Protect Yourself With Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness insurance in today's world is very necessary. People who are surviving from major health concerns, in that same process need funds for recovery. With that, lets discuss how a Michigan critical illness policy works.

The critical illness policy that we offer gives a Michigan consumer protection in regards to heart attacks, life threatening cancer, kidney failure, strokes, and organ transfers.

* I am sure we all know someone who has had a heart attack. According to Americanheart.org, 425 thousand people have died from a heart attack since since 2006. However, what is more important is people are surviving after heart attacks. From "1996 to 2006 the death rate from coronary heart disease declined 34 percent." With this stat, people should understand the need for critical illness protection.

* Cancer.org recently brought out their stats from 2009. Cancer has been the number two killer since 06, only behind heart attacks. What is most important? "Compared to the peak rate of 215.1 per 100,000 in 1991, the cancer death rate decreased 16% to 180.7 in 2006. Rates for other major chronic diseases decreased substantially during this period."

By reading this posting, you should understand my point. Consumers are surviving from heart attacks, cancer, strokes, kidney failures, and even organs transfers. So how does a critical illness policy work?

The consumer picks and benefit ($10,000 - $100,000) and if he/she suffers one of the five illnesses that I have named, then the benefit is paid out. You also receive 25% of your benefit if you need angioplasty or artery bypass. It is that simple in a nutshell. That payment can be used to pay off your health insurance deductible, traveling bills, etc.

When it comes to pricing, it is beyond affordable.

Age 35 male, $10,000 benefit, non tobacco $15.42 $25,000 benefit, $31.88

Age 35 female, $10,000 benefit, non tobacco $11.59 $25,000 benefit, $22.23

Age 50 male, $10,000 benefit, non tobacco $34.32 $25,000 benefit, $79.04

Age 50 female, $10,000 benefit, non tobacco $24.02 $25,000 benefit, $53.30

The one question I get with regards to our critical illness is what happens if I die without using the policy? I pay and what do I get? With our policy, if you pass without using your policy, your beneficiary will receive all the premium you have put in. Your money does not go to waste.

Another perk with this policy, is if we combine it (husband + wife), the premiums actually become cheaper.

This policy is underwritten, so be prepared to answer health related questions.

When you sit back and actually think about who you know, it has to be concerning if you know of someone who has suffered one of the illnesses mentioned. They probably had to pay their health insurance deductible, medications, and possibly even bills if they were out of work for a substantial amount of time. With critical illness protection, all those worries could be taken away. You do not need those headaches mentioned above if you are recovering from a serious illness.

Maternity Leave Benefits - At No Direct Cost to Employers

Creating viable maternity leave benefits is a vexing problem for many small businesses. Helping female workers fund their maternity leave is a noble goal. But funding maternity leave is very costly, and creates a favored employee class: working women in the growing family life stage. Voluntary employee benefit programs help employers create maternity leave benefits that fund maternity leave, treat all employee classes equally, and come at no direct cost to the employer.

Maternity Leave Benefits

Women in the growing family life-stage will gravitate to employers offering maternity leave benefits. Having and raising children is quite expensive, and to begin the journey with six to eight weeks of unpaid leave is a burden to many couples. Plus, there is also the chance that mom may miss additional time from work prior to delivery due to complications, after work because of postpartum problems, or to take care of a sick or prematurely delivered baby. Any employer offering solutions to this wage gap problem has a leg up on recruiting and retaining workers in this category.

But how can a small employer offer maternity benefits without driving up costs, or unfairly favoring one employee segment over another? Providing six to eight week of paid leave is an option many small employers can not afford. When you add on the need to replace income for complications and/or care of a sick infant the costs can quickly spin out of control. Plus, employers need to consider how male employees and older female employees may feel about the extra benefits provided to one small segment of the employee population. Many employees will never use maternity benefits, and may seek an alternative form of compensation - raising the stakes yet again.

Voluntary Employee Benefits are the Answer

Voluntary employees benefits provide answers to these employer dilemmas. Voluntary benefits allow working women to create maternity leave income for their normal labor and delivery, plus provide protection in case of pregnancy complications, delivery complications, and premature birth. Employees pay for the programs themselves by payroll deduction, so there is no direct cost to the employer. Make the options available to all employees, and no special favors are being done for any single employee segment. Women in the growing family life stage will have their maternity benefits, and the remaining employees will have expanded options to protect themselves and their families in case of unexpected accidents and illnesses.

