| Benefits Of Supplemental Insurance Essay, Research Paper
Benefits of Supplemental Insurance
What is supplemental insurance? Is supplemental insurance
really necessary? Are there different types of supplemental
insurance? Is it very expensive? Can you purchase it through payroll
deduction at work? These are the typical questions people ask when
talking about supplemental insurance. Throughout my paper, I am
going to answer each of these questions and give you a better
understanding of the benefits of supplemental insurance.
Supplemental insurance is any insurance policy that is helping
to supplement the insurance that you already have. Supplemental
benefits provide people with the opportunity to access a life and/or
Disability Insurance Protection Program which will meet their
individual needs. Many employers are starting to offer more
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voluntary benefits because employer-provided benefits cost has
increased. The voluntary supplemental program can provide
valuable benefits to employees and at the same time not increase
employer costs (Voluntary Supplemental). There are many different
types of supplemental policies offered from various companies such
as: Accidental Death Benefit, Spouse and Child coverage, Hospital
Confinement, Personal Accident, Intensive Care, Voluntary Group
Life, Group Medicare, and Cancer. Many employers do offer payroll
deducted plans for coverage. The payroll deducted plans are less
expensive than the policies that are just bought from an agent. The
best thing to do if the company you work for offers any of these
benefits, is to take advantage of each and every one of them. For
example, I am a twenty-four year old, single, female with an excellent
bill of health and I have every policy that AFLAC (my employer)
offers. Why you may ask? My answer to you is ?you never know
what tomorrow may bring.? I would like to say that nothing bad will
ever happen to me but the truth is I honestly do not know. Cancer
does run in my family and I want to make sure that I am covered now
with no medical complications instead of being diagnosed with cancer
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and trying to deal with the grief that I will feel and the money that it
will cost. Another good example, my mom and her best friend were
heading out of town two years ago and they were sitting at a stop
sign waiting for cars to pass so that they could turn left. When all of
the sudden one car hits another flipping it right into my mom?s car
(luckily, no one was hurt). My mom and her friend had ride to Martin
Army hospital in an ambulance and it cost them $500 a piece. Had
they not had supplemental insurance that money would have had to
come out of their pockets. An accident can occur at any given time or
place and it is better to be prepared. The shock of any accident or
diagnosis is enough to handle instead of adding to that a monetary
debt for hospital bills. Remember to always be prepared for anything
that life might throw your way.
At this time, I would like to talk about individual, supplemental
policies. Life insurance is a very important part of our lives.
Everyone should get a life insurance policy especially those people
that have family members that they support whether they are
children or disabled parents. No one expects to die but it happens
everyday and people end up being unprepared for what is to follow.
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Funeral arrangements, hospital bills and monthly bills will take a large
chunk of money Supplemental Life). Having a supplemental life
insurance policy helps you to just focus on the loss of your loved one
instead of worrying about how to pay the bills. I pay $5.36 a month
for a sixty thousand dollar life insurance policy from AFLAC. That not
a large sum of money to pay what my family will get out of it if I
happen to pass away. Prices do vary on these types of policies due
to age and health. The cost does increase as you get older and enter
a different age bracket. Along with this policy some companies offer
the Accelerated Death Benefit (Supplemental Life Insurance). You
are probably asking yourself what that is and what can it do for me so
I will tell you. The Accelerated Death Benefit helps you if you have
been diagnosed with a terminal illness and have less than a year to
live. You can actually get a cash advance on your life insurance
policy of up to fifty-percent of your policy (Supplemental Life
Insurance).
Did you know that it costs about eleven hundred dollars a day
to be hospitalized? Did you know that being hospitalized causes
numerous out-of-pocket expenses such as: loss of wages, child care
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expenses, home care, special equipment and special medication
(Voluntary Indemnity Plan)? AFLAC offers a VIP Indemnity policy that
helps you get through times of hospital confinement. AFLAC will pay
a certain amount to you each day up to one hundred and eighty days
under their Voluntary Indemnity policy. They do not, however, pay
you if your confinement was caused by self-infliction, drug and
alcohol abuse or unnecessary surgery, just to name a few
restrictions.
Since 1990, approximately eleven million new cases of cancer
have been diagnosed. One out of two men and one out of three
women are at risk of developing cancer, according to the American
Cancer Society (Personal Cancer Plan). AFLAC has an excellent
Personal Cancer policy. Within in this plan AFLAC helps to pay for
hospital confinement, radiation and chemotherapy, experimental
treatment, anti-nausea pills and many more. John Amos, AFLAC?s
founder, died of cancer and they take their plan very serious in trying
to beat this disease. During our Employee Appreciation week we had
a guest speaker from New Jersey. He spoke of how his AFLAC
policy help support his family financially while his twelve year old
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daughter, who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, was in
the hospital. He of how the other parents of cancer children were
having a very hard time coping with their child?s diagnosis and the
hospital bills. He spoke of how happy he was to have been able to
spend so much time at the hospital with his daughter because of the
policy he had. Another great thing about his story is that his daughter
had been in remission for two years now. Is that not the neatest story
of how AFLAC helped a family in need. After hearing this story, it
confirmed that I had done the right thing by getting this policy for me.
