Living Care
Living Care is designed to help provide for the costs of on-going care following a serious, life-affecting disability or accident. The policy will pay a sum of up to £20,000 per annum once you are unable to perform certain activities of daily living (including mobility, dressing, feeding and personal hygiene) or suffer mental impairment. Benefits will continue all the time the disability remains, possibly for the rest of your life.
Benefits under Living Care are index-linked once a claim has started and throughout the period of the claim, premiums will be waived.
The level of benefit to which you will be entitled will be assessed on your state of mental impairment or your ability to perform what are known as Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). There are four ADLs, being: mobility, personal care, dressing and feeding.
The definitions of these ADLs and mental impairment are:
Mobility – the ability to move indoors from room to room on level surfaces or from bed to an upright chair and vice versa with or without the aid of a stick, crutch or walking frame, but without requiring the help of another person.
Personal care – the ability to wash oneself in a bath or shower and to get into and out of a bath or shower or to use the toilet to ensure a reasonable degree of personal hygiene, without the help of another person.
Dressing – the ability to put on, take off, secure and unfasten all every day garments without requiring the help of another person. The inability to fasten stocking, lace shoes or tie a tie will not constitute a failure of this activity.
Feeding – the ability to eat and drink without requiring the help of another, the food having been cooked and prepared by another person.
Mental Impairment – the deterioration in or loss of mental capacity which results in the need for continual care or supervision, and:-
- results from organic cause; and
- is shown by deterioration of the insured’s short and long term memory, knowing who and where they are, the identity of others, an awareness of time and the ability to solve simple problems and make rational decision
Once this assessment has taken place, benefits will be paid monthly in arrears after you have been disabled for six months to the following criteria:
Moderate disability – 50% of your chosen benefit will be paid if you are unable to perform two of these activities (even using special equipment, devices, or modified clothing, if appropriate) and as a result need the constant assistance by another person on every occasion.
Severe disability – your chosen benefit will be paid if you are unable to perform three or more of these activities or if you are assessed as suffering from mental impairment.
Payment on both cases will commence once you have been disabled for six months.
What is not covered?
There are a number of exclusions on Living Care, which are summarised as below. Please refer to the policy document for full details of these:
- Air travel except as a fare paying passenger in a properly licensed aircraft
- Alcohol, drug and substance abuse
- Children under the age of 6 years
- Chemical and nuclear contamination
- Your own criminal acts
- Hazardous pursuits (defined in the policy)
- Deliberate exposure to exceptional danger (except in an attempt to save human life)
- HIV/AIDS
- Military, air force or naval service or operation
- Pre-existing medical conditions
- Self-inflicted injury
- War and kindred risks
Pre-existing medical conditions are defined as any illness, injury or condition or related illness, injury or condition:
- for which medical advice or treatment has been sought or received; or
- which you were aware of, or ought reasonably to have been aware of; or
- which was in existence, but which had been misdiagnosed or for which an accurate diagnosis had not yet been made by a qualified medical practitioner,
at any time before you were covered by this insurance.
Benefit cannot be claimed for a pre-existing medical condition until you have been insured under Living Care for a continuous period of 24 months and have not received medical advice or treatment for a continuous period of 24 months prior tot the date of the claim.
Warning: You should not, under any circumstances, forego necessary medical advice or treatment during the first two years of a policy. Such a course of action could both endanger your own health and, in the case of transmittable disease, could endanger the health of the general public.
Should you wish to obtain a quote or apply for Living Care please phone 0844 8730 902 quoting reference RAP23228