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HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR
INSURANCE PROGRAM?
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This checklist can help diagnose coverage gaps.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (January 20, 2003) –– Just as you need a routine physical
check-up every year, so does your insurance coverage. An annual review can help determine if your
insurance protection is meeting your changing needs—if it’s in good shape or ailing. Here are some
questions that can help you evaluate the health of your insurance program.
1. Are you prepared to pay medical expenses that insurance doesn’t cover, such as deductibles
and coinsurance payments?
Yes No
2. How about related expenses, such as travel, lost wages, special food and clothing, transportation
to treatment centers or childcare in the case of an illness or a disability?
Yes No
3. Have you set aside the financial resources that your family needs to maintain their standard
of living after you die?
Yes No
4. Could your family easily handle financial commitments that would continue if
you (or your spouse) died, such as mortgages, car payments, tuition, monthly expenses?
Yes No
5. Will your insurance coverage go with you into your retirement years to cover medical bills,
long-term care and ongoing expenses?
Yes No
6. Do you feel confident that your employer’s major medical plan or other benefits would adequately
cover expenses from certain health situations that you or your family may experience, such as
cancer or other critical illnesses?
Yes No
7. Can you keep your current coverage if you change jobs or retire?
Yes No
8. Could your family offset the financial losses that may result if you (or your spouse) lost
your income for a period of time as a result of a disability?
Yes No
9. Does your medical coverage pay for regular health screenings such as PAP smears and prostate
exams?
Yes No
10. If you or a covered family member were injured in an accident or needed extensive hospital
treatment, could you afford the out-of-pocket expenses associated with treatment?
Yes No
SCORE
- 10 Yes answers: Your insurance coverage is in great shape!
- 6 to 9 Yes answers: Your insurance coverage could be ailing.
- Fewer than 6 Yes answers: Your insurance coverage may need major medical treatment.
Prescription for Good Insurance Health—Supplemental Insurance Products
If your insurance coverage is ailing, supplemental insurance can be good medicine for getting it
healthy. Supplemental means the insurance is offered in addition to an employer’s core benefits.
This type of voluntary insurance is typically a cost-effective way for employers to expand their
benefits package and offer employees choices at no direct cost to the company. With supplemental
insurance in addition to your employer’s core benefits, you can design a benefits program to fit
your unique needs.
Here’s an example of how it works. Let’s say Anna’s employer pays for life insurance in the
amount of one times her salary. However, Anna needs additional life insurance protection for her
husband and two children. With supplemental life insurance, she can get this valuable coverage and
pay for it through payroll deduction.
Think about it. Each of us has our own unique coverage needs. Single parents might be interested
in products that protect their children in case they are unable to work or face a serious disease.
Families in which both parents work may need protection against the
financial difficulties that may
arise if one parent is hospitalized, such as additional expenses for child care, transportation,
meals, even laundry services.
The best benefits programs to meet these diverse needs are those that offer many different types
of coverages for employees to choose from. But with double-digit health care cost increases each
year, many employers have been forced to cut back on the benefits they offer. A good solution is
to offer supplemental insurance and let employees choose the coverages they want and pay for them
through convenient payroll deduction. If your benefits program at work could use more choices, ask
your employer to consider offering supplemental insurance.
How Is Supplemental Insurance a Cure?
Just as there is more than one way to treat an illness, supplemental insurance offers more than
one way to get your insurance coverage back in shape. Why? Because it addresses various coverage
needs. With products from a good supplemental insurance provider offered at your worksite, you
can choose from a broad portfolio of voluntary products and create your own benefits plan. Here
are some of the typical types of coverages available:
- Disability insurance. Helps protect your most valuable asset: your income. This insurance
provides income to help offset the financial losses that may result when you or your spouse are
disabled.
- Life insurance. A valuable benefit that helps protect your family if you or your spouse
died. Some employers provide life insurance coverage, but depending on your situation, you may want
to purchase additional coverage. Available supplemental products include term, whole or universal
life.
- Accident insurance. Helps protect against significant out-of-pocket expenses not covered
by traditional medical insurance if you or a family member suffers an accidental injury.
- Hospital confinement insurance. Can help fill the gaps in major medical coverage and
help pay expenses related to a hospital stay.
- Cancer and critical illness insurance. Designed to supplement major medical coverage to
assist with the high cost of cancer and critical illness treatment. Some policies include annual
health screening or wellness benefits to help detect cancer and other illnesses earlier when they’re
more easily treated.
The Positive Side-Effects
In addition to choice and affordability, supplemental insurance offers many advantages:
- Flexibility in using claims payments. You can use claims payments any way you wish: helping
the family pay for transportation to the hospital, family member lodging and child care during a
family member’s treatment, or paying for deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance and other non-covered
costs associated with hospitalization or outpatient surgery. With medical costs rising every year,
assistance from supplemental policies can keep you from suffering the financial difficulties of an
unexpected accident or illness.
- Portability. If you leave your job, in most cases you can take your supplemental insurance
products with you. The policies are individual rather than group; therefore, you can keep coverage
when you change jobs or retire, as long as you keep paying the premiums. (An exception might be a
disability policy, which is designed to provide income protection during normal working years, such
as ages 18-65.)
- Intact coverage. The provisions of a supplemental policy generally don’t change when you
leave your job, whether the move is made voluntarily or not. As a policyholder, you have the same
protection and coverage whether employed or not.
- No “starting over.” Sometimes when you start a new job, you have to start your life
insurance over, which usually costs more because you’re a little older.
- Continued convenience. Paying premiums for supplemental benefits through payroll
deduction is very convenient. There are no checks to write and no premium payment deadlines to
remember. If you leave your job, you can usually continue that convenience simply by changing the
payment method to automatic bank draft.
Regular Check-ups Can Keep Your Insurance Program Healthy
An annual review of your insurance coverage is the right medicine for identifying coverage areas
that need special treatment. If you find gaps in coverage, keep in mind that a dose of supplemental
insurance could be just what the doctor ordered to help keep your insurance coverage in great shape.
Colonial Supplemental Insurance is the marketing brand of Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company. Colonial is a market leader in benefits communication, enrollment and customer service while providing supplemental insurance to employees and their families at the worksite. A subsidiary of UnumProvident Corporation, Colonial is based in Columbia, S.C. and operates in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Colonial underwrites a broad line of insurance coverages, including personal accident and sickness, disability, life, cancer and critical illness insurance policies. Similar products, if approved, are underwritten in New York by a Colonial affiliate, The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company. For more information about Colonial’s products and services or opportunities with the company, call (803) 798-7000 or visit www.coloniallife.com.
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