Bankers Life & Casualty Long-Term Care Insurance

This company is a rip off. Doing research I have to come to find out they have been sued multiple times in several successful class action suits. They are not going to help you, so be prepared to jump through hoop after hoop and listen to lie after lie. I am contacting both state and federal agencies along with the media. We are obtaining letters from specialists, and hospital records to begin our appeal. Please please save your money. You are better off without this, it is a complete waste of money and should you ever need to use it, you will fight tooth and nail and still not see any benefits. Anyone else having problems I urge you to reach out to the media, and any agencies you can so we can get this company investigated.

They say they've mailed 4 separate checks but none have arrived. They owe us $9000 now but we can't submit any claims until they get things set up on their end. A person has been assigned to our account and is supposed to call me. The timeframe for a return call is 10 days...and he's out of the office this week. You can't make this stuff up! RUN, RUN, and DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY.

I contacted Bankers Life on 7/20/20 about non payment and they relayed story of way it was not processed and then explained old company did not process it. And they would expedite it claim. And I would expect a check in 5 to 10 business days. Fast forward to 7/31/2020, I called customer service and representative relayed that was sent to expedite department but was never processed and he said I would receive a check in 5 to 10 business days. He said he was sorry, but sorry does not pay long term care bills. Warning if you need help, do not expect it from this company stay away. And last problem, bankers life does not use direct deposit for payment. They mail paper checks for claim payments, I think they do not use direct payment is float. If they used direct deposit there would be an immediate subtraction from their account. But 5 to 7 days before check is cleared is float they make money on.

My mom has needed in-home-care since January and it is a few days until June at this point; yet, we still DO NOT have coverage. We had a homecare provider originally approved in January but in May a Care Coordinator Abigail ** sent me a letter saying it is not approved. When I called to talk to a rep, he said they had no record of the letters I have sitting on my desk signed by AO. No one in the company can provide me with a list of approved care providers (how can that be that they won't provide a list???) and when they did give me a list of "suggestions" it clearly stated that they could not guarantee they would pay any of them. Two of the three homecare co given to me do not serve my area of town and the 3rd said they will probably not be able to facilitate us.

My mother has advanced dementia at this point and meets all the necessary requirements for home health care provisions but no one from Bankers helps me with my questions. This was the biggest waste of money a financially struggling mother could have ever invested in. She thought she was doing her children a favor by planning ahead to relieve us from stress if she ever needed help; she would have been better off going through Social Security. One other point, whenever you file paperwork the reps will tell you it will take another 6 weeks for them to process your question. So each time you submit paperwork for proof, it is another 6 weeks you fall behind. If someone was planning on using this type of account for cancer care, etc. they would be dead before Bankers would finally pay out -- if at all. STAY AWAY FROM BANKERS LIFE!

When my aunt passed, I contacted Bankers to finalize the policy and receive her final LTC payments. After providing the information requested to finalize the policy, I made ~16 phone calls to Bankers customer service (800-621-3724) over ~4 months. Each time Bankers representatives provided no new status or requested additional, conflicting, or duplicate information. Finally, I demanded a supervisor and after being on hold for 75 minutes was told Bankers required more information, contrary to previous calls where I was told they had all information needed. After providing this information again, I got the same runaround and after pressing the issue found the supervisor was at a Manila call center, did not know the Bankers Life location in America, and had no influence in resolving the claim other than notations in their system.

At this time, I contacted the local Bankers agent who had helped get the LTC policy turned on. After telling the agent I was considering filing a Consumer Complaint with the State Insurance Board, the agent contacted his supervisor, who contacted the Main Bankers Life headquarters. Finally, a Bankers Life representative from the main office contacted me, and after briefing the agent on what I had been dealing with for ~ 6 months and providing previously submitted information, the claim was approved, and the final LTC payment received.

From this experience it appears Bankers Life’s LTC business model is to make it so hard people (especially the elderly without an advocate) will get frustrated, worn down over the continued bureaucracy and conflicting information to understand what is required, and give up, thus getting Bankers out of paying the policy holders what they are entitled. I recommend others trying to get payment resolution from Bankers to avoid the customer service number and go directly to your local agent to avoid frustration and runarounds. Hopefully enough consumer complaints will change the current Bankers policies and procedures that hurt the elderly.

