insurance

We've written before about the evolution of coverage for Uber and Lyft drivers, but of course they're not the only ones active in the so-called 'gig-economy.' With social distancing a (hopefully temporary) way of life, more and more folks are turning to services like InstaCart to traverse the various aisles and endcaps, searching for wild game (or cans of soup and maybe a roll of TP or 6). What a lot of folks (myself included!) probably didn't know is that these folks rely on their own transportation to ferry their customer's merch their doorways. One of our regular readers emails us me about the disturbing truth: ' I want to do some work for Instacart. They do not offer a master insurance policy the way Uber does, you have to provide your own coverage. I have two vehicles, one is covered by a commercial policy, the other is under a regular auto policy. For the former, commercial coverage is written to cover one type of work, so I can't operate outsid...

One of the side effects of the forced shut-down is that folks are driving less - a lot less. And this, in turn, has given auto insurers a good reason to refund at least some of our premiums (less driving = fewer accidents). As we've noted previously, some carriers have been pretty good about this: ' Allstate and American Family Insurance have begun discounting car insurance premiums since many drivers aren’t using their cars as much due to stay-at-home policies aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus .' But they're not the only ones and, in fact, some are even better about how they're handling this opportunity. FoIB (and P&C Guru) Bill M tips us to this list of the 10 Best such: ' In general, insurers that represent four out of five auto insurance policies sold in the United States have offered to refund some portion of driver premiums .' Nice! Leading off in the 10 spot is MapFre, a carrier I've only recently heard of (our eldest is insur...

Is it OK to have an HSA plus Medicare? Can I still make contributions once I enroll in Medicare? How about my younger spouse? What else do I need to know? When you enroll in Medicare Part A or B, you can no longer contribute to your Health Savings Account. When your Medicare begins, your account administrator should change your contribution to your HSA to zero. If you have a spouse who also has an HSA, money can be deposited for him or her. A Health Savings Account is a bank account, not insurance. HSA's have a single owner. Joint ownership is not an option. You may continue to withdraw money from your HSA after you enroll in Medicare to help pay for medical expenses, such as deductibles, (some) premiums, copayments, and coinsurances. If you use the account for qualified medical expenses, its funds will continue to be tax-free. If you sign up for Part A after turning 65, Medicare will automatically backdate your Part A effective date by up to 6 months . If you enroll in July, yo...

As we noted the other day, many auto insurance carriers have installed discount/refund programs as a result of the pandemic's stifling effect on driving: ' In general, insurers that represent four out of five auto insurance policies sold in the United States have offered to refund some portion of driver premiums .' But that was just a small sampling. This time, FoIB Bill M tips us to a comprehensive list of many (most?) such programs. For example: ■ Amica: 20% credit on April and May premiums ■ The Hartford: 15% refund on April and May premiums (but only for policies in effect as of April 1) ■ Mercury Insurance: 15% credit on April and May premiums And of course many others. Do click on over to see what your carrier's offering. UPDATE: One carrier that didn't make the list is Western Reserve Group , which has just announced: ' [W]e are adjusting discounts and reducing rates for our personal lines auto policyholders, once we receive regulatory approval which w...

Co-blogger Bob emailed us with this info he learned from a trusted source: ' I was told this today...with an effective date of applications starting tomorrow. I have several folk 65+ who are trying to apply, and I have to say sorry, but I have more expensive options for you to look at. Throughout the rapidly evolving pandemic, Mutual of Omaha has been continuously evaluating our underwriting and new business practices to support business continuity, deliver a consistently high level of service, and maintain our financial strength. As a result,  effective Thursday, April 16, 2020 , we are implementing a  temporary  change. We will not be accepting LTC applications for individuals age 65 and older. All LTC cases not already approved or issued will be postponed and processed as an incomplete application. We will continue to prequalify applicants 64 and younger. The prequalification will be good for 60 days. If the health of the client changes or the prequalific...

