OMG ... I need Health Insurance! How am I going to pay for that?

Are you feeling stressed out by all the TV coverage and news articles telling you how bad the new health insurance rules are or how great they are depending on who you talk to?  Exchanges, subsidies and penalties oh my!

 

Take a deep breath, its going to be okay.  I'll give you the basics for free!  I am licensed in Indiana so I'm going to talk about the set up here, if you are in a different state you will need to talk with someone in that state to be sure how it will work for you.  Are you ready?  Here we go!

 

First if you have a policy and you've not gotten a cancelation notice it means for now your current policy and network will remain the same.  You can keep it for a year and maybe longer, but that is not set in stone.  If you have a policy and have received a cancelation notice, it means your policy must be changed to comply with the new law and it was not grandfathered in for some reason.  You will need to get a new ACA policy (ACA stands fro the Affordable Care Act, which is a misnomer because it doesn't make coverage more affordable it just gives subsidies for those that make less money).

 

In Indiana you have 5 basic choices depending on your age situation and income.  I'll run through the first three quickly because they are very limited choices.

 

1. Medicaid - If you qualify for Medicaid it satisfies the ACA requirements.

2. Employer plans - If your employer has a group plan available to you that costs less than

    9.5% of your income then you need to stay with it.

3. CHIP - This is for children of lower income families that don't qualify Medicaid.

 

Okay so for the other two options ... you can buy an individual plan through an insurance company direct or you can buy the same plan from the federally facilitated marketplace (commonly called the exchange).  Both plans could offer identical coverage but there are two very noteworthy differences.

 

1. Plans purchased through the exchange will most likely have a much smaller network than those purchased directly from the insurance company.  So you may not get to use your current doctors or hospitals.

2. Plans purchased through the exchange may qualify for a federal subsidy to offset the cost of the insurance.  Plans bought directly from the insurance company are not qualified for a subsidy.

 

The bottom line is that the law is requiring you to get some basic health coverage.  If you are at or below the poverty line you will have access to Medicaid, and if you make above the poverty line (up to 400% of that amount) you may qualify for a subsidy that can pay for most or part of your health insurance costs, but if you choose either of these options you'll just have a limited number of options for doctors and hospitals.

 

You can make an appointment with me to go over your options but do it quick, because you only have a small window to enroll before you'll be forced into a higher cost option while waiting on open enrollment.

 

Contact me about health insurance here!

 

Jason

What happened to Customer Service?

This week has been the worst week of customer service for me!  I spent several hours working on getting a phone / internet provider to do what they promised us they would do for our church.  They spend they same amount of time trying to get out of doing what they promised to do.  Plus they tried to make me feel stupid for demanding that they do what they promised to do when we agreed to let them provide the phone and internet services for the church.

Prior to that I spent a great deal of time talking to the bank that is doing the refinance on my home.  After telling me for 80 days that the closing costs would be one figure they proudly informed me on the eve of closing that the closing costs would be double what they originally quoted.  This without the slightest hint of regret or any explanation as to the difference.  They merely gave me the new figure and were puzzled why I told them no, I won't pay that without a reason. 

I struggle with this because I am in the service business, as an insurance Agent I have to take responsibility for the actions of the companies I represent even though I can't control what they do and that is on top of being responsible for what I do.

Think about this ... if gas goes up, we all complain to each other.  If your auto insurance goes up you complain to the agent.  No one ever tells the gas station attendant that they need to sharpen their pencil and give them a better rate on the gas.  Why would you think the insurance agent could make the insurance company lower its price?

I'm not complaining about that perception, I just want to establish that as an agent I have to provide great customer service or people will move on to a new agent ... and they should.  But by the same token, I demand the same level of service in my life that others do from me.

Demand good service and make companies do what they are supposed to do, then be loyal to them so that we can all finally get the service we deserve.  Those of us that provide good service want to know that you appreciate the effort, and those that don't care about their professional image should not be encouraged to continue giving sub par service. 

J

How important is good service when talking about life insurance? I'll be the one giving your loved ones a check when they need it most!

Getting Old Sucks!

I know this is obvious to anyone that has moved beyond their youthful days, but it really needs to be said.  I came to this conclusion not long ago after my last eye exam.  I let Doc know that I have been seeing fuzzy for a while, he tested my eyes and said that my vision is technically 20/20 with my glasses but I had a second set of letters showing up when I look at signs.  After much testing and measuring and poking and prodding, he tells me that I have wrinkly eyes.  Now let me pause here and tell you my eye doc is Brian Steward in Lyons and Bloomfield.  As docs go he is aces, no fluff or bull just good service and advice on the health of your eyes, I trust him completely with my eye health. 

That being said ... wrinkly eyes?  I mean come on!  I'm not that old am I?  The condition is called an Anterior Basement Membrane Dystrophy ... but it's really just a wrinkly eye.  It's not too serious and the most common treatments are hard contacts or surgery, where they scrape your wrinkles off the eye (sounds fun huh?).

Needless to say I tried the hard contacts ... I won't bore you with the details but 4 office visits (1 to 2 hours each) 3 weeks of bloodshot eyes and at least one contact stuck for an hour and a half on my eye later, and Brian and I had the talk.  Maybe contacts weren't my thing.  But he suggested that I wait on the surgery until it gets worse.

I guess it's not bad but imagine seeing someone that looks familiar but you can't see the details of their face until they are 3 feet from you.  Not what someone in the business of dealing with people really wants to admit.  I wave at everyone and I can carry on a conversation for several minutes without knowing who I'm talking to for sure, sometimes I totally miss people because I can't see their features.

Driving is okay but I can't read signs no matter how big they are until I'm right on them ... GPS is the best invention ever!

I guess I take Brian's advice and wait til it gets worse before getting scrapped, so if I don't recognise you at times perhaps you'll understand, and if I get lost easily perhaps my wife will understand! 

Happy Aging!

Buy Local ...

Buying local is more than just a saying ... it is a frame of mind and an important frame of mind if you ask me.  Every dollar you spend is helping some one's community, either yours or someone else's.

Sometimes you need to go outside your community to get the quality, brand or type of service or product you need.  I will often buy herbal supplements that are made from herbs that only grow in tropical Asia.  We sometimes use vanilla that comes from the South Pacific.  But given the choice I'd rather buy my goods and services from a person or company that lives in the community where I live, pays taxes in the community that I pay in to, and who's fortune and welfare is tied to the local community.  That person will help improve my community and is vested in the success of everyone in the area.

On the occasion that you have to spend money with companies that don't have an interest in your community, you are losing the benefit of that money to what ever community the company resides. 

It's greener, safer, economically sound, and more trustworthy than buying services and goods from far away places.

J