HEALTH INSURANCE

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The importance of individual health insurance can not be understated - you need health insurance - and the time to get it is before you have an accident, suffer a serious illness, or encounter some other medical related event. Our agents are ready to help you find the right health coverage for you, at the best value. Some of the individual health products that are available include:

Individual Products

Traditional Major Medical Plans

Hospital / Surgical Plans

High Deductible Plans

Health Savings Accounts

Short-Term Plans

Disability insurance can provide peace of mind and removes the uncertainty in case of an accident or sickness that makes someone incapable of working. The portfolio of products includes:

Short Term Disability

Long Term Disability

Disability Income Insurance for Key Business Person

Traditional Major Medical Plans

Traditional major medical insurance is a form of health care coverage that provides benefits for most types of medical expenses that may be incurred. Offering more complete coverage with fewer gaps, major medical insurance covers a much broader range of medical expenses - including those incurred both in and out of the hospital - with generally higher individual benefits and policy maximum limits. Most major medical policies begin paying some benefit s after the deductible is satisfied. Another important feature of major medical coverage is the concept of coinsurance, which is the sharing between the insurance company and the insured of any covered expenses that exceed that deductible amount. The insurer always carries the bulk of these expenses, usually paying 80% while the insured is responsible for the remaining 20%. After the insured's total deductible and coinsurance payments reach an out of pocket limit, the insurance company picks up the entirety of any further covered expenses, up to a stated lifetime maximum amount. Lifetime maximum benefit limits on current health care policies may range from $100,000 to $2 million, with some policies even having unlimited benefits.

Hospital / Surgical Plan

Many medical plans were hospital-surgical Insurance plans (aka basic plans), that covered basic medical expenses, but not major medical catastrophes. Although these plans vary widely, they do have many features in common. Lifetime aggregate limits are typically $100,000; maximum limits for individual illnesses are much lower. Hospital-surgical plan coverage can be classified as hospital expenses, surgical expenses, outpatient services, and doctor visits. There are generally limits for each of these services. Hospital expenses include impatient expenses, such as for semi-private rooms, and miscellaneous hospital expenses, such as x-rays, lab tests, and drugs given while in the hospital. Surgical expenses are paid either by using a schedule of payments for common procedures, or by paying reasonable and customary charges, charges that are within a specified percentile rating of what other surgeons in the same area and for the same procedure charge. If the surgeon charges more than this, then the patient must pay the difference. Outpatient services are those services used the insured, but not as an in-patient, such as emergency treatment, diagnostic procedures and laboratory expenses. These plans also pay for doctor visits while in the hospital, which includes any non surgical treatment. There is a maximum amount paid for each visit, and the maximum number of visits that will be paid for each hospitalization.

High Deductible Health Plans

Premiums for a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) are lower than that of traditional insurance plans. The money you save on this premium can be contributed to the health savings account and is tax deductible. The HDHP itself is generally a plan with single deductibles of $1050 and up, and family (shared) deductibles of $2100 and up. Typically, when this deductible is met, coverage for the remainder of the year is 100%, although some companies do offer an 80% benefit to reduce premiums even more. On most plans, charges for office visits, prescriptions and hospitalization apply to the single or family deductible.

Health Savings Accounts

A Health Savings Account is actually made up of two components:

1. A qualified High Deductible Plan (HDHP)

2. The health savings account

You may use the money in the account to pay for qualified expenses now and in the future. The federal government allows tax advantages for the money you deposit into the account. You can also establish the account with a financial institution of your choice, although many insurance companies have already set up their own administrators for simplicity. The money in your savings account can help to pay the deductible of the High Deductible Health Plan or to pay eligible medical expenses. The money in your health savings account can grow tax-deferred, and when withdrawn form the account to apply to your deductible or to pay other legitimate medical expenses, it is tax free. Money that is not used in any given year can be rolled over to the next year - it's your money and you can't lose it.

Short Term Medical Insurance

Short Term Medical policies are made to fill a very specific term of time, generally from 10 days to six months. At the end of the period that you selected the plicy ends; therefore, the premium for these type of policies ar elower than traditional health policies. Premiums for a short-term policy may be discounted even further if payment for the entire period selected is paid in full with the application.

