Archive for the ‘Health Insurance’ Category

How Important it is to Your Family!

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

It is helpful to look at how a serious illness or disability affects you and your family.You need to match your needs to the options available to you. Get over the denial that this will never happen to you. Please talk to your families and have a plan. The probability of needing Long-Term Care is very high. We are now living a long time, increasing the probability of needing care. This may be the largest financial risk Americans face.

It’s better to create a plan 10 years too soon than one day too late. And even more significant, the younger you are when you purchase a policy, the less you will pay over the life of the policy.There are many difficult questions to answer in respect to LTC planning and how it affects the financial and emotional well-being of your family. How is the family affected when this unexpected life event occurs?

The costs of care are high both now and in the future. Think about the cost of care in 20 to 30 years. The purchase of a LTC policy today solves a million-dollar LTCi problem in the future.

In respect to long-term care planning here are some difficult questions to answer.

* How much you are able/willing to spend on long-term care.
* Do you have any family members that are in a position to take me into their home (or move into my home) for an extended period?
* It is important to ask yourself exactly what your needs are, or what they could become when you first begin to do your LTC planning.
* If something does happen to your health you and family memers are asked to become a caregiver, and they will certainly be asked, nobody will be in a position to answer that.
* Long-Term Care planning is a consideration to you and your family to make preparations for whatever the future may bring.
* How will your planning-or lack there of-affect your family?
* Are your adult children ready to give up their jobs and families if it becomes necessary to become a caregiver?

Responsible LTC planning has an affect on the family. What exactly does it to do the entire family? Long-Term Care Insurance:

* Allows you to leave a legacy by protecting your children’s inheritance and well as enhancing your retirement plans.
* Supports the Family Long-Term Care is about your family, not you. It affects families, not just individuals. This protection provides the dollars so your family can get help for you-preferably at home.
* Does not replace what families do. Instead, it builds on the family support and allows them to provide the care better and longer.

Long-Term Care insurance can improve quality of life by keeping your family in their own homes, enjoying the family activities in a familiar environment. LTC policies can be considered an ANTI- Nursing home policies. Today, more people with LTCi are receiving their care in their homes rather than nursing homes.

Posted in Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Personal life | No Comments »

Three Main Factors You Should Consider When Buying Health Insurance

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

We may sometimes take our health for granted but everybody will agree that it is the most important asset we have. Everybody is scared of hospitals especially when you are there because you are sick or need surgery. The more reason why having health insurance is so necessary. In the world of health, there are nowadays many health insurance providers. It is often less complicated to just pick health insurance based on how much it costs. This decision can easily become a regret when certain costs are not covered by the policy we picked.

Your decision finally pays off when you are faced with an illness and need to go to a hospital. If you do not choose right, your health insurance policy may only cover some hospitals and not as many as you first imagined. You can choose what hospitals you would like to include in your policy and reduce or increase the number depending on how much you are willing to pay for your health insurance. The more hospitals you have in your network, the more expensive your policy is.

After defining your hospital network, the next logic step is to choose your network of doctors. Depending on your type of insurance, you would be able to choose from a limited or selected number of doctors. Some policies allow you to visit the practitioner of your choice, some will limit the number to those that match a given criteria. There are some others where you can include more practitioners in exchange for an additional amount.

The third factor is the one that determines your coverage and your participation in a possible incident. The Deductible is the key to unlock your health insurance, and an advice: it should represent a minimum that will not damage your economy. And it should vary according to the circumstances of each individual. That is, if you do not mind paying $600, you can put it as deductible. If on the contrary, your economy is small (paying these debts, for example), a deductible of $400 would be best for you.

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Tips for first-time life insurance buyers

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Making an important decision can be intimidating. When faced with complexity and too many options, you may prefer not to think about the all important details before the purchase. Buying life insurance for the first-time is a decision that could shape you enduring view of life insurance. If you make a poor decision, you would regret it. A good decision would leave you with a favourable opinion. Most people only understand life insurance after they are in possession of a life insurance contract. These tips should give the first-time buyer enough confidence to avoid buyer’s remorse:

1) Put life insurance in perspective
You should whether you really need life insurance. That you’re alive is not sufficient reason to get life insurance. Its role in your financial plan should be understood before you make your first acquisition. Ask yourself the following questions:
i)Do I have financial dependents?
ii)What is the likelihood that my family situation, career or business situation would change in the near future?
iii)Do I have other protection products like health insurance and disability income in place?
iv)Why am I making this purchase right now?

These questions would help you answer other questions that come along like what type of insurance and how much of it you will purchase. As a first-time buyer it is important to get it right initially, since that can save you a lot in the long run.

2) Estimate your coverage properly
Having an idea of how much you need would prevent you from being convinced to purchase more insurance than you need. There are needs estimators online that you can use freely. These would give you a representative coverage figure. Working with a trusted agent or advisor in determining your need is also crucial. However, having a basic idea of the process would let you know just how trustworthy your advisor is.

