News Releases

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LegalZoom, the leading provider of legal solutions for businesses and families, and Patients Rising, a leading non-profit advocacy patient organization, today announced a new partnership to provide no-cost planning services on legal, financial, insurance and tax matters to patients with life threatening diseases, allowing them to get their critical affairs in order. 

Recognizing that severe economic stress, depression and anxiety are commonplace among those fighting cancer and other serious illnesses, this partnership will provide LegalZoom LifePlan benefits of independent professional legal, insurance, financial and tax planning assistance to those that participate in the inaugural membership campaign this June. As a result, those struggling just to cope with their diseases will have professional help in making important financial and tax decisions and preparing necessary documents, such as a will, medical directive, and health care power of attorney. Also, the LegalZoom LifePlan network professionals will teach patients how to protect themselves against medical identity theft, a growing problem in health care.

"We are thrilled to work with LegalZoom to offer this critical whole-life service to our members and supporters," said Terry Wilcox, Co-Founder of Patients Rising. "Especially when patients are stressed with treatment challenges or lack the resources for legal and financial planning, this service offers peace of mind so patients and families can focus their energies on treatment and recovery."

Although the LegalZoom LifePlan benefits program is generally offered to employers, LegalZoom is extending its legal and financial planning support platform to patients across the country so they can get immediate help when legal and financial decision-making is especially critical. Among the services offered through this partnership are instant scheduling of consultations with network attorneys and accountants, and unlimited insurance advice sessions – at no charge to the patient.

To kick off this partnership, LegalZoom executive David Freedman will be featured in a briefing on barriers to quality cancer care hosted by Patients Rising on June 2, 2018 during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2018 annual meeting in Chicago. At the briefing, Patients Rising will announce the launch of Patients Rising University, a new online portal of learning modules to help patients navigate their care, ask questions of their health providers, and resolve insurance problems that impede access to timely and effective treatment.

"We are proud to be the first group benefits provider to partner with Patients Rising," said Mr. Freedman. "Proactively addressing legal and financial needs is the best way to avoid problems down the line, but experiencing a health event can make handling these matters overwhelming. With LifePlan, members can get engaging, high-touch counsel on legal, financial, and tax matters, to help them confidently navigate daily and major life events."

A Patients Rising Universality learning module will be released in Q3 2018 to integrate with the LifePlan platform and will feature tips and guidance for utilizing the service so that patients can fully maximize their memberships.

About LegalZoom

LegalZoom is a trusted platform of people and technology that gives the world access to consistently high quality legal solutions.
As the nation's leading provider, LegalZoom empowers millions of people to protect what matters most to them. Whether it's helping small business owners or families, LegalZoom is at the vanguard of efficiently delivering high touch, high service legal help. By changing the approach to obtaining legal help, LegalZoom helps people become informed, educated and secure in their legal options and decisions. Since its founding over 15 years ago, LegalZoom has serviced 4 million customers in the US and the UK, and is now over 1000 employees strong. For more information, please visit www.LegalZoom.com.

About Patients Rising

Patients Rising is a national 501c3 organization established in 2015 to stand up for patients, to advocate for their rights, to fight for their access to the medications they need and deserve, and to tell the truth about health care. Through a range of programs, workshops and publications, including Patients Rising University, Voices of Value Events and The Daily Rise, Patients Rising educates, advocates and communicates the importance of access to essential treatments and diagnostics. The goals of the organization are to ensure the authentic patient voice is heard, access to new therapies remains paramount and the pipeline of progress is not threatened. For more information, please visit www.patientsrising.org..

SOURCE Patients Rising