Life and Health

Before you invest in a Life policy, make sure that you get answers to these three key questions:

1. How much coverage do I need? This will depend on a number of variables. If you have a spouse, children, or home, you’ll need more insurance than if you’re single and living in an apartment. Also, factor in the estimated costs of funeral expenses, personal debt, and – if you have dependents – loss of household income. The higher these costs, the more coverage you’ll need.
2. What type of policy should I buy? While Life insurance comes in many flavors, Term and Permanent Life are the most common. Term insurance covers you for a specific period, usually one to twenty years. Although the premiums are generally far lower than those for Permanent Life insurance, if the term runs out and you wish to renew coverage, your premiums will go up.
   A Permanent Life policy will cover you for your entire life. The premiums can be up to ten times higher than those of a Term policy for two reasons: 1) the insurance company is required to pay a death claim; and 2) Permanent Life offers a cash value savings component that sets aside some of your premium to earn interest. If you terminate the policy before your death, the cash value savings belong to you.
3. How much insurance can I afford? Because missing premium payments can lead to termination of your policy, make sure that the amount and type of coverage you buy fits within your budget. This decision is basically a trade-off between increased benefits (through “riders” added to your policy) and the higher premiums that you’ll pay for this extra coverage.

Our Life Insurance professionals stand ready to offer their advice on choosing the policy that’s best for you and your family.

Add another exclamation point to the hazards of smoking: smokers will pay a lot more for Health insurance as provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) kick in.

Tobacco use kills more than 440,000 Americans a year and costs about $96 billion in health care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The ACA allows insurers to charge smokers a premium surcharge of up to 50% when they buy through health insurance exchanges – online marketplaces where individuals and businesses employing up to 50 people can shop for coverage.

The surcharge could end up erasing subsidies for low-income smokers who can’t afford to buy coverage on their own, For example, someone who can pay only $3,000 a year for a health plan that costs $6,000 would qualify under the ACA for a $3,000 subsidy to cover the difference – but the tobacco surcharge would kick the cost back up to $6,000.

Congress added the surcharge to discourage unhealthy behavior and give insurers a way to help control costs associated with this risky (but voluntary) habit. However, there might be better ways to discourage smoking, such as higher taxes on cigarettes or expanded public awareness campaigns.

Rick Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, believes the surcharge would do most harm to those the ACA was designed to help – people with modest means in need of medical care. As he sees it, “Those who are totally hooked after many years and are older (and those kinds of people are more expensive to cover and often need more medical care) have two bad choices – go without Health insurance or get coverage and be impoverished.”

Short-Term Care Insurance (STCI) can help pay for your medical care in an assisted-living facility or nursing home for a relatively short period (90 to 360 days) during recovery, convalescence, or recuperation when you can’t take care of yourself – unlike Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI), which provides coverage for two years to a lifetime.

Compared to LTC coverage, Short-Term Care policies are:

• Up to 70% less costly – because of the shorter benefit period.
• Easier to obtain – with only a limited list of medical exclusions.
• Far more likely to be used; one study found that 90% of nursing home stays last less than a year.
• Much quicker to go into effect; the STCI “elimination period” – the time from diagnosis until coverage begins – is usually 0 to 30 days, compared to the standard LTCI period of 90 days (According to one study, only one in four nursing home residents remain this long).

The STCI eligibility “triggers” are usually the same as those for Long-Term Care. The policy pays for care when you can’t perform at least two of six “activities of daily living” without help – eating, bathing, transferring in and out of a chair or bed, dressing, toileting and continence – or suffers from a cognitive impairment.

Choosing STCI makes sense if you: 1) have around $20,000 to $60,000 in assets and need reimbursement for the cost of care during a relatively short recovery; or 2) can’t meet the medical qualifications for LTCI or have waited so long to apply that you can no longer afford the premiums.

As insurance professionals, we’d be happy to help tailor a Short-Term Care policy that provides the protection you need at a price you can afford. Just give us a call.

Although discussing stress with health care providers plays a key role in helping us stay healthy, many people aren’t doing this, according to a recent study from the American Psychological Association (APA) Dr. David Ballard, APA Assistant Executive Director for Marketing and Business Development, and Citrin Consulting President Richard Citrin offer these suggestions to help you have this conversations with your physician.