3) Learn the options and examine them according to your needs.
There are myriad options available where life insurance is concerned. Endowment insurance, term insurance, whole life with dividends and fixed universal life are some of the plans available. Each has its own context. Ignore those who over-simplify life insurance by saying that term insurance is always better or permanent life insurance is king. Your needs and preferences are what should determine your purchase. You should ensure that your decision is based on fact and substantiated opinions. Options vary among plans and insurers. It is critical to

compare and contrast various plans and companies. All insurers are not the same.

4) Determine if you would like optional supplementary benefits with your plan
These benefits range from critical illness riders to disability income benefits. The benefits may vary according to the plan that you choose. You can have a comprehensive package that includes health insurance provisions, life insurance and a retirement savings plan. Alternatively, you could just have basic life insurance with a double indemnity benefit.

5) Understand the clauses and provisions that may be included in a policy contract
Contracts may contain non-forfeiture options or reinstatement provisions for example. It is important to know and understand these provisions. The policy loan provision is also critical. Would you be charged if you withdraw or borrow from the cash-value where permanent insurance is concerned? These are the understated aspects of life insurance that can either cost you or work to your benefit. You must be aware of them.

It is important to treat purchasing life insurance as a process. It does not have to take weeks or months. However, it should only occur when you have sufficient information and are comfortable that you’re getting value for money. Doing a bit of research and getting some objective feedback from knowledgeable people that you trust should be part of your information gathering. Comparison shopping is the next core activity and includes comparing plans and insurers. Insurers have different strengths. Certain insurers may even have better investment strategies than others. That will affect how stable the company is or how cash-value plans accumulate. Once you follow this advice, your first policy would be a financial blessing, not a curse.

Posted in Health Insurance, Life Insurance | 5 Comments »

Why is health insurance so expensive?

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Health insurance is expensive because it is not, in fact, what its name implies.

If it were true truly “health insurance,” it would mainly cover catastrophic illness, while containing incentives for maintaining wellness as priority #1 (e.g., paying for an annual preventive checkup), thus reducing medical emergencies.

Such a system would serve both the consumer and the insurer’s interests and radically cut costs. As surely as Americans know to pay their taxes on April 15, they would know the ABC’s of prevention.

But, of course, American health practices leave much to be desired, mirroring the lack of effective dissemination of health promotion and disease prevention information. Our miserable health habits, in turn, necessitate more and more expensive medical interventions, which health insurance covers from A to Z, sending costs soaring.

The average annual health insurance premium for single coverage in 2008 was $4,704; family coverage cost $12,680. Both were about 5% higher than the premium amounts reported in 2007. Smaller firms with less than 199 workers had a lower average family premium of $12,091 compared to larger firms (over 200 workers), with an average family premium of $12,973.

Add to that the ever-increasing co-pays and deductibles courtesy third-party payer cost-shifting and what you’ve got is a truly catastrophic situation.

So call “health insurance” for what it is: third-party healthcare financing, insulating the consumer from the true costs, thus encouraging greater consumption, with inefficient government paying the lion’s share, further distorting and bloating the U.S. healthcare economy - an economy that in 2003 spent $5,711 per capita, the highest in the world, with less than stellar health outcomes.

At the same time, our stellar medical advances have made us a victim of our own success. As U.S. medicine surged forward diagnostically and therapeutically, health costs likewise surged, surpassing $2 trillion in 2006 - 10% for prescription drugs, the biggest contributor to the growth of U.S. health costs - all of which is factored into the cost of health insurance.

World War II set the stage for this inflationary spiral when Congress circumvented the wartime wage freeze by making health insurance benefits tax-deductible for corporations only, which, in turn, incentivized costly “Cadillac” health plans. This arrangement encouraged healthcare consumption free of worry over cost, leaving healthy habits lagging far behind. It’s the factory model embedded in our modern psyche. You go, go, go, and if you start to fall apart, you’re made new courtesy generous benefits and a miraculous health care system.

The legal and regulatory framework governing our health insurance industry has further exacerbated the situation. For instance, many states mandate additional coverage requirements, rendering insurance costs excessive for the broad swath of consumers in the respective state, who do not need these extras. But, consumers may not seek out-of-state relief.

Imagine how much money consumers could salt away in tax-advantaged health savings accounts if the system were restructured so that prevention was emphasized and health insurance covered mainly catastrophic illness.

But, this remedy seems a pipe dream. And, the proposed “cure” for skyrocketing costs is always the same old tired solution of more government intervention. That, of course, will only lead to government rationing; when the one thing government should be doing to lower costs - effectively disseminating prevention information - is left far behind.

