Keep Track of These Documents In Case of Emergency
When an accident or illness turns your life upside down, knowing where to find critical documents can help ease the stress. The key is to locate and organize these documents ahead of time so you or your loved ones can easily find them.
Important Documents
While there are a number of documents important to have on hand in an emergency, in this case we are focusing on documents that will help pay for care, grant access to medical or financial information, help your loved ones understand your wishes or appoint someone to make medical or financial decisions.
Medical care documents.
- Individual or Group health insurance
- Medicare insurance
- Part A & B Medicare
- Part C – Medicare Advantage member
- Medigap (Medicare Supplemental Insurance)
- Part D prescription drug
- Accident insurance
- HIPAA medical records release form
- Financial records release form
Documents related to decision making.
- Financial Power of Attorney (or Durable Power of Attorney for financial decisions)
- Medical Decision making
- HIPAA authorization
- Advance directive
- Durable Power of Attorney for health care
- Letter of Instruction may include financial information as well as medical and end-of-life requests.
While medical care is typically covered by health insurance, short or long term care usually is not.
Documents that may include short term or long term care benefits.
- Group or Individual disability insurance
- Traditional long term care insurance or hybrid long term care insurance
- Life insurance
- Annuities
- Short term home health care, Recovery care, Critical Care, Home care membership, accident insurance
How to Find Missing Life Insurance Policies
Recent life insurance policies (within the last 5-10 years) often have benefits for providing care to the insured while they are alive. Most active life insurance policies have a market value when the insured is 65+ years old or in cases of terminal illness. So when looking for funds to pay for care it makes sense to look for a life insurance policy. The tips below work for most insurance policies.
- Look for related bank statements, address book entries, cell phone contacts, or applications for other kinds of insurance (other policies are sometimes listed).
- Reach out to financial advisers, tax accountants, investment brokers for clues.
- Contact employers (current or previous) for records of policies purchased as part of benefits packages.
- Review income tax returns.
- Check the database for insurance applications (no database covers all insurance policies).
- Check out MIB’s Lost Life Insurance page.
- Contact the state insurance departments’ free search services.
Next Steps:
To financial prepared to deal with any emergency, download the Operation Hope Emergency Financial First Aid Kit checklist to help organize your important documents. Make sure your chosen decision-makers know where to find the list.If you have questions about updating insurance policies to better meet your current life situation, set a time to meet with one of our specialists for a review.