Cancer Insurance

Guard your income with cancer insurance and it will assist with covering expenses from diagnosis through recovery.

Cancer Insurance helps provide a financial safety net that can assist with covering cancer-related expenses that medical insurance does not cover. Cancer Insurance will allow you to focus on recovery.

A financial burden does not have to follow a cancer diagnosis and Cancer Insurance helps you live well while getting well.

Most of us do not expect to face a serious illness like cancer. However, statistics show 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women develop cancer in their lifetime.1 Some look to family history to determine risk, but that often does not tell the whole story. While heredity and environmental factors can play a role, inherited genetic factors impact only about 5-10% of all cancers.

Due to early detection and more aggressive treatments many more people are surviving cancer. If you are given a cancer diagnosis, you might discover that your medical insurance will not cover everything. Regardless of your monthly financial obligations, you could incur costs for treatment and recovery, such as:
• Deductibles and co-pays
• Out-of-network treatment
• Travel, lodging and meals during treatment
• Childcare
• Home health services

The need to scale back on work or take a leave of absence during treatment and recovery only adds to the stress. This is where supplemental cancer insurance helps. It assists with protecting you from financial hardship in the face of mounting cancer expenses.

Cancer will surely have an effect on your life, you should be able to focus on finding the best treatment and getting better – not on how you will pay your bills. Cancer insurance offers benefits to assist with out-of-pocket costs that may not be covered by your medical insurance, including expenses related to inpatient or outpatient treatment, surgery, travel, and recovery care.

Cancer insurance policies:
• Coverage options are available for you, your spouse and your eligible dependents.
• Benefits are payable directly to you unless you specify otherwise.
• Benefits are payable regardless of any insurance you have with other companies.
• Some policies can be taken with you even if you change jobs.

Plans vary, please consult with a Senior Guide Post Representative to learn more about how cancer insurance can help provide financial protection for your family and you.

What is Long Term Care Planning?

Long-term care is the assistance people need when they can no longer perform some or all basic activities of daily living, which can include eating, bathing, continence, dressing, toileting and transferring (moving in or out of bed, chair or wheelchair). Long-term care needs typically arise as part of the aging process but can also be due to injury or illness.

Help protect your finances from assisted care expenses:

Thanks to advances in medicine, retirees are living longer, more independent lives. As a result, someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care. Although many people assume Medicare will cover this expense, it often doesn’t. That’s why a growing number of retirees are turning to long-term care insurance to protect their futures. Coverage for nursing home care, home health care or both helps you maintain control of where you will receive care, and it helps protect your life’s savings from the high cost of assisted care services.

Sorting through options for long-term care coverage can be overwhelming:

Our knowledgeable long-term care advisors sit down with you to understand your preferences and goals. We provide you with simple, clear choices and help customize a plan that meets your individual needs. You can count on our advisors to help make complex financial decisions about your future easier.

What are Medicare Advantage Plans?

A Medicare Advantage Plan (like an HMO or PPO) is another way to get your Medicare coverage. Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans,” are offered by Medicare-approved private companies that must follow rules set by Medicare.

If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you will still have Medicare but you will get your Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) coverage from the Medicare Advantage Plan, not Original Medicare.

You will generally get your services from a plan’s network of providers. Remember, in most cases, you must use the card from your Medicare Advantage Plan to get your Medicare-covered services. Medicare Advantage Plans cover all Medicare Part A and Part B services In all types of Medicare Advantage Plans, you are always covered for emergency and urgent care.

Medicare Advantage Plans must cover all of the services that Original Medicare covers. However, Original Medicare covers hospice care, some new Medicare benefits, and some costs for clinical research studies, even if you are in a Medicare Advantage Plan.

Medicare Advantage Plans may offer extra coverage, like vision, hearing, dental, and other health and wellness programs.
Most include Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D). In addition to your Part B premium, you might have to pay a monthly premium for the Medicare Advantage Plan.

What are the different types of Medicare Advantage Plans?

■Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans.
■Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans
■Private Fee-for-Service (PFFS) plans
■Special Needs Plans (SNPs)

■HMO Point-of-Service (HMOPOS) plans—These are HMO plans that may allow you to get some services out-of-network for a higher copayment or coinsurance. Important!

■Medical Savings Account (MSA) plans—These plans combine a high-deductible health plan with a bank account. Medicare deposits money into the account (usually less than the deductible). You can use the money to pay for your health care services during the year. MSA plans do not offer Medicare drug coverage. If you want drug coverage, you have to join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

What is a Prescription Drug Plan?
How does Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) work?