The most common forms of voluntary benefits are flexible spending accounts, and supplemental health insurance. Flexible spending accounts use pre-tax dollars to help lower a variety of maternity related expenses. A healthcare flex accounts can lower the costs of infertility treatments, pregnancy expenses, and left over medical bills associated with a long NICU stay for a sick infant. Dependent care flex accounts help lower the costs of child care, making it easier for women to return to work. Supplemental health insurance helps women create maternity leave pay for their normal delivery, plus it provides additional protection in case of pregnancy complications, delivery disorders, premature birth, accidents and illnesses.

Bridging the GAP: Changing Contracts and Benefit Structures to Improve Supplemental Products

Introduction

Consumer driven health care, and HSA's in particular, are powerful tools for containing cost increases in medical insurance. However, in the worksite market, especially in the blue-collar segments of that market, HSA's are not always applicable. Over the last few years supplemental carriers have redesigned GAP, critical illness and accident products to address more effectively the out-of-pocket costs borne by employees with high deductible plans. Having supplemental products underneath a HDHP is now a viable alternative for some accounts. This article explains the evolution of those products, their application to HDHP's and finally their relevance to medical brokers in terms of marketing and evaluating alternative plans. It seems counter-intuitive, but some employers are realizing large annual savings by going to a HDHP and providing the underlying supplemental GAP, critical illness and accident coverage. The cost differential between the traditional medical plan and the HDHP is more than enough to pay for the supplemental products.

From Individual to Group Contracts

Perhaps the most important trend in worksite products recently has been the move from individual contracts to group contracts. Group contracts provide more flexibility for employers and lower costs for employees. Many traditional worksite producers are hesitant to use group products because of their lack of portability. I think this is of little relevance when using these products to complement HDHP's unless the underlying medical plan is portable. Both can be subject to COBRA and as medical plans become more portable (as stipulated in much pending legislation on both state and federal levels) the group voluntary contracts will also become more portable. In fact, some group voluntary carriers currently have a portability or conversion feature in their products.

GAP Plans and HSA's

Most GAP plans are not HSA compliant. There are some traditional hospital indemnity plans which can be sold alongside an HSA but the coverage is not as comprehensive as most employees would like because traditional hospital indemnity products provide no benefits for doctor office visits, diagnostic testing, outpatient surgery, etc. If these benefits are included in the hospital indemnity policy it is no longer HSA compliant. This leaves the employer implementing a HDHP with 4 basic choices:

1. HDHP with employer funded HAS. 2. HDHP with employee funded HAS. 3. HDHP with employer funded supplemental products. 4. HDHP with employee funded supplemental products.

Of course, there may be some overlap amongst these options.

Plan Design Alternatives

Most of the GAP plans available from voluntary carriers with Best ratings of A- or higher are built on the hospital indemnity ($500 to $5,000 initial admission benefit) chassis with one or some of the benefits listed below added.

Doctor's office visit ($25 to $50 per visit, annual limits) Diagnostic testing ($250 to $1,000 per test, annual limits) Outpatient surgery ($250 to $3,000 per surgery, annual limits) Wellness benefit ($25 to $125 per year) Rehabilitation unit benefit ($50 to $100 per day, annual limits) Emergency room benefit ($150 to $250 per visit, annual limits) Intensive care benefit ($300 to $800 per day, annual limits)

The internal limitations on these benefits definitely leave "gaps and holes" in coverage, but frequently these are not as great as the "gaps and holes" left by an HSA, depending upon plan structure.

Critical Illness and Accident Coverage

In addition to GAP plans, many employers also provide a low benefit ($5,000 to $10,000) critical illness policy and/or an accident policy. The critical illness policy pays a lump sum upon diagnosis of cancer, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer's, etc. This provides the insured cash for expenses and treatments before the HDHP benefits begin. Accident coverage also provides first dollar benefits to the insured for medical expenses relating to accidents. With employer funding all these options should be economical and guaranteed issue, frequently with no pre-existing conditions clause.

Pitfalls

There are several pitfalls to this option which should be considered:

1. Gaps and holes will remain in the coverage, even though these may be less than in an employee-funded HSA.

2. Most supplemental carriers pay off of the major medical EOB. This may put the insured in a position of having to pay up front, then be reimbursed.

