Life Insurance Question

[Cowgirl2]

I don't have any life insurance and I don't want to leave my children in debt. Have any of you bought life insurance since they have been diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer? If so, who is a good company to use?

[PJBinMI]

You don't mention the ages of your children. If they are dependents of yours, meaning you can claim them as such on income taxes, if you qualify for Social Security, you will probably be able to get additional income for them. I don't know if that continues once you have died. If you children are adults, I don't think they are accountable for your debts after your die. Your estate would be but they don't have to cover short falls from their own income or assets. If you are treated at a cancer center or clinic, as opposed to a single onc or small group of oncs, there very well may be someone there who knows about financial resources for cancer patients and whose job it is to talk with us and help us find things like this. If you are over 50 years old, look into the life insurance AARP offers. I don't know if it excludes cancer or prior conditions for life insurance. Some one at the bank or credit union where you have any accounts may be able to tell you how those are handled after death. When my in laws died, my husband's name was on their accounts and he used those to pay any bills that came in and after that was all done and their house sold, he was able to split what was left evenly among his brothers and sisters and himself. But his parents left wills and written instructions about all that so there was no guessing what they would have wanted. Your state's website or state bar association website may have information about your state's laws and procedures about all that and could be free and downloadable or may give an address where you can order copies of that kind of stuff. There are also on line sites where you can download will forms and durable power of attorney for health care and other power of attorney forms. Some times do it yourself makes sense and sometimes it doesn't.

[PatSailsbery]

I doubt you will be able to purchase life insurance. That said, you can go to a funeral home and make arrangements in advance, which will lock in their prices now, plus the funeral home will set you up on monthly payments over 3 - 5 years.

[lynzer in reply to PatSailsbery]

I was denied life insurance because of my cancer as well.

[PJBinMI]

For those with financial concerns, one thing to consider is leaving your body to a medical school. They generally have an "anatomical donation" person you can talk with. Here in Michigan, the only cost is a fee for transportation and alot of companies waive that for those donating their bodies. I have arranged to do that, not because of the cost but because I want to do all I can to support (big picture) medical care. I was told by the med school that the only thing that would stand in the way of them accepting my body would be that they already have a full supply or my body is too badly damaged by disease. The funeral director that I know and trust told me that he has never seen either of those things happen! Anyway, they will do whatever with my body and then have it cremated. If my family requests it, they will send the cremated remains to my family. I am trying to be very simple and direct in explaining this and I hope nobody is offended by it! My family is all okay with this plan. I have filled out the paperwork at the medical school that my onc attended. I guess the real reason I am doing this is that I have seen too many funeral home staff pressure grieving people to spend more money than they can really afford to and this is my way to bypassing and thumbing my nose at them! lol

[PatSailsbery in reply to PJBinMI]

I am so glad you found a solution that works for you and your family and thank you for sharing this alternative option.

As a former funeral director please know that, as in any industry, there are a few "bad apples", however, the majority are kind, caring and compassionate individuals that want to help people in their time of crises. There are a multitude of options whether it be cremation or traditional to best fit the needs of each individual and/or family.

[Rhwright12]

I already had insurance but Colonnial Penn always says they won’t turn u down regardless of age or health...so it might be worth a try to look them up...😀

[PLASEM]

I do not think that you could get life Insurance when you have cancer