Medicare offers prescription drug coverage to everyone with Medicare. Even if you do not take many prescriptions now, you should consider joining a Medicare drug plan. If you decide not to join a Medicare drug plan when you are first eligible, and you do not have other creditable prescription drug coverage or get Extra Help, you will likely pay a late enrollment penalty if you join a plan later.

Generally, you will pay this penalty for as long as you have Medicare prescription drug coverage. To get Medicare prescription drug coverage, you must join a plan approved by Medicare to offer Medicare drug coverage. Each plan can vary in cost and specific drugs covered.

There are two ways to get Medicare prescription drug coverage:
1. Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. These plans (sometimes called “PDPs”) add drug coverage to Original Medicare, some Medicare Cost Plans, some Medicare Private Fee-for-Service (PFFS) plans, and Medicare Medical Savings Account (MSA) plans. You must have Part A and/or Part B to join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

2. Medicare Advantage Plans (like HMOs or PPOs) or other Medicare health plans that offer Medicare prescription drug coverage. You get all of your Part A, Part B, and prescription drug coverage (Part D), through these plans. Medicare Advantage Plans with prescription drug coverage are sometimes called “MA-PDs.” Remember, you must have Part A and Part B to join a Medicare Advantage Plan, and not all of these plans offer drug coverage.

What are Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) Policies?

Original Medicare pays for many, but not all, health care services and supplies. Medicare Supplement Insurance policies, sold by private companies, can help pay some of the healthcare costs that Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles.

Medicare Supplement Insurance policies are also called Medigap policies. Some Medigap policies also offer coverage for services that Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like medical care when you travel outside the U.S. Generally, Medigap policies don’t cover long-term care (like care in a nursing home), vision or dental care, hearing aids, eyeglasses, or private-duty nursing.

Medigap policies are standardized. Every Medigap policy must follow federal and state laws designed to protect you and they must be clearly identified as “Medicare Supplement Insurance.” Insurance companies can sell you only a “standardized” policy identified in most states by letters A through D, F through G, and K through N. All policies offer the same basic benefits, but some offer additional benefits so you can choose which one meets your needs. In Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, Medigap policies are standardized in a different way.

What else should I know about Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap)?

Important facts
You must have Part A and Part B.

You pay the private insurance company a monthly premium for your Medigap policy in addition to your monthly Part B premium that you pay to Medicare. Contact the company to find out how to pay your premium.

A Medigap policy only covers one person. Spouses must buy separate policies.

You can’t have prescription drug coverage in both your Medigap policy and a Medicare drug plan. See page 95.

It’s important to compare Medigap policies since the costs can vary and may go up as you get older. Some states limit Medigap premium costs.
When to buy?
The best time to buy a Medigap policy is during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period. This 6-month period begins on the first day of the month in which you’re 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. (Some states have additional Open Enrollment Periods.) After this enrollment period, you may not be able to buy a Medigap policy. If you’re able to buy one, it may cost more.

If you delay enrolling in Part B because you have group health coverage based on your (or your spouse’s) current employment, your Medigap Open Enrollment Period won’t start until you sign up for Part B.

Federal law generally doesn’t require insurance companies to sell Medigap policies to people under 65. If you’re under 65, you might not be able to buy the Medigap policy you want, or any Medigap policy, until you turn 65. However, some states require Medigap insurance companies to sell Medigap policies to people under 65.

What is Hospital Indemnity Insurance?

Hospital Indemnity insurance, sometimes called Hospitalization insurance or Hospital insurance is a plan that pays you benefits when you are confined to a hospital, whether for planned or unplanned reasons or for other medical services, depending on the policy.

Hospital Indemnity Insurance can help you fill gaps in your medical coverage by providing cash to help cover deductibles, pharmacy prescriptions and other non-covered expenses that may arise from hospital stays and services.

Should I purchase Hospital Insurance?

Hospital stays can strain even the healthiest of budgets. Therefore, in many instances, you cannot ignore the care you need even if it stresses you financially. Hospital Indemnity insurance plans provide payment for each day spent in the hospital and for some other qualified expenses as well. This will be money you can use as you choose, whether for hospital bills or those other costs that come up while you are recovering.

What Are the Benefits of Hospital Indemnity Insurance?

Hospital insurance can benefit your family and you in quite a few ways:
1. Benefits are yours to use how you wish
2. No networks: Benefits are the same regardless of network or provider
3. You do not face any deductibles to receive benefits
4. It is possible to get coverage for the entire family