Insurance World

More and more Americans are going without health insurance because they can’t afford it. But there is a solution. New health insurance portfolios are available that are specially designed to help meet the national need for affordable coverage for individuals and employees of small businesses.

This is good news for many Americans who often cannot afford to purchase health insurance for themselves or whose employers do not offer insurance. This includes individuals who are self-employed; those who are employed by a small business or who run a small business; and individuals in other circumstances that require them to buy their own health insurance.

“More than 45 million Americans fall into one of these categories. Many of these people are uninsured or are struggling to afford the traditional plans that insurance companies typically offer,” says Melissa Crawford, senior vice president, Physicians Mutual.

The company bundles together existing and new products to provide an Integrated Health Portfolio (IHP) with a variety of choices and price points.

The IHP offers a choice of benefits, including coverage for:

• Doctor’s office visits

• Preventive care

• Hospital stays

• Surgeries

• Catastrophic major medical

• Outpatient treatment.

“This portfolio of products is designed for middle-income Americans for whom the only choice has been major medical plans with high deductibles-$5,000, for example. That’s too much for them to absorb out of pocket,” Crawford says. “They’re looking for a plan that pays a portion of everyday health care costs such as doctor’s visits, childhood immunizations, and screenings like mammograms and prostate cancer tests. They also need prescription drug and vision discounts.

“We have options with no deductible to meet, so policyowners receive benefits the first time they have a covered medical expense,” Crawford says. “There are also no lifetime maximums on this type of policy.”

Crawford points out that individuals and small-business owners usually do not have benefits managers who can talk them through their insurance options. The health portfolio offers a needs assessment to help customers determine which insurance products are right for them.

Physicians Mutual Insurance Company and Physicians Life Insurance Company, a member of the Physicians Mutual family, provide a full portfolio of health and life insurance products, as well as financial products. Both companies consistently receive high grades from independent insurance analysts.

Did you know that you could be saving loads of money on your different insurance policies? Sure you did – you hear about it on the radio, you see the commercials about it television, and you read about it on the Internet. Usually, the choices for saving money on various insurance policies include drastic measures such as making major home repairs or purchasing a new, safer, less-likely-to-be-stolen vehicle. However, there are simpler ways to save money on multiple insurance policies at the same time, and you may just be cheating yourself if you don’t take advantage of them.

One of the easiest ways to save money on different insurance policies is to purchase two or more insurance policies from the same insurance company, rather than purchasing each insurance policy from a different insurance company.

For example, let’s take a look at your car insurance policy and your homeowner’s insurance policy. Have you purchased the two different insurance policies from two different insurance companies? If so, you could be cheating yourself out of some major savings on insurance rates. Rather than install high-quality, and high-priced, alarm systems on both your vehicle and your home – which will help lower your insurance costs, but you just can’t afford at the moment – you could choose just one company from which to purchase both your car insurance policy and your homeowner’s insurance policy. Most insurance companies specialize in more than one kind of insurance, and offer discounts to policyholders who purchase more than one kind of insurance policy from them.

If you’re currