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The
News section will alert you to information that may effect your insurance
planning, this may include health insurance premium rate increases, change in insurance regulations,
deadlines, news, and other special offers that are available. The news
section is updated frequently. Some of the links on our website require Adobe
Reader or PowerPoint Reader. The shareware versions of these programs are
available for you to download.
Updated
July 3, 2008
GENERAL
If
you are a physician in training, you will be pleased to know that you can obtain
disability coverage with Principal Life Insurance Company and receive a 20%
discount on your premium. Discount's have been established at most
training programs. The Principal Life Insurance Company disability product
is based on a "Transitional Own Occupation" definition of
disability. The Principal Life Insurance Company was founded in 1879 and
is rated A+ by A.M. Best and AA by Standard and Poor's.
Monthly benefits are available up to $ 3,500 per month with an option to
increase your coverage up to $ 15,000 per month when you graduate. If you
would like to receive a quote, please select quote request.
Guardian
has announced that all qualifying medical and dental professionals in the state of
California are now eligible for a maximum issue and participation limit of $
15,000 per month. If you are earning in excess of $ 270,000 per year,
this is a good time to increase your coverage. If you would like to
receive a quote, please select quote request.
Standard
Insurance has announced that they will issue up to $ 15,000 per month of
disability benefit and will participate up to $ 20,000 per month with the
addition of group LTD. If you are earning in excess of $ 250,000 per
year, this is a good time to increase your coverage. If you would like to
receive a quote, please select quote request.
Union
Central has announced that "True Own Occupation" coverage is now
available to surgery specialties. Union Centrals contract has unlimited
recovery benefits under their residual disability definition and their good
health benefit reduces the insured benefit amount by 2 days. In
addition, their Future Insurance Option (FIO) rider guarantees rates,
occupational classification and language of original contract even if new
guidelines are in place when the FIO is exercised. We are able to provide
a 15% discount off unisex rates for students of residency programs. States
that have been approved include AK, AL, AR, AZ, CT, DC, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL,
IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, OH, OK, OR, PA,
RI, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV, and WY. If you would like to receive
a quote, please select quote request.
We
now have health plans available on-line serving over 20 states. States
include, AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NE, NV, OH,
OK, OR, TN, TX, WA, WI, WV, VA.
Quick links for Travelex Insurance travel insurance products, Blue Cross of California
Health Plans, Blue Shield of California Health and RBC Insurance (15 minute
on-line Term Insurance) have been added to the home
page.
For
those of you who have estate planning needs. We encourage you to discuss
your needs with us as we have planning methods that will help you increase your
estate's value, reduce your estate taxes, increase your charitable deductions and
reduce your children's taxable burden. How would you like to increase your
estate by 100% and still provide your children with 100% of your estates
value?
The
specimen policies from the leading DI carriers are now available for viewing
by accessing our products section and selecting the Disability Button.
We
are pleased to announce that you can obtain residential/commercial loans
including refinancing. To obtain a good faith offer click the button Home
Loan.
If
you are a physician in practice, you
will be pleased to know that you can now obtain up to $
26,500 of monthly disability benefit depending on the state you reside and your adjustable gross income.
If
you are an internal medicine physician in training, you will be pleased to know
that you may obtain a crash course for the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certification/Recertification Exam by visiting the following link. http://vitalboardreview.com.
Retirement
Protection in the Event of Disability
Ok,
so you are smart enough to get a good individual disability insurance policy
with all the right bells and whistles such as the own occupation definition,
residual disability, and cost of living benefits. You get disabled and you
receive benefits and live until 65/66/67 or lifetime. What's
missing? Your retirement money. When you became disabled you no
longer had earned income and you and/or your employer stopped making
contributions to a retirement plan like a 401(k), SEP, profit sharing or other
pension plan. What could you do about this? There's an additional
new disability program available through Guardian that will cover your
retirement contributions up to $3,670 (individual pay) or $ 5,505 (Employer
paid), per month if you're
disabled. This would be in addition to any disability insurance you
already have. The way this program works is after disability and after 6
months or 12 months of disability (depending on how you set it up) the
contributions - up to $ 44,000 (Individual pay) per year, go into a trust for you for
retirement. When you get to age 65 the money gets paid out to you as a retirement
benefit. If you should die before age 65, your heirs would get the
value in the fund. It's a great idea. It really could be a
multi-million dollar idea when you add up what it could be worth to your
retirement. Please contact us for more information. Click
here for presentation.