Advantages

Advantages to this approach which we have not discussed are:

1. The initial and obvious benefit of this option is greater employer and employee choice. It is no panacea for the cost problems facing the health insurance industry, but it does provide a different approach to be considered and analyzed.

2. If medical costs continue to rise and the employer needs to shift costs to employees, the supplemental products can be converted to voluntary products.

Computerized Comparisons of Alternatives

There are spreadsheet programs which are quite valuable in helping brokers and employers analyze alternatives. These display the current plan, the renewal quote and the new HDHP option and calculate the projected savings to both employer and employee. Then the supplemental costs and benefits are added to demonstrate which options are most cost efficient and which options provide the greater benefits.

If you would like a spreadsheet of the leading carriers' products, please send me an email.

Part D Enrollment Period - Big Changes For 2012 Plans

Almost everyone with Medicare or soon to be eligible for Medicare understands the value of joining a Medicare Part D Plan. The best time to join a Part D Plan is when you first become eligible for Medicare. By joining when you are first eligible you gain valuable coverage and avoid the Late Enrollment Penalty should you decide to enroll at a later date. But what if you want to join, switch or drop a Part D Plan? The Part D enrollment period, known as the Annual Enrollment Period gives you the opportunity.

When Medicare Part D Plans first became available in 2006 there were two distinct times to enroll or make changes. The Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) which originally ran from November 15 through December 31 and the Open Enrollment Period (OEP) which ran from January 1 through March 31.

During the AEP you could make changes with very little restriction. You could enroll in a stand-alone Part D Plan or join a Medicare Advantage Plan which included Part D coverage (MAPD). You could drop a plan or switch plans as you saw fit. You could even submit multiple applications with the last one received being the plan that you would ultimately join.

The OEP was little more restrictive. You could only make like-to-like plan changes with Part D being the determining factor. You were able to switch to another Part D Plan if you were currently enrolled in one. But were unable to enroll in a Medicare Rx Plan if you neglected to do so in the AEP. This enrollment period gave you the opportunity to make changes to your Part D coverage within the guidelines if you felt it was in your best interest.

People with Medicare liked the freedom afforded by these enrollment opportunities and insurance agents certainly liked being able to help a client who may have joined a plan that was less than beneficial for their circumstances. But the powers that be within the government felt that the Part D enrollment period needed fixing!

January 2011 saw the elimination of the Medicare Open Enrollment Period and the beginning of less choice for people with Medicare. Instead of the OEP a new dis-enrollment period was put in place. This period was only for people who enrolled in an Advantage Plan during the AEP who would like to drop that plan.

During the Annual Dis-enrollment Period which begins January 1 and ends February 14 you are able to drop your Medicare Advantage Plan and return to original Medicare. You can also purchase a different stand-alone Part D drug plan. If you choose, you can also purchase a Medicare supplement but may be subject to the insurance company's underwriting requirements. This does not allow you to switch a stand-alone Part D Plan. You are locked in.

Big changes are in store for Part D Plans with a January 2012 effective date. The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period has been changed. The Annual Enrollment Period for Part D and Medicare Advantage will now begin October 15 and end December 7. The extra week is nice but you better mark your calendar other wise you will be out of luck!

Plan sponsors should be releasing details of their Part D Plans and Medicare Advantage Plans earlier than in years past and information should also be posted on the Medicare website sooner as well. It is your responsibility to be proactive and research any plans you may be interested in prior to the Part D enrollment period end date of December 7.

Don't be one of the tens of thousands that will not get the word about these date changes. Be sure not to miss the opportunity to enroll in the Medicare Part D Plan of your choice.

Selecting The Right Deductible

If you are a professional of any field, it is very necessary that you carry adequate protection just in case you have to file an insurance plan claim. When you don't have enough protection to protect you against any suits that might be filed against you, your business could be at stake. This is the main reason why you are attempting to look for a professional liability insurance coverage, and are trying to work on finding the best deductible.

Prior to your plan of having any kind of insurance for your business, you have to first evaluate your urgencies. You have to consider the risks your business may possibly attain, the dilemmas you have encountered in the past years, and if you will be having more business deals which needs careful attention. If you think that your business will be filed a lawsuit and that it could be a relatively large amount of money, it is very necessary that you own adequate insurance coverage to protect that potentiality.

