Health Insurance

Carriage Trade Insurance Agency has over 15 years of experience in Health Insurance. Our relationships and experience help us to meet your unique needs. There are essentially two kinds of health insurance: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care. Although these plans differ, they both cover an array of medical, surgical and hospital expenses. Most cover prescription drugs and some also offer dental coverage.

• Fee-for-Service: These plans generally assume that the medical professional will be paid a fee for each service provided to the patient. Patients are seen by a doctor of their choice and the claim is filed by either the medical provider or the patient.
• Managed Care: More than half of all Americans have some kind of managed-care plan. Various plans work differently and can include: health maintenance organizations (HM0s), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point-of-service (POS) plans. These plans provide comprehensive health services to their members and offer financial incentives to patients who use the providers in the plan.

Long-Term Care

Most health insurance plans provide for in-hospital care, doctor visits and preventive health care needs. But they may not cover many other health-related needs of older adults, such as long-term care, which is also not covered by Medicare. Today, the average monthly cost for nursing home care is nearly $5,000, and stays can exceed several years.

Several days after getting foot surgery, Jessica Mulgrew of Arlington, Texas, discovered two holes in the repaired foot. She immediately went back to the doctor, where he discovered two separate staph infections. Jessica nearly lost her foot, and could have died from the infections.

The complications to her foot meant that she needed around-the-clock care. Fortunately for her, she was insured through a long-term care insurance policy.

“If you have to beg, borrow or steal, get it—you never know what’s going to happen to you.”- Jessica Mulgrew

The insurance is not just for those in assisted living centers or nursing homes - it can be used by anyone with physical illness, disability, or cognitive impairment that affects their ability to do basic activities of daily living (ADLs). For Jessica, her mobility was severely limited after her foot complications, so her policy helped her pay for the daily help she received to perform her ADLs.

Instead of relying on family or savings to cover this expense, long-term care insurance is a viable alternative for those with poor family health histories and those living alone.

Premiums paid for a long-term care policy may be eligible for an income tax deduction, depending on the age of the insured.

If you’re considering long-term care insurance, know that its cost increases with age, and there are often waiting periods before payment for care can be reimbursed.

Disability Insurance

There are two types of disability policies: Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD):

• Short-Term Disability policies (STD) have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no longer than two years.
• Long-Term Disability policies (LTD) have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.

Disability policies have two different protection features that are important to understand.

• Non-cancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.
• Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.

In addition to the traditional disability policies, there are several options you should consider when purchasing a policy:

Additional purchase options

Your insurance company gives you the right to buy additional insurance at a later time for an additional cost.

Coordination of benefits

The amount of benefits you receive from your insurance company is dependent on other benefits you receive because of your disability. Your policy specifies a target amount you will receive from all the policies combined, so this policy will make up the difference not paid by other policies.

Cost of living adjustment (COLA)

The COLA increases your disability benefits over time based on the increased cost of living measured by the Consumer Price Index. You will pay a higher premium if you select the COLA.

Residual or partial disability rider

This provision allows you to return to work part-time, collect part of your salary and receive a partial disability payment if you are still partially disabled.

Return of premium

This provision requires the insurance company to refund part of your premium if no claims are made for a specific period of time declared in the policy.

Waiver of premium provision

This clause means that you do not have to pay premiums on the policy after you’re disabled for 90 days.

Ready For A Quotation?

Feel free to call our office at 516.358.5600 or email us and an insurance professional will reply promptly.