The staff at Twin Lakes Insurance Agency will make sure that you find an affordable and reliable policy that’s just right for you and your family. With locations in Lee’s Summit and Osceola, MO, we serve customers across the Kansas City Metro Area. Our company is dedicated to helping locals truly understand their health insurance. Kansas City residents have trusted us for years, and we’re ready to help you, too.
What kinds of health insurance are there?
There are essentially two kinds of health insurance: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care. Although these plans differ, they both cover an array of medical, surgical and hospital expenses. Most cover prescription drugs, and some also offer dental coverage.
1. Fee-for-Service
These plans generally assume that the medical professional will be paid a fee for each service provided to the patient. Patients are seen by a doctor of their choice, and the claim is filed by either the medical provider or the patient.
2. Managed Care
More than half of all Americans have some kind of managed-care plan. Various plans work differently and can include: health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point-of-service (POS) plans. These plans provide comprehensive health services to their members and offer financial incentives to patients who use the providers in the plan.
What is 'long-term care'?
Because of old age, injury, or mental or physical illness, some people find that they need assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, continence and transferring (e.g., getting out of a chair or out of bed). These six actions are called Activities of Daily Living–sometimes referred to as ADLs. In general, if you are unable to perform two or more of these activities, or if you have a cognitive impairment, you are determined to need “long-term care.”
Long-term care is not always the best name for this type of situation because, for one thing, it might not last for a long time. Some people who need ADL services might need them only for a few months or less.
Many people think that long-term care is provided exclusively in a nursing home. It can be, but it can also be provided in an adult day care center, an assisted living facility, or at home.
Assistance with ADLs, called “custodial care,” may be provided in the same place as (and therefore is sometimes confused with) “skilled care.” Skilled care indicates medical, nursing or rehabilitative services, including help taking medicine, undergoing testing (e.g. blood pressure) and other similar services. This distinction is important because Medicare and most private health insurance policies generally pay only for skilled care–not custodial care.
What are the types of disability insurance?
There are two types of disability policies: Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD):
1. Short-Term Disability policies (STD) have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no longer than two years.
2. Long-Term Disability policies (LTD) have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.
Disability policies have two different protection features that are important to understand.
1. Non-cancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.
2. Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.
In addition to the traditional disability policies, there are several options you should consider when purchasing a policy:
Additional purchase options
Your insurance company gives you the right to buy additional insurance at a later time for an additional cost.
Coordination of benefits
The amount of benefits you receive from your health insurance company is dependent on other benefits you receive because of your disability. Your policy specifies a target amount you will receive from all the policies combined, so this policy will make up the difference not paid by other policies.
Cost of living adjustment (COLA)
The COLA increases your disability benefits over time based on the increased cost of living measured by the Consumer Price Index. You will pay a higher premium if you select the COLA.
Residual or partial disability rider
This provision allows you to return to work part time, collect part of your salary and receive a partial disability payment if you are still partially disabled.
Return of premium
This provision requires the insurance company to refund part of your premium if no claims are made for a specific period of time stipulated in the policy.
Waiver of premium provision
This clause means that you do not have to pay premiums on the policy after you’ve been disabled for 90 days.
For more information on health insurance, Kansas City residents can contact our office. A knowledgeable representative will be happy to address your concerns.