A long-term healthcare insurance is what everybody needs. Many people underestimate and fail to realize how important it is until they need one. A healthcare program is something that you must buy or get when you still don’t need it, but ironically is something that you can’t get when you already need it.
A long-term healthcare insurance is normally being misunderstood. People would usually think that long-term and short-term healthcare insurances are the same. A short-term healthcare insurance is something that you must pay for annually as a hedge or protection for your income just in case you get sick. A short-term healthcare insurance only covers you generally for a year. After it expires, you are required to pay its annual premium once again in order to avail its benefits. A long-term healthcare insurance on the other hand is a healthcare insurance that will cover your medical, hospital, and any other health related issues for the rest of your life. Long-term insurance generally have shorter paying periods but their premiums are more expensive than short term healthcare programs. The healthcare insurance that most employers provide are short term healthcare insurances.
Long-term healthcare insurances are not as popular as short-term healthcare insurances because not so many people know it. The healthcare insurance that most people know and familiar of are those that are being provided by the company. However, the benefits that long term healthcare insurances outweigh short term healthcare.
Aside from the fact that long-term healthcare insurances serve as an income protection for the rest of your life or at least for a very long period of time, most long term healthcare insurances have savings and investments bundled with it giving you, the policy holder, more options and financial breathing room. Long-term healthcare insurance don’t expire and you are not obliged to pay for the rest of your life just to get covered or protected.
Since long-term healthcare insurances are not as popular as short term, the dilemma that most people face is, how can they gauge if such long term healthcare program is good for them or which is the better one. Here are some tips on how to shop for a good long term healthcare insurance.
1.) Reputation. The reputation of the company must be the top priority. Insurance is a very lucrative business and it can lure lots of people to invest. Many companies didn’t last long and brought with them lots of their clients’ and policy holders’ money. One way to check the reputation of the company is to look at the number of years that they’ve been in operation. The leading companies in the insurance sector have already existed for more than a hundred years, some good ones have existed for at least 50 years. Another way is to get other people’s opinions and experience. Companies with good reputation have happy and very satisfied customers.
2.) Length of paying period and long term benefits. Some companies have a 5-year term, some have 10-year terms. Paying periods may vary but the thing to be considered in the paying period’s length is the amount of benefits that you’ll get probably when you retire or when you’ll need it. Some companies give 10% compounding interest annually giving clients and policy holders very good gains for their policies which in the long run can provide them a very good income or healthcare support.
3.) Additional benefits. Other than being a healthcare, long term healthcare insurance have other benefits in it, most of the time, being insurance and investment. Most long term healthcare insurance have a maturity period which gives policy holders the luxury to either redeem all of the benefits that they are entitled to or to let the company continue to make it grow. As long as you still have funds in a company, your equity will continue to grow. You can use your long term healthcare insurance as a pension plan later on in your life by only redeeming the interest yearly. If something will also happen to you, your beneficiaries can also get an amount to support their financial needs. These additional benefits makes long term healthcare better than short term healthcare. Of course, they come with a price.
4.) Client support. Pick a long-term healthcare insurance that has good client support. Most or if not all healthcare insurances are being sold by agents or brokers. In most cases, agents and brokers stop providing good support for their clients once they get a good commission, it is a fact. There are some companies that provide good client service. They train their agents and brokers well as well as their help desk. Client support covers everything in the business such as business etiquette, providing assistance to concerns, and even to the point of delivering payments to the office and receipts to the client. Look for agents, brokers, and companies that are doing good service, not those who are only after the commission.