Workplace Benefits

Accident Insurance Policies


No one can predict if and when they will be involved in an accident. Luckily, there are insurance policies that can help individuals and their families who are injured in an accident recover from their injuries and live their lives through recovery. An accident insurance policy is a special form of insurance that will pay listed insureds a specified amount of money that is determined based on the severity of the insured’s injuries. The following information will educate you about specialty accident cover so that you can decide if this is the right type of plan for you.


How Does Accident Cover Relate to Employer Sponsored Workplace Benefits?


Accident cover is designed to help individuals gain access to medical treatment when they are involved in an accident. The insurance will typically cover many different risks that can lead to injury, but will specifically exclude injuries caused by negligent acts, acts of God, risky hobbies restricted under the plan, and natural disaster. These plans are ideal for individuals who do not carry health insurance or for individuals with high deductible health plans. They are considered supplemental to an employer-sponsored insurance policy, and will provide additional benefits separate from traditional health plans.


How Does Accident Coverage Work?


As a specialty insurance policy, accident cover can be purchased individually. Once you purchase an accident plan and list your family members, you will pay premiums each month. Policyholders must agree to the terms and conditions of the policy and pay to keep the coverage current. While individuals hope never to have to file a claim, the policy does provide peace of mind if they are injured in an accident. The plan will also pay for permanent disability benefits or death to listed beneficiaries.


Types of Coverage Provided


The typical supplemental plan will provide funds, up to a stated limit, to pay for medical and out-of-pocket costs after an accidental injury. Some policies will provide coverage for hospital stays, emergency visits, transportation and lodging. Other policies have specific riders that will provide a lump sum payment to the injured party when they are permanently disabled or to their family members when they are deceased. Coverage options and limits vary based on the company providing coverage.


Benefits of Buying Accident Coverage


Accidents can happen to the best of the best, and preparing for the unexpected is key. Something as minor as a broken arm or an allergic reaction to a bug bite can dramatically affect your ability earn an income and pay for treatment. While you never hope you have an accident, having accident insurance will help you supplement your medical insurance or pay for treatment so money troubles do not prolong your ability to recover.


Critical Illness Insurance Policies


While science has come a long way to improving general health care and extending life expectancy, not all illnesses are so easily preventable or affordable. Cancer, stroke, and heart attack are all expensive and life-threatening illnesses. The physical and emotional toll of any of these diagnoses is hard enough without adding the stress and worry of paying for costly treatments. That’s why many people are expanding their health insurance packages to include critical illness policies.


Critical illness insurance is an added policy that covers the expenses incurred during the treatment of cancer, stroke, or heart attack. This is paid in one lump sum, and the benefits can be used in whatever way the patient requires. This can include the loss of income, experimental treatments, transportation, and living expenses.


There are a few options available for those interested in a critical illness policy. For example, you may extend coverage to include paralysis, coma, and occupational HIV. This will, of course, cause your premium to be a little more expensive.


Many employers are offering the option to add critical illness policies to their employees’ health benefits packages. While the option is there, the employer will often not pay any part of the policy. The employee is usually expected to pay the whole amount of the additional coverage.


The main benefits of a critical illness policy are income, experimental coverage, and general peace of mind. As we get older, we become more prone to life-threatening illnesses. Cancer, on the other hand, waits for no one and may strike at any time. One in two American men and one in three American women will contract cancer in their lifetimes. Heart attack and stroke are less common but also come with a huge price tag and little hope. This policy guarantees that you will have some money to fall back on if you are not able to work or need to pay for transportation to treatments.


Critical illness is a scary thing, but critical illness insurance eases the burden of cost. Many people with heart disease and cancer in their families are wise to purchase this policy. Illness cannot always be avoided, but financial help is always available.


Disability Insurance Policies


Disability insurance is designed to help protect employees and individuals who are self-employed when they are disabled and cannot work for a short period of time. If you are building a comprehensive individual insurance portfolio, it is important to consider all of the lines of insurance that you will need to protect your finances and your family. Disability products helps to replace a portion of your income when you are out of work due to a covered illness or injury. Continuing reading to learn more about this product to determine if you should add coverage to your portfolio.


What is Disability Cover and How Does it Relate to Workplace Benefits?


There are individual disability plans and employer-sponsored disability plans. Each type of insurance is designed to provide you with income replacement when you are out of work because of an injury or a sickness. If you have an employer-sponsored plan, your employer will pay for a portion of the premiums and you will pay for the remainder out of your pre-taxed earnings.


When you buy an individual plan, it will provide you with supplemental income in addition to your workplace plan or state-sponsored plan, but you must pay the premiums in full with after-tax dollars. Because only a percentage of your income is paid out monthly or weekly, it is acceptable to have an individual and a workplace policy.


Who Needs Individual Disability Cover?


There are two different candidates for an individual disability plan. If you are self-employed and you do not receive any workplace disability benefits, carrying an individual plan that provides you with a large percentage of income replacement is important for your own financial security. If you are an employee and you do not receive these benefits, or you would like to receive as close to 100% of your income as possible, you can buy an individual plan. Remember, you will not be able to claim more than 100% of your income replacement even when you have a supplemental plan.


Disability insurance will provide you with protection during a difficult time in your life. When you do not have to stress about paying the bills, you shorten the period of time that you need to recover. Buy protection and peace of mind by investing in optional disability coverage.


Long Term Care Insurance Policies


Most people don’t think about their long term care insurance until it is too late. Many assume that they will either never need long term care or won’t need it until they grow old. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In fact, 40% of people who received long term care insurance (LTCI) in 2013 were between 18 and 65 years old. The fact is that we don’t know what will happen, so we need to be as prepared as possible.


LTCI is a type of policy that extends beyond the coverage of a regular health insurance package to cover home care, assisted living, hospice care, and nursing home costs. Age is not the determining factor in whether a person will need care insurance; those receiving care may not be sick in the conventional sense but are unable to perform activities of daily life like walking, dressing themselves, bathing themselves, etc.


There are several different types of long term insurance policies available: tax qualified and non-tax qualified. Tax qualified policies require that the patient be unable to perform at least 2 activities of daily living or need assistance due to cognitive impairment for at least 90 days. Non-tax qualified policies only require that the patient be unable to perform 1 activity of daily life; a doctor is also required to state to the insurance company that it is medically necessary.


Work benefits are slowly expanding to include these types of policies. Long term insurance is available as an extention to many employee benefits packages, but completely at cost to the employee. The employer may in some rare cases offer to pay a portion of this extended coverage, but employees should expect to pay the full amount.


While government programs exist that provide long term disability coverage, they only pay out small amounts to supplement the patients’ income while they are unable to work. A LTCI policy is a great option to add to any existing benefits package for extended coverage.

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