Medical Insurance

Archive for January, 2011

Disaster can strike when you do not have Medical Insurance. Do your medical bills grow before your very eyes? How do you pay these escalating medical bills when you can’t afford it?

Disaster can strike when you do not have medical insurance for yourself or your family.

Do you think people do not have medical insurance because they don’t want it? Do you think it is frivolous?

-What happens when you:

(1) Lose Your Job

(2) Get Sick

(3) Relocate—.

When you need to make a decision on spending money on medical insurance or food for your family—food wins hands down—. If you are a full time employee and you lose your job—generally you lose your medical coverage also.

This is the time to ask your past employer what is my options for continuing my medical insurance. Cobra can be purchased for a higher premium and for a short time only. It is a stop gap measure only until you next full – time employment.

When people work part time they don’t qualify for medical insurance through their employment. Your employer isn’t dumb. PART TIME EMPLOYMENT FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES MEANS NO MEDICAL INSURANCE PREMIUMS OF THEIR POCKETS. This means you still do not have medical insurance for yourself and your family.

LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS:

You might qualify for Medi-cal or County Medical Services (CMS.)
These are the only two government funded agencies that can help you. You are screened by income and the amount of money you have in the bank.— If you as an adult do not qualify for these agencies,—your children might.

CHILDREN:

Children have an easier time qualifying for government assisted programs. There are several programs available for children depending on their special needs.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY:

If you qualify for one of these agencies do not think that filling out one form is all you do. You have to show up for your scheduled appointment and bring the proper paper work with you. —Otherwise, your claim will be denied—.

Medical Insurance is obtained by full – employment or by purchasing it yourself through a private insurance company which is fine for the people that can afford the huge premiums.

INSURANCE COMPANIES:

When you apply for Medical Insurance you may be denied because of a pre-existing condition. This simply means, you have medical problems already and the Medical Insurance Company will not cover you for these problems.

ALTERNATIVE: DISCOUNT CARDS

Discount cards are available through private insurance companies. Let me explain. You still pay a monthly fee but not as much as your typical medical insurance monthly premium. When you go to a doctor or pharmacy you get a cash discount. The only catch is,—you have to pay for your doctor’s visit at the time of the visit—.

You have to be careful when applying for this discount card, just like everything else it could rip you off. So do your homework. These are becoming very popular.

URGENT CARE:

These are medical facilities that take care of minor problems. Anything serious would be referred to a hospital emergency room.
You will have to pay for your medical visit at the time of service.

211 PHONE NUMBER

There is a new source of vital information at our finger tips, by calling 211. If this new number is established in your area, one phone call can hook you up to massive information. The people that answer this phone number gives out important everyday useful information.

Example: What is the phone number to Med-cal? I do not have any medical insurance and my child is sick, what do I do? Where can I go to get help for my child? Is there any free clinics available?

These people have all that information and more at their fingertips.

HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOMS:

When you need medical care the Emergency Room is where most people head. When you get to the Emergency Room you can wait hours to be examined by a doctor. When you are finally examined, the doctor may request lab tests, x-rays etc. These tests can escalate into hundreds even thousands of dollars. What about emergency surgery? What about being a patient in the hospital a few days or longer? The medical bills will start pouring in!

MEDICATIONS:

Medicine is sky high. When you don’t have Medical Insurance you have to pay the full amount or go without your medicine.

This is not a simple problem. We are talking millions of people in this situation. —There has to be a solution—.

The Medical Insurance Companies do not want to change. The Pharmaceutical Companies do not want to change.

—We the individual’s must take the first step to change the way medicine is obtained for everybody in this country not just a few! We as individuals need to write our Congressmen to wake up our local, state representatives and federal representatives.

We Need Change In Our Medical Insurance Program. WE WANT MEDICAL CARE FOR EVERYBODY. NOT JUST A FEW.

If you have medical insurance and still have to pay check out my article listed below:

Horrifying! Medical Bills! When You Have Medical Insurance/Fight Back.

Please feel free to read all my other articles. I love to hear from you. Just leave a comment on this article.

Copyright 2005 Linda E. Meckler

Shopping for Life Insurance With Heart Disease?

If you are shopping for life insurance and you have heart disease, then you may worry about if or how you can get coverage. Your options depend on the current status of your heart health, and whether or not your condition is well controlled. There are many carriers that will offer standard rates even if you’ve had a heart attack, a by-pass surgery, or a stint. Because there are many advancements in medical technology when it comes to heart issues, many carriers will look at follow up care to determine the likelihood of another heart attack.

A Standard Rate

With heart disease, your best case scenario would be to get a standard rating. This means that you’ll pay the same rate as someone else who is in average health. Most carriers will want at least 2 or 3 years to have passed since your heart attack before they’ll consider a standard rate. They will also pay attention to what you’ve done since your heart attack to prevent another one.

Rated Up

If your heart disease is more serious, or if you’ve had a recent heart attack then a life insurance carrier will most likely “rate” your premium up. This means that you could pay 25, 50, or 100% more than the standard rate. A rated premium varies from carrier to carrier so it pays to shop around.

