Group and Private Insurance

There are several things to look for in a long term care or nursing home insurance policy. You want to buy from a company that will keep its promises to you. You want to get the right amount. You want inflation protection. You want the right length of coverage. You want a good price.

Since the cost of nursing home care is so expensive today, this can be one of the most important parts of planning for your financial future. Failure to sew up the hole in your pocket can mean that you wind up with nothing, no matter how much money you put in.

Medicare provides very limited coverage for nursing homes and home health care. You may have to spend virtually all your savings, assets and income on your care before Medicaid will pay. (This means that the money you saved all your life goes to the government instead of your children.)

When buying nursing home insurance or any other type of insurance, you want to buy from a company that will be there when you need them. The companies that do the most advertising are often the most financially stable, but you shouldn’t limit yourself to only those companies.

You can Start Researching Companies by Taking the Following Steps:

1. Ask your state’s department of insurance to see if a given company is approved to sell in your area. (You can also ask them for a list of approved companies that sell a given line of insurance.)
2. Ask your department of insurance about complaints against the company.
3. See if they are financially stable by checking their AM Best rating and/or Standard and Poors rating.

How Much Coverage Do You Need?

There is no way to tell exactly how much coverage you will need since the timing of your need for care is unknown. However, you can get a good idea of what it costs to be in a nursing home today. You can simply call various nursing homes to see what their current rates are. Be sure to contact facilities that provide the level of service you want and that are in the right geographic area.

Inflation Protection is Important

Since you will hopefully live for many years in your own home before you will need care in a nursing home or home healthcare services, inflation protection is important. Most plans will allow you to purchase an inflation rider.

How Long Will You Need Care?

If you can afford it you should consider coverage won’t end if you happen to live too long. You can save on your monthly premiums by purchasing a policy that only covers you for a certain number of years as a nursing home resident. However, the increase in premiums is generally worth it because prices for longtermcare are likely to increase also.

The average nursing home stay is only a few years, but some people will live in a nursing home for over a decade. One reason for this is that not everybody goes to a nursing home as an elderly person. Often a non senior who has a medical condition will be too sick to stay home, but not sick enough to be in a hospital.

This is why it is important to think carefully before deciding to limit the number of years your policy will pay for your care. You should not have to worry about living past when your longterm care policy benefits run out.

How Much Does it Cost?

The prices vary quite a bit from company to company. Your age and health impact the rate as well. The premiums can look like mortgage payments if you wait too long to buy a policy. However, they are generally affordable if you purchase a policy before retirement age if qualifying medically is not an issue. The medication you take can impact the price of the program, but not all medical conditions are serious enough to make a difference.

You can get more information about how the policies work you can request nursing home insurance rates rates from this website. You will get information about prices, the terms and conditions of the various policies. To get the other information you need to assist you in making a decision you will be given contact information for an agent who serves your local market. The agents we work with have typically assisted clients for years and look forward to helping you reach your personal financial goals.

The typical rest home insurance policy (also known as a long-term care policy) covers a lot more than rest homes.

This is an important fact. Most people who are disabled or elderly want to spend as much of their life at home not in a home. However, their inability to do certain things may mean that they cannot stay out of a facility with professional services.

Often their adult children are willing to do what they can to keep them out of a nursing home. However, they may not be able to keep their jobs and do everything that an aging parent needs.

This is where a so-called “nursing home policy” can make a difference. These policies will often pay the cost for home health care and respite care.

These additional coverages are in everybody’s best interests. It keeps the insured at home and it saves the insurers money. It makes sense financially. It also makes sense based on what people what for themselves and their loved ones.

Home health care can mean that a nurse’s aide can come to the person’s home and take care of them while their child goes to work. This can make a huge difference. It can allow someone to stay home for much longer than they would otherwise.

There are home health care businesses all over the nation that can provide your family with a competent home health care professional person who can help you. You can contact one of these businesses and interview them to make sure you are comfortable with the care they can provide.

Respite care is a little different. Sometimes a person who is at risk for being in a rest home is able to get along by themselves most of the day. They don’t need company all day. They just need someone to help them bathe or they may need someone to prepare meals for them.

This means that the family member who takes care of them can go to work but can never leave the state or take a personal vacation. This can make living a normal life very difficult for that caregiver.

Respite care can come to the rescue in this situation. This pays for a home health aide to care for the family member who is unable to care for themselves. This allows the caregiver to take a break.

