Benefits of a Local Agent – How to Find Them and What to Ask

Choosing individual health insurance from a local independent health insurance agent allows you to settle a deal face to face. This human aspect of purchasing insurance is quickly depleting, but you can still make use of a personable agent who can literally sit down with you and find the coverage you need. There are a number of benefits of working with a local independent health insurance agent.

Filing an insurance claim when you have a local agent is much easier as well. Even though no one imagines they will need to file a claim, it’s always a possibility. With an agent on your side, you have someone to defend your rights instead of going up against the insurance company all on your own.

Insurance coverage can be expensive, and with a local agent, you can save money. Ironically, the opposite—that working with a local agent is more expensive—is often assumed. If you find the right agent, this assumption is absolutely false, especially when you consider the personal attention you receive to secure the perfect coverage.

How to find them

• A local independent insurance agent is what you will be seeking for the best insurance buying experience possible. Ask friends and family members who they have worked with on a local level and what their experience was like.
• Outside your social circle, you can conduct your own research online. Check out the Alpine Agency and what they have to offer in terms of individual health insurance, guaranteed issue health insurance, Medicare supplement plans, and life insurance. Getting started with a local agent here is easy.

What to ask

• Before you settle with one agent or another, inquire about their experience and training. If you get a negative feeling from anyone you talk to over the phone, continue your research until you find the perfect local agent for you.
• Along with assessing the agent’s credentials, you need to find out more about the coverage you can receive when choosing individual health insurance plans. Ask about your right to choose your own doctor or hospital, how specialist referrals work, what the exclusions are, specific benefits of one plan over another, and of course what the premiums, deductibles, and co-payments will be.

Health Insurers Need to Improve Customer Relationships to Compete

Nearly 50 percent of health customers are willing to pay more for quality customer service -- a factor U.S. health insurers need to address to effectively compete for new clients -- according to a new survey from Accenture.

Accenture conducted a survey of 1,000 insured individuals to assess the impact of customer service on consumer preferences and found that nearly 80 percent expect customer services to be easier, more convenient.

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8 Toughest Retirement Decisions

For past generations, planning for retirement was a relatively simple process. When someone reached retirement age, they threw a party, turned the job over to someone else and went home to live on their company pension. Retirement planning nowadays is a radically different proposition that involves asset allocation, retirement plan rollovers, transfers and distributions and a series of life choices. There are several tough decisions that most people must make when they stop working. The most difficult of these choices includes:  

1. When to Retire

Those who are willing to work a few more years can usually enjoy a considerably better standard of living than those who retire early. But deciding when to retire can also be complicated by the possibility of layoff, early retirement incentive packages, personal health and other factors. 

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Chimp Brain Bigger Than Humans?

Unlike the brain of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, particular parts of our human brain shrink in volume as we age, probably as an evolutionary consequence of our longer lifespan, suggest US researchers who report how they used MRI scans of chimps' brains to arrive at their findings in an early online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published on 25 July 2011. 


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Retirees Need Less Stocks, More Annuities

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What is Short Term Health Insurance?

I know this guy Stephen and he just started a new job that offers health benefits to its employees, but not for the first 60 days.  He looked into COBRA from his previous job, but it was way too expensive.

This is where Short Term health insurance fits best.  It also works well for college students, and kids who can't get coverage on their own.  This policy offers catastrophic coverage for people temporarily without coverage.  He can get coverage for 30, 60, 90, or 120 days.  

This is a completely paperless process.  Your application and enrollment materials will all be sent and received electronically.

It is also considered creditable coverage so it bridges the gap perfectly for group plans.  Plans start at $20

Women and Health

More than any other demographic, women seem to have slipped through the cracks of the health care system. One in five women is currently uninsured; another 15 percent are on federal assistance programs. Historically, this has been in part due to gender rating, a common practice in which insurers charge women more than men for the same policy — sometimes by as much as 50 percent.
Fortunately, systems such as these are starting to be outlawed and women stand to gain more affordable access to care.
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