Healthcare. It's My Livelihood.
***Preface - Call your Senators if you haven't already done so. STOP THE REPEAL OF OBAMACARE.
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
I have been a Licensed Agent for 11 years. I was there for the roll-out of Obamacare & I’ve seen the systemic attempt to dismantle this life-saving national program.
Despite all of our individual efforts as Agents to educate each & every enrollee during their Open Enrollment for Employee Benefits, there is confusion every year in the employees we sit with.
Other than the Individual Mandate that people get coverage or pay a penalty, the overwhelming effect of Obamacare on Employee Benefits are positive, giving workers additional access to care they otherwise would not have had, like free cancer screenings, for one example.
This tax penalty has been implemented on a Federal basis in the Auto Industry for YEARS.
Americans literally cannot drive a new car off a dealership lot without buying Car Insurance at the point of purchase, yet nobody is talking about that or pointing out the HYPOCRISY in this Truth.
We cover our cars BY FEDERAL MANDATE – yet complain about covering our bodies???
If you ask me, things can be replaced – people cannot.
So there’s that.
The main point in buying Health Insurance is your personal philosophy of what is important to you.
Do you have something going on medically that you know you will have out-of-pocket expenses that need coverage? Or are you pretty healthy & care more about keeping more of your paycheck in your pocket?
Employees who need coverage should choose an HMO or a PPO, with Low Deductibles. The trade off is that the Premiums for these plans are higher by definition.
Healthy workers may choose a High Deductible HMO or PPO – the so-called Catastrophic Coverage Plans with a Low Premium & also purchase a Health Savings Plan, Supplements or both.
This is what people don’t understand: How to use the Supplements. In the Industry, we call them “Consumer-Driven Benefits.”
These supplements pay cash direct to the Insured who has elected to buy things like Hospital Supplements, Accident Plans, Specified Critical Illness Plans, Cancer Plans, etc.
Employee Benefit Health Supplements have been my bread & butter for the last 6 years. The 5 years prior to that it was Medicare Supplements.
Both kinds of Supplements work the same way: to fill the gaps in coverage that the Health Plan does not. Even Medicare used as originally created was only ever intended to be an 80/20 Plan: Medicare pays 80% of healthcare costs & the Medicare Beneficiary pays 20%.
What if the patient portion was 20% of a couple hundred thousand dollars? You can see the need for Supplements.
So we educate.
We Teach.
We help people understand how to buy & use their health plan than best fits their philosophy of how they want to be covered.