Learning about life, health, disability and long-term care insurance has always been a bit confusing.  However, recently the nonprofit LIFE Foundation unveiled a significantly enhanced version of its award-winning website and moved it to a new Web address at www.lifehappens.org. The LIFE site has been completely redesigned and retooled to provide visitors with objective, easy-to-understand educational content on all the major types of life and health insurance. It features a wealth of multimedia content and interactive planning tools, including:

LIFE Happens En Espanol
Insurance Word Blog
Life Insurance Needs Calculator
Life Insurance Product Selector
Human Life Value Calculator
Disability Insurance Needs Calculator
Long-term Care Cost of Services
Healthcare Cost Estimator

Check it out. Also, be sure to visit AccuQuote for additional information as well.

There was an article on TheStreet.com by Simone Baribeau which talks about health savings accounts
The article talks about how HSA’s have been touted as a way to make health care more affordable, but they may provide more tax benefits to the wealthy than health benefits to the millions of uninsured looking for affordable medical coverage.

According to the article, a recent General Accountability Office report found that these types of medical savings accounts appeal disproportionately to people who have higher incomes and people who are healthier. In fact, the average adjusted gross income for HSA participants was $139,000 — more than double that of nonparticipants. Over half of people eligible for HSAs don’t participate in them, according to the report.

HSAs allow individuals with only qualified catastrophic coverage plans — plans with high deductibles but relatively low monthly premiums — to save up to $2,900, tax-free, every year to pay for medical expenses. Funds not used one year roll over into an individual’s account the following year.

Proponents argued that HSAs would make health care more accessible by allowing individuals and employers to buy into plans with lower premiums and would discourage people from buying unnecessary medical services.

For healthy individuals who can afford to make large contributions, the benefits go beyond medical: After 65 participants can withdraw income — penalty-free — and use it on nonmedical expenses.

Money deposited into an HSA can be deposited pretax or claimed as an above the line deduction, earnings grow tax-free and no taxes are taken out when funds are used for qualified medical expenses. Though younger people who withdraw funds for nonmedical expenses are subject to taxes and a 10% withdrawal penalty, people over 65 can use the money for other expenses, and it’s taxed only as income.

Essentially, for the healthy, (or for those who get into a more comprehensive insurance plan before they get sick) HSAs can function as something akin to an IRA.

According to the article, whether the accounts are also helping the people who most need money for medical care remains to be seen.

According to a survey by one of our carriers, ING, Americans in every demographic group say that their death or the death of their spouse would be a much greater threat to their family’s future financial situation during this time.

This is yet another reason why now may be a time to re-evaluate your life insurance needs. Keep in mind that term life insurance rates are the lowest they’ve been in history. The survey demonstrates the central role life insurance plays in a comprehensive financial plan, including the important role of wealth protection. Inadequate life insurance can be swiftly disastrous to families that don’t properly anticipate and assess the impact death of a spouse or partner can have on short- and long-term finances

Google recently unveiled Google Health, a long-anticipated U.S. health information service that combines the company’s classic search services with a user’s personal health records online. The password-protected service, which can be found at www.google.com/health/, stores a user’s basic medical history and gathers relevant information connected to their health conditions.

How do you feel about this? Frankly, I’m a bit scared.  It’s hard enough the get stuff corrected in the MIB (Medical Information Bureau) if there is a mistake. How will this be used by insurance companies and underwriting groups when you apply for health, life or even disability?

Here’s the full story by Reuters. Let me know your thoughts

Today marks the unofficial start of summer.  According to stopimpaireddriving.org, the “100 Days of Summer” represent one of the most dangerous and deadliest times of year on the Nation’s highways. One big reason comes from the significant jump in alcohol-related traffic crashes and fatalities.

Increased alcohol use throughout the summer and particularly around major holiday weekends, beginning with Memorial Day, continuing through the 4th of July and ending with Labor Day, has made the “100 Days of Summer” a very grim season for law enforcement, emergency medical staff, highway safety officials, and the friends and families of impaired-driving victims.

According to the site, much of the tragedy that comes from alcohol-related crashes could be prevented if everyone would take a few simple precautions before going out to party in the summer.

Be safe and enjoy the day off with your family.

