Americans use insurance to protect a host of assets, from cars to to jewelry. But many people forget to insure their most important asset — the ability to work and earn a living.

As a recent Social Security fact sheet states, “Just over 1 in 4 of today’s 20 year-olds will become disabled before [...]]]>

Americans use insurance to protect a host of assets, from cars to to jewelry. But many people forget to insure their most important asset — the ability to work and earn a living.

As a recent Social Security fact sheet states, “Just over 1 in 4 of today’s 20 year-olds will become disabled before reaching age 67.” And if disease or injury renders you disabled early in your working life, the lost wages can be worth much more than a house or a sedan.

Do the math: If you make $50,000, 20 years’ labor pays $1 million.

The good news is that if you don’t have insurance and get hurt or ill, you aren’t doomed. The Social Security Administration provides some form of disability benefits as a safety net.

But it’s hardly enough to live comfortably. As of March 2013, the average disability payment was less than $1,130 per month. Furthermore, there is a complex eligibility process, and benefits apply to Americans with a medical condition that prevents them from working for at least 12 months.

For many families, the prospect of losing just a few months’ income or living on half the paycheck just isn’t an option. If this sounds like you, it may make sense to seek out some form of disability insurance to protect yourself.

Here are your options if you’re looking at disability insurance:

• Group Disability Plans. The most common kind of disability insurance, group plans are typically offered through your employer. The lowest tier of group coverage is extremely affordable, so that’s a big plus, but benefits vary greatly. Consider that group plans typically don’t come close to replacing your full paycheck, with a reimbursement rate of about 60% being typical. Furthermore, group plans often place a monthly or yearly cap on the dollar amount you can be paid, or set a maximum time frame for benefits that could be as little as two years. Because of these drawbacks, it’s important to read the fine print on group plans because they may not help much if illness strikes.

• Individual Disability Plans. If your employer doesn’t offer a group plan or you don’t like what you’re offered at the office, you can shop around as an individual. But keep in mind that, without a group, your price is based on your unique situation and needs. Like health insurance, that means individual plans are generally cheaper if you’re young and healthy and costly if you’re old with heart trouble. But even so, shopping as an individual opens a wealth of options — such as coverage for lost bonus income above your salary, or portability to keep the disability coverage even if you change jobs. If you have unique needs and are willing to shop around, an individual plan is worth pursuing.

• Supplemental Disability Plans. If you have a basic employer-sponsored disability plan or if you’re content to rely on Social Security for any long-term disability claim, then supplemental disability coverage is a decent and affordable bridge. As the name implies, it is an additional layer of coverage to help pay for medical or living expenses that may not be covered by a long-term plan. For instance, if you have an employer-sponsored group plan that pays just 60% of your paycheck, for a modest monthly fee you may be able to add on a supplemental policy to bring that amount up to 80%.

For full article and important disability options, click here.

For more information on how disability insurance claims work, call Benefit Specialists today at 701-492-7372 and let one of our representative help you.

Children make prime targets for identity thieves specifically because they have no credit history and thus, clean credit reports. Because parents don’t think to check their children’s credit histories, the theft can continue unchecked for over a decade. How appealing are children’s identities to identity thieves? Protect your children with LifeLock and prevent them from [...]]]>

Children make prime targets for identity thieves specifically because they have no credit history and thus, clean credit reports. Because parents don’t think to check their children’s credit histories, the theft can continue unchecked for over a decade. How appealing are children’s identities to identity thieves? Protect your children with LifeLock and prevent them from having their identity stolen. LifeLock identity theft protection helps proactively safeguard your credit, your finances and your good name with vigilant services that alert you of potential threats before the damage is done. If identity thieves steal your personal information, they could take out a mortgage, commit tax fraud, and open new credit accounts and a whole lot more.

Last year the number of identity theft victims reached 12.6 million, up 1 million from the previous year, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research Identity Fraud Report released in February.

According to the AllClear ID 2012 Child Identity Theft Report, about one in every 40 households with young children is being affected. Since children have clean credit records and the theft can go undetected for years, child identity theft is a fast-growing crime. Federal Commission consistently sates that children are the 6% of America’s victims. Identity theft criminals access personal information from everything from school and medical records to stolen wallets and the Internet.

To discover if credit has been opened in your child’s name, he said parents should contact one of the credit rating agencies — Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion — just as they would to check their own credit history.

