Insurance | Michael R Lewis, ASJA

October 1, 2013January 1, 2024

Should You Purchase Health Insurance or Pay the Penalty?

Obamacare is right around the corner, with most of the Affordable Care Act policy changes taking place in early 2014. But one recent change to the ACA could drastically affect many individuals who thought their employer would provide the requisite coverage.

A major component of the ACA is the requirement of organizations with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance benefits to their full-time staff. However, this component was postponed until January 1, 2015. That means that the employees of companies who fall into this category may not immediately receive health benefits through their employer or coverage that is sufficient to meet the criteria, and will be required to either purchase individual health insurance by March 31, 2014 or pay a fine that will be collected when filing 2014 income taxes.

How Key Person Life Insurance Can Protect Your Small Business

A small retail business in my community recently shuttered its doors when one of the partners was unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident. Even though the 25-year-old company had survived numerous economic recessions and changes in healthcare regulation, when the owner passed, the bank required the payment of the company’s outstanding bank debt, and the company was forced to dissolve.

Hundreds of businesses are affected every day by the unexpected death or disability of a key employee, manager, or owner. In the best cases, the business has prepared for the event and the consequences are not catastrophic. However, for most companies, the loss of a key stakeholder has a devastating effect and can result in layoffs, bankruptcy, or even complete failure. Fortunately, such outcomes can be avoided by the prudent purchase of insurance on “key” members of the business enterprise.

All About the Health Savings Account (HSA)

An inability to pay medical bills is the single greatest cause of personal bankruptcies in the United States. While this result may not be surprising since the American health care system is the most expensive in the world, the study paradoxically found that three-quarters of the people filing a medically-related bankruptcy have health insurance. According to Steffie Woolhandler, M.D. of Harvard Medical School, “Many of them were bankrupted anyway because they had gaps in their coverage, like co-payments, deductibles, and uncovered services.”

Due to the continued increase in the cost of insurance premiums, employers are transferring a rising percentage of the cost of health insurance to their employees by raising the employee’s share of premiums, increasing co-payments and deductibles, and restricting access to specific providers. In fact, the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may accelerate this process. Barron’s, a leading business and financial publication, declared that the impact of the law will be “a new wave of rising prices or a rationing of medical care – or both.”

Considering the dire predictions, an HSA may help you to best afford and adequately protect yourself and your family from a devastating medical event.

What is Health Insurance & How It Works

The purchase of a health insurance policy for the first time is, in many ways, a rite of passage – a signal that you have passed from child to adult. The purchase of a health insurance policy is also one of the more expensive acquisitions you will make during your life, rivaling the expense of buying a home. At the same time, most people do not understand health insurance or the components of the contract between insurance companies and themselves, often learning to their dismay that coverage they thought they had is actually nonexistent.

The way to avoid lacking vital health coverage when you need it most starts with understanding policy basics. Read more . . .