Posted in Health Insurance | 2 Comments »

How to get cheap long-term care insurance for seniors

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Because long-term care coverage is a relatively new insurance product, many potential policy holders don’t know what questions to ask or what bargaining points to leverage to balance affordability with comprehensive terms. With some research and careful negotiation, however, long-term care coverage carries a number of advantages:

- protects existing assets and provides a hedge against debt later in life
- frees existing funds to go toward quality of life
- guarantees that the person insured decides the level of care and how it will be handled
- shields loved-ones from life as a full-time caregiver or from making difficult decisions about living arrangements

In seeking affordable long-term care coverage, customers should weigh all the following options and factors before agreeing to a policy.

Shared Care

These policies allow married couples to split the provided benefits. They may include riders that will lower the premium in the event of the death of one partner and “piggyback” provisions, which let one spouse use another’s unused benefits during a coverage year.

Inflation Protection

Ideally, premiums stay the same and benefits go up each year. Some coverage allows policy holders to buy stepped-up care each year rather than allowing the increase to process automatically. Be careful! Don’t get into a situation where benefits are frozen if increases are not purchased.

Medical Determination

These policies place the decision to activate long-term care in the hands of the doctor, sparing the family from emotional decisions that can make the transition much harder on the elder.

Remaining At Home

Be sure the coverage allows for in-home care for such items as physical modifications, buying assistance devices, and hiring health care staff. At the same time, however, take care that the benefits will transfer or can be re-negotiated if care in a facility becomes necessary.

Life Insurance with Long-Term Care Option

This type of coverage is growing in popularity for its affordability and flexibility. The policy allows the holder to convert the accrued value for use to finance long-term care. If the care isn’t required, the heirs still benefit from the life insurance.

By taking the time to understand the options and language of long-term care policies, the coverage can be purchased at affordable rates and with terms that allow individuals to exercise control over their own destiny to the end of their life. Without such coverage, the elderly are often forced to accept decisions made for them by loved ones or medical personnel. Automobile and homeowners policies are common, every day facts of life. Why should managing the risk of losing independence in old age be less important or more expensive?

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What you need to know about Medicare

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Medicare is a program, available to eligible U.S. citizens, that does not have a separate entity for disability benefits. Medicaid and Medicare are two separate programs that work together to help people such as those who are disabled. A simple distinction between the two is that Medicaid is state run, while Medicare is federally governed.

One of the eligibility requirements for receiving Medicare benefits is being considered disabled by the Social Security Administration. In fact, you can not apply for Medicare benefits on your own. You have to apply via the Social Security Administration and you can only do this if you meet the following requirements:

1. Age 65+ or are determined to be blind or disabled

2. You must also meet the following:

a. Have limited income or resources

b. Are a U.S. citizen or national

For a complete list of all eligibility requirements please visit www.ssa.gov. Once SSA has approved your application to receive Medicare benefits, you will be eligible for one or a combination of the four parts that make up Medicare benefits, Parts A through D.

Medicare Part A

The first of the four Medicare benefit parts disabled persons are eligible for is Medicare Part A. Part A, covers hospital insurance. If you are disabled and do not work, there is no cost for his coverage if you have received Social Security benefits for your disability for at least 24 months. Medicare Part A covers the following hospital services:

- Inpatient hospital care

- Critical access hospitals that deliver limited inpatient and outpatient care to rural areas

- Nursing facilities for non-custodial and short-term care

- Hospice

- And some health care (to be determined by Medicare)

If you return to work, but are still deemed disabled and no longer receive premium-free Medicare Part A, your state can help you pay for it. More information can be obtained by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213.

Medicare Part B

Medicare Part B covers medical insurance. In 2009, the starting premium for Part B is listed at $96.40 per month and is subject to change in January 2010. This premium is taken automatically from your Social Security Disability check each month. Enrollment in Part B is a choice and it is advisable for disabled persons to enroll in the program which covers the following medical services:

- Doctor’s visits and services

- Outpatient hospital care

- Physical and occupational therapy

- Home

health care

- Certain supplies that Medicare may choose to cover the cost for such as nebulizers and diabetes testing supplies

Medicare Parts C and D

Medicare Part C is also known as Medical Advantage. A Medical Advantage Plan is similar to a HMO or PPO of which Medicare has a list of providers available. Medical Advantage helps to cover services not found under Medicare Part A such as cosmetic services.

Medicare Part D is the prescription drug coverage that is offered. Part D coverage gives disabled persons receiving Medicare benefits access to medicine that can prevent complications from diseases. In order to receive this coverage you must join a plan, preferably one found in Part C’s list of providers, or any insurance company approved by Medicare.

Medicare is an off-branch of the Social Security Administration. If you are considered disabled by Social Security then you are eligible for Medicare after 2 years of receiving Social Security benefits. Social Security will provide you with the information you need regarding Medicare and will send you documentation concerning the program. If you enroll in Medicare Part B and can not afford to have the premium taken out of your check, visit your local Social Service office for assistance. Medicare and Social Security work hand in hand, but remember you can not receive Medicare without first having received Social Security approval.

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