Showing posts with label insurance coverage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance coverage. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Short Term Disability Insurance



Short-term disability insurance (also known as STD) is a branch of general disability insurance policies. This type of insurance covers potential disabilities only for a short period of time. That is, if you happen to be unable to work for a limited period, the insurance will cover a percentage of your salary; this continues until you are again able to work or until the deadline of the coverage expires.


Specifically, short-term disability policies are designed for people who do not have the financial background that would enable them to make it through a temporary disability situation. This means that those policies are only designed to cover a period of time that lasts no longer than one year. A typical example is a woman who is about to give birth. She is going to be unable to attend her job for at least three months. If she were not financially strong enough to handle a loss of salary, then short-term disability insurance would definitely help her.


Disability policies will cover injuries caused by accidents as well as illnesses that prevent you from being able to work. Again, the coverage will only be valid for a pre-specified, short period of time; as soon as that period of time is over, your short-term disability policy is no longer obliged to support you.


As a side note, this type of policies never supports you with your full salary; they will only provide you with a percentage of your original salary. Percentages usually range from 45% to 60%, and they never go above 70%. This is a factor that someone who seeks such a policy should consider very well before he chooses.


One important thing to know is that when you claim temporary disability, depending on the reason that you present, the payment may come earlier or later. Although first payments usually come after two weeks, injury disabilities are paid almost immediately. On the other hand, it takes a few days in order to prove that an illness is really preventing you from being able to work.


Thursday, April 17, 2008

Temporary Health Insurance Coverage



If you are in between jobs and think you need health insurance coverage while you look for another one, getting temporary health insurance coverage may be the solution for you. The following is a summary of how it works, some of its benefits, and some considerations to be made when thinking of getting a temporary health insurance policy for your family.
How it works
Temporary health insurance is exactly that: temporary. Most policies offer coverage no less than one month and no longer than six months (though there are states that offer coverage for an entire year), after which your policy is terminated. The process of application is much the same as with an individual insurance policy. The applicant must go through the screening process and must be cleared in order to be given coverage. It is at the point that the applicant is cleared that details on premiums, deductibles and duration of coverage are discussed. Also, most temporary health insurance policy providers will not allow you to change how long your coverage will last.
Advantages of having temporary health insurance
The application for this kind of health insurance is usually the fastest way to get coverage because the time frame of your coverage is short. Some policy providers even offer next-day approval. This kind of coverage is also good for people who either expect to be employed soon and simply require coverage for the meantime, or for self-employed people looking to enter a company. In both cases, the policy does not require that you make a commitment to it for too long a period.

Some considerations
If you expect to be employed within the next few weeks, this kind of coverage may not be a good choice for you. Most companies offer group insurance coverage and the minimum coverage of temporary health insurance is at least one month. However, if you are still in the process of looking for work and expect to have a job in three months, this can be good to tide you over during that time. Alternatively, if you are self-employed and do not wish to enter into a company, perhaps a better choice would be an individual health insurance policy instead of a temporary one. At the very least, it will reduce the hassle of having to renegotiate with your policy provider every time your policy terminates.