Avoid this company at all costs. Get refunds for all your premiums NOW, and look for a much better rated company. I'm a telecommunications executive in my late 40s. My mom, 82 yrs old. If my mom was trying to fill out forms and get a claim approved much less reimbursed, she'd be dead a decade and OUT all her premiums AND dead broke since BL won't ever reimburse you no way no how. Next stop is calling the local news station and get more spotlights on this company and its shady business practices.

My story: It took 10+ phone calls talking to a different person each time, multiple letters containing requested documentation, extremely long turnaround times to get an answer, to start getting paid. Then some claims would be denied for various bogus reasons, such as my father signed the check to the caregiver, and your mother should have signed it, SERIOUSLY, this actually happened! Their standard answer when I asked how long it will it take until we see a check was, "Well, it takes 30 days from the time we approve the claim to send the check out". What they ALWAYS neglected to add was they didn't know how long it would take to approve the claim AND then it takes a week to put it in the mail, then it takes a few days to reach us.

In other words, they can stall, and stall, and stall they did. After months of back and forth, literally hours on the phone and providing various written documentation, not to mention the extreme frustration I threatened to complain to our state insurance commissioner, magically, they started to be more helpful and we started to receive checks. Ultimately they put me with a 3rd party online caregiver hours reporting system that did work well. Why didn't they do this in the beginning?? Ultimately, we were reimbursed for our caregiver expenses but getting there was extremely difficult, to say the least. My parents would not have been able to navigate it.

Then the Nurse called the following week and was told they received the documents except 1 page, so she re-send the missing page. I then called the following week to check on status but was told that they received... NO information at all!!! The people are crooks. They just do not want to pay. People can't be this incompetent without actually trying to be that bad. I try to speak to a supervisor and am told "someone" will call me back, which does not happen. I ask to file a complaint and told I have to "mail them a letter" --- which I'm sure they will lose too! Do NOT purchase this insurance. My Mother's Dr. office tell me they have had lots of problems with this company many other times. This should be illegal.

My father took out one of their Long Term Care policies back in 1993 and set up the premiums to be paid directly out of his bank account. In August of last year he had a major stroke and would now be needing long term care at a local skilled nursing facility. Even though he had Medicare and supplemental through his work, I started the process of alerting Bankers that I would likely be filing a claim after the first two options ran out. I didn’t have in my possession the actual policy that he had taken out with them and couldn’t find it at his house. I alerted Bankers Life and they told me they would resend the policy to his residence and not mine since they didn’t have my existing POA papers. I said that was fine since I was having his mail forwarded to me anyway and that I would send the POA papers to them. I uploaded the POA forms and waited for the policy.

Weeks later I realized I hadn’t received them, (my bad, but life got in the way). I called again, spoke to someone else who said they had no request on file and they had no record of my POA being uploaded. OK, stuff happens, so I re-uploaded the papers. Waited another couple of weeks, no policy. I call again. They have them. They’re being processed. Several more weeks pass and I receive a confirmation letter that my POA has been recorded in the name of my mother, who had passed 5 years previous. Another phone call to the agency that now is supposed to be servicing the policy since the original agent is now long gone. Agent tells me that they didn’t receive second page of POA. I resend everything again, including my mother's death certificate, but this time to the agent.

Weeks go by, receive another letter finally stating me as the POA. Still no policy. Call again, speak with phone rep, Unique, in of all places, their call center...in Jamaica. Still no request on file for sending me a policy. Request a policy, but they have no record of my POA. Tell her I have a letter stating me as the POA. She says it doesn’t matter, she has no record of it. I am now thoroughly pissed and not certain what to do.

On Nov. 20th, my father passes away. At the beginning of Nov. the nursing home was kind enough to fill out the majority of the claim and submit the claim. This is a service they offer to all their patients' families. She had questions about the claim as well and calls Bankers numerous times and couldn’t get straight answers and could never talk to the same person twice because Bankers doesn’t assign a single person to handle your case, you have the misfortune of having to talk to whomever is available...in Jamaica. She tells me that they keep asking for the same information from the nursing home again and again and again. It is now well into Dec. and they keep asking for the same info yet again. They are sending me letters now, telling me what they are asking for and it’s the same thing as the time before and the time before that etc. The nursing home has now sent the information 3 times.

Oh, and Bankers also doesn’t deal with 21st century technology, everything is done by snail mail. One of the forms I received from them was dated 18 days prior to the date I received it. All of the information from the nursing home had to be snail mailed....again and again and again. The nursing home is now calling me to see if I can call Bankers, since they will give out no information to the nursing home, (and this is after I have told them twice to give the nursing home any and all information that they need), I am furious at the stall tactics and call Bankers yet again.