1. Think like a doctor. Physicians are trained to diagnose symptoms. People dealing with stress often experience symptoms such as trouble sleeping or more frequent headaches.
2. Prepare a list of specific list of symptoms and concerns, For example, telling your doctor, “We’ve picked up a lot of new clients at work,” or “My husband is travelling a lot,” can help focus on the source of your stress.
3. Reframe your symptoms. Describe how other people in your life might talk about the stress you face. Rather than saying, “Here’s what’s going on with me,” telling the doctor, “My spouse would say this is happening,” can provide a valuable perception.
4. Show honest emotion. Some physicians might believe stress is a mental health issue that they can’t fix easily. Sharing your concerns openly can often elicit the doctor’s empathy.
5. Don’t rely solely on physicians. Psychologists, social workers, ministers, or rabbis are probably better suited than doctors to listen to your concerns about stress. If your situation is serious enough, they will be able to refer you to the right health care professional or recommend that you see your own physician.

Everyone knows that Life insurance helps provide financial protection for families and loved ones in case of death. However, you might not know that a number of “riders,” either included in most Term Life policies, or inexpensive to add, can provide additional benefits.

Accelerated Death Benefit (ADB). For obvious reasons, Term Life coverage doesn’t directly benefit the policyholder. If you become terminally ill, you can help cover medical bills by tapping into a portion of the policy benefit through ADB.other related expenses.

Conversion. Term life insurance covers your death for a predetermined amount of payments and a fixed period. This option allows you to convert the policy to Permanent Life insurance before a set number of years or a certain age. Because the premium is based on the original policy date, if your health declines after this date, you won’t have to pay higher premiums for converting the policy.

Term Life policies usually include these riders free of charge. Two other common options add good value for a nominal premium surcharge.

Accidental Death Benefit

This rider will raise the policy payout significantly – in many cases doubling the base coverage –to your beneficiary(ies) if you die from an accident or injury rather than natural causes or disease. Policyholders often choose this option to ease the heavy financial and emotional toll of an accidental or unexpected death on their family.

Child Rider

It’s the last thing any parent wants to think about. However, in case a child should die, this option adds a few thousand dollars of coverage to help pay funeral expenses.

You can choose (and pay for) a variety of other riders to customize your Life policy. As always, we’re happy to offer our advice.

Whether you have Health insurance through your employer or you’re self-employed and buy it on your own, the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) will impact you starting next year – when almost everyone will have to have some form of coverage. As of October 1, small businesses and individuals can start enrolling in 2014 Health plans offered through government-run state health exchanges (“Health insurance marketplaces”).

If you work for a major corporation, your coverage probably won’t change that much. However, the ACA will require businesses with 50 to 100 full-time employees to shop on state exchanges, or pay a penalty, which will let them offer their workers more Health plan choices and lower prices (Companies with fewer than 50 employees will be exempt from this requirement).

Businesses can also give workers subsidies to purchase their own policies. If your employer doesn’t offer a Health plan, and won’t be doing so next year, you’ll be able to buy coverage through your state exchange.

If you’re self-employed and already have Health insurance, you’ll also be able to shop through the state exchange; or, if you like your current policy, you can keep coverage.

Depending on your earnings, you might experience major sticker shock. People who earn up to 400% of the poverty level can receive a government subsidy to help offset health premiums. However, if you earn more than this, rates will probably increase significantly – not to mention the skyrocketing costs of medical care!

Health care premiums for individuals will depend on a number of factors, including: 1) an increase in mandatory benefits; 2) abolition of coverage exclusions based on “pre-existing conditions”; and 3) guaranteed renewal. Our Health insurance specialists can help you find the plan that’s best suited to your needs – and your pocketbook.

The answer depends on your financial situation. These guidelines can help you review your income, calculate annual expense, and assess the needs of your family:

• Avoid cut-and-dried formulas and calculators. Although these can help provide a baseline amount, most fail to take your individual situation into account. For example, you’ll need more insurance if you have a large family and several beneficiaries, children who will need college expenses, or high mortgage payments.

• Adjust your current earnings for rising expenses and higher prices. Buying Life insurance to replace future earnings doesn’t factor in outlays your beneficiaries might incur, such as college tuition, wedding costs, or a home purchase. You should also allow for inflation.

• Calculate current and future annual expenses. Determine the cost of your family’s current lifestyle and how to these expenses might change in the near future. You can separate this category into living costs and big ticket items such as college tuition for your kids. Remember, your family’s lifestyle might change significantly if a young adult leaves home, a family member needs ongoing medical care, or you plan on moving.Multiply the family’s annual budget by the length of the policy. If this is more than five or ten years, adjust expenses for inflation.