Most LTC plans provide both respite care and home health care benefits. As stated above, longterm care policies have more benefits than most people are aware of and these benefits are generally available at no extra cost.

Rest home insurance does much more than just covering nursing home stays. It can cover home health care and respite care. It can keep you, your mother or your disabled child out of a nursing home and home with family members. This can have a tremendous positive impact on quality of life.

Why purchase nursing home insurance?

A nursing home stay can mean that a lifetime of savings vanishes right before your eyes like a magician’s trick. In most parts of the United States the cost of a nursing home stay can exceed one thousand dollars a week.

The average nursing home stay is about two and a half years. A cost of over one thousand dollars a week can mean a rapid evaporation of your assets. This can disenfranchise your wife or husband leaving them little or nothing left to use for buying food or medical services. With no insurance plans or policies in place, this can mean that no financial legacy is left behind for your children or grandchildren.

Home health care is also covered by many nursing home insurance plans. Since the cost of home health care can be quite high, buying insurance that covers it can provide important protection for your family.

Because your health can affect your premium and even your eligibility, you must purchase a nursing home insurance policy while you are healthy. Because age affects the price of these policies, you get a much lower rate when you are younger. Many Americans plan ahead and purchase their policies when they are in their forties or fifties.

Purchasing a policy when you are younger means you pay less. Buying a policy also gives you another important benefit. It will cover you starting at an earlier age.

A nursing home is for people who do not need the level of care needed in a hospital, but are unable to live at home. This can mean that a fifty-three year old stroke victim needing longterm care needs to be in a nursing home. Those without family members to take care of them are particularly at risk.

Many living in a nursing home are well under retirement age. A twenty-year old car accident victim with a traumatic brain injury my find that she has no insurance to pay for her stay.

Your health insurance policy is unlikely to cover an extended nursing home stay and you are at risk for being in a nursing home at any age. Many people do not know this and therefore think they have more longterm nursing home protection than they do.

Your health insurance policy probably covers a few months in a skilled nursing facility. It probably does not cover any time in an intermediate care nursing home facility. It probably does not cover any time in a custodial care facility.

Since most nursing home stays are in either intermediate care or custodial care facilities, a nursing home policy is important.

These facilities are full of people whose health insurance policies will not cover the cost of their care. This means that either the state pays their way or the cost comes from their savings. Since the state tries to get all of the assets it can from the people in the nursing home before it will pay, the importance getting this coverage cannot be over emphasized.

Where to Purchase Nursing Home Insurance

You can find rates for nursing home insurance on this site. If you use this site, you will be contacted by an agent who serves your state and who can help you make the right decision about buying coverage. If you prefer to look in the phone book you may find that the term “long term care” is used to describe these types of insurance plans.

If you are self employed, chances are your insurance benefits come from policies that you have selected and purchased on your own. You have to make your own decisions about medical insurance, dental insurance and disability insurance.

There is also a good chance that you haven’t given much thought to disability insurance. There are few TV commercials about this important line of insurance. Few people even know that it exists outside of an employer-sponsored plan.

There are few more important types of insurance than disability insurance. These policies can pay you an income for decades if you become injured or sick and are no longer able to work. Having an income while disabled can have a tremendous impact on your life. It can be the difference between living in your current home and living in government-sponsored housing.

If you are reasonably healthy and are under age 65, you probably qualify for a disability insurance policy.

Most people will find these policies to be affordable. Long-term disability insurance rates often surprise people when they get quotes.

Don’t make the mistake that many self-employed people make. Yes, medical insurance is important, but you need to have disability insurance and a retirement plan also. Make sure that you don’t miss the boat and forget about disability insurance. Having good coverage in this area can make a big difference in where you life and the way you live.

The cheapest student health insurance may be the health plan available from your college or university. However, this cheap insurance may not be the best coverage.

Employer sponsored coverage or standard individual medical and hospitalization insurance policies purchased from will often provide much better coverage. This is the case for two basic reasons.

Policies marketed to students often have substandard benefits. They often will not fully cover a major illness.

Coverage from these policies terminates when a student is no longer a student or when he or she reaches a certain age. If the student is currently sick or injured when the coverage terminates he or she might have a hard time finding coverage.

Often the best option is a policy that the student purchases from a company like Blue Cross or Humana without going through the school. These policies, although not usually the cheapest, are often very inexpensive. This is because most students are very young and are usually very healthy.

