with that number? Thank goodness, I am in a position to be able to find a way to pay this so her coverage doesn't lapse. I asked them when they sent Mom a letter stating that her quarterly payment would need to be increased to meet the expenses and explain what was happening - they never did. All they send is an annual statement with no letter of explanation.
They feel by doing this, they are meeting their obligation to take care of the insured. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that most older people are not going to know what the annual report states nor will they understand that they probably need to increase their billing amount. This is a very deceptive practice and I fully believe it is intentional so that they can justify cancelling policies that people have paid into for years. Halfway through the conversation, a light went off in my head. My father had a much larger life policy through Hartford years ago and this same thing happened to him. He was on a fixed income and could not afford to pay the several hundred dollars to "catch up", so he had to let the policy lapse. I have spent years trying to figure out how this had happened, and now I know.
He died from cancer a year later, creating a situation where my mother could not afford to live on her own nor could she afford to stay in her home - I had to move her in with me, sell her home, and support for her for over 10 years before her dementia advanced so much that I could no longer care for her on my own. She was robbed of the dignity of being able to be independent and the strain it created for me was tremendous. I love my mother dearly and am grateful I was in a position to be able to care for her, but at a huge cost. As a result of what they have done to Mom's coverage, her quarterly billing now has to increase from $140 to $480 per quarter - all for a measly $20k policy. This type of practice is so unethical and wrong on every level and it should be criminal. Those guys aren't...