Spoke with another rep in the Jamaican call center. Can’t understand a darn word she’s saying. They transfer me to another rep. Ann. She can only tell me that the claim is in process and they are waiting on the nursing home. I tell her she’s lying because I just got off the phone with the nursing home and that she has sent all the necessary information 3 times with the last time being 2 weeks ago. I again demand a copy of the policy, she refuses because, guess what? They don’t have me listed as POA??!! And now they don’t have to send me anything because POA ends at death! Oh, that’s right, Bankers didn’t even have that little tidbit of information in the file! I had told everyone I had spoken with after Nov 20th that my dad had passed. I got a condolence letter in Dec, but no one had recorded it in the file. How pathetic is that? And now I don’t have a leg to stand on to get a copy of the policy or any other information.

I demand to speak to her supervisor. I also now am demanding to know where the call center I am speaking to is located. She dances around the issue until she blurts out “Jamaica. We are on the island of Jamaica.” Way to go, Bankers Life. She also was not wanting to tell me her supervisor's name, since he “was out of the office at the moment.” She finally told me his name was “Willy” and that she would have him call me. Yeah, right. No call back that day, or the next.

Finally frustrated to the point of tears, I call the union liaison that Navistar has appointed to help its retirees with insurance claims. He proceeds to tell me how much trouble he has had with them and that maybe the reason they don’t want me to see the policy is because some of their policies he has dealt with offer a refund of premium if no claim is made. I’m now righteously angry.

I now call the agent again, in Waterloo, IA. I explain the issue to her and I’m not speaking softly. She offers to call the home office if I calm down and stop yelling. I apologize and give her a synopsis of the problem. I can tell she thinks I’m exaggerating. She calls back in about 30 mins. Lo and behold, they won’t give her any information or fax her a copy of the policy. This is the AGENT THAT IS SUPPOSE TO SERVICE THE POLICY AND THEY WON’T GIVE HER ANY INFORMATION! She is stunned. Does tell me that as soon as the higher ups return from their New Year’s retreat, (yes, by now it is 2018.) I am done waiting.

I draft an email to her (although to her credit she is the only person at Bankers that actually tried to help me and showed some modicum of empathy towards me). The email stated that I wanted a copy of the policy in my hands in 2 days and that I had already contacted my attorney and was filing a bad faith lawsuit. I also stated that I had already opened a case against them in the State of Illinois with the Department of Insurance. The next call would be to my State Senator and a local Circuit Judge. I get an immediate response from the agent that she is forwarding my email to the powers that be regardless of what retreat they are on.

The next day, I get a call from Rob in the home office...in Chicago. He is stunned and amazed by how Much trouble I have had...But he still can’t send a policy directly to me!!! He assures me that he will personally oversee the rest of my claim...that it is in process and they are only waiting on the nursing home!!! He assures me that he would make sure a check is cut to the nursing home as soon as the claim is completed. He says they will overnight the policy to my father's address, in Central Illinois, 4 hours away from me. He says they will forward it after I tell him there is no one there to receive it. No problem, he says they will definitely have it forwarded. Guess what? It wasn’t forwarded! Fed Ex left it in the freaking DOOR!!! My husband drives 8 hours round trip to retrieve the policy. Finally received a check from them for the claim on February 2nd, when I had begun the claim process on Oct. 4th. Yes, that’s 5 months.

My husband, who works for a major insurance company, was appalled by how badly this company runs its claims. The final icing on this wretched cake came with the check. In a small statement on the stub, the comment was written, and I quote this, “patient has not met the required waiting requirements. Your insurance does not pay for losses to the extent that they are covered by Medicare. However, as a valued policyholder, and to provide you with the best possible service, we are applying Medicare covered days towards your elimination period. You have met 20 of 20 days of your elimination period to date.” Yes, thank you Bankers Life for being so gracious as to afford me the finest possible customer service, you pathetic excuse for a company. If this is the best possible service, I would sorely hate to see their worst.

Bankers Life accepted my copies of the paid weekly invoices but never mentioned to me that more information was needed. My contact at the caring facility mentioned that this was the worst insurance company she had experience. Their system for invoicing was not set up for the week's calendar dates and hours of care. She built a handwritten spreadsheet on one of their invoice form. I mailed this form to Bankers Life on December 5th. We didn't hear from them so I assumed it was trashed. Three weeks later I built a Excel spreadsheet in date sequence, showing my check number, the date, the facility, total hours and check total. I mailed this on December 27, 2017 with another set of copied invoices which included the image of my payment checks.