Work With An Experienced Agent

If you have heart disease then the most important thing you can do is to work with an experienced agent. Because the underwriting requirements vary so much from one carrier to another, you might be declined with one life insurance company while another company will give you a standard rate. An experienced agent will be knowledgeable about which carriers work with someone who has heart disease and which carriers don’t. Be sure to disclose everything you can about your health so your agent can point you in the best direction.

There is a right way and a wrong way to calculate how much life insurance you need. First, let’s look at the wrong way.

The typical life insurance agent will steer you toward cash value life insurance of some sort. It might be called:

Universal Life
Whole Life
Variable Life
…or some other fancy name.

We recommend that you ask any agent, right up front…if the product he’s trying to sell you is term or cash value. Reject the cash value insurance.

Cash value agent will customarily ask you how much money you can afford in your budget for life insurance. Once you tell them how much you can afford, they will calculate how much cash value insurance he can sell you for that amount of money.

That is completely backwards, and has nothing to do with your needs.

Here is the right way.

Q: How do I determine the amount of life insurance I need?

A: It depends on what you are trying to protect.

Family protection: the most common reason for life insurance

Discussing your life insurance needs is a vital and necessary conversation. But remember, it can be fraught with emotion. You are making plans how to live after the death of someone you love dearly. So, be sensitive to each other as you progress. Show your love through your good planning.

Life insurance is actually income protection insurance. If you are alive and earning an income, life goes on. If you die, your income stops. But if you are part of a family, the surviving members of the family may still need your income for a certain period of time.

In a family situation, the main income earner should be the person with the most insurance. The second income earner should also be insured against loss of income.

Think about this: A person who worked a normal 40-year working lifetime and averaged $50,000 per year will earn $2 million in his lifetime. Sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But you won’t feel like a millionaire on the yearly plan.

Let’s show an example of the typical family of four. Dad is the main income earner, Mom also works outside the home but earns less than Dad. They have two children, ages 4 and 6. Dad and Mom are both 30 years old. Dad earns $50,000 per year, and Mom earns $30,000.

If Dad died today, Mom and the kids would still need his income until the youngest child is grown up. We traditionally figure that kids are out of the house at 22, or after their senior year of college.

So, 22 minus 4 is 18 years. Mom and the kids need Dad’s income for at least 18 years. If Mom died prematurely, Dad and the kids would need her income for at least 18 years.

Other expenses to consider are:

o Final Expenses (funeral, casket, cemetery plot, headstone)
o Mortgage payoff
o Debt payoff (credit cards, consumer debt)
o College funds: if you want to provide money for college, add the amount you choose.

In light of these variables, let’s show an example:

Dad: $50,000 x 18 = $900,000
Mom: $30,000 x 18 = $540,000
Mortgage payoff = $150,000
Consumer debt payoff = $20,000
College funds for 2 children = $100,000

The minimum amounts in this example would be $900,000 on Dad, and $540,000 on Mom. The other money goals could be serviced based on the family budget for term insurance premiums.

This calculation maintains the family’s lifestyle just as it was when both of the parents were alive. Another thing you must discuss is whether you wish to maintain the current lifestyle, or if you wish to lower the lifestyle.

If Mom died prematurely, Dad might only need her income replaced. He might decide to continue with the mortgage and debt and pay for college when the children arrive at that age.

One of the other things you must discuss is the likelihood that the surviving spouse will remarry. This may change your priorities and alter your calculations. But the best thing to do is to adequately insure your income so that the surviving spouse doesn’t feel compelled to marry again simply because of lack of money.

If your employer provides group term life insurance, we recommend that you buy as much as the group insurance program will allow you to buy. Group term insurance is customarily the cheapest term available. Just remember that if you leave that employer, your insurance might not go with you.

Term life insurance policies come in basically two types. First is the Annual Renewable Term policy. It is a one-year policy that is renewable on each policy anniversary. However, the next year’s premium will be a little higher each year you renew it. Cancel at any time.

The second type of policy is a Level Term policy. Insurers add up the premiums for the amount of years in the term and divide by the number of years. That way, your premium stays the same throughout the term of the policy.

This family’s example we shows 18 years of income need. Insurance companies usually don’t have an 18-year level term product. Usually, they will offer ten, fifteen or twenty year terms policies. In this example, we would recommend buying either a 15-year or 20-year level term insurance policy. Decide which one to buy based on your own analysis of your family’s needs. Your final analysis will determine the length of time you will need this insurance.

Other Protection Needs

Calculating the needs for non-family issues can be much less emotional and much simpler. Some examples are:

o Mortgage payoff
o Buy and Sell Agreements for business entities
o Keyman Insurance
o Estate tax planning

Customarily, these calculations involve the amount of debt to protect, or in the case of Keyman Insurance, the protection of a business’ income with the death of a key employee or owner.

Conclusion

Life insurance is the only type of insurance that insurers and agents have tied together with aspects of investment or cash value. I have never met another person who would even consider bundling so much as a savings account with their car insurance, or home insurance, or business insurance. Savings and investments should NEVER be done with an insurance company. Insurance companies are middle-men. They will take your money and invest it for you. They will pay you a small interest amount and the insurer will keep the difference.

Buy term insurance…ALWAYS.