Solutions for Your Security

 

We were so pleased recently to have helped a widow client save $1231 per year on her Medicare Supplement Plan F.  I hope the savings goes a long way this year toward paying her bills and making the purchases she needs.  Since this Plan F is exactly the same coverage as her old Plan F, she has kept exactly the same benefits as she had before and now has an even more financially strong company with excellent claims handling.  She is by no means an isolated case, although her large savings was higher than we normally save our clients.  We'd be glad to help you or your mom or dad too.

The flooding in northeast Nebraska has been record-breaking.  Our hearts go out to those who have lost property and have had their lives disrupted.  These floods highlight the need for flood insurance.  Homeowner's insurance does not cover flooding.  Even water seeping into your basement because of heavy rains is considered flooding and is excluded from coverage in a homeowner's policy.  Flood Insurance covers losses like this and can be obtained through the National Flood Insurance Program.  It is important to know that there is a 30-day waiting period for flood insurance.  So property owners should not let an imminent flooding force a decision to obtain flood insurance. 

I am a firm believer in saving memories of my wife and children's lives with pictures and video.  Last Christmas, my old Canon camcorder made it clear that it was not long for this world.  Around March I missed filming my eight year old's newly toothless smile and decided it was time to purchase a new camera.  I was in for a surprise.  Understand that I think of myself as being rather tech-savvy.  Well not regarding camcorders, I guess.  Does one buy the the dvd, mini-dv, hard drive, flash-drive, or some sort of combo model? 

 

Where was my Canon Hi8 model?  Hi8 mini tape models were the newest thing when I purchased my Canon around 1999.  Wasn't that just yesterday?  Not only do they not make Hi8 camcorders anymore, it's very hard to find anything that will even replay Hi8 video tapes.  A good used Hi8 camcorder on EBay costs more than I paid for my Canon when it was new.  Seventeen years of memories, and if my camcorder dies completely I can't even find anything affordable to play my old tapes!  Special urgency hit me when I read that Hi8 tapes can deteriorate over time, and when I viewed the video of my oldest daughter's first months and found that it was already seriously degraded, missing large gaps of precious moments.  I have around 50 old Hi8 tapes.

 

I decided to buy a new flash-memory camera (Sony HDR-CX150--awesome camera) and also found a way to very inexpensively capture my old footage onto my computer.  Yay!  Wait.  A new problem arose.  Four hours of new high-def video takes 16 GB of storage on my computer, and each tape of old footage takes 2 GB (digital video is why we've graduated from Giga- to Terra-bytes).  I only have 10 GB left on my hard drive.  My solution--I bought a big external hard drive for home, and in case something happens to that one, I bought one for work (to keep the video in two locations).  Plus I back up with an online service.  That may sound like overkill, but then these videos are very important to me.  I love my wife and 5 kids.  I can hold my old video tapes in my hand, but all these new videos will reside in some invisible ether-space in bits and bytes.  One hard drive backup just wasn't safe enough.  One hard drive failure could wipe out everything.  That made me nervous.  So I have backups for my backups.

 

Not properly planning for backup contingencies can mean lost memories.  A backup is even more critical for when life doesn't go as we thought it would.   Failing to have a backup plan for life's curveballs can be catastrophic.  Too many people carry low limits on their automobile insurance (risking law suits for at-fault injuries).  Too many people fail to carry enough life or disability insurance (risking surviving loved-ones' in future poverty).  Too many people fail to carry any kind of health insurance (risking medical bankruptcy).

 

It has been a nostalgic joy viewing all these old videos of my family.  Have I provided an adequate backup plan for loved ones?  Have you?

 

Below is a link to video with a good question-and-answer article written below it.  It does a good job in answering important questions about the new healthcare law, and how it will affect you.

The National Association of Insurance Commisioners (NAIC) and state departments of insurance have revised the offerings available from Medicare Supplement insurance companies for plans sold effective June 1, 2010 and later.  Plans E, H, I, and J will not be offered for new business after that date.  However, insureds who have plan E, H, I, or J can keep their plan without any change in benefits for as long as they pay their premiums.  New plans will be available from some companies, Plans M and N.  Plans M and N will have higher out-of-pocket costs, but hopefully lower premiums.  Plan F will replace Plan J as the most comprehensive coverage after June 1, 2010.   Medicare Supplement plans will no longer be referred to as "Standardized" (even though they will still BE standardized).  They will be referred to instead as the "Modernized" plans.

 

The reasoning given for eliminating these plans is that the At-home Recovery Benefit is "outdated" and the Preventive Care benefit is "underutilized".  Perhaps they were also trying to streamline and simplfy the offerings.  They also found it important to include a very small hospice copay benefit and two additional lower benefit plans.  I am not sure that these completely justify changing the standard offerings that people have been used to since 1992, but I'm sure the commissions had other good reasons as well. 

 

One of the Medicare Supplement insurance companies we represent offers a guarantee for those clients that choose their Plan J now, but want an option to change later (I cannot name the company here for marketing agreement reasons).  This company is rated A+ with A.M.Best.  Insureds with Plan J will be able to switch to any of the company's other supplement offerings on a guaranteed issue basis (meaning they won't be made to answer any qualifying health or medication questions first).  This may be helpful for clients when the Plan J premiums increase in the future (they all do).  Insureds could switch to a lower-cost plan one time from Plan J.  The company's Modernized Plan F rates are already out and are attractive.  I anticipate this company's plan J to stay fairly low for awhile, and the Modernized F rates relatively low for even longer.  This gives an insured a longer time to keep their rates manageable.  Please call if you are interested in applying for Plan J.  There is not much time left before this option is gone (and I CAN tell you the company over the phone!).

 

Thanks for listening.....Eric