Later I called them and told my Bankers Life contact that if I didn't receive the amount due me from my spreadsheet I was going to report them to the my state and I'm thinking of getting a lawyer to take the company to court and Bankers Life will pay for all costs. My contact told me I would have priority and reimbursement checks will be mailed within a few days and he will keep me posted, which he did. I received the checks around January 20th and another check about a week later. I would not recommend Bankers Life for long term care insurance.

We waited... and waited for about 6 weeks. They called and said that they needed additional information. We sent it... and then waited. After a few more weeks they sent out a nurse to evaluate him. She ran some basic tests and then we waited. They asked for more information. But while we were waiting for them to review the new documents... my father had a fall and broke 4 ribs. He was sent to the hospital where he stayed a week before being sent to a rehab facility. Because Bankers was dragging their feet for so long, and weren't helping with any costs, we had to take my father out of the assisted living facility. We figured that once he was released from the rehab facility he could move back into our home again while we waited for Bankers to finally get around to approving him.

He was at the rehab facility for a month and all of the doctors and nurses told us that there should be no problem getting him approved for long-term care with his physical limitations and dementia. We moved him back home with us and we heard that Bankers Life didn't feel that he needed any assistance and denied his long-term care. We appealed, and sent in 90 pages of documentation from doctors and nurses, stating all of his physical and mental conditions, and the doctors recommending that he be in an assisted living home... but that too was denied. Well, we decided to have help in our home while we went back and forth with Bankers Life.

So we called a home health company, who had helped out previously, and they sent a nurse out to evaluate him for home health. We also contacted Bankers Life, yet again, about home health while we could make arrangements to get him back into assisted living. They also sent out a nurse. Both nurses arrived the same day and at the same time. Both evaluated him and both agreed he was needing help. The local home health company worked through Medicare and started the next day. We heard from Bankers Life a few weeks later telling us that his claim was under review. Another month went by and they sent us another letter telling us that it was still under review.

We finally heard back today that they will approve home health assistance, but we are moving him into a nursing home next week. Hopefully they will allow the care that he gets there as proof enough to allow us to move him into an assisted living facility again. There is zero chance of us ever referring anyone to Bankers Life. They are very skilled in the art of delaying and dragging their feet to the point that people want to just give up. Horrible, horrible service and company.

I told them I had an attorney because I had been appointed Legal Guardian of Mom since she was unable physically and mentally to care for herself which they were fully aware of because I had sent them a copy of the guardianship papers from the court. I then told them they could pay the attorney fees, court costs AND pay my mom. I would not be contacting them again and I did not want them to contact me unless it was to send me a check for Mom. They started sending me checks. It is a shamed that you have to threaten them to get them to do what they were paid to do. I wouldn't even give them 1 star.

I gave her a list of questions to ask about the policy and some pointers about what to look for. When the agent from Bankers Life arrived, he was very pushy and actually told my client to omit some health details when filling out the application. She also tried asking him the questions I gave her about the policy and he noticeably was growing very frustrated with my client and eventually told her if she doesn't trust him then he's not doing business with her then he packed up his things and left. These business practices are very unethical and need to be looked into.

I would set an appointment with the current agent and tell her horror story about what a horrible company they work for. By having the current agent from Bankers Life come to her home even after her death, was a way to keep Bankers Life products out of someone else's home at that time. I had to give up my full time job, take a $50,000 pay cut to take care of my mother for over 10 years due to Bankers Life's unethical practices. Income loss total of over $500,000. I love my mother and did what I needed to do to take care of her.

I hate unethical companies like Bankers Life. BUYER BEWARE! I have since dedicated my life to helping people through the Knights of Columbus. I have become a field agent for more than 11 years now. I am an MDRT member and love helping families with an award winning Most Ethical Company. Thank you Knights of Columbus for helping me provide benefits to families that are guaranteed to be there when families need the most.

I am turning them into the insurance commission and contacting my lawyer. As my parents will now have to sell their house just to afford my father's care. Mind you they bought this policy in 1996. And Bankers won't pay off on the claim but they still want my mom to pay them every month for a policy they won't honor. You are better off same bagging your money to pay the care home direct when your time comes. Bankers Life and Casualty is taking advantage of senior citizens. Please don't let it happen to you.