POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: texasangel071184 on December 25, 2009, 08:18:25 am
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me and my partner are wondering if there is life insurance for guys like us we are have alot of trouble here in the usa find any.
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me and my partner are wondering if there is life insurance for guys like us we are have alot of trouble here in the usa find any.
short answer: no.
long answer: there might still be as few incredibly small coverages available at outrageous premiums. more like burial policies (a poor product, anyway). if you lie on an application the companies have 2 years to discover and cancel your policy. expect to give samples. ::)
back to short answer: the way for poz to legitimately get life insurance is by getting employment where it is part of employee compensation---obviously you are enrolled automatically in the pool. the USPS used to provide $100k insurance. some employers provide much less/none, and a few better. though it is unusual (according to HR people), employees leaving employment have the legal right to "self-pay" premiums and retain coverages.
-Steven (aka megasept0
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I realize that everyone has their own opinion of why they need "LIFE INSURANCE". That said, its my opinion that there are many alternatives to life insurance. It is possible to:
1. INVEST money ( in stock, or mutual funds or whatever). This way you save money and it grows in value.
2. PREPAY for your funeral or cremation. Some plans allow you to pay monthly. I chose the Pennsylvania Cremation Society which is relatively low cost and I prepaid in 1995. So, even if costs go up I am cremated. Disposal of ashes is another story.
If you are a gay couple, having reciprocal wills is NECESSARY. Leave everything to the surviving partner. I think wills are the single most important thing to have.
My opinion is that a family which has children has more needs for life insurance. Since caring for children after death is most important.
Back to the gay couple: if you have a house...get it put into both names with "transfer of title on death." Same with assests such as investments. When my Mom died 1/2 of all her investments came to me under "transfer on death" and I paid no taxes or anything. Of course I also had no access to the money since it remained INVESTED.
Hope this helps.
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There used to be some "niche" life insurance products for folks who are HIV positive, but they had very high premiums, and very low coverage. Ridiculously expensive, IMHO. You might be better off taking the money you would have used to pay the premium, and saving / investing it somewhere. It depends on your situation, and why you need / want the insurance.
Regards,
Henry
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I would recommend reading some of Suze Orman's books on financial planning. She has a couple of chapters that are dedicated to discussing insurance, unraveling the terms and helping you figure out what you need. She talks about why you should have life insurance and also talks about long term care insurance. Most of it is aimed at straight families, but if you can look past that there is some really good advice on how to tackle problems.
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;D Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice it was very helpful and me and my partner intend to do a few of the things suggusted.
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;D Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice it was very helpful and me and my partner intend to do a few of the things suggusted.
If you look around you can still find Life Insurance if your POZ+ it won't be a very big pay-out when you die
(and maybe less than 8 to 10 Grand) that is what I have, but, I've had it for about 20 yrs. and when I got it, I didn't have AIDS, being POZ+ at that time wasn't the disqualification, but having Full Blown AIDS was
I checked it out last yr. and was told it was valid until age 100, or witch ever came 1st....as I said, it's not much (way under 8K) and is only valid upon my death, so yeah, you can get one like that with like $15 to $20 a month (but the pay-out will be very small).....if you own land or real property, then I agree with Bear60's suggestion......and keep-in-mind Death is only for the living (who's left after your gone) and the final expenses, a pre-paid-plain , is also a good thing as well ;)
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me and my partner
don't forget the essentials of a medical power of attorney and/or a living will, along with that will to cover the material possesions and life insurance to cover the burial etc. You wouldn't believe how many times that POA was necessary when my partners were in the hospital.
Twice I've lost long term partners to AIDS, and twice I had to brandish that POA to get the proper medical treatment, to get access, and to make decisions when my partners could not. Neither left a will or life insurance and I was "stuck" with the expenses and trauma both times; but I'd rather have had that POA to make the necessary decisions more than any life insurance.
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THere is one way to get it, and that is through employer sponsored when you first get a job. When you first get a new job and can sign up for life insurance without a health check, max it out. Normally the max is 5x base salary. IF you do 1x and then a year later try to increase, you will not be able to increase because you will not pass the healthcheck. After I move on from jobs, the insurance normally carries and I just pay the premiums myself. I have put together $800K in life insurance this way. I didn't max it out at the first couple of jobs, because I didn't have others to think of. But, I am married now and max it at 5x. I assume they will pay when I die, as they know I am no longer working there, as they can't deduct the premiums and send me statements which I then send in. It has worked thus far and is better than nothing.
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Thinkahead:
you really do. you have this thing down cold!
-Steven (aka 8) megasept
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2. PREPAY for your funeral or cremation. Some plans allow you to pay monthly. I chose the Pennsylvania Cremation Society which is relatively low cost and I prepaid in 1995. So, even if costs go up I am cremated. Disposal of ashes is another story.
All four of my grandparents died in the last two years, and all four of them had prepaid for funerals. I inquired about the costs and frankly was shocked. So now I've filed a living will that instructs survivors to donate my cadaver to the nearest medical school to provide for medical students to get anatomy practice. Just curious if anyone else has considered this?