For California health insurance consumers, knowing the important distinction between an actual California health insurance plan and a medical-discount card can save you money and heartache.
Hello to our Vitality Blog readers: We are very sensitive to the fact that the cost of maintaining or acquiring a new California health insurance plan has gone up…and may continue to go up. We are also sensitive to the fact that for some folks, the thought that there might be some other alternative out there on the California health insurance scene that is affordable, reliable, and readily available when you and your family needs health coverage would be heaven-sent.
Unfortunately the rising cost of securing California health insurance has opened the door to more interest in the concept of the medical discount card and that has us worried because it’s entirely possible that some California health insurance consumers may not understand the difference between this “product” and the California health insurance plan you presently own or are considering buying. The differences between the two are significant and if the consumer doesn’t understand what a medical-discount card really is, it could lead to both significant financial hardship and heartache for you and your family at a time when you might be in dire need of legitimate health coverage and at your most vulnerable.
- A medical-discount card might charge a ‘membership fee’ that the consumer might mistake for an insurance premium.
- The membership fee buys you a list of doctors, medical facilities, and other health service providers that offer discounted rates for medical services.
- A medical-discount card doesn’t cover any medical bills.
Here’s how Vitality can help: We’re here to provide careful, considerate client consultation to you and your family and help you understand your range of options. If you’re considering the merits of a medical-discount card because you find yourself feeling stressed out or vulnerable about your current California health insurance strategy, reach out to us and before you make any decision that you think might save you money, get the single best value on the California health insurance scene from an independent authorized agency such as Vitality: Our services are always free! That’s right – the careful, considerate consultation and one-on-one personalized services Vitality provides you, your family – even your California small business – are always 100% free.
The selection process for your California health insurance plan and California life insurance plan can be very similar in some respects. The team at Vitality offers experience and expertise in both and is here to help you create winning buying strategies for both of these important insurance products. Let’s review some of what makes these two insurance products similar for the California insurance shopper:
- Well – to state the obvious – the process of securing the most affordable California health insurance plan and a California life insurance plan will involve a review of your past and current health status. The savvy California insurance consumer can do themselves a real favor here by practicing healthy living strategies that include proper nutrition and exercise and not smoking! Quitting smoking or better yet –never starting! – is one great proactive way to help yourself secure lower insurance premiums. We always put this item first even though your health check comes after you apply. Why? Because heading into the underwriting process you should know your own personal dedication to a healthy living lifestyle will likely always serve you well when it comes to buying insurance of one form or another.
- Okay; you’re applying for one or both types of insurance: A California health insurance plan and/or a California life insurance plan. Here again, the two share some similarities as the consumer can quickly and easily consult with a member of the Vitality team – always for free – and get a sense of which plan strategy is uniquely right for that consumer and their family. A quick check of our website’s quote engine, where you can get a quick, easy, and convenient California health plan quote will tell you that the range of health plan options is pretty broad. The same holds true for your life insurance plan options. Our role in this process is to help narrow the range of options down to a manageable list of choices that focus in on what is best for your unique situation.
- The balancing act of performance and affordability. What makes an HSA-compatible high deductible health plan the right choice for one consumer and another type of PPO health plan better for another? What makes the choice of an affordable California term life insurance plan or permanent/whole life insurance plan the best strategy for a consumer? Here again, this is our strength: Your Vitality California health and life insurance professional will help you create a strategy that provides the coverage you’re looking for within the financial parameters of your budget. Placing you in either a health plan or life insurance policy that looks great on paper today but isn’t financially viable when the premiums come due is a situation we’re determined to help you avoid. Our careful, considerate client consultation is dedicated to helping the client select the best plan from both a cost and performance standpoint.
There’s one other important similarity shopping for either plan with Vitality will share: Our client services and support are always free. Always. The work we do on behalf the client as an independent authorized agency represents one of the best ‘value-adds’ a California insurance consumer will experience in the shopping process for a health or life insurance plan in our state. We’re here to eliminate concerns and in their place ensure peace of mind that the strategies you create will work best for you and your family moving forward into the future!
Over the course of life we can make certain assumptions: We might assume that our California health insurance will be sufficient to the task if we incur a debilitating illness or injury. Or – we might assume that we will receive financial support via our employer or the federal government should we suffer an illness or injury that disables us for an extended period of time.
Here’s something you should consider: You may own a California health insurance plan that has the best benefits money can buy, but it isn’t ‘built’ to cover the costs incurred while recovering from a disabling illness or injury. Further: While Social Security does provide long term disability benefits – based on the number of years you have worked and contributed to the Social Security system and your salary – it only works to replace a limited portion of your salary and the qualifications to receive benefits are very strict.
To wit: You must have been disabled for a full 5 months. Your disability must be expected to last at least 12 months or end in your death. And: You must be unemployable for any occupation – not just your own profession at the time of your disability.
First the good news: You may not need a California disability insurance plan. That’s right: You may already be covered under a group disability income insurance policy through your employer. You may also qualify for workers’ compensation for work-related injuries or illnesses (required in all states), along with other special or temporary disability programs to serve residents of the state.
Now for the other kind of news: As mentioned above, you may own a great California health insurance plan that sufficiently helped you deal with the health care costs of a serious illness or injury. That same plan is not purpose-built to the task of helping you defray the financial burden you will incur if you require months of recuperation time before you can either return to your chosen occupation or retrain yourself for an alternative career. Also: If it turns out that you don’t have California disability insurance through a group plan or it isn’t sufficient to the task or – if your disability makes access to the Social Security option not viable – without a California disability insurance plan to rely on you’ll be in a position we’ll call ‘self insuring’.
What do we mean by that? Well, it will fall to you to pay for your living expenses. If you feel that you have sufficient savings and that your living expenses are manageable for a period of time that could exceed 90 days and perhaps stretch into a period of years, then the thought of self insuring yourself in this situation may not be fraught with concern. If, however, you are like a lot of people and the absence of a steady paycheck for even a few pay periods could wreck serious financial havoc on your household budget, getting a firm handle on your disability income strategy is a great idea.
Here’s how we’d suggest you start the process: Talk with your employer’s HR department. Find out exactly what your disability benefits would look like if you did suffer a debilitating injury or illness. Next, reach out to us here at Vitality – we’ll provide the careful, considerate and always free consultation your inquiry deserves: We’ll help you review your current employer-provided coverage; we’ll help you sort through the process of understanding just how a private disability income plan works; we’ll secure an assortment of California disability insurance plan quotes for you to review; and we’ll help to ensure that you and your family have peace of mind about your disability insurance strategy and your financial security moving forward.