Recently,
Berkshire/Guardian has recognized Medical Management Company as the Retirement
Protection Plus Sales Leader for 2006.
If
you are a house staff physician you can
obtain a "Specialty Specific" own occupation disability policy
regardless of your post graduate year or any group disability insurance provided
to you by your employer. By obtaining coverage early in your career you
can lock in your rates and benefits to age 65/66/67 or lifetime. Ask us about the special
Student Future Purchase Option for
physician in training. To obtain a quote,
please click quote.
If
you are a house
staff physician finishing training Summer 2008, please contact our office if you would like to have your employment
contract reviewed by legal counsel, obtain individual health insurance and/or
obtain a "Specialty Specific" disability insurance policy. It is
advantageous to obtain your coverage before you finish training. If
you have received an employment contract you may be able to obtain coverage
based on your new income level. However, if you sign an employment
contract which provides group disability insurance, you may not be able to
obtain an individual "Specialty Specific" disability coverage. It is always
prudent to obtain your individual coverage before you sign an employment contract. We also provide review and analysis of
your employer
sponsored benefits including health, dental, disability and life insurance
programs.
If
you are a house staff physician, you will be pleased to know that you receive a discount when you use our tax preparation services.
Please contact us for your 2007 Tax Organizer and 2007 Expense
Worksheet. Please click on the following links for the 2007
Tax Organizer and the 2007
Expense Worksheet. Please click on Advanced
for information on
expenses that are common to young health care professionals. Please mail
your 2007 Tax Organizer and tax documents to our office address.
DISABILITY INSURANCE
Standard
Insurance of Oregon has announced that they will be raising rates by 10 to 40
percent on
their California "Protector" disability product for all applications
dated with dates prior to March 1, 2008. Standard Insurance of Oregon will
accept applications with dates prior to March 1, 2008 up until March 31,
2008. If you have not obtained
coverage, now is the time to do so. If you would like to receive a quote,
please contact our office or complete our quote request form.
Medical Management Company
has recently been honored as a member of the Guardian Life Insurance Company/Berkshire Life Insurance Company's DI Inner Circle
for 2007. The DI Inner Circle was
developed to recognize and reward producers of exceptionally high quality
disability business. The rewards include enhanced underwriting, higher
non-medical limits, and priority underwriting for all clients and prospective
clients. Obtaining your coverage early in
your career has its advantages. You can lock in your contract, rates and future
benefits and obtain enhanced
underwriting, higher non-medical limits, and priority underwriting. There
is no better time to obtain your coverage. Please
call us to design a plan that fits your needs.
Effective
May 1, 2006 Berkshire/Guardian Life Insurance Company announced some occupational class changes that are improvements for the vast majority of physicians.
Many of the changes result in a rate decrease for some occupational classes, and an even better definition of total disability for surgeons, and other invasive specialties.
Their changes now enable every physician and dentist to be able to obtain pure own-occupation disability insurance to age
65 with medical specialty language in the definition of total disability. This really does make Guardian and Berkshire one of the most competitive choices for
physician's and dentist's in today's disability insurance market. You can
also obtain lifetime benefits with Berkshire Life.
The
Guardian Life Insurance Company, as well as Berkshire Life Insurance Company of
America, are two of the best disability insurance contracts a physician can
own. Both contracts offer an own-occupation
definition of total disability, and lock your
rate in at your current age to age 65. Both of these companies will
protect your medical specialty, even if you choose to engage in another
occupation while on a disability claim. Policies can be purchased
with Graded or Level premium plans. In 2005 Berkshire/Guardian was
the number one writer of individual Non-Cancelable disability insurance in the
country*. * Source LIMRA. Click
here for presentation.