Now you have to consider the money you have in your pocket. How much money does your enterprise have reserve to invest for the insurance protection? Remember that your professional liability insurance protection is tax deductible, however you still need to pay. If you know the amount of money set aside then you can pay for your insurance protection and this will enable you to have a much easier way of choosing the perfect deductible.

After you know the amount of money you carry for your insurance protection, you have to begin looking for plans that fall in your criteria. You can have cheap plans if you have a bigger deductible. This refer to your finding out of the amount of coverage you prefer and know how high of a deductible you need to compensate in order to fit the premium to the budget your business set aside.

Prior to deciding on a deductible, you have to make sure first that you will be able to pay the deductible in the event somebody files a suit against you. You have to accept the fact that you may be hauled into court in the near future.

If you are getting an insurance plan, it is very important to read every portion of the plan. It may be very tiring and difficult to read through because it is very long, however this is something that is very necessary. You may want also to take the policy documents to your lawyers before signing all of them. This will make you rest assure knowing that you have gotten the protection that you require.

Medicare High Deductible F Should Be The First Choice For Medicare Supplements

People choose medicare supplement plans for a variety of reasons. Some people choose them based on the name of the company offering them, advice from family or neighbors, and advertising on TV. Others may go with advice from a local senior center or simply go with a Plan F because it offers the most coverage. Whatever the reasons may be, they are usually not enrolling in the most financially sound option.

High Deductible plan F should be the choice for any person over the age of 65 taking a Medicare Supplement Plan. ( I say over 65 because it is not usually available to those on Medicare under the age of 65) High deductible F is not as easy to understand as the more popular options such as Plan F,C,D or even plan N. However, if people did take the time to understand the plan, they would see that it is by far the best option from a mathematical standpoint.

Plan F High Deductible works in the following manner: It will cover the Medicare co insurance and cost share once a person spends $2,070 in any given year. In general, this means that when a person goes to the doctor, Medicare will pay 80% of allowable charges and the patient will pay the 20% left over. It works the same way with other services such as testing and physical therapy. If they go to the hospital, they will pay the hospital deductible and then Medicare will pick up the rest. If these expenses add up to $2,070 in any given year, the high deductible F plan will pick up the remaining charges just like a normal Plan F does from the start.

The reason that high F makes so much sense is the math. In many states, high F costs $33.06 a month. The lowest cost standard Plan F is $214.50 a month. Plan F covers all medical costs (Medicare allowable) so there is no out of pocket expense, but the premium totals up to $2,574.00 a year. Even if someone uses little or no services for the year, they will still pay this amount. High F has a total cost of $396.72 annual premium ($33.06 x 12 months) and a max out of pocket of $2,070 for a total of $2,466.70. The worst case scenario leaves the person with High F saving $107.00 for the year.

The reality is that few people experience the worst case scenario. Very few will actually hit the $2,070 deductible for the year. Some estimates show that only 5% of people accumulate over $2,000 of utilization. There are a number of sources that estimate how much the average senior actually accrues in part A and B co-insurance and deductibles for the year but the average seems to show it is about $900 a year. Given this estimate, the average senior would save about $1,207.00 a year on plan F high deductible. If they have a very healthy year, they will save even more. If they have a catastrophically bad year, they will only save $107 but there is no risk involved. At the end of the day, they will save money period.

Due to a general lack of understanding, High F will never be as popular as plan F but it should be the overwhelming choice for anyone in a supplement. The math behind it is undeniable.

Florida Seniors And Florida Medicare Supplement Plans

Florida Medicare Supplement Premiums and Selection, some influences.

In the state of Florida you may expect to pay up to 60% more for your standardized Medicare Supplement Plan. The Florida rates are among the highest in the nation.

The temperate climate, easy lifestyle, vibrant and active senior community, and lower housing costs and taxes in Florida are just some of the reasons that so many Americans choose to retire here each year.

Florida leads the nation in percentage of citizens 65 and older with 17.7 % of the total population falling into that category. Currently Florida's Senior population is over 3,339,000. Medicare Beneficiaries in Florida number over 3,300,000.

