 5.1 million American’s have Alzheimer’s with at least 200,000 younger than 65 with early-onset AD.  Nearly 500,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.  A person with AD will live an average of eight years and up to as many as 20 years from the onset of symptoms.  Source; Alzheimer’s Association Fact Sheet, 2009

THESE ARE ALL CONDITIONS THAT WE CAN HELP PREVENT/TREAT!

Mike Clark, Clinic Director