No one likes paying too much, especially for insurance. Seems like everyone is constantly shopping for the best rates. Nothing wrong with that. I always tell folks when you pay more you don't get more, you simply paid too much. But it is also possible to pay too little for insurance. When you do, more often than not it comes back to bite you. More often than not consumers would be wise to pay a few dollars more and get a plan without so many 'gotcha's'. PayingTooMuchForInsurance Original content copyright © InsureBlog

One of my small business clients reached out to me for help in his application for the Paycheck Protection Program. One of the requirements was apparently proof that he had been paying his group health insurance premiums. Because he's on auto-withdrawal (EFT) he didn't have cancelled checks, and so was in a quandary. Added to his stress was a looming deadline.... One of my favorite parts of this job is being able to help my clients, and this turned out to be easier than I'd thought: I popped over to the carriers agent portal, signed in, brought up his account, and clicked the 'Billing' tab, which showed a l i st of premiums, when they were due, and when they were paid. I took a screen-shot and emailed it over to my client, who just let me know that the screen-shot worked, and his application is being processed. Is this a big deal? Well, for my client it certainly is, as it may be what ultimately keeps his doors open. And for me, the satisfaction that I was able to h...

One of the more obvious effects of this lockdown situation is that so many of us have become much more active in the kitchen, which is not (necessarily) a bad thing. One suspects that Food Network ratings are currently through the roof. On the other hand, and this is especially true for those who may be newbies (or just inexperienced), the kitchen is also fraught with danger (and I don't just mean an awful omelet). And so the good folks at Cincinnati Insurance offer some helpful safety tips: • A clean cooking environment is critical. Make sure before you start and after you finish that all surfaces are wiped clean and no ignitable food or grease is on the countertop. • The No. 1 cause of kitchen fires is inattention. Fire can spread significantly in a short time. Whether you are cooking, roasting or frying, do not leave food unattended. If you leave the kitchen, turn off the stove. • Do not leave young children unattended near the stove or oven. • Do not throw hot grease into th...

So yeah, we've been spending a lot of time blogging on this issue, but each week, it seems, brings a new facet. For those just tuning in, Business Interruption coverage ' is supposed to help reimburse lost revenue due to a covered, physical loss (such as a fire, or a flood, etc). The issue at hand is whether or not a business forced to close because of the current pandemic is entitled to such reimbursement, since the physical structure remains intact (and distinct from a claim arising from actual contamination) .' There has been a growing chorus calling for the government (whether at the state or national level isn't always quote clear) to force carriers to provide this coverage and begin processing, and paying, BI claims based on mandated closures, but no actual physical loss. One can see the problem here, of course: this coverage was never offered, underwritten, or issued by the carriers, and no premium for it was ever collected by them. In this case, truly free co...

It's been a while since we've discussed Accelerated Benefits Riders (ABRs), which have been pretty much ubiquitous in life insurance policies for quite some time. To recap, these riders ' enable the policyholder to 'access' the face amount as a living benefit .' There are some policy and tax implications, but the general idea is sound, and has proven quite beneficial to, for example, cancer or AIDS patients, as well as others. Which is nice, Henry, but why bring that up now ? Well, because I got an interesting email from a carrier [ full disclosure: I can't recall ever actually writing a case with them, but we do get their emails, so maybe? ] with this very relevant (and helpful!) message: ' An important message from our Medical Director An Accelerated Benefit Rider (ABR) provides the potential to receive a partial or full accelerated life insurance benefit if the Insured contracts the coronavirus [or is diagnosed with COVID-19] and experiences all of ...

Well, Blue Cross/Shield of Louisiana, anyway: BCBS of LA, made a change in the middle of this pandemic that will destroy the small group market. If your business is made up of a husband and wife, your coverage will eventually be terminated. More bad news to the citizens of Louisiana! — HAFA (@TheNolanGroup) April 22, 2020 Now to be fair, most carriers have long since discontinued 'sole proprietor group' plans (which would generally include husband/wife small businesses). Pre-ACA, the only real advantage to these plans versus individual policies were maternity coverage (generally excluded under individual major med plans) and, often, coverage for folks with major health issues. Since ObamaPlans cover maternity and pre-ex, this advantage went away. Recently, Ohio re-introduced MEWA/Association plans , and at least one (that I'm aware of) allows 'one man group' plans (provided it's a legitimate business). But let's get back to Louisiana; I reached out to a co...

