Insurance Insights

Short-Term health insurance fills a very specific need for individuals who might find themselves in one of the situations it was created for.

The Basics

Short-Term health insurance is just what it sounds like, insurance coverage for a very specific, or “short” amount of time. This of course, is different from the traditional, open ended, coverage provided by standard insurance policies, which stays in force until the insured cancels or stops paying the premium.

Generally a Short-Term policy can be purchased for up-to six months at a time and features a much quicker application and underwriting process. While a traditional insurance plan requires extensive medical information and can take as long as two to three weeks to be approved. Short-Term insurance requires the completion of four or five medical questions and can be processed within 24 hours.

The Benefits

Short-Term insurance is never going to be confused with a “top of the line” insurance plan. Its coverage will vary from company to company and generally feature a wide range of deductibles, however it will most likely have reduced coverage compared to standard plans. The biggest omission is the exclusion of all pre-existing conditions. That means anything you have been previously treated for will not be covered by a short-term policy.

The Need

Chances are you might never run-in to a situation that would require, or make sense for you to purchase short-term health insurance. However there are a handful of areas where this type of coverage can be a life saver.

The first and most common need is for someone who is between jobs. While stints of unemployment seem endless these days, short-term coverage is flexible enough to handle even the most extended hiatuses from the workplace.

This type of coverage is also great for recent graduates who might have a short period of time to fill until they can jump on their new employers health plan.

Lastly, short-term coverage can also come in handy for someone who has been declined for a standard health insurance plan. Because the policy has a very general application process and time of coverage is only guaranteed for a set amount of time, this allows someone with moderate health issues to get coverage.

The Cost

Of course, probably the most important benefit of all is that short-term health insurance is going to be much easier on the wallet. Because of the limited benefits we discussed earlier and the specified duration of coverage, monthly premiums are only going to be a fraction of the cost of standard insurance plans.

Again, chances are most people might never find the need for such a policy. However if you do find yourself in a situation where short-term coverage makes sense, it is a very affordable way to provide you with the protection you need.  Read More...

By Joey Giangola 

I have lost count of how many times I have talked to middle aged married couples that say, “We are getting to that age where we probably should have life insurance."

The truth of the matter is, they needed that life insurance 20 years ago. Now that doesn’t mean there is not a need for life insurance in a middle age couples plans. The purpose of life insurance is to protect the financial well-being of your spouse and children in the event you are no longer around to do so.

However, a young, newly married couple starting their lives together is probably in a much more vulnerable position financially (Mortgage, Children, Car or Student Loans) then that empty-nest middle aged couple who has already raised their children and paid off most of their debts.   

Stop for a moment. Think about all the outstanding financial commitments you currently have. Now, do some quick math. What is your number? If it’s even a little bit scary, and there is someone or multiple someone’s in your life that could find themselves responsible for your number, life insurance should have just made its way to the top of your priorities list.

I’m sorry for continuing to fuel your anxiety attack, but here are a couple of questions to consider. Do you have children? If so, how much do you spend on them a year? What about college? How much is your spouses annual income? Will he or she still be able to work those hours and take care of your family if you are no longer around to help out? Can your spouse afford to keep your family in the home you built together? Alright, I think you get my point. I will stop the train of despair there for now. However, as you can see, the scope of your absence is much wider then you probably ever imagined.

This is not an exercises in how to inflict panic via blogging. It is simply an important step in realizing how to appropriately protect your family. If you want some good news after all that, life insurance is almost always cheaper the earlier you buy it. Also, keep in mind that if you ever run into a serious or semi serious health problem you may not be able purchase life insurance after that. If you can, it will be much more expensive. I know, this was suppose to be the good news section.

Bottom line: Will the need still exist for life insurance when you become that middle aged married couple? Sure. It just probably won’t be as great.  

Life insurance will never replace your spouse or the role they fill in your life, but it will make a lot of things a lot easier if the worst were to happen. 

Joey Giangola is an independent insurance agent for Giangola Insurance Agency and specializes in individual health insurance and term life insurance. You can email him at joey@giangolainsurance.com, or follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to receive the latest insurance news and tips. Read More...

