Archive for October, 2009

Statistics has shown that 1 in 3 American Citizens are projected to fall victim of cancerous ills. Due to the ongoing rise in illnesses, including newfound diseases the companies are designing policies that will offer families and individuals the coverage they will need in difficult times. Not one single person on the face of the earth can say if they will be the 1 in 3, therefore, coverage now is better than waiting until it is too late.

The current policies that are making the news today are the Critical Illness Plans that are often offered with Life Insurance. The policy will cover transportation to and from hospitals if inpatient or outpatient is needed, including the cost the family or mate will need to visit. The coverage will also cover medical treatment and procedures, including in-home care, nurse visits, vacations, car and home modifications, and more. Since our air is filled with contaminations that are claiming health everyday, we can never feel it is too late to get coverage. Many of the policies available, including Terminal Ill, Critical Illness and Life Insurance are often affordable, making it easy to cover an entire family.

The different polices also include, Single Plans and Joint Policies. It is important to understand that Single Polices are often more expensive than Joint Policies, however the Single policies will cover each member of your household if you fall ill and/or die. If you have a Joint Policy and die, then the additional members will have no resource for burial expenses, or other related costs.

In spite of your financial circumstances, having Life combined with Critically Illness coverage can save you a bundle later. Therefore, if you can only afford minimal coverage now, why not, since later you will thank your self for taking the time to consider all details of illness and death, including the survivors if you should pass. To give you an overall idea of price now vs. price later we will consider the following: Let’s say you (we hope not) become one of the 1 in 3 Americans that fall ill to cancer. If this should happen, you will need long-term treatment, including Chemotherapy. You may need to stay at the hospital for a week or longer. First, the cost of medical treatment without the extras is expensive, and this expense does not include medicines.

For treatment for one month, you will pay thousands of dollars splitting the cost between medicines and physician/hospital fees. You will also pay additional thousands for treatment for cancer, plus you will loose money since you are not able to work any longer. Your family will need money to cover visits, possible stays at hotels, food, and so forth and this does not include the cost of living. You may need equipment that will cost a few more thousand dollars or more to recover from the disease. Furthermore, if your treatment is successful you may need money to cover the cost of recovery and checkups to make sure the cancer remains inactive. As you can see, the few thousands just soared beyond ten grand, and if you should die, we have factored in the burial expenses, which are going to be another thousand of dollars.

Still, we haven’t reviewed mortgage, credit cards, personal loans and any other debts that are activate before and during death. Therefore, around $20 more or less now per month can save you and your family later if you become ill and/or die. It makes sense to combine Critical Illness and Life Insurance, since both Policies change slightly offering different types of coverage. You definitely want to consider Critical Illness Coverage since these policies consider more when it comes to illness than Life insurance polices do. Life Insurance will often cover burial, which if the policyholder dies then the large sum provided will probably payoff the burial expenses leaving nil left. The Critical Illness will provide the extra cash if the policyholder falls ill or dies.

Authored by Michael Bens. For more great information about all forms of insurance visit our free online insurance publication the Gabae Insurance Source to find the information you’re looking for!

Also you can check out Gabae Insurance Articles to find the articles you’re looking for!

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In the state of New York, you may qualify for low cost health insurance whether you are a small business, sole proprietor or individual.

In 2000 the NY Legislature enacted regulations in response to the Governor’s proposal to make available comprehensive insurance coverage for New York workers and their families who are uninsured. The name of the program is Healthy NY.

This program helps the small business owners (businesses with 50 or fewer employees) to provide health insurance to their employees and their families. Additionally, Workers who are unable to purchase insurance through their employer because the employer doesn’t offer insurance and the sole proprietor may purchase coverage directly though Health NY.

All HMO’s in the state of New York offer standardized health benefit package that is made affordable through the sponsorship of NY State. This makes it more affordable for small employers and uninsured employees.

There are certain eligibility requirements for each section:

Small Employer

Business must be located in New York
The business must have 50 or less eligible employees
30% of employees must earn $34,000 or less
The business must not have provided group health insurance to employees in last 12 months (with certain stipulations)
50% of eligible employee participation and at least one earns $34,000 or less
Employer must contribute 50% of premium
The employer must offer plan to employees working 20 hours or more and earning $34,000 or less

Individual and Sole Proprietor guidelines:

The individual must live in the state of New York
Must be currently employed or have been within the last 12 months
Employer does not provide health insurance
Have not health insurance for past 12 month period
Ineligible for Medicare
The annual household income must meet the Healthy NY Income Guidelines

View our Recommended Health Insurance Company in New York, a simple site that has an easy to fill out application. It also has a lot of great info about Home Owners Insurance and Car Insurance Quotes

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An HSA - a “healthcare savings account” - is medical and retirement planning savings account that can be used on a tax-advantaged basis. HSAs were created in Medicare Modernization legislation passed in December 2003. To be eligible for an HSA, a consumer must be covered by a high deductible health plan (HDHP).

By contrast, an HRA - a “healthcare reimbursement account” is an account maintained by an employer to be used to reimburse employees for qualified medical expenses. HSA accounts must be funded before they’re used, but HRAs don’t need to be. Using an HRA, an employer can simply pay the medical expenses as they’re incurred.

HSA accounts belong to the individual employees and are fully portable; in other words, employees can take the accounts with them if they leave an employer. HRA accounts belong to the employer. Each employee gets an annual allocation of dollars and unused funds roll over from year to year as long as the employee continues in good standing. Typically, an employee forfeits the money in an HRA account if they leave the employer.

An HSA can be funded by either the employer or the employee (or, often: both). An HRA may only be funded by the employer.

All qualified contributions into an HSA are tax-free. If the employer contributes, then such contributions aren’t treated as part of the employee’s income, and are therefore tax-advantaged. If the employees makes contributions, these can be deducted from the employee’s income when tax returns are filed.

Here’s the best part: not only are deposits into HSAs tax-free so are withdrawals. Any distribution from an HSA for qualified medical expenses is tax-free. HSAs are typically managed much like an IRA: that is, there are a variety of investment vehicles that the consumer can put his or her money into, so that it might compound and grow while it’s waiting to be used for medical needs. The specific investments available to a consumer vary depending on the company offering the HSA. As we said before, like an IRA a HSA belongs to the individual and is portable.

Consumers can make withdrawals from HSAs for non-medical purposes after the age of 65 but the withdrawals (aka “distributions”) are treated as income and taxed accordingly. Distributions for non-medical purposes made before the age of 65 are treated as an early distribution and subject to an early withdrawal penalty of 10% plus regular income tax.

Kurt Stammberger is VP, Marketing at Healthia Inc. Healthia provides you comprehensive information to help you compare health insurance plans for Groups, Individuals, Families and Employees.

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