Not that this is a big surprise, but: ' The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Congress cheated health insurance companies by reneging on a $12 billion promise made under the Affordable Care Act .' This was never seriously in doubt, as the plain letter of the law mandated that it be so. Much like the constitutional issues surrounding the mandate/penalty/tax fine, there has always been a simple remedy, the courage to undertake it notwithstanding. Even Justice Sonia Sotomayor, hardly a right-wing shill, opined that this was ' a principle as old as the nation itself: The Government should honor its obligations .' Seems pretty clear-cut to me. [Hat Tip: FoIB Holly R] Original content copyright © InsureBlog

As we wend our way through this pandemic, I've become more and more convinced that the true 'winner' will ultimately be telemedicine (in whatever various flavors and forms).  Case in point: Yesterday was to have been my annual (routine) physical, and our family doc had already made arrangements with a Skype-like service which enabled us to carry on a decent conversation (shades of the Jetson's). His office had called last week to remind me to gather my vitals (as best I could) prior to the exam. Ours is an older model, mechanical/spring scale, so I can't really vouch for its accuracy (right!), but our sphygmomanometer and thermometer are both digital, so pretty comfortable with the numbers they produce. And, of course, we've been monitoring our temps throughout this whole mess. The exam went fine, as far as it could; that is, without all the regular 'trimmings,' it was, after all, merely a conversation. Towards the end, the doc reiterated CV-19 sympto...

S hort Term Medical (STM) plans can be a real help for folks waiting on their new group coverage to kick in, or those who prefer a low-cost PPO-based alternative to unsubsidized HMO-only ObamaPlans. Of course they have their own limitations, including application fees (which I hate). Keep in mind also that (for better or worse) these plans are not ACA-compliant, based partly on the fact that there are typically no preventive care benefits. United Healthcare has just announced that, as of May 1st, they're introducing a new line of 'enhanced' STM plans (not available in all areas - yet) with some very cool features, including: ' [P]reventive care coverage on all plans, no limit on urgent care visits with a copay, and no application fees ' Sweet! Original content copyright © InsureBlog

Our friends at FlexBank (now FlexBank/Navia) have posted a very informative FAQ-type explication of the differences between furloughs and layoffs, and what those differences may mean towards your (and/or your employees') health insurance. For instance: ' Furloughs are meant to be temporary periods of leave for a defined and finite period. With furloughs, your employees will remain as employed during their time away. Unlike a furlough, layoffs are permanent with no expectation for the employee to return .' Okay, good to know, but what does that have to do with my benefits? Well: ' With a furlough, employees remain with the company and generally stay on any benefit programs they were already enrolled in. With a situation like the coronavirus pandemic, the furlough timeframe is largely unknown. This makes it very difficult for companies to predict how long they can afford to offer benefits to individuals that have been furloughed .' Okay, that makes sense. There are ...

That is, May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, and of course it's quite timely this year. As the Council on Disability Awareness informs us: ' Two months ago, few Americans understood the impact this novel coronavirus and COVID-19 would have on our business and personal lives. The good news is that after about six weeks of operating with new precautions governing many of our daily activities, we know more about this virus as well as how people are responding to and behaving during a pandemic .' There are still plenty of good, strong carriers and plan choices available, and we've seen no increase in rates as a result of the pandemic (yet). Another thing that the CDA notes is this: ' Peter Sandman , a well-respected risk communication consultant, developed a framework for how to discuss risk. He coined an equation long ago that summarizes how people assess risk: Risk = Hazard + Outrage ' Where Hazard is how much harm the risk is likely to cause, and Outrag...

A few weeks ago, we posted on efforts being made by various insurance carriers to ease the premium burden during the pandemic: ' Amica: 20% credit on April and May premiums The Hartford: 15% refund on April and May premiums (but only for policies in effect as of April 1) ' And others. But FoIB Bill M alerts us to a unique effort being made by Erie Insurance to help promote local businesses, and particularly restaurants, during the lockdown: ' Want to buy a restaurant or store gift card but fear being stuck if the business never reopens after the coronavirus pandemic?In a generous move in these uncertain times, Erie Insurance will add gift card and gift certificate reimbursement coverage to its 2.2 million homeowners’ policies at no cost .' Well first, who doesn't like free? And  more important, what a generous and useful gesture: the plan covers up to $500 in gift cards - that's a lot of take-out (and coffee, and knick-knacks). Nice job, Erie! Original conte...

From our good friends at FlexBank/Navia , two new items: First up, ' Claims Run-out Deadline Extended for COVID-19 FSAs & HRAs .' At the end of last month, The Feds (Departments of Labor, Revenue, and Treasury) issued guidelines relaxing the benefit extensions for ' certain group health plans ' during this meshugas . These include disregarding the 'Outbreak Period,' that is, The Feds 'r ecognized that participants may find it difficult to comply with certain pre-established timeframes .' Paging Captain Obvious. To that end, the ' date within which participants must file a claim under your tax-free FSA or HRA plan's claims procedures has been extended to 60 days after the end of the Outbreak Period. ' Note that folks still have to incur eligible expanses in order to be reimbursed, just that there's now some flexibility in the timing of those reimbursements. Click here for more details on that. Next up, ' COBRA Timeframe Extension...