Effective
Friday, December 30, 2005, Ohio National will discontinue selling Disability
Income (DI) insurance in California. This includes Individual DI, Business
Overhead Expense (BOE) and Disability Buy-Sell. All applications signed on
or before December 30, 2005 will be underwritten in the normal course of
business. Ohio National has experienced much worse claims experience than
expected in California. As a result of the limited number of DI policies being
written in California and their claims experience, the decision was made to
discontinue selling all disability income insurance products in California.
Pan
American Life announced April 2005 that they are suspending the sale of the Return of
Premium and Cash Value riders on their disability income products.
As
you may remember, Guardian
Life Insurance Company of America announced back on November 20, 2004 that the following changes will be made to their Provider Plus disability
product in California.
These changes are being made to reduce future claims in the medical market and
in anticipation of their new product being approved by the State of
California. Some of recent changes are outlined below.
-
Future
Increase Option will be limited to $ 5,000 per month maximum. Maximum
coverage for the medical market is now $ 8,500 per month which
includes a $ 3,500 per month base benefit.
-
Lifetime
benefits have been discontinued
-
Automatic
Increase rider has been discontinued.
-
Preferred
Risk Discount is no longer available
Now
that the deadline has passed, you can still obtain the premier disability policy
in the marketplace. Guardian's Provider Plus policy still provides
one of the most feature rich contracts today. Even though the above
changes have taken place, Guardian's policy still is the only one available
today that will let you increase your coverage while disabled and receive the
increase in monthly benefit. Please click
here
for more information.
January
2004 Guardian/Berkshire have increased their issue and participation limits for
dental residents. Dental residents now qualify for $ 3,500 per
month. This is the same as medical residents. In addition, Dentist's
in their first year of practice will qualify for $ 3,500 of monthly
benefit. Physician's in their first year of practice qualify for $ 4,500
per month. Please
see updated Issue and Participation Limits. Click Here.
If
you have long term disability benefits provided to you by your employer you
may not be eligible for individual coverage, depending on your annual
earned income. Group coverage is
less liberal than individual coverage. Please contact our office to
discuss your specific situation. For
an online quote, please select On-Line
Quote.
Effective
November 1, 2003 Pan American Life has downgraded Anesthesiologists from class
4A to class 3A, similar to Emergency Room physicians. If you have not
already obtained "Specialty Specific" disability insurance, this is
the time to do so.
If
you are a Senior Medical Student
you may apply for $ 2,100 per month of coverage without providing income
documentation. Apply now to lock in your rates and contract. For a quote select
On-Line
Quote.
LONG
TERM-CARE INSURANCE
According
to the Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2004, nursing home costs have jumped
6.1% from last year and is rapidly outpacing inflation. If you can believe, the
average care per day in the State of Alaska is $ 561.00. Currently the
average per day cost in California is $ 177.00. If you are in the market
for long term care insurance, this is the time to obtain your coverage, as
future policies will be less liberal.
LIFE INSURANCE
Should
you purchased level term or level term with a Return of Premium (ROP)
feature. Usually the ROP rate would be 250% more than normal level
term. If you invest the difference you would save by not purchasing the
ROP term and if you received an 8% average return in a mutual fund over the term
period, you would be 46% further ahead. You would owe tax on the mutual
fund proceeds, but your federal tax rate would have to exceed 40 percent for the
ROP level term to be a better deal. If you cancelled the ROP plan during
the term period you would lose all the extra funds you invested and if you were
to die before the term period, the face amount paid to your beneficiary would be
the same. Medical Economics September 21, 2007.
Effective
June 2006, Empire General Life will no longer be marketing life insurance to the
public. Empire General has merged with West Coast Life and the marketing
and sell of insurance products will be done from the new West Coast Life.
Return
of Premium products are available from many companies. Would it be great
to get a portion of your premiums back if you do not die. If this is the type
of term insurance that you are looking for, please let us know and we will
search our database for the lowest cost ROP plans
Company
Name Changes
Old
- Federal Kemper Life Insurance Company
New
- Chase Insurance and Life and Annuity Company
Old
- Zurich Life Insurance Company of New York.
New
- Chase Insurance and Life and Annuity Company
Old
- SAFECO Life Insurance Company
New
- Symetra Life Insurance Company
United Home
Life will allow you can obtain up to $ 100,000 of 20 or 30 year level term
without blood, urine or an exam. Only 4 medical questions, Please contact us for more details.
