Life & Health Insurance
LIFE INSURANCE
Particular attention should be given to adequately insuring the money value of all income providers within a family or household, to make sure the family or household has sufficient funds for living expenses, mortgages, loans, education and other financial needs in the event of the death of any one of those income providers.
LONG TERM CARE
Long Term Care insurance is protection that is bought in advance to protect your assets against the possible need for 24 hour home health care, assisted living, or nursing home care.
This type of insurance pays a specified dollar amount for a time period to a licensed facility to provide assistance to the insured. The insured must need assistance with one of these six items.
1. Bathing
2. Dressing
3. Feeding
4. Using the bathroom
5. An incontinence problem
6. Physical or verbal assistance to help a non-cognitive person not to be a threat to him/herself. Non-cognition may be the result of stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s, or other similar conditions.
Definitions within a policy
Daily Benefit Amount: The maximum amount paid by the policy per day, during the benefit period.
Benefit Period: The amount of time that the insurance company will pay the benefit. This time period can range from 1-6 years or have a lifetime benefit, which will pay for the time from elimination period until the individual no longer needs the coverage.
Elimination Period: This will vary between companies but range from 0-120 days. This is the waiting period from when assisted care is needed until policy payments begin.
Inflation Protection: This option increases the benefit limits by a specified % each year to offset the increased medical costs so the daily benefit amount is sufficient in the future.
Medicare Supplement
Medicare doesn’t pay for everything but this will cover the most of the gap. The basic supplement plan will cover you Medicare Part A (Hospitalization) and Part B (Medical) coinsurance, the cost that you otherwise would have to pay out of pocket.
Some examples of included items are:
- Hospital and skilled nursing care
- Medical and surgical services and supplies
- Routine physical exams including eye and hearing exams
- Chiropractic services
- Immunizations
- Mammograms
- X-rays and lab tests
- Licensed Ambulance Services
- Home health care services
- Physical, radiation, and speech therapy
- Equipment, supplies, and prescription drugs to treat diabetes
- Dialysis and kidney transplants
- Prosthetics
Optional benefits include:
- Coverage of your Part A medical Deductible
- Coverage of your Part B medical Deductible
- Medicare Part B Excess Charges
- Additional Home Health Care
- Foreign Travel
DISABILITY INSURANCE
The expenses of illness and accident and even income may be insured by a combination of
- Hospitalization insurance
- Major medical expense insurance
- Accident insurance
- Health insurance
- Income insurance
MAJOR MEDICAL EXPENSE INSURANCE
May be planned to apply at the point where basic hospitalization insurance ends. A selected limit of, for example, $1 million, $2 million, or even unlimited, is subject to a deductible of, for example, $500. The insurer generally pays a percentage of costs between the deductible and the maximum aggregate, such as 80%.
HOSPITALIZATION INSURANCE
Provides indemnity for room and board, general hospital expenses and surgical operation expense for clearly stated limits. Limits vary according to premium paid. Policies may be written for individuals or entire families. Group plans arranged by businesses for employees are similar in scope.
DISABILITY INCOME INSURANCE
Accident and sickness insurance, not to be confused with hospitalization insurance, is usually available only to those working for an earned income. It provides monthly income for disability resulting from accident or sickness.
HEALTH INSURANCE
Group plans, sponsored by the employer or organization for the benefit of employees or members, are widely available as an important fringe benefit. Individual policies may be arranged when appropriate. Premiums for this coverage are paid in whole or in part by the employer. The employer may not discriminate in offering coverage to employees. All must be offered the coverage. Employees may elect to add family members, at an additional cost, most often paid by the employee.