Via email from FoIB Sean K : ' DC City Council Withdraws Business Interruption Coverage Proposal ' Okay, interesting, but so what? Oh: ' I wanted to flag today’s District of Columbia’s City Council proceedings, where they withdrew draft legislative language that would have forced insurers to pay pandemic-related claims .' Heh. So let's unpack this, shall we? First - and really, the only thing that matters - is under what sense of delusion did a city council decide it could arrogate unto itself the power to force insurance companies to cover anything ? Regardless of its status as our nation's capital, DC is, after all, a city: not a county or state or country. What I find even more amazing (and arrogant) are quotes from some council members which completely miss this point. For example: ' As an attorney, I feel we are stepping into uncharted territory in a way that I would not advise us to do. I don’t see why we would insert ourselves in this situation when...

Since May is DIAM ( Disability Insurance Awareness Month ), it seems like a good idea to post about a case I'm currently working on. This happens to be a young lady who drives a food service delivery truck (like the ones that supply Speedways or 7-11's, for example). She's in her mid-40's and makes a decent wage, but has no employer-sponsored disability insurance, so she reached out to me to see if we could help. Individual Disability Insurance (DI) plans are one of the two most complicated insurance products in our portfolio (the other being its cousin, Long Term Care insurance). Plans and pricing are based on a number of factors: age and sex, tobacco use (she smokes), occupation and salary, and a few others. The occupation part can limit what plans and options are available. In this case, her Occupation Class is 1A, so she's eligible for a maximum benefit period of 2 years (which is far better than the 0 years she currently has). One other factor is the Eliminat...

Insurance agents must take a set number of Continuing Education courses, generally over a multi-year period. Mostly this is in-person, but web-based learning has really taken off the past few years. I've so far resisted, because I enjoy the interaction and personal touch. My hands down favorite instructor (and this includes myself, as well) is Becky E , who runs a local remediation company. This may sound counter-intuitive, since I'm a life/health guy, but I really enjoy learning about other sides of the business, and Becky is such a natural-born and enthusiastic teacher. I had been signed up for a couple of her classes this Spring, but the Wuhan Flu caused her to re-imagine them as Zoom meetings. As a rule, I don't Zoom, but this sounded like an interesting experience, so I signed up for her ID Theft course, which I took last week. The content, as usual, was terrific (I always learn something new in her classes), and she did a great job of teaching it (of course). But jus...

In the  comments on a recent Disability Insurance Awareness Month post, FoIB Bernie Flatters made a most cromulent point: ' I have looked at disability insurance and it 'feels' very expensive compared to the value. I wish I could get over this. When I think of the benefits of this type of insurance, I think about not being able to work and having to stay home for days, weeks, months while I recuperate .' And indeed, DI poses quite the conundrum: on the one hand, unlike life insurance, there's no guarantee that one will ever actually become disabled. And, as we pointed out the other day, these plans ' are one of the two most complicated insurance products in our portfolio .' So here's how I often help folks get over that hump, and I'll use Monday's example to illustrate: To review, we have a delivery truck driver in good health (other than tobacco use, which impacts her rate substantially). The plan we quoted would provide $3,400 a month (or just...

Welcome to the world of COVID-19 where up is down and right is wrong. A world where tattoo's are essential but elective medical and dental procedures are not. And restaurants are allowed to serve food but only for take-out. Your prepaid meal is in a plastic bag delivered by a person in a mask and gloves who places it in your trunk. No checking until you get home where your hamburger and fries miraculously transformed into a fish sandwich with onion rings. My wife and I do not eat out that often. That choice preceded COVID-19. But one of our favorite restaurants was always a choice for romantic dining on special occasions. That was then. This is now. Restaurant patrons are not allowed to enter until they have been scanned to see if they have a temperature.  At this point they are using an infrared scanner vs the more reliable rectal probe. As long as they are above room temp but below 100.4 they are allowed to advance to the next station.  Hand sanitizing is in order, but no fo...

