Life Insurance Calculator

Today, there are some larger corporations that offer group health insurance to employers.  Typically, the coverage is great and often, the company will absorb a portion of the cost.  However, if you are self-employed or run a small organization, then you might need to consider individual coverage.  In this case, the price would be much higher and the coverage may not be as good as group coverage but you would have some level of coverage in time of sickness or injury.

Another option associated with health insurance is called private health insurance, which does not necessarily pay medical bills.  However, if you were to be off work because of illness or injury, this type of health insurance would pay you money.  Then, with long-term care, you need to know that this is not a portion of your regular insurance policy. Instead, long-term care is an additional policy typically offered by an employer in which you pay additional money.  If you were to become ill or injured, after a specified amount of time, the policy would kick into gear, paying you an income.

Most often, people living in the United States get their health insurance coverage through an employer or by being married to someone who works for a company that offers dependent and/or family coverage.  Typically, insurance of this type includes some basic things to include:

• Pre-Existing Health Concerns – Generally, health insurance through an employer would cover pre-existing medical conditions although the individual would be required to go through a waiting period prior to being active on the policy.  The time varies but usually, it is one to three months.
• Guarantee – Another aspect of group coverage is that employees are covered, guaranteed.
• Renewal – With this health insurance, if you were to become ill or injured while working and covered, the policy would not be cancelled.
• Limitations – Pertaining to pre-existing conditions, there are some policies that will have exclusions.  However, by law, you can only be excluded from health coverage for 12 to 18 months, which would vary depending on the condition.
• COBRA – After leaving a company, you have to be offered COBRA insurance.  This type of continuation health insurance is designed to keep you covered until such time you secure other employment with insurance or choose an individual policy.  COBRA can be paid between 18 and 36 months and while it does provide good coverage, it is also very expensive.

In some cases, larger companies will offer employees with a list of choices.  For example, there are some Fortune 500 companies that have four or more unique policies from which an employee can choose.  The benefit here is that employees buy the policy they need.  Someone who is single without children would not have to pay for a family plan that they simply do not need.  Although the economy has affected even this, multiple choice policies do exist.

The thing to remember is that by law, the Federal government works hard to make sure you have some type of coverage not only while working, but even after employment and/or coverage has been terminated.  If you need to look at various individual policies, you definitely want to take time to shop around.  With this, you can see all the different types of coverage, personalizing exactly what you need.  This will also help you choose a policy that is not out of your budget.

Sadly, there are too many people in this country that have no coverage at all.  With the problem being at epidemic proportions, the government is working hard to come up with some type of health insurance strategy.  However, the outcome will depend on the next President elected into office, based on his or her outlook and goal.  The good news is because health insurance is such a hot topic, you are fortunate in knowing that even if you do not have coverage through an employer, there are alternatives, keeping you safe and protected in time of need.