One of the changes that occurred in 2010 due to the Health Care Reform bill allows a child to stay on his or her parents’ or parent’s policy until they reach the age of 26. These group and individual private medical insurance policies that are not specifically designed for students are ironically the best options for students in most cases.

Of course, if a parent has a substandard policy this will not be a good option for the child. For this reason, a blanket statement cannot be made that this is always the best option.

Also, sometimes the policy that the parent or parents has can be overpriced even if it is good coverage. This is often true when a child is the second person insured on the policy. Some policies rate the second person as if he or she was a spouse and therefore a younger person does not get the lower rate the he or she would get on a separate policy.

Before making a decision about a student policy it is important to know how much the policy will cover in the event of a catastrophic event. You should also know the exclusions and limitations of the policy.

Very often a medical insurance policy that you purchase from a standard carrier will give you a better deal than the cheapest student insurance you might purchase through a college or university.

A life insurance beneficiary is a person or entity that is eligible to receive death benefits when the insured party dies. There are several types of beneficiaries. These types of beneficiaries include primary beneficiaries, contingent beneficiaries and irrevocable beneficiaries.

Primary Beneficiary

Primary beneficiaries compose the class of persons or entities that is first in line to receive benefits. This is typically a spouse or a child, but it can also be a company.

This class can consist of more than one person. A father might name his two children as primary beneficiaries to receive equal percentages of his life insurance proceeds.

The amounts that the primary beneficiaries receive do not have to be equal. A father might name a business partner as of his beneficiaries in order to clear a debt. The business partner might receive a flat amount and the remaining beneficiaries might receive a percentage of the remaining amount.

Contingent Beneficiary

Contingent beneficiaries are second in line to receive the proceeds of a life insurance policy. The contingent beneficiaries can only receive benefits if all of the members of the primary beneficiary class have predeceased the insured person.

Revocable Beneficiary

A revocable beneficiary can be replaced by another beneficiary at a later date. So long as the insured is still alive the owner can change the person or persons who are named as a beneficiary

Irrevocable Beneficiary

An irrevocable beneficiary cannot be changed one named.

Beneficiaries are typically of the revocable variety. However where there are concerns about estate taxes, irrevocable beneficiaries are sometimes named. Estate tax issues are beyond the scope of this blog post, but may be covered in a future post.

Life insurance pricing is typically unaffected by the choice or type of beneficiary chosen. This is the case whether you are purchasing a cheap $5000 life insurance for a typical senior citizen or a $5,000,000 policy for millionaire.

It is important to be thoughtful about naming your beneficiaries. Giving money directly to a minor child could have unintended consequences.

It is also important to update your beneficiaries should certain events occur. Failing to update your policy after a beneficiary has passed away or after a divorce could result in the wrong person or people receiving your life insurance proceeds.

If your policy does not have a beneficiary because your named beneficiary predeceases you, your life insurance proceeds can become part of your estate. This could subject your life insurance proceeds to unnecessary taxation.

The cost of COBRA insurance is often much more than the low cost medical insurance through a non-group private health insurance policy. This is often true even when the coverage is offered by the same insurer.

If you have always received your insurance coverage through your employer and never purchase medical insurance on your own, you may believe that your group health insurance plan is your best option.

Many people want to know how to apply for COBRA insurance but never ask whether or not COBRA is their best option.

How does COBRA insurance work?

COBRA is a temporary extension of your group health insurance. Typically this extension lasts for 18 months, but in some circumstances this period can be longer. When you are on COBRA you will probably pay the full cost of your insurance. Your employer is unlikely to subsidize your costs.

Often people are lead to believe that group coverage is cheaper because they are unaware that their employer subsidizes their premiums. They are often unpleasantly surprised when they find out how much it really costs.

But often they pay it anyway. They don’t know that group health insurance is usually more expensive than non group or individual health insurance. Many people only shop insurance after COBRA ends.

When they wait until their 18 months is almost over to get the prices for other policies, they are often quite upset with themselves. Most of the insurance coverage that people get through their benefit packages at work is also available to them on a non group basis. You can purchase life insurance or dental insurance for the unemployed without going through an employer.

Be sure to get quotes for health insurance today. You may be surprised to find that your cost for COBRA insurance is higher than you would pay with another policy that provides the same coverage.

Those needing health insurance for individuals with pre existing conditions should be sure that they don’t take the first “no” as their final answer. They may pay more than they should if they take no for an answer or accept the first costly option. Not all insurance companies treat every condition and individual the same way.

