Archive for the ‘Health Insurance’ Category

Why Should I Look Into Long Term Care Coverage Now?

Monday, April 2nd, 2012


Today's technological improvements and ever increasing knowledge of health and medicine have led to people continuing to live longer. Changing our need for coverage. Over the past 170 years, in countries with the highest life expectancies, the average life span has grown at a rate of 2.5 years per decade, or about 6 hours per day. Amazing to think about. Long term care is a growing need as people continue to live longer, and are finding themselves in assisted living homes.

What does this mean for my insurance needs?

The Need For Long Term Care

Long term care coverage pays a monthly benefit to the policy holder if they find themselves in an assisted living facility. With people continuing to live longer, this is growingly more common. Assisted Living Homes cost on average about half the cost of a nursing home, and with long term care coverage, the monthly payment can be of great aid.

Long Term Care Coverage Is Separate From Life and Health Insurance

Life insurance pays for after death expenses and provides assistance to beneficiaries. Health insurance pays for the doctor visits when you are sick. Long term care is a totally separate coverage that pays when you are in an assisted care facility.

When and Who Should Consider Long Term Care

Our advice would be to be most prepared and consider looking for the needed coverage before prices exponentially climb. In your mid-40's and mid-50's long term care is most affordable. The price of long term care drastically increases in a person's 60's and 70's and one can pay nearly double and triple the cost of what they would've paid! We want to encourage you to look into long term care coverage and buy when your younger to get drastically less expensive prices.

A frequent misconception about long term care coverage is it is only for those approaching old age. Not true! Long term care is for those who need assisted living, which covers those who have any disability that requires the needed facility care.

In Conclusion

Our Georgia insurance agency encourages you to recognize the growing need for long term care coverage since our life expectancy constantly is on the rise. It is in your best interest to buy long term care early to find the least expensive rates, the best rates are likely when an adult is in their mid-40's prior to further health complications. Long term care pays a monthly benefit if you find the need to live in an assisted living facility. Our independent insurance agency can offer you insurance coverage from numerous insurance carriers and personal service. We give the best quality coverage based on cost and care for you. We write our long term care often through Genworth and Banner but can find the best fit your insurance needs. Get a free insurance quote or let us get to know you and help you understand long term care and when you should add the coverage.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Insurance, Life Insurance | No Comments »

Understanding Your Health Insurance Deductible

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Stethoscope and MoneyYour health insurance deductible may be hard to understand. How does it differ from co-payments, co-insurance and Out of Pocket Maximums? This article will help you understand how your health insurance deductible works in context with the rest of your policy.

Deductibles

A deductible is the amount a policy holder must pay before health benefits are paid out by the health insurance company for benefits not subject to co-payments. Deductibles are set on a calendar year basis. After your annual deductible has been satisfied, the insurance company will begin paying health benefits per the policy’s co-insurance agreement and out of pocket maximum for the rest of the policy period (more on those in a minute). Deductibles do not typically apply to doctors visits, but are more common for procedures or hospital stays. Let’s say your health insurance has a $1,000 deductible. If you break your arm and incur a $5,000 hospital bill, you are responsible for paying the $1,000 deductible before your health benefits pay for the remaining $4,000 on a coinsurance basis.

Co-Insurance & Out of Pocket Maximums

Co-insurance is a percentage of health care costs the policy holder is responsible for paying after the annual deductible has been met. The most common split is 80/20 with the insurance company paying 80% of associated medical costs and the policy holder paying 20%. This arrangement continues until the policy holder has met their predetermined out of pocket maximum they are required to pay for the year. Usually set at a couple of thousand dollars or so, once this out of pocket maximum has been met, the insurance company will pay 100% of covered services for the remainder of the year. Just like deductibles, co-insurance is typically not required for doctors visits and is more commonly applied to procedures. So, assuming your deductible has already been satisfied for the year, a $10,000 medical procedure would only cost you $2,000. Furthermore, if your out of pocket maximum for the year was $2,000, the next time during the same policy period that you required a hospital stay or some kind of procedure, your insurance company would pay for the entire bill.

Co-Payments

Co-payments are smaller fees that are owed at the time service is rendered. Usually ranging from $15 - $50, co-payments are most commonly collected by the health care provider during doctors visits and at the pharmacy when paying for prescription medication. Co-payments are designed to discourage policy holders from abusing the health care system by needlessly running to the doctor every time they sneeze or cough.

Conclusion

Essentially, your health insurance deductible is designed to give you some skin in the health care cost game. Once this has been met, things become financially easier for the remainder of the policy period. It can all be confusing at times, but now you should have a better understanding of how your health insurance costs are handled. To learn more about health insurance, call us at 888-800-4824.