Here are some other tips Chappell offers in the book:

• Teach children well. Make sure they know the risks associated with giving personal information to anyone.
• Do not share. Do not put your child’s Social Security number on school, medical, insurance and other forms.
• Keep it safe at home. Don’t carry your child’s birth date or Social Security number in your wallet or purse.
• Don’t reveal personal information on social media. Tell your children not to place their birth date or address on social networking sites.
• Be wary of scams. Warn children about offers they receive by phone, mail or e-mail that could be scams.

Parents are advised to monitor their children’s identity just as diligently as their own. The impact of identity theft on a child’s credit can be substantial. As they grow toward adulthood, damaged credit can affect everything from the ability to get a student loan, car loan, apartment or even a job. Call Benefit Specialists today to inquire the details about LifeLock and how it can help your children from identity theft criminals.

According to Social Security Administration, there has been a 29% increase in Americans with little or no work experience getting disability payments since 2003. The federal government spent nearly $250 billion in 2011 paying more than 23 million Americans some type of disability claim. These numbers don’t include people out on worker compensation claims, which [...]]]>

According to Social Security Administration, there has been a 29% increase in Americans with little or no work experience getting disability payments since 2003. The federal government spent nearly $250 billion in 2011 paying more than 23 million Americans some type of disability claim. These numbers don’t include people out on worker compensation claims, which are mostly paid for by private companies.

There are many reasons for the increasing disability claims, most notably the recession, an aging population and advances in medical technology.

The recession: the economic downturn in 2008 and early 2009 has been blamed for the major reason for the increase in disability payments to people formerly working. The rise in the number of disability claims have been seen with every recession since people are looking for options in terms of income support. The 2001 recession brought a jump in disability claims by 13% and 21% increase in disability claim was seen during the 2009 recession.

Aging population: Since 2003, the US population has increased about 8%. The population is also getting older as the baby boomers retire. Those that are laid off in their late 50s or early 60s and have some kind of injury, they know it’s going to be hard for them to find another job.

Welfare reform: According to John O’Neill, director of employment and disability research at the Kessler Foundation, a non-profit focused on disability issues states and municipalities. If any were found, state workers helped the people apply for federal disability benefits.

Medical Advances: This implies especially to military veterans. Thanks to the better surgical techniques, according to the Veterans Administration, soldiers are ten times as likely to survive today’s wars. The decision to view post-traumatic stress disorder and illness related to cancer causing chemical defoliant Agent Orange as a disability has lifted the number of disability claims.

For more information about disability insurance, contact Benefit Specialists.

Most medical insurance plans don’t cover dental or routine vision. Therefore, you are usually given an option for signing up for those benefits as a separate entity. Here are a few key things to keep in mind when choosing a vision benefit plan that is right for you and becoming familiar with your new [...]]]>

Most medical insurance plans don’t cover dental or routine vision. Therefore, you are usually given an option for signing up for those benefits as a separate entity. Here are a few key things to keep in mind when choosing a vision benefit plan that is right for you and becoming familiar with your new plan.

• Know your vision insurance provider’s company name

Vision insurance plan and medical insurance are often provided by different companies. Even though you may only be issued a card for medical plan, an entirely different insurance company may be administering your vision benefits. If it is an available option, you can call your vision benefits provider and request a card, print one from the website, or simply write down the name on the back of your medical insurance card.

• Know the difference between a funded benefit plan and discount plan

A funded benefit plan usually offers vision exam at low-copay and gives an allowance amount for you to use towards glasses or contact lenses. Since a benefit plan offers the most savings, the benefit is usually only offered as a one-time use throughout the year. A benefit plan is the extended coverage that may be offered for unique situations such as early replacement of lost glasses or eyewear for certain eye condition.

A discount plan comes with a lower premium and offers lower savings at the time of your visit. It guarantees you a percentage off the practice’s retail price for exams and eyewear. Most discount plans don’t put a cap on how often you can cause these discounts throughout the year. Knowing the difference can help you calculate your savings from the actual benefit versus your savings from the higher/ lower premium.

• Know your vision benefit frequency

Find out if your benefits are reset every calendar year, or by last service date.  Unlike most medical insurance plans, vision plans often don’t require you to meet a deductible. So, the benefit frequency doesn’t necessarily follow that of your medical plan. Knowing this will help you better plan out how to make the most of your benefits and allowances.

• Know your physicians network for both vision and medical

Vision benefit is usually used for a routine exam. But a visit to treat pink eye, glaucoma testing, or cataract surgery would be considered medical.  your Vision panel of doctors may not always be within your medical network panel, so be sure to coordinate accordingly to minimize any out of pocket expenses, should you ever need to have a medical eye visit.

