Life & Health Insurance

Health Insurance - Click Here for Health Insurance Quick Quote Form

What are the different kinds of health insurance?
There are basically two kinds of health insurance: Fee-for-Service or Managed Care. Even though these plans differ, they both cover most medical, surgical and hospital expenses. And many cover prescription drugs and some offer dental coverage.

Fee-for-Service plans generally consider that the medical professional providing the care will be paid a fee for each service provided to the patient. Patients are seen by a doctor of their choice and the medical claim is filed by either the medical provider or the patient.

Managed Care plans are very prevalent; more than 50% of all Americans have some kind of managed care health insurance. A variety of plans can include: health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point of service (POS) plans. These type of health insurance plans provide health services to their members and offer financial incentives to patients who use the providers that subscribe to that plan.

What is Long Term Care?
Because of old age, mental or physical illness, or injury, some people find themselves in need of help with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting/continence, or transferring from a chair or out of bed. These six actions are called Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Generally speaking, if you cannot do two or more of these actions, or if you have a cognitive impairment, you are considered to need “long-term care.”

What is Disability Insurance?
There are two types of disability insurance policies: Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD)

Short-Term Disability policies have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no more than two years.

Long-Term Disability policies have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.

Disability policies have two different protection features that are important to understand.

Non-cancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.

Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.

Life Insurance - Click Here for Life Insurance Quick Quote Form

There are basically two kinds of life insurance policies: Term insurance or Whole Life insurance.

Term insurance is designed for a temporary need. It provides protection for a specified period of time and generally pays a benefit only if you pass away during that period of time. For example, you might only need life insurance coverage until your children graduate from college, get a job or get married or the mortgage on your home gets paid off.

Whole Life insurance provides lifelong protection. As long as you continue to pay your premiums, and no loans or withdrawals are taken out against it, the full face amount will be paid to your beneficiaries when you die. Because it is designed to last a lifetime, whole life insurance accumulates cash value and is priced for you to keep over a long period of time.