• Review your current financial resources. Factor in any savings or assets that you can liquidate, include them in your will, and reduce the face value of the policy acc ordingly.

Our agency’s Life insurance experts stand ready to review your situation and recommend the amount of coverage you need, free of charge. Just give us a call.

Alzheimer’s disease and its hefty price tag can be an increasingly scary prospect for seniors and their families.

This incurable condition affects about 5.4 million Americans, making it the nation’s sixth leading cause of death.

A recent study by the Alzheimer’s Association estimates the annual cost of the disease at nearly $57,000, 60% of which falls on the family’s shoulders. Because roughly 90% of Alzheimer’s patients are over 65, they and their families rely on Medicare and other insurance to cover costs – which means you it’s essential to understand what Medicare does and doesn’t pay for:

• Doctor visits and other outpatient medical services are covered by Medicare Part B.
• With traditional Medicare, patients pay 20% of the cost of outpatient visits; supplemental insurance, such as Medigap plans, can help cover this extra cost. If you have Medicare Advantage, which usually covers hospitalization, outpatient care and prescription drugs, make sure your doctors are in your insurer’s network to avoid excess costs.
• Drugs are usually included under Medicare Part D. Make sure that insurance covers the drug(s) needed and that you know the co-payment.
• Medicare will not cover long-term nursing home care (this often comes as an unpleasant surprise to patients and their families).
• Medicare will pay for up to 100 days of short-term nursing care following a three-day inpatient hospital stay.
• Medically necessary services provided in your home are sometimes covered, if they’re scheduled at least once a week and are provided by skilled healthcare workers (such as nurses or therapists).
• Help is available. Check with the State Health Insurance Assistance Program for free and unbiased advice. The Alzheimer’s Association, the Medicare Rights Center and the Center for Medicare Advocacy all provide information about this disease and other long-term conditions.

The best defense is to understand your Health insurance benefits and prepare for the future possibility of illness. As always, we’re here to help you.

When you dig through the records of a deceased parent or older relative, you might uncover photos of yourself sporting an unfortunate hair or clothing style –or a Life insurance policy in your name.

Some parents bought Life insurance for their children to kick-start a savings plan. Many families purchased Juvenile Life policies that built up a substantial “cash value” over an extended period. So, it’s probably worth asking your aging parents or relatives whether if they ever took out a policy on your Life.

Even if nothing turn up in the records of a departed loved one, there could still be a Life policy out there in your name. It’s smart to look periodically on the website of your state’s unclaimed property department, where financial institutions send money when they can’t find the rightful owner after a specific period (often five years). You can also check these databases in every state where you and your family members have lived.

To benefit from an unclaimed Life policy in your name, you’ll have to file a claim. A Social Security number and address is often all the proof you’ll need. However, claims with a high-dollar amount might require more documentation.

If you find a policy insuring you, and the owner is deceased, you can maintain coverage or surrender it for its cash value, depending on your financial situation. Redeeming the policy will mean losing the death benefit – and could have tax consequences. If the policy has built up enough cash value to pay the premiums, you might be able to keep the coverage at no cost.

We’d be glad to offer our advice.

Although searching for the prices of health care has traditionally been an exercise in frustration, it’s getting easier and easier to find this information.

With health care costs rising and consumers on the hook for a growing share of their medical bills, doctors, hospitals, and health insurers are feeling the pressure to bring make their prices more readily available.

Most health plans give policyholders the average cost for procedures in a geographic area or ZIP Code; some even show cost by specific healthcare providers.

If you get Health insurance at work, chances are that your employer can provide pricing information.

You can also access such online healthcare cost estimating services as:

FairHealthConsumer.org offers a comprehensive medical cost estimator. Enter your ZIP code, indicate whether you have insurance find your procedure on a drop-down list – and up pops the estimated price, together with the amount your insurer will probably cover (and how much you would pay).
Pricing sites such as HealthBlueBook.com and NewChoiceHealth.com provide the average amount that insurance companies pay for many inpatient and outpatient procedures in your area.

Use SaveOnMedical.com to compare prices and quality ratings for services such as MRIs, X-rays and CT scans listed by cost, based on your ZIP Code or city.
When using any of these cost estimation tools, remember that hospitals, doctors, anesthesiologists and labs might all bill separately and to get a handle on your likely costs, consider the full picture. Also, be sure to do your pricing homework before you seek non-urgent care.

To learn more about health-care pricing resources, please feel free to get in touch with us at any time.