Pre-existing condition is a health situation characterized by unstable health before application of a health cover policy. In this regard, health planners have been reluctant to take up the responsibility of advising such individuals. In case people with pre-existing conditions are covered, they are usually charged high premiums.
Pre-existing conditions may include illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular problems, and asthma. Life care planners should therefore conduct a risk assessment through underwriting before advising their clients on the insurance policies. In this regard, life care planners are to analyze data showing an individual’s age, height and weight. Through this exercise, some conditions such as obesity could be identified.
It would be beneficial to deal with a young person aged twenty-five years other than dealing with a sixty-aged person with various health complications. However, life care planners are not supposed to discriminate their clients based on their pre-existing conditions. In this case, care planners should determine the vulnerability of the client before advising on the premium to be paid. Those with pre-existing conditions are usually expected to pay high premiums.
Life care planners should be aware of the challenge posed by medical screening and testing. Some customers might want to undergo frequent medical tests. Care planners have been accused of exploiting clients since they demand that people should pay for their medical tests and laboratory checkups. The new patient protection and affordable care act exists to restrict the activities of care planners since it prohibits them from charging customers some medical bills.
However, the truth of the matter is that care planners should encourage their clients to take frequent medical tests and checkups in laboratories. This would reduce the chances of contracting diseases that would demand for many resources in terms of curing. Through checkups, some illnesses could be prevented. Care planners need to come up with strategies that would ensure that only tests related to diagnosed diseases are procured.
Some clients might undertake laboratory tests that are not related to their current health conditions. One of the strategies that would prevent this is coding. It is a process whereby each test is assigned a code. As health planners try to be cautious about routine screening, they should also note that care providers might perhaps charge their clients expensively.
Equipments are very important to the life of a patient since they support the life of the patient. It is the role of the life care planner to advise the client on the best practices as regards to replacing equipments. Some machines are eliminated after some time while others are to be introduced. The care planer would be in a better position to advise the client given the fact that he or she is an expert. However, the decision to be taken depends on the significance of the equipment and the lifestyle of the client.
For instance, how the client consumes his or her time each week is an important factor to consider before issuing an advice. Definitely, those clients spending most of their time at home are different from those spending most of their time in school. In other words, those with active sessions would be advised to replace their equipments frequently as compared to those who spend their time in-doors.
From the American Time Use Survey (2010), a small percentage (0.08%) of Americans spent their time caring for other family members. This shows that a considerable number of family members need specialized care. Before settling on the life care plan for an injured client, the care planner must first come up with an abstract plan regarding the needs of the injured person.
For the case of a client with damaged brain, the consequences of the damage must be weighed before drawing a plan. The plan must be comprehensive and balanced for it to convince the jury to award damages.
Reference
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). American Time-Use Survey. U.S. Department of Labor.