According to The Gray Lady, about a third of all CV-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes: ' While just 11 percent of the country’s cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, deaths related to Covid-19 in these facilities account for more than a third of the country’s pandemic fatalities .' This makes sense, of course; these are pretty much the most vulnerable among us, kept in a relatively small,confined environment. Heck, even now, politicos know enough to move their own parents out of these places: ' Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine’s mother moved out of a personal care home with the health secretary’s help, after Levine ordered all nursing homes and long-term facilities in the state to accept coronavirus patients from hospitals .' Some AreMoreEqualThanOthers, one supposes .   So what does this have to do with Long Term Care insurance? Well as FoIB (and LTCi Guru) Randy G explains, the impact of this is enormous: Knowing that most (all?) nursi...

Regular readers will recall that most health insurance stops at the border, which is why so many folks opt to purchase travel medical plans: ' Travel Medical policies are for folks traveling outside the US ... So for cruises or trips to Europe, or that Cancun get-away, savvy folks purchase plans to help with any medical issues (usually emergencies) which may arise .' Which is a great idea. But what happens when you're in, say, Barcelona when the Wuhan Flu Pandemic hits, and now you're stuck there [ TBF: lots worse places to be ]? Well, our friend Peter S at Global Underwriters told me recently that, even though they aren't selling many new plans to folks choosing to travel right now, they're seeing a big upsurge in folks re-upping their coverage since they can't get back home. And this works both ways: US nationals stuck overseas, and foreign nationals stuck here. So now you know.... Original content copyright © InsureBlog

From our friends at OneAmerica Life (one of our go-to Long Term Care insurance vendors): ' Grace period extended through July 1 for premium payments ' Nice! But wait, there's more: ' We understand that some policyowners may currently be struggling to pay their premiums on time. To meet this immediate need, OneAmerica has again automatically extended the grace period on all individual life insurance coverage through July 1, 2020. ' They also address somne other issues that we've also been wondering about: ' If after July 1, the policyowner’s resident state has not lifted the extended grace period, OneAmerica will consider the extended grace period on a state-by-state basis by policyowner’s resident state .' This is important, since we as individuals really don't have much (any?) say in that decision. As with the auto insurance carriers and their various discount programs, I expect other long term care (and life insurance) carriers to do the same. W...

Our friend Bernie Flatters has some follow up questions: ' How old is the delivery driver? And what is the chance that she will qualify for SSI? Will her insurance benefits be reduced by SSI benefits? Maybe there should be an insurance product that covers day one until SSI benefits kick in. And maybe it pays for a high power attorney to argue her case .' In the example in that initial post, we posited a 40 year old applicant. The real life example we used in a subsequent post is actually a bit older (not that it's really all that relevant). I presume that the dearth of zero-day elimination period individual DI plans is cost; that is, carriers can make the numbers work on short term group plans because of the much shorter benefit period (6 months) and lower benefit limits (usually capped at 60%, versus 65% or even 70% for individuals). . Guessing t hat the 'high power attorney' suggestion was a throwaway line. So, not a lot there, but his Social Security Sec...

So, auto insurance companies, recognizing that the shutdown has significantly impacted the number of miles we're driving, have introduced various discount/rebate programs (since we're apparently having fewer accidents, etc): ' In general, insurers that represent four out of five auto insurance policies sold in the United States have offered to refund some portion of driver premiums .' Which is nice, but for many (most?) of us, our auto insurance premiums pale in comparison to what we pay for health insurance. And since we're seeing the doctor less (and he or she's getting paid less ), the question arises: I’ve gotten $100 back from my auto insurance company because of the decrease in traffic. With health care utilization down as much as 70%, where’s my check from my health insurance company? — Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) May 20, 2020 This is a fair question, and I've been thinking about it, as well. My initial thought was that it was a matter of logis...

For some time now, ObamaPlans available here in The Buckeye State (and, it seems, pretty much everywhere else) have been built on the HMO chassis: ' One way carriers have found to reduce their costs has been to offer ever-shrinking networks ' And with HMO's if you're out-of-network, you're also out-of-luck. So recently, one of my ACA clients reached out to me with a problem: ' I've got several acute medical issues, and no nearby providers who can help me. For example, I've got some increasingly problematic thyroid issues, and the only nearby endocrinologist only sees diabetes patients. Plus, my Primary Care doc isn't even in-network. Help?!' We spoke for quite some time, and agreed that there weren't a lot of options, but that I'd reach out to our carrier rep (I'm anonymizing the carrier here since they've done nothing wrong, this is purely to illustrate the frustration of this model, which the ACA basically drives). To his credi...