By Joey Giangola

A growing trend among small business owners is to ditch their bloated and expensive group health insurance plan in favor of individual health policy’s for their employees.

Individual health plans in the workplace can deliver two major benefits upfront. One, it will give each employee a much wider range of plans to select from, instead of the one or two options a traditional group plan might offer. And two, it will allow you, the small business owner, an opportunity to save 30-50 percent on your health insurance costs.

This option also presents an opportunity for businesses that currently do not offer health insurance the ability to do so at little or no cost to the employer. Since there are no contribution requirements with individual health insurance an employer can pay as much or as little as they desire for their employees health insurance.

 Read More...

 By Joey Giangola

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has rolled out their highly innovative online tool called Anthem Care Comparison that will finally give people the valuable information needed to make informed, cost conscience decisions about how they spend their health care dollars. 

This new technology will allow Anthem members the opportunity to compare the price and quality of near by medical faculties for certain diagnostic testing such as MRI’s and CT scans.  

Anyone who has had a doctor order a diagnostic test generally allows him or her to do so at whatever facility they desire, with little or no questioning.  However, people are not aware of the fact that the cost associated with such testing can vary greatly, hundreds even thousands of dollars from facility to facility ,often times with no drop off in quality.

What Anthem is attempting to do is give its members more power by providing this knowledge. People who have opted for a higher deductible plan know the importance of shopping their medical costs. If they are faced with a $5,000 deductible and require a CT scan that can be done for $1,500 instead of $3,000, with the same quality of care, that is money they will gladly put in their pocket.

This is the first major effort to get serious about trying to control our out of control medical costs. The entire system, (doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and the America people) has taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to the cost of their health care for a bit to long. A method that is fine and dandy as long as someone else is picking up the bill. With medical inflation raising more and more each year, this is an issue that can no longer be ignored. 

Joey Giangola is an independent insurance agent for Giangola Insurance Agency and specializes in individual health insurance. You can email him at joey@giangolainsurance.com, or follow him on twitter and Google+. Read More...

By Joey Giangola

Most people have never had to deal with the sometimes frustrating, and almost always confusing process of selecting an individual health insurance plan. For those that have, or are about to, you only need to be able to answer two questions to adequately identify coverage that is right for you. Read More...

By Joey Giangola

Let’s first start by removing the 15-ton elephant from the room as quickly as possible. There isn’t a single person in the country who wants to deny children access to quality medical treatment.  If for some reason there are a few radical extremist groups who think otherwise, then we might need to bring Jack Bauer out of retirement for one last go around. Read More...

By Joe Giangola

One of the most misunderstood areas of Healthcare Reform has been the mandating of coverage and the associated penalties for employers.  There is a lot of confusion as to who the mandates will apply to, when they will begin and who must be covered.  Fortunately the mandates do not begin until 2014, which should give employers ample time to prepare. Read More...

By Joe Giangola

One of the first provisions of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to take effect is the extension of coverage to dependents up to the age of 26. This provision will allow children to remain on their parents plan in hopes to cut down on one of the biggest segment of the uninsured - young adults.

The law will effect group plans as well as individual policies on the next plan anniversary after 9/23/10.  Dependents are NOT required to live with their parents and do NOT have to qualify as dependent on their parents income taxes.  The student requirement has also been eliminated.  You can cover your child whether they are married or single but that coverage does NOT extend to your child's spouse or children. Read More...

By Joe Giangola

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, this legislation will make significant changes to our current health care system Read More...

By Joey Giangola

We’ve all experienced it – you walk into the doctor’s office for an appointment and the receptionist kindly greets you by asking for your insurance information. After you’ve presented the proper credentials, the receptionist informs you the amount of your copayment (if any) that is due at the time of service. Since you have planned for such a request, you handover your preferred method of payment and take a seat in the waiting room. As you sit there, flipping through a six month old issue of Golf Digest, you can’t help but think you have made out on the deal. “A modest fixed fee to see the doctor whenever I want” you think to yourself. That has to be the best deal going, right?  Read More...