Since medical expenses increase as we get older, a very large group of aging people will impact the cost of doing business for an insurance company that is marketing Medicare Supplement Plans to that group. The higher claims cost has caused some companies to decide not to offer plans in Florida. This limits the choices for seniors. This also causes the premiums to be more expensive.

Another factor affecting Florida Supplement rates are some of the insurance regulations in the state. These tend to be good for the consumer, but can also cause higher rates.

Issue age pricing. All Medicare Supplement Plans in Florida must be sold as "issue age" vs. "attained age". With issue age pricing your premium depends on your age when you purchase the policy. Attained age plans increase based on your age as you get older, these increases tend to be significant. Issue age policies do not increase based on age, rather are in conjunction with increases in the Medicare deductibles and other cost sharing and have much less impact on the cost of the plan, resulting in predictable costs going forward.

All insurance companies wishing to market Medicare Supplements in Florida are mandated by the state to have plans available to people who qualify for Medicare under the age of 65. These are beneficiaries who typically have been on SS disability for 24 months. This gives them the ability to secure protection against medical costs and increased quality of care. It also creates a higher risk, higher cost group of insured.

These are only a few of the factors contributing to the higher cost for Medigap Plans in Florida. If you are a Florida Senior you owe it to yourself to be pro-active and compare plans and prices so that you can be confident that you are getting the most bang for your health care dollar and that you have the right coverage for you.

Background to Payment Protection Insurance

If you have taken out a loan, mortgage, credit card or overdraft from a bank or other lender in the last couple of years, you should be aware that you could have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) and be entitled to your money back.

The fact that PPI has been potentially incorrectly sold to millions of customers around the UK and that this makes the banks and other lenders liable for £millions has made the issue one of the important consumer issues of the last number of years.

What is PPI?

PPI is supposed to provide cover to bank customers who through an unexpected event, such as unemployment, illness or accident, became unable to meet their regular debt obligations. If one of these unfortunate set of circumstances did befall you, PPI would cover your debt repayments for a period of up to 12 months.

But...?

The problem was that PPI as a product did not always do what it was supposed to. The problems with PPI policies were twofold; there were problems with the product itself and there serious deficiencies in the way the product was sold to customers.

Problems with the product

The first problem with PPI was the fact that it turned out to be pretty useless to the large majority of customers. This was partly a result of the numerous clauses written in to most PPI contracts that had the effect of excluding a wide range of customers. But it was also the result of deliberate actions by the banks; rejection rates for PPI claims were substantially higher than other forms of insurance. The Financial Ombudsman formally complained that they believed that some banks were operating a policy of rejecting 100% of PPI claims.

The second problem was that, despite the uselessness of PPI to many people, the banks were making 80% profits from its sale and the industry as a whole was taking home £5billion every year. PPI charges were often more than the interest on a loan.

Problems with the way it was sold

On top of the problems above was the fact that PPI was mis-sold to millions of customers. The Financial Services claims that the majority of customer with a PPI policy was not told about it when they took out their loan or mortgage. More still were told that the policy was compulsory when in fact it was not.

Another large section of customers were sold PPI even though the exemption clauses in the contract meant that they could never make a successful claim using PPI. If you were unemployed, self-employed, retired, already covered or had certain sorts of health problems when you were sold PPI, you were mis-sold it.

Hospital Confinement Indemnity - Help For Extra Expenses

If you have ever been in the hospital, or had a family member in the hospital, then you know how expensive it can be. If you don't have hospital confinement indemnity insurance, then you really should consider it. Not only are medical cost high, but there are always other cost involved in a hospital stay. Usually a loved one, or caregiver, will come to the hospital every day to make sure you get everything you need, and to keep you company. It doesn't take long before all those extra expenses start to add up, and cause a financial strain. Here are some of the cost that may be incurred.

1. Fuel cost of driving back and forth to hospital. 2. Cost of caregiver eating out. 3. Lost wages of person hospitalized, or caregiver. 4. Possible babysitting fees for caregivers children. 5. High deductible to pay from health insurance plan. 6. Co-insurance - the amount insurance does not cover.

There are probably more cost than these that will come up when you or a loved one are in the hospital. By having a hospital confinement indemnity policy you can use the benefits to pay for some of the cost. Knowing that you will have extra cash coming in to take care of some of these expenses is a real stress reliever.

