Time For A Check Up...Of Your Insurance Coverage
How Healthy Is Your Coverage?
A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that fifty percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. That's why ensuring you have sufficient insurance coverage is so important. Once employer-sponsored open enrollment for benefits ends, most people tend not to think about their coverage again until they need to use it. Becky Mills, Vice President, Research and Development for Combined Insurance urges people to take a few minutes to review their coverage as each new year begins to ensure they understand the coverage they have, and more importantly to identify areas where there may be gaps in protection.
"The start of a new benefit year is a good time to review your coverage," says Mills. "Employers routinely make changes or reductions to benefit plans from year to year, so it's important that you know what your current plan provides. Once you know what you've got, you should determine what you need."
In a 2006 survey conducted by ABC News, the Kaiser Family Foundation and USA Today, one in four Americans said their family had a problem paying for medical care during that past year, up seven percent over the previous nine years. According to Mills, employers working to offset the rising costs of offering health and welfare benefits to their employees often first cut coverage options such as long-term disability and life insurance. This can create significant gaps in protection for many people. Supplemental insurance is one way to fill these protection gaps.
Supplementing Your Coverage
According to Hewitt Associates, average out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits rose 115 percent between 2000 and 2004. Supplemental insurance complements an existing insurance plan by providing additional benefits not covered by primary medical insurance such as benefits to help cover co-payments, deductibles and even non-medical expenses such as transportation. It can also help supplement lost income due to accident, injury or death.
There are many forms of supplemental insurance including: income protection/disability - in the event you can't work due to an accident or illness; specified disease/critical care - to help with expenses related to critical illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc.; long-term care - if the time comes when full-time nursing care is needed, as well as life insurance and general accident and sickness protection.
"The key is knowing what you need for your personal or family situation," says Mills.
Finding Help
"Insurance coverage is not always easy to understand," acknowledges Mills. "Talking to a licensed insurance specialist is the best way to identify your needs and find protection options to meet those needs." According to Mills, Combined Insurance offers face-to-face consultation through a force of more than 7,000 dedicated agents worldwide.
A licensed agent can look at your existing coverage, compare it to your personal situation and potential risk factors and make recommendations for supplemental coverage if necessary.
"An unexpected accident or illness can be emotionally and financially devastating to an individual or family," continues Mills. "Being prepared with the right protection to meet your specific needs is one New Year's resolution that will work to your advantage throughout the year and beyond."
1According to research conducted in 2005 by Stephen Shapiro, president of Goalfree.com, with the assistance of Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton N.J.
About Combined Insurance Company
Combined Insurance Company of America (http://www.combined.com) is a leading provider of supplemental accident, health and life insurance products. With a field sales force and corporate staff in excess of 10,000 people worldwide, Combined meets the growing coverage needs of policyholders around the globe. For more information, call 800-225-4500 or visit http://www.combined.com.
About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. Through its 43,000 professionals worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Our industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Aon was ranked by A.M. Best as the number one global insurance brokerage in 2007 based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 by the readers of Business Insurance.
Aon Corporation
Un timp pentru a verifica sus ... dvs. de asigurare de acoperire - Time For A Check Up...Of Your Insurance Coverage - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate