What kinds of health insurance are there?
There are essentially two kinds of health insurance: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care. Although these plans differ, they both cover an array of medical, surgical and hospital expenses. Most cover prescription drugs and some also offer dental coverage.

1.      Fee-for-Service

• Assumes that the medical professional will be paid for fee for each service provided
• Patients are seen by a doctor of their choice and a claim is filed by either the provider or patient 

2.      Managed Care

• Provide comprehensive health service to their members and offer other incentives
• More than half of all Americans have some kind of managed-care plan¹
• HMO, PPO, POS are the various plans

 What is 'long-term care'?

Because of old age, mental or physical illness, or injury, some people find themselves in need of help with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting or continence, and/or transferring (e.g., getting out of a chair or out of bed). These six actions are called Activities of Daily Living–sometimes referred to as ADLs. In general, if you can’t do two or more of these activities, or if you have a cognitive impairment, you are said to need “long-term care.”

• The inability or having trouble to eat, bath, use the toilet, mobility, dress or need help transferring constitutes you need long term care
• These actions are also called ADL’s activities of daily living, provided by custodial care
• LTC is provided at nursing homes, adult day care, assisted living or at a home

What are the types of disability insurance?
There are two types of disability policies: Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD):

1. Short-Term Disability policies (STD) - have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no longer than two years.
    
2. Long-Term Disability policies (LTD) - have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.

Disability policies have two different protection features that are important to understand.

1. Non-cancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.
    
2. Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.

In addition to the traditional disability policies, there are several options you should consider when purchasing a policy:

• Additional purchase options 
• Coordination of benefits 
• Cost of living adjustment (COLA)
• Residual or partial disability rider
• Return of premium
• Waiver of premium provision

There are many kinds of life insurance, but they generally fall into two categories: term insurance and permanent insurance.

1.      Term Insurance

• Designed to meet temporary needs
• Provides protection for a specific time period and generally pays a benefit only if you pass during the term
• Term insurance makes sense when you need coverage that will disappear at a specific point in time

2.      Permanent Insurance

• Provides lifelong Protection
• Permanent life insurance accumulates cash value and priced for you to keep over a long period of time

It's impossible to say which type of life insurance is better because the kind of coverage that's right for you depends on your unique circumstances and financial goals.

But remember, the best way to figure out the amount and type of life insurance that makes sense for your particular situation is to meet with one of our Quantum life insurance professionals.

1 - Source : MANAGED CARE AND THE STATES

Quantum Insurance Group, Inc. - The Client Advocate Agency

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