A hospital confinement indemnity plan is a supplemental policy that pays the cash benefits directly to you. You can use the money to pay for medical cost, or just buy needed groceries. The way the money is spent is up to you and your needs. It doesn't get much easier than that!

When you start looking for a hospital confinement indemnity plan you will see that some may be different from others. This is a good time to have a qualified insurance agent explain the differences to you. By discussing your options with an agent you can be assured they will offer information that you didn't even know to ask about. You want to get a hospital confinement indemnity policy that not only meets your budget, but one that pays out the best benefits possible.

Supplemental policies, like the hospital confinement indemnity policy, have premiums much smaller than your regular health insurance. So, almost every family can afford to have one on the bread-winner in the family. This is important because if the main bread-winner is not able to work, their salary may be compromised.

It doesn't take long to get behind on your finances when someone in the family is not receiving their full paycheck. Having a hospital confinement indemnity plan can take the worry out of situations like this.

Normally a hospital confinement indemnity plan pays a certain cash benefit per day, for every day you are confined to the hospital. Many policies pay a lot more per day if you are confined to intensive, or critical care units.

No one anticipates being in the hospital, but it happens to people every single day. Talk to an insurance agent and get you a hospital confinement indemnity plan today.

Preparing for Future Risks: Unemployment Protection Insurance

We all need to work. Finding a decent job can be tough for some people. Once you get a job, you will do your best to keep it. It helps in addressing your basic needs. Sometimes, however, unexpected events happen. A lot of people are part of mass layoffs and therefore, it becomes apparent that unemployment could happen to anyone. Therefore, while you still have your job, you should learn how to invest and spend properly. The rate of unemployment has become increasingly high and so you need to take advantage of unemployment insurance. This is an insurance policy that you can get to have protection while you are looking for a new job.

What it does?

The so called unemployment protection insurance helps in keeping your daily processed covered. You can pay your daily expenses like in gas, phone, electric and food bills. This is a form of protection that you can use to pay for the loans that you have so that the interest rate will not grow and you can live a fairly regular life. Every month, you will be receiving a fixed amount. The amount can be 50% of the current salary. This is a really helpful kind of policy for anybody. As much as we want to believe that we can secure our jobs no matter what, it is a reality that we do not have any assurance about how long we can keep our jobs.

Protecting your family while you still can

When you lose the job, things change and you cannot be so sure as to how long you will be experiencing redundancy. You want to keep your debt payments getting fixed. That means if you have a job right now, be ready by purchasing unemployment protection insurance. All you have to do is choose the policy, decide on how much coverage you need how much premium you can pay and you will be ready to protect your family from the issues. Normally, you have to make a claim after 30 days of still being unemployed. Once you get the go signal, you will get the benefits that you want.

Getting a quote

If you want to be informed more about the different policies related to unemployment protection insurance, you should ask for a quote from different companies. You need to consult with an expert as to what is the best plan based on your salary and other requirements. Getting a quote is very easy now. You can get a quote online. All you need to do is state the necessary information and you will be ready to pay your premium and you can enjoy the benefits of having a great form of support if you lose your job. Everybody deserves this kind of insurance so while you have the money to secure for the unexpected, be sure to take advantage of it.

Extra Insurance Coverage For Cancer

Cancer is a disease that strikes many people, and age doesn't seem to matter. Researchers are constantly working to find a cure for cancer, but there are so many kinds, it might take a very long while. The good news is that the cancer survivor rate has improved over the past decade, which mean medicines and care has improved. But even with the survivor rate improving, the medical bills still have to be paid.

Insurance has also become important to people today because the cost of medical care has skyrocketed. Just one visit to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars. And if you are hospitalized, the amount could be staggering. Health insurance and automobile insurance are the two most sought after policies today, however there are other policies that can help as well. These are supplemental insurance policies.

Supplemental insurance is not that expensive and can really help when serious illness or diseases attack your family. Cancer insurance is one of those supplemental insurance policies that everyone should have. This is especially true if any of your family members have had cancer.

Doctors seem to believe, in some cases, that having family members that have experienced cancer, could make your chances of getting cancer much greater. If you have health insurance, then basically you are covered for the majority of expenses, however the buck doesn't stop there. Health insurance is great, but it doesn't cover all the expenses.

