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...
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...
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...
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