Some companies will allow you to have a second plicy but it will not be continuous with the first. It will have a new effective date and the deductibles and pre-existing periods start all over. For instance, if you had a short term policy for six months and broke your arm. The policy would cover your claims until the end of the policy period. Then if you bought a second short term policy and you had to have additional work done on your broken arm it would not be covered as it would be considered pre-existing. This is because it was related to something that you incurred or were treated for prior to the effective date of the second policy.

Short-term policies are great for students who have recently graduated and only need coverage for a short period of time. They are also good to fill the gap between the time when you are hired by a company that has insurance and your group insurance effective date. If you think you will need individual insurance coverage for more than six months it is a good idea to get a regular individual health policy.

Another time that short-term coverage may be needed is if you are traveling outside of the country Traveling abroad may not be covered by your regular medical policy. Be sure to check before leaving home. If it doesn't you might want to check into a travel policy. It covers more than just accident and sickness.

Short Term Disability

Short term disability (STD) pays a percentage of your salary if you become temporarily disabled, meaning that you are not able to work for a short period of time due to sickness or injury (excluding on-the-job injuries, which are covered by workers compensation insurance). A typical STD policy provides you with a weekly portion of your salary, usually 50, 60, or 66 2/3 percent for 13 to 26 weeks. Most STD policies have a "cap," meaning you receive a maximum benefit amount per month. You generally start receiving money from your STD policy within one to 14 days after becoming sick or disabled. The actual time for coverage to kick in depends on whether you suffer an illness or injury. If you suffer an injury, your benefits will be paid immediately. If you suffer an illness, it will take longer because there needs to be enough time to show that the illness is grave enough to be disabling.

Long-Term Disability

Not all individual disability income insurance policies are alike. consider these features when comparing policies:

Some policies pay benefits if you are unable to perform the duties of any occupation for which you are reasonably qualified by training, experience, and education. Other policies pay benefits if you are unable to perform the major duties of your own occupation. Many policies combine these features, providing "own occupation" coverage for an initial period, such as one or two years, and "any occupation" coverage after that. Some policies also pay benefits if you become ill or injured and are unable to earn a specified amount, such as 80 percent or less, of your income.

The amount of income you would receive when disabled varies by policy. However, benefits from all sources are usually limited to 70-80 percent of your monthly salary. Policies that pay 50-60 percent of your salary are most common. Most policies do not replace commission or bonus income.

If you purchase your own policy, your disability benefits typically are not subject to income taxes. Benefits are taxed, however, if your employer pays for the disability insurance coverage.

Policies have either level premiums (intended to stay constant over the life of the policy) or premiums that increase as you age. If you plan to keep your policy in force long-term, a level premium policy may be appropriate. If you are uncertain about how long you will need the insurance, a policy with premiums that increase with age may be the better choice.

Policies have different waiting periods (called elimination periods) before you begin receiving benefits. You can lower the premiums you pay by waiting 90 days, six months, or even longer before starting to receive benefits.

If you go back to work after recovering from a disability and suffer a relapse within a specific period of time, such as six months, most policies do not impose a second waiting period.

The length of time that benefits can be received varies by policy. Some individual policies pay benefits for a specified period of time, such as six months, most policies do not impose a second waiting period.

The length of time that benefits can be received varies by policy. some individual policies pay benefits for a specified period of time, such as two or five years, while others pay benefits until age 65 or your retirement age under Social Security.

Some policies require total disability before payment begins, while other policies cover partial disability.

Key Business Person

A key employee is someone whose knowledge and skills contribute significantly to your business income. Losing a key employee would most likely cause substantial negative financial consequences for your business. Life or disability income insurance can compensate your business when certain key employees die or become disabled. These coverages cushion some of the adverse financial impact that results from losing a key employee's participation.

Key employee disability income insurance is less well known than key employee life insurance. Nevertheless, the risk of key employee experiencing partial, total or permanent disability is actually much greater than the risk the person will die. Should a key employee suffer permanent total disability, the loss to your business will be just the same as if the person had died. Key employee disability income insurance protects the business from this loss exposure by paying you anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of the disabled employee's earned income.