Share This:

Tags: ,
Posted in Health Insurance | No Comments »

Choosing A Health Insurance Agent

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Finding a good health insurance agent is just as important as finding the right health insurance plan. Without an agent working for you, how do you know you’re getting the best price for the most coverage? Health insurance agents can make the shopping process a lot easier. But they can also be a good resource after the sale. When choosing a health insurance agent, make sure you pay attention to the number of markets they can access, their product knowledge, and their level of customer service.

Access To Markets

One of the most important things to look for in a health insurance agent is their access to a wide variety of health insurance companies. The more carriers they have, the better chance the agent will be able to provide you with a healthy selection of quotes to compare. It’s also a good idea to find out how their relationships are with those companies. When it comes down to it, if an insurance company has some wiggle room in their pricing, the agent can leverage their existing relationship with them to call in a special favor.

Product Knowledge

Of course, the agent you choose needs to know what they are talking about. They need to know what coverages are important and which ones are just fluff. They should be able to give you lots of policy options with varying levels of deductibles, copayments and provider plans. Be sure to ask potential agents plenty of questions to uncover their product knowledge.

Customer Service

Selling is one thing, but going above and beyond for clients after the deal is done is what keeps customers for the long haul. Being available by phone and email is crucial for agents to deliver good customer service these days. People have come to expect near instant results. If you’re on a family vacation out of town and one of your family members is injured, you want to be able to get your health insurance agent on the phone right away to ask how your coverage will be handled out of state. You don’t want to wait hours for a call back if you have to leave a voice mail. It’s a good idea to ask if they have a written customer service timeline that explains what type of service you can expect from them throughout your policy term. Also, ask for some referrals to verify their level of service with some of their existing clients.

Conclusion

Finding the right health insurance agent isn’t hard. Just be sure to research and verify their access to multiple insurance markets, product knowledge, and level of customer service.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Health Insurance | No Comments »

What Is Medicare Supplemental Insurance?

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Medicare supplemental insurance is very important for those eligible to receive Medicare from the federal government. It’s not a required insurance policy, but it will certainly save you money on things like deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Here’s an overview of how Medicare supplemental insurance can help you.

Medicare Parts A & B Overview

Medicare is a government healthcare program for people over 65 years of age and other eligible segments of the population. Medicare has several parts to it that provide different coverages. For the purposes of explaining Medicare supplemental insurance, we’ll only cover Medicare Parts A and B. In general, Medicare Part A is also referred to as “hospital insurance” because it helps cover costs associated with inpatient hospital visits, and also hospice and home health care. Part B is also referred to as “medical insurance” because it focuses on costs associated with outpatient doctor visits and other preventative services.

Medicare Supplemental Insurance

Medicare supplemental insurance, which is also called “Medigap” insurance, is a private health insurance policy that helps cover the gaps in Medicare Parts A and B. These gaps include deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Medicare supplemental insurance policies generally do not cover long term care, such as nursing home residency, dental care, vision care and hearing aids.

Where To Buy It

Like other insurance products, the best place to start is by doing some preliminary research online to learn more about the policy you’re considering. Once you have a general overview of medicare supplemental insurance, you have a couple of choices. You can get some basic quotes by visiting a few health insurance company websites and filling out online forms. This can take some time, though. A better option would be to contact an independent insurance agent to discuss your options. They can take some basic information from you and then shop your coverage for you. Independent agents have access to multiple insurance carriers, so they can provide you with several quotes to compare cost and coverage.

Conclusion

If you are over 65 years old or otherwise eligible to start receiving Medicare, it’s a smart idea to invest in medicare supplemental insurance coverage. You never know what direction your health may take in later years. So, it’s a good idea to have a policy available that will pay your extra health care costs like deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. You’ll probably save a lot of money in the long run.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Insurance | Comments Off

How 2010 Health Care Changes May Impact You

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

October 26, 2010 | by Jim


While a majority of the more comprehensive Health Care Reform changes won't take effect until 2014, there are other provisions that were recently implemented at the end of September that are worth noting. Aetna Insurance released a summary of these changes titled How 2010 Changes May Impact You. You might want to take a look as these to see what impacts you.

Some of the changes in benefits addressed in Aetna's summary include: Lifetime Limits, Annual Maximums, Preventative Services, Extension of Dependent Coverage, and Prohibition on Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion for Kids. That last one is a biggie for any parents of minor children out there!

As we get more updates, we'll be sure to post them here. In the meantime, take a look at Aetna's summary to see if there's anything that impacts you right now.

Share This:

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Insurance | Comments Off