All health insurance policies have a deductible and a co-insurance that must be paid. If someone in your family gets cancer and goes through all the chemo and other treatment, you could still end up owing thousands of dollars. When you purchase additional insurance, in the form of cancer insurance, you can have help with those extra expenses. This can relieve you from a lot of worry financially.

There is one reason you need to get cancer insurance now. Once a person gets cancer, you are no longer eligible to buy this extra protection. Cancer is not something anyone likes to even consider, yet if you read the newspapers, or just talk to people, you will hear many stories of how someone they love has contracted this terrible disease.

Do a little research on cancer, then find yourself a cancer policy for you and your family. It is better to be prepared, and hopefully not need it, than to be caught off guard.

How Does Medicare Part D Work?

Of the four parts of Medicare, Part D is the newest and the most complex. I still get asked what is Medicare Part D which means that the government is failing to do a proper job of educating seniors on this very important and vital part of Medicare. Medicare Part D covers prescription drugs that are typically filled at your local pharmacy or filled through mail order. The typical Part D drug plan consists of four Tiers generally referred to as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4. Tier 1 is for generic drugs, Tier 2 is for Preferred Brand, Tier 3 is for Non-Preferred Brand, and Tier 4 is for Specialty drugs. We are now also starting to see a 5 Tier structure with some of the Medicare Part D plans. The extra Tier is used with the generics creating a Preferred Generic as well as a Non-Preferred Generic.

Medicare Part D is administered through private insurance companies such as Humana, Wellcare, BCBS, United Healthcare, Healthsprings, and many others. They are county specific, and their costs vary greatly from plan to plan and from region to region. All plans carry a monthly premium. Also take note of whether or not the plan has a deductible. Deductibles are common in Part D plans. The important considerations when determining the best drug plan for you is to consider the costs, formulary, and your pharmacy choice. A formulary is a list of drugs that is covered by the plan as well as their level of coverage or Tier.

NOTE: Not all formularies are created equal! Many times you will find your drug on one formulary and not on another. Also, it is not unusual to find your drug on different Tiers on different formularies.

Finally, to complicate things even more they throw in the coverage gap, enrollment periods, and a penalty. A separate article could be written on each of these subjects, so I'll just mention them here.

In summary, you will pay a monthly premium for Part D of Medicare which will be determined by which plan you select. You need to check the plan's formulary against the drugs you are taking to determine whether your drug is covered and how well it is covered. A great resource to accomplish this is online at medicare.gov. In order to find more information on a comapny like Wellcare or Healthsprings, you may also want to visit the plan's website.

NOTE: Some people qualify for assistance with paying for their Medicare Part D drugs. The assistance could be in the form of premium assistance as well as co-pay assistance. If you qualify for assistance you will not have to worry about the Medicare Part D Donut Hole or Coverage Gap.

Medigap - Benefits of Using an Independent Agency

As the Baby-Boomers turn 65 and start utilizing their Medicare benefits, many will have both the desire and the financial means to purchase some sort of additional insurance to fill in the gaps that Medicare leaves for the consumer to pay. This is where an independent agency is an extremely useful resource.

When people think about buying Medicare supplement insurance often the first thing that comes to mind are the big names: Aetna, Blue Cross, Gerber, Mutual of Omaha, Sterling, etc. Some will spend hours calling or combing the internet trying to ring out the best deal for themselves. While this self-reliance and can-do attitude is noble, what if there is a very simple and easy way to ensure you get the lowest priced Medigap plan? This is where an independent agent comes in!

There are two types of insurance agents that you will meet when you wander through the woods of insurance shopping. The first and most prevalent is the captive agent. A captive agent is an agent that works for a particular insurance company and only sells insurance for that company. The reason they are so prevalent is because when an insurance agent starts off selling insurance they make very little money. Most agents cannot afford the cost of starting a small business, then going without a paycheck for many months. This means they have to sign with a big company that will sponsor them. The other type of insurance agent is an independent agent. This is an agent that is licensed in any particular state to sell insurance and can sell insurance from any company with which they have a contract. Most are contracted with several companies.

The benefit of using an independent agent is that they can compare the costs of all the insurance companies in your area and find you the lowest price. Also, your Medigap policy will not cost you any more if you use an independent agent. Many agents will even pay the mailing costs to process your application. Then in the future when your premiums rise, the independent agent can compare prices again to see if there is a better priced supplement plan for you.

