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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
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Updated
April 27th, 2010
GENERAL
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 2010. 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.
Principal
Life Insurance Company has increased issue limits for physician's who are
finishing their training to $ 7,500 per month of benefit. If you
would like additional information, please select quote request.
Guardian
Life Insurance Company has increased issue limits for physician's who are
finishing their training to $ 6,500 per month of benefit. If you
would like additional information, please select quote request.
Principal
Life Insurance Company has upgraded their disability insurance portfolio and
own occupation coverage is now available for invasive specialties which include
anesthesiology, emergency medicine and surgical specialties.
Increased Issue and Participation Limits, True Own Occupation Definition for
Physicians. Benefit periods To Age 67 and To Age 70 and NEW combined
Residual Disability and Recovery Benefit Rider. If you would like to
obtain a comparison quote between the leading carriers, please select quote
request and a quote will be emailed within 24 hours.
Anthem
Blue Cross of California recently announced rate increases of up to 39% for some
of their individual policy holders (Excluding Medicare and group plans).
Also recently, the State of California has suspended the rate increase until May
1, 2010 in order to give time to review the proposed rate increase.
Even though the rate increase has been delayed, you may want us to review your
current coverage and provide alternate plan options.
Anthem
Blue Cross of California has announced that as of September 25, 2009 they are discontinuing
the Individual Share Plans (500, 1000, 1500 and 2500 deductible levels).
For those of you who are on those plans, you may remain on them or you may
change to one of the other DMHC plan without underwriting. The open plans
available are the Select HMO, HMO Saver, Individual HMO plan, and the new PPO
Share 3500 and 7500 deductible plans. After 60 days, those who have the
Share plans may downgrade to a plan with equal or lesser benefits including the
closed PPO Share Plans. This option is only available to those who
enrolled before September 24, 2009. Upgrades to one of the closed plans
will not be permitted.
Cigna
is now offering individual and family plans. To apply, select the logo
under our Health Insurance page. States that will be available include AZ, CA, CO, CT,
GA, NC, SC, TN, and TX.
Guardian
Life Insurance Company recently announced that they have increased their Issue
and Participation Limits. If you are earning $ 220,000 per year you
qualify for $ 10,000 per month of disability benefit. If you are earning $
350,000 per year you qualify for $ 15,000 per month of disability benefit.
If you are earning $ 750,000 per year you qualify for $ 20,000 per month of
disability benefit. If you have not increased your coverage lately, this
might be the time to do so. Please contact our office and we will help you
obtain additional coverage.
If
you are a house
staff physician finishing your training Summer 2010, 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 otherwise you may not be able to obtain your own individual policy. We also provide review and analysis of
your employer
sponsored benefits including health, dental, disability and life insurance
programs.
Union
Central has announced that they will now issue up to $ 5,000 per month of
disability benefit for those physicians in their last two years of training
including fellows. Standard Insurance will insure up to $ 5,000 per month. Guardian will
insure up to $ 3,500 per month and MetLife will insure up to $ 4,000 per month of
benefit.
Unum
Life Insurance Company has announced that they will no longer be marketing
individual long term care insurance products. Other carriers that are available are
Genworth Financial, Guardian Life Insurance Company, John Hancock, MetLife and
Prudential to name a few.
If you would like to obtain a quote, please select quote request to the
left.
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.
Monthly benefits are available up to $ 4,000 per month with an option to
increase your without medical underwriting 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 can now obtain up to $ 15,000 per month of benefit and that they will
participate up to $ 20,000 per month with another carrier. If you are
capped at $ 10,000 per month of benefit and are earning in excess of $ 220,000 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.
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 that will cover your
retirement contributions up to $4,090 (individual pay) or $ 6,135 (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 $ 49,080 (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.
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 2010, 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 2009 Tax Organizer and 2009 Expense
Worksheet. Please click on the following links for the 2009
Tax Organizer and the 2009
Expense Worksheet. Please click on Advanced
for information on
expenses that are common to young health care professionals. Please mail
your 2008 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 2009. 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.
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.
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
December
2008, Unum
Life Insurance Company has announced that they will no longer be marketing
individual long term care products. Other carriers that are available
include
Guardian Life Insurance Company, Genworth, John Hancock, MetLife and Prudential to name a few.
If you would like to obtain a quote, please select quote request to the
left.
LIFE INSURANCE
Should
you purchase 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.
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 $ 250,000 of 20 or 30 year level term
without blood, urine or an exam. Only 4 medical questions, Please contact us for more details.
RBC
Insurance will allow you to obtain $ 250,000 of term insurance in less than 15
minutes. 
HEALTH INSURANCE
Anthem
Blue Cross has announced that as of September 25, 2009 they are discontinuing
the Individual Share Plans (500, 1000, 1500 and 2500 deductible levels.
For those of you who are on those plans, you may remain on them or you may
change to one of the other DMHC plan without underwriting. The open plans
available are the Select HMO, HMO Saver, Individual HMO plan, and the new PPO
Share 3500 and 7500 deductible plans. After 60 days, those who have the
Share plans may downgrade to a plan with equal or lesser benefits including the
closed PPO Share Plans. This option is only available to those who
enrolled before September 24, 2009. Upgrades to one of the closed plans
will not be permitted.
Cigna
is now offering individual and family plans. An on-line link should be
available shortly. States that will be available include AZ, CA, CO, CT,
GA, NC, SC, TN, and TX.
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.
IRS
has raised HSA limits for 2009. The maximum individual HSA contribution
has increased from $ 2,900 per year to $ 3,000 per year. The maximum
family HSA contribution has increased from $ 5,800 per year to $ 5,950 per
year. For reference please click the following
link: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-08-29.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.
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 most health carriers. Please
speak to your tax advisor to see if you are eligible for a Health Savings
Account.
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.
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.
Los
Angeles County Open Enrollment 2011. Enrollment for your
health benefits takes
place between October 1, 2010 and October 31, 2010. 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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