Industrial
Alliance Pacific will allow you to get up to $ 150,000 of 20 year, 25 year and
even 30 year level term without blood, urine or an exam. Please contact us
for more details.
RBC
Insurance will allow you to obtain $ 150,000 of term insurance in less than 15
minutes. Apply on-line.
HEALTH INSURANCE
IRS
has raised HSA limits for 2008. The maximum individual HSA contribution
has increased from $ 2,850 per year to $ 2,900 per year. The maximum
family HSA contribution has increased from $ 5,650 per year to $ 5,800 per
year. For reference please click the following
link:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-05-70.pdf.
Also, you may contribute the maximum allowable amount regardless of deductible
amount and you may make contribution for the entire amount anytime during the calendar
year.
Blue
Shield as of June 1, 2007 will no longer be offering short term health coverage
in California. Although Blue Shield has discontinued offering short term
health coverage, you still can obtain coverage with Blue Cross and John Alden.
Effective
December 31, 2006, PacAdvantage will no longer be marketing their group health
insurance plans in California. If you have PacAdvantage and want to
discuss alternate offering, please contact our office.
Health
Net announced today that they have agreed to acquire Universal Care's Health
Plan assets. Click HERE
to view a copy of Health Net's press release.
UnitedHealth
Group announced on July 6, 2005 that it has acquired PacificCare Health Systems
for $ 8.1 billion. For our clients who have PacifiCare health plans and/or
United Health Care plans, the changes may not be noticeable however, the merger
will give its members access to health care nationwide, cheaper prescriptions
and other services. UnitedHealth has a network of 4,500 hospitals and
460,000 physician's nationwide.
Check into
obtaining a HSA qualified high deductible health
plan. These health plans are combined with a Health Savings Account (HSA).
HSA's give you the ability to pay for qualified
health care expenses with pre-tax dollars. Please contact our office for details. For
more information about HSA's, please check out articles found under Health
Insurance heading by selecting the button Links to your left. HSA
plans are now available through Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Nationwide Health
Plans. Please
speak to your tax advisor to see if you are eligible for a Health Savings
Account. For a HSA plan comparison, please click on the following
link. HSA
Plan Comparison.
If
you are a business owner and want to provide your employees with benefits, you
will be pleased to know that we have many insurance companies and plans that you
may tailor to fit your needs. We can also combine your health insurance
with your work compensation insurance and receive a discount on both.
Please
click Group Quote.
PacifiCare
has acquired American Medical Security Group in a $ 502 million deal. American
Medical had $744 million in revenue last year and has about 1,400
employees. American Medical provides individual medical to residents of
Arizona and 24 other states.
02-19-03
California has extended COBRA to 36 Months.
Click
here for more information.
New
COBRA Comparison Feature is now available on our Blue
Cross link. If
you are thinking of going on COBRA, please check this out as it will
compare the costs and benefits of choosing COBRA coverage with the costs
and benefits of purchasing individual coverage with Blue
Cross.
Health
Plan
Changes and Rate Increases
Aetna
individual rate increase effective July 1,
2007.
Blue Cross
individual rate increase effective March 1, 2008.
Blue
Cross small group rate increase
effective May 1, 2007.
Blue
Shield of California individual rate increase effective February 1,
2007.
Blue
Shield of California small group rate increase
July 1, 2007.
Health Net
individual rate increase effective May 1, 2007.
Health
Net small group rate increase effective January 1, 2007.
Pacificare
individual rate increase effective December 1, 2007.
Universal
Care small group rate increase effective February 1, 2006.
Please
contact our office
if you would like to discuss the rate changes or
make any modifications to your existing insurance.
Los
Angeles County Open Enrollment 2009. Enrollment for your
health benefits takes
place between October 1, 2008 and October 31, 2008. If you would like us
to prepare an analysis on the available medical and dental plans for you, please contact our
office early as we do get busy. In the past, we have been able to save the
house staff hundreds of dollars on their premiums. If you are young and healthy,
you may be a good candidate for obtaining your own individual medical
coverage. To obtain coverage, click HERE.
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