It is important to evaluate and understand services being offered when you choose a vision insurance plan. Call Benefit Specialists today to find out how vision insurance can help you.

The development of consumer driven health care [...]]]> Consumer Driven Health Care, CDHC has seen a considerable growth in the past decade. It includes greater acceptance of consumer driven health care and related products by both employers and employees. Thus, making these plans and the associated products such as health savings accounts viable option for millions.

The development of consumer driven health care system has changed the benefits industry as an attractive option for small employers or individual as a way to control costs, is now a main benefit. Large employers looking to curb rising premiums while driving employee engagement and responsibility for health care choices.

According to America’s Health Insurance Plan, the number of people with Health Saving Account (HAS) coverage rose to more than 12.5 million up from 11.4 million in January 2011. In 2013, companies have seen record-breaking HSA numbers. Earlier this year, UMB said that its HSA balances savings account grew 55 percent in the past year reaching $615 million as of January 31.

CDHC’s biggest accomplishment has been getting consumers more invested and involved in their own health care. UMB health care explains that in a CDHC plan, the patient is now the center of the health care decision process engaging with providers to make a plan for a coordinated and cost-conscious care. This model pushes providers to focus on providing less sick care and more well-being care.

The research by Cigna, a Global Health Insurance and Health Service Company, showed that when customers in traditional Preferred Provider Organization, PPO and Health Maintenance Organization, HMO plans were compared, those in a CDHP both lowered their risks while reducing total medical costs. They were more likely to access cost and procedure in wellness programs and health assessments, and were 59 percent more likely to access cost and procedure information to help them review potential medical costs. The shift towards bringing consumers to the forefront of their case is vital to make the country’s health care system work.

A 2012 report by the NAPD and the Delta Dental Plans Association showed that there were about 176 million people, [...]]]> Enrollment in dental benefit plans has been progressively rebounding since 2009 when enrollment rates took a big hit because of high unemployment caused by the recession, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, NAPD.

A 2012 report by the NAPD and the Delta Dental Plans Association showed that there were about 176 million people, or 57 percent of the U.S. population, enrolled in a dental benefit plan in 2011. That represents an increase of a half of a percentage point.

The most popular type of dental plan is dental preferred provider organization, which makes up nearly three-fourths of the market. The dental insurance market was valued at $38.6 billion in 2010, according to the NAPD.

More employers, especially smaller employers, are offering dental benefit plans. Costs are shared by employer and employee in 66 percent of the plans and paid for by employees only in about a quarter of the plans, according to NAPD figures. There is a continued rebounding in enrollment levels and there has been strong price competition due to the number of carriers. It’s typical for there to be 20 to 30 carriers in a particular state which constructs a lot of competition.

The vision market has been booming with the number of employers that offer vision plans that has doubled since 1994, with more than half of all companies providing a vision care benefit in 2011.

It’s a popular benefit among employees as more and more people need glasses every day. When employers were asked about the benefit plan they wanted to add after medical, vision was second after dental so there is an opportunity for growth.

And it’s not just older employees who appreciate vision-care benefits. Employers tend to think that their older employees value vision benefits more than younger employees because they are more likely to need glasses, but that assumption is incorrect. Using [age] 40 as a dividing line, both groups value it equally—65 percent for both. That speaks as to how enduring these benefits are.

For help in choosing the best dental and vision insurance  plan, call Benefit Specialists at 701-492-7372 to meet with one of our professional consultants.

Your insurance [...]]]>

Your insurance premiums are tied in part to interest rates. When rates are low, insurers see a lower rate of return on their reserves, which can result in investment shortfalls and, thus, premium hikes. Some policyholders in recent years have seen the annual cost of their coverage jump 50% or more.

According to an article in the current issue of the Journal Financial Planning, if you are facing an increase in your premium, there are choices than paying the premium or getting rid of the insurance policy.

Some of the alternative options to deal with hike in long-term care insurance care include keeping the current premium, say from $250 a day to $200 a day and reducing the policy’s benefit period, say from 5 years to four years, and/or keeping the current premium and reducing the policy’s benefits inflation rate.

A lot of people decide its best to keep their policy and pay the new premium increases because the existing policies are still much less expensive than a new coverage would cost today.

If the new premium proves unaffordable, the next best step for many might be to reduce the benefit period – especially if the original policy covers five years or more of care because an average long-term care insurance claim period is only about 2.8 years, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

Even though the increase in premiums have been upsetting, insurance providers want the clients to understand that with this increase, companies are not trying to make up for lost profits but trying to keep the company solvent to pay policy owners.