Word of caution! Many seniors will go on the internet and start making quote requests on various web sites. This leads to them being bombarded with agents emailing them and calling them at all times of the day. It doesn't even matter if you are on a do not call list because you are granting permission to be called when you fill out the form. The reason for this happening is many of the internet sites that come up are there simply to collect people's information and then sell it to multiple agents and insurance companies. All Medicare Supplement plans are federally and state regulated, so there is no need to go through this hassle. The ABC plan of one company has the same exact coverage as the ABC plan of another. Also you cannot buy the plan of one company cheaper from one agent than you can another agent. The playing field is level.

Insurance to Pay Your Bills If You're Unemployed

Can You Insure Your Job?

Lots of people still worry about unemployment these days. They want to know if there is a good way to protect their families if they lose their jobs. Of course, many employees will qualify for state unemployment benefits. But these benefits are usually fairly small when compared to a worker's salary while they were employed. Is there a way to supplement unemployment benefits with extra unemployment insurance coverage?

Private Layoff Protection Plans

Several US and British companies actually sold supplemental unemployment insurance on the private market. I am not really familiar with how the UK products worked. In the US, people could choose to purchase actual cash benefits. Typically, the insured person had to qualify for state benefits in order to collect. There may also have been a waiting period, of a few months, from the time the policy was purchased until the layoff, in order to qualify for benefits.

Even though these products were actively marketed a few years ago, before the Great Recession struck, they seem pretty rare in the US market today. High unemployment rates probably did not help the insurers make enough profit to keep offering these products.

There are still some forms of supplemental unemployment plans though. One popular example is credit insurance that may be offered through credit card companies. These plans vary, but are usually just intended to cover payments on one particular loan or credit balance. Qualification rules may differ by company. In addition, this coverage may be fairly expensive. Some experts tell us that we would be better off putting the price of the premiums in a savings account each month to prepare for an emergency.

Some homeowners insurance companies actually offer riders that will cover some, or all of, the mortgage for qualified home owners. Since these are additional riders, there will be an additional premium charged for this coverage. If this is interesting to you, check with your own home insurance company or agent for more information.

Are You Prepared For A Job Loss?

Of course, the best way to insure yourself against a job loss is simply to reduce expenses, set aside savings, and reduce debt. It is also a good idea to try and keep your personal network active. Updating your skill set can also make it much easier to find another job quickly. Sometimes we do not always have time to do all of these things because we have no idea that our jobs are not secure. That is why income protection plans would probably be very popular if they were common and easy to access.

What Is Supplemental Security Insurance?

There is much attention paid to Social Security Disability Insurance in the news, mostly because of recent alarming reports that the program could potentially run out of funds in the next twenty years. While the majority of people who are applying for benefits apply to Disability Insurance, there is also another program called Supplemental Security Income that is managed by the Social Security Administration. What are the key differences between these programs?

Supplemental Security Income is a much newer program than Social Security Disability Insurance (SDDI) and is actually funded from a different source as compared to SSDI. Where Social Security Disability Insurance is funded from the Social Security trust fund. Supplemental Security Insurance is funded by the US Treasury general funds, and it was created in 1974 to replace federal-state adult assistance programs that served the same purpose.

The Differences

The good news about Supplemental Security Income is that it is not in the same danger as Disability Insurance when it comes to running out of money. Disability Insurance is subject to the same problems that retirement Social Security is having - that is, there are fewer people in the workforce and more and more people drawing on the benefits that are gleaned from taxes. Supplemental Security Income is actually considered more of a federal welfare program than straight up Social Security.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) does not require that you have participated in the workforce for a certain number of years before applying for benefits. Generally speaking, SSI is meant for those who have always been disabled and were never able to participate in the workforce at full capacity due to long-standing and permanent medical conditions that result in disability. SSDI is meant for those who have participated in the workforce for a number of years and then sustained a debilitating injury or illness that then prevents them from participating in the workforce at the capacity they were able to previously.

Another key difference is the amount of money paid to the claimants in both of these programs. The money that applicants get out of Disability Insurance is directly proportional to the money they made before sustaining the injury, whereas Supplemental Security Insurance is more dependent on the type of injury and the amount of dependents that the applicant has.

Be sure that you do research on both of these programs and then make the decision to apply for the program that best suits your needs and medical background.