| Tip: Consider health insurance for foreign travel
For those with health insurance policies limited to coverage in the United States, Matt Tassey, former chairman of the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, says your travel agent should be able to steer you to a company that offers short-term coverage. Among them is International Medical Group (imglobal .com), Tassey says. Many of these policies include coverage for common vacation problems such as trip cancellation or lost bags. For those on Medicare, several Medicare Supplement Plans will cover some medical costs incurred outside the United States. Medigap plans C-J, for example, will pay 80 percent of the costs of emergency care after a $250 deductible, according to AARP. But be aware, there is a $50,000 lifetime maximum. Seniors without Medigap coverage can get a short-term policy from a private insurer.
The Politics of Fabrication and Fear
Some have marveled at how the special interests and the right wing leadership have influenced the health insurance reform debate by fostering town hall tempers. I suppose they would call a political strategy based on misinformation smart. I prefer to call it tremendously cynical. It is the same sort of politics that took our country to war in Iraq. President Obama has worked incredibly hard to communicate what health insurance reform would mean to every American, using his figurative megaphone more assertively and repeatedly than on any other issue. Many of us in Congress have worked to back him up. We strive to communicate the facts -- facts about the reform we are actually pursuing, facts about what more of the same could cost our families. Unfortunately, facts and legislation don't often make for good television.
Will a Public Option Hurt Insurance Company Profits?
It's not clear whether that plan will pass, but the proposed changes have made many investors question what reform could mean for health insurance company stocks. Many on both the right and left think a public plan will wipe out the high profits in the private insurance industry. But that aspect of a public option may be more symbolic than substantive. Health insurance companies aren't quite as profitable as many critics seem to think. "For every premium dollar that they take in, about 83 cents goes out in medical costs -- doctors, hospitals, and drugs," says Carl McDonald, health insurance analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. The rest is spent on overhead. Net income comes to just a few cents per dollar of premiums. Consider WellPoint, the biggest private health insurer on Wall Street, which has about 35 million customers nationwide.
Why can't health insurance be more like auto insurance?
If insurance paid for every oil change and engine failure, we'd have an autocare crisis, too. By Zach Krajacic from the August 5, 2009 edition /* story tools */ #story-tools { width:640px; height:18px; padding:8px 0 4px; margin:10px 0 20px 0; text-align:right; border-top:1px dotted #ccc; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc; } #story-tools ul { text-align:left; list-style-type:none; padding:0 0 0 0; margin:0 0 20px 0; } #story-tools ul li { color:#31639c; font-family: 'Arial', 'Helvetica', sans-serif; font-size:11px; font-weight:normal; line-height:12px; display:inline; border-left:1px solid #bbb; padding:0 0 0 10px; margin:0 0 20px 10px; } #story-tools ul li.first{ border:0; padding:0 0 0 0px; margin:0 0 20px 0px; } #story-tools img { border: none !important; padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 5px 0 0; display: inline; float: none; vertical-align: middle; } .
ING Australia Introduces Online Life Insurance Application
ING Australia's OneAnswer superannuation offering has introduced an online life insurance application and case management capability, which is intended to make life insurance more accessible - reported Financial Standard. The technology upgrade allows advisers to write and manage group life insurance applications for their OneAnswer Personal Super clients. The new process uses an underwriting rules engine to enable faster processing of applications. The adviser steps a client through a series of reflexive questions that ensures all the information is captured, minimising the need for additional questionnaires and the processing time. The advisers can also use the online case management system, RiskWorks, to monitor the progress of their client's insurance application.
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