AFLAC definitely takes cancer serious and is a proud sponsor of the
Ronald McDonald House and the Egleston Cancer Center in Atlanta.
AFLAC also has a Personal Hospital Intensive Care policy.
This helps to provide funds for expenses associated with intensive
care. They will pay six hundred dollars a day for up to a week?s stay
in intensive care and one thousand dollars a day for eight to fifteen
days in intensive care (AFLAC?s Personal Hospital). With this type of
monetary support you are not likely to get deeply in debt from not
being able to work.
Did you know that over one-third of all injuries needing
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emergency department visits occur at home? Every six minutes
there is an unintentional injury related death. The leading cause of
death for people ages one to thirty-four years old is unintentional
accidents. I feel that every parent should have this type of coverage
to help in any type of intentional emergency. This policy will pay you
directly, unless you state differently. What more could you ask for?
Medicare policies are starting to get more popular these days
because the Medicare funds are getting to an all time low. People
are finding that after working all those years and putting all their
money that there is not much there when they need it. There are a
few companies that have a great supplemental policy for Medicare.
We all need to remember that we need to plan ahead way into our
future because the benefits of yester year are gone. We spend so
much money taking care of people who have no insurance that there
is no help for the ones who are disabled and elderly.
I think that starting at the age I have planning and anticipating
anything that could happen to me or my family is better than just
sitting around waiting for it to happen and not being prepared when it
does. If I can reach out to at least one family and help them better
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prepare for the future, then I have helped a family in need and our
economy at the same time and that means a lot in today?s society.
There are numerous insurance companies that offer
supplemental insurance policies. You should check into each one
and ensure that you are getting the best policy for you and your
family. Right now, it is easy for me because I only have to think
about myself. One of these days, I will have to change my strategy
and ensure that I am providing the best way support for my family
that I can. Waiting until an accident occurs is not the way to go when
life could be at stake.
Check the internet and check with insurance commissions to
which companies are legitimate and which ones are not. Ensure that
you read all the fine print on each policy that you sign to eliminate any
unnecessary shock in the future.
If you company does offer all different types pf benefits, take
advantage of and every one that will fit into your budget. You can
always get more insurance at a later date. Ask your agent as many
questions as you can think of. Find out what used often and what is
not. Most agents have numerous data statistics and this can play
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a part in helping to decide what is best for you and your loved ones.
Perhaps you could even help one of your elderly loved ones that
may not be able to put much money into a policy. Having a relative
around longer more than compensates for the minimal price you
would have to pay. I honestly do not think that you should put a
monetary value on life. There is nothing more precious and dear to
me than my family and friends.
I hope that you are a little bit more informed about
supplemental insurance. There are a lot of good things that come out
of these policies and perhaps sitting down with an insurance agent
discussing how to fit it in your budget if it is not offered at work is
the right choice to make. Most of the things I have learned, I have
learned in this last year in human resources at AFLAC. I have mainly
discussed AFLAC?s products because I feel that I know them best
and feel that they are all great products.
Do you know the name and location of the number insurance
company to work for in America? You guessed it, AFLAC, which is
headquartered here in Columbus, Georgia. This company was
started by three brothers who felt that one day people would really
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need supplemental insurance. In the last 4o years, they have come a
long way from a one of business to numerous buildings and more on
the way.
Today, I went over the different types of supplemental
insurance that is offered. No, it is not a necessity right now for
some people but it could become necessary at any given minute.
Just like what happen to the gentleman from New Jersey who
found out his daughter had a rare cancer. Or the unintentional
car accident my mom and her best friend were in. These things can
happen to anyone at anytime and it is better to be prepared than
destitute within a few days of an unexpected accident. Remember to
keep your family in your thoughts at all times when buying insurance.
Personal Cancer Plan Pamphlet. U.S.: AFLAC, 1999.
Supplemental Life Insurance Pamphlet. U.S.: DMU Agency, 2000.
Voluntary Indemnity Plan Pamphlet. U.S.: AFLAC, 1999.
Voluntary Supplemental Benefits Plan. U.S.: DMU Agency, 2000.
www.communitysite.com/dmuagency/supplement.htm
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