In many states there is now a coverage option for those who have been denied health insurance or had a portion of coverage excluded due to pre-existing conditions. Although there are no medical questions to qualify for this plan there are other requirements.
Most Notable Requirements:
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Term life insurance can protect your family against financial loss in the event of your untimely death. Whole life can do the same and will pay out no matter when that time comes. Since the cost difference between whole life and term is large it is natural to question whether or not you’ll outlive your term policy and therefore be wasting your money with term. What if you don’t die in time? What if you get sick, can’t work but still don’t die?
Here are two thoughts. Some term policies come with a return of premium option (ROP). This means if you don’t die before your policy term ends you get back all the premium dollars you paid. There is also a form of term insurance that pays if you die during the term AND if you become sick but don’t die. This is called critical illness. The cost is affordable and fills a glaring gap in most people’s insurance protection.
The doctor tells you that you’re very lucky to be alive and that you can’t work for 2 months. Your doctors and the hospital will get paid by your health insurance. Your life insurance isn’t paying because you’re alive. Who pays you to recover?
Critical Illness coverage helps to fill “The Hole” and cover unforeseen expenses such as your health insurance deductible and lost income.
Most employers don’t offer this gap coverage as this is an area often overlooked when we consider insurance to protect us from the unknown. This protection compliments your current health and life insurance policies and can be purchased for almost any monthly amount. These policies can serve to cover your health insurance deductible or even to replace lost income for a year.
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Many are drawn to a High Deductible Major Medical (HDHP) plan for the lower premium. But did you know there is an alternative to high deductible major medical plans? Scheduled benefit plans will pay fixed benefit amounts for the same types of services as HDHP without a deductible. So if you’re in the camp that would have a hard time paying for monthly premium AND a $5,000 deductible this option could be for you. Many of the more common surgeries would be paid better by a scheduled benefit plan than a hdhp. Below is a claims example (illustration purposes only).
| Charges | HDHP with $5,000 deductible | Scheduled Benefit Plan Pays: | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gall Bladder Surgery (physician service) | $1,229 | applied to deductible | $1,180** |
| 2 Days in Hospital (inpatient, hospital charge) | $4,750 | applied to deductible | $4,000 ($2,000 per day) |
| Anesthesia | $956 | applied to deductible | $200 |
| Total: | $6,935* | $5,000 out of pocket | $1,555 out of pocket |
| * source: healthcarebluebook.com | |||
| ** Surgical schedule is based on 100% of medicare rate |
The scheduled benefit plan used for the above example is the Health Access Fundamentals by Assurant Health (Fundamentals Level). For more information and a quote please click here.
Since scheduled benefit plans are NOT major medical they could leave you with a large out of pocket for large claims (ex. heart attack, stroke or organ transplants) and are not recommended for those primarily concerned with large claims. If your concerns lie between routine coverage and catastrophic you can bolster a Health Access Fundamentals policy with accident and critical illness supplements. Contact us for more information.
Since children cannot be denied on any new major medical health insurance application, carriers in most states have stopped offering coverage for children only, under 19. A parent is required to be on the policy with the child. As per the health care reform bill, children under 19yrs can no longer be denied coverage on full reform plans (purchased after March 23,2010). Plans purchased before this date are known as grandfathered plans, which can underwrite children the same as adults. If certain policy or benefit changes are made to a grandfathered health insurance policy is it possible for it to lose its “grandfathered” status so please check with your carrier for more specific information.
Offering benefits to your employees has always been a successful way to attract high quality talent to your company. But many small business owners have trouble affording to bill. Now there’s a way small business owners can offer benefits to employees and it doesn’t cost the business owner anything.
Do you have a dentist that gives you a price break because you don’t have dental insurance?
Many dentists don’t want to deal with insurance companies and offer cash discounts to their patients instead. In this case a Cash Dental plan could make sense. Theses plans can be used with ANY dentist since they pay a fixed cash benefit for a variety of dental services (cleanings, fillings, crowns, etc). Dentists like these plans because they aren’t restricted by a provider network and the patient receives help paying for services. If your dentist is still unwilling to file a claim on your behalf, you can do it yourself and the insurance company will reimburse you. A popular one can be found here.
Have questions about COBRA and what your options are?
You can visit the DOL website or view the FAQ pdf above. If you have questions after reviewing that please leave a post here and we’ll post a response.
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There are different types of life insurance policies. Here are a few of the most common:
Whole Life is the most traditional and considered to be permanent life insurance. It pays WHEN you die and builds cash value over the years as you pay premium. There is also a guaranteed interest rate that will add to the cash value of the policy. Most whole life policies will allow you to borrow against the cash value as well.
Universal Life (UL) is also considered to be permanent insurance but tends to offer a higher interest rate than whole life, based on the market.
Term Insurance is very popular now because it boasts higher face amounts for lower premium. Term insurance pays IF you die during the term; if you do not die during the term it pays nothing. There is no cash value with a term policy. This is considered to be temporary insurance used to cover a temporary need, such as income during working years or the final 20 years on a mortgage. Term Insurance policies are available in a variety of terms (ie. 10yr, 20yr or 30yr or term to 100 ). Only a small % of term policies actually pay a death benefit. But people still buy them because most term policies offer generous conversion privileges. This means an insured will have the option to convert some or all of the term insurance to permanent insurance (such as whole life) WITHOUT proving medical health again. This meets the needs of someone wanting to buy permanent insurance but unable to afford the higher premium for permanent insurance today. S/he can buy a term policy now and convert it to a permanent policy years later when s/he is making more money and better able to afford the premium of a permanent plan, without the worry of becoming uninsurable. Conversion privileges can vary so be sure to ask you agent what they are.
Return of Premium Term (ROP) is a good fit for someone wanting to cover a temporary need but not wanting to throw all that money away in premium. Quite simply, if you don’t die during the term you get all of your money back. Return of premium policies tend to cost 50%-80% more than term policies but normally offer a nice ROI on the extra premium (today, in the area of 5%).