An individual who believes that they have a pre existing health condition that will affect their ability to enroll in an insurance plan should first verify that their condition is a problem with all the plans available. Even if one or two medical insurance companies considers them a high risk or denies coverage, they should not assume that a second or third company will do the same.

Special Rules for Children with Pre Existing Conditions

Although there are certain conditions that adults will be denied for when they apply for any underwritten policy, this isn’t the case with children. The recent health care reform mandates changes this. As of September 23, 2010 (with few exceptions) a child who applies with a parent cannot be denied based on their medical history so long as one parent is approved for coverage. This is also the case when an individual applies through their place of business for a group health insurance policy with their child.

Adults with Pre Existing Medical Conditions

Health insurance companies do not all have the same underwriting guidelines. Each is a separate business and they will often assess the risk of insuring an individual differently. For this reason a person diagnosed by their provider with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, might be turned down based on their preexisting conditions when they apply for enrollment in a policy offered by one company. A second company may think that that person is a high risk, but approve their application but ask that they pay higher premium. A third company might not consider them a high risk at all and will approve that person for any of their plans with a standard premium.

Different companies will have different height and weight guidelines and therefore different opinions regarding whether an individual obese or whether they are just heavier than the average person and therefore will be willing to accept the risk of insuring that person. These differences apply to more serious preexisting conditions as well. Pre existing conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart conditions are treated differently by different insurance carriers.

You have to shop around not only for price and coverage, but also for the most favorable underwriting decision. Working with an agent who knows the health care insurance landscape in your area can go a long way towards making the experience of shopping around for health insurance less consuming and less of a hassle. An agent may be able to keep you from paying more than you should.

This is especially true when looking for private medical insurance for an individual with a pre existing conditions. Finding access to affordable health insurance means gaining affordable access to otherwise costly providers that can make a difference in the quality of your life.

I was about to end this series about selling health care insurance across state lines but then a picture of my local bank popped into my head. The reason why this picture made me think is that the bank isn’t there anymore.

None of the local banks are around anymore! Why? They deregulated the nation’s banks about twenty years ago. (Banks were not allowed to cross state lines before then.) Do you remember small local banks? Are any of them still in your area?

The big banks gobbled up the small banks and the bigger banks gobbled up the big banks once they were allowed to open branches in other states.

My fear is that allowing our federal government to reduce regulation on the insurance companies will have the same impact on the industry as deregulation had on the banking business. Our coverage options will diminish, but eventually we will forget the smaller insurance companies just like we’ve all but forgotten the smaller banks that used to compete in our market.

It is entirely possible that this simplistic idea will result in less competition in the health insurance industry and not more. More competition resulted in less competition in the banking business.

Why won’t it do the same to the insurance industry? Will we wind up with fewer insurance companies to choose from when we need insurance coverage for health care?

If we allow the federal government to do this, who wins? The biggest insurance companies win. Who loses? You and I lose.

Allowing American health insurance companies to more freely sell across state lines could result in higher prices for those who need it most! I know that we have heard politicians on the news stating just the opposite time and time again, but I sincerely believe that they are wrong.

Although with proper regulation, additional competition can result in lower rates for all, unbridled competition could result in the destruction of our private health insurance system and real damage to those who have medical conditions. Deregulation won’t be good for business owners nor will it be good for consumers.

Why? A new company is likely to attract a disproportionate number of younger and healthier policyholders. This means that they will be able to charge less and they will be able to get more business.

Isn’t this a good thing? It could be, but it could also backfire in a big way.

The following is not based on my view as a Democrat or a Republican, but my view as an experience as an insurance agent who has been around the block a few times.

Health Care Reform Has Already Hurt Children!

It could backfire just like their mandate that was supposed to force the American health insurance companies to insure all children already has. You may want to watch my video about how health care reform is hurting children.

Have you had a chance to view this information on the news? Are the politicians working feverishly to correct their mistake, or is it being swept under the rug.

Once the older established companies enough of their healthier clients to the new company, their rates will go up very rapidly over a short period of time. The older and sicker policyholders may not have the option of switching to the new company and they get hurt by deregulation.

The new company can come into the state and offer a low price but not lower the average cost of insurance! Moving into the new state will be a good business decision for the new insurance company.

However it will not create a better situation for the average policy holders of that state. Although the healthier policyholders who are able to switch may benefit for a time, the sicker policyholders may get be forced to pay more and more and more. Their premiums may go up to the point where their coverage is completely unaffordable.