Here’s a story about a woman who got approved for a life insurance policy and one year later she died of an aggressive form of breast cancer.  The company tried to deny the claim even though she cleared the medical exam. They said she much have been sick before they agreed to insure her. This took place in Mass. and although the company settled, her husband is pushing for a law that would “force an insurer to prove a person misrepresented his well-being or should have known he was not in good health based on active symptoms of a serious change in health in order to deny a claim.”  According to the article, under current standards, the responsibility rests with the insured person to prove he didn’t know he was ill.

Please note…in most states, “good health” is clearly defined in insurance laws but in Mass. the courts have relied on precedent set in cases dating back to 1920 that put the burden on policyholders to demonstrate that they were in good health when the policies were issued.

May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, which is coordinated by our friends at the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) in order to raise awareness among consumers of the need for adequate plans of Disability Insurance.

According to the LIFE Foundation, unless a person is extremely wealthy or virtually penniless, the income the person earns is the heart and soul of his/her livelihood.  It provides the means to buy food, clothes, a home, education, recreation, and hopefully a decent retirement.  But the chances of sustaining a long lasting earned income cash flow is dependent on the consumer staying alive and remaining unencumbered by income interruptions, the major cause of which is getting sick or hurt and being in a state of disability, whether permanent or temporary.

Earned income is most peoples’ only tool.  Even a modest level of income earned week after week, month after month, and year after year is a very formidable weapon to be used against the ravages of destitution.  A person, age 35, who earns $50,000 per year, will have earned over $1,500,000, even if he never gets a raise.  At $100,000, the figure becomes $3,000,000 and at $250,000 the accumulative total is $7,500,000.  Two factors need to be explained.  One:  Americans don’t save money, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.  The saving rate last year was 0.05%.  The other factor is:  due to improvement and inflation most people will increase their income by 5% each year.  The 35 year old who increases income 5% per year over his $250,000 annual income will have produced $16,609,700 by age 65.  A formidable sum!

These glimpses into earnings makes it obvious that adequate income cash flow is indispensable if a life is to be lived without desperation or failure.  The only dependable source of adequate income cash flow is from a well designed Disability Income Insurance Plan.  It’s like having money in a wall safe.

It is instant-you don’t have to save over a lifetime.

It is TAX-FREE.  This is valuable even to wealthy people.

It is always available quickly, and each time one is sick or hurt.  It is not a fund that once used is gone forever such is the case with savings and investment accounts.

Nearly 49 top rated insurance companies offer quality disability insurance in adequate amounts to perform the task.  It is available from over 256,000 licensed, professional insurance agents, brokers, and financial planners.

Defaults on privately insured U.S. mortgages rose 37.2 percent in March, as a growing number of homeowners failed to keep up with loan payments. The Mortgage Insurance Cos of America said on that 58,131 insured borrowers were at least 60 days late on payments in March. That is up from 42,362 a year earlier, but down 4.6 percent from February’s 60,911.

The March figures marked the first time in four straight months defaults had not exceeded 60,000.The number of mortgage holders who are late on payments is key because this is often a precursor to foreclosure.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), 48% of U.S. consumers are insufficiently prepared — in terms of their insurance coverage — to deal with potential losses due to disasters.

The NAIC survey also found that the majority of consumers do not have the coverage necessary to protect themselves from specific types of losses that are not reimbursed under standard policies:

• 69 percent do not have earthquake insurance.
• 65 percent do not have flood insurance.

• 56 percent do not have insurance for a water line break.

• 55 percent do not have insurance for a sewer line break.

The bottomline: check your home owners policy and get the coverage you need…in the event that something should happen, you’ll be glad you did.

According to a study by Metlife, when asked to list their assets, many people are likely to fail to include their ability to earn an income.

• Only 58% of full-time employees say they have disability income insurance protection.  Nearly half of those, 41%, admit they don’t know how much protection they have.
• The majority of working Americans (59%) have taken no steps to determine their households’ needs with regard to disability coverage.
• For single people – who likely have only their own income to rely on – and young families – the majority of whom (59%) admit to living paycheck to paycheck – the loss of steady income can be especially devastating.

It’s something we all take for granted.  The ability to work.  Just think about it.  What would you do if you weren’t able to earn money for ninety days, a year or even longer?  How would you pay for your mortgage, food, cars and other bills?  How long could you and your family survive?

In the event that an individual becomes unable to work because of sickness or injury, disability income insurance can replace a portion of lost income, helping to ensure that day-to-day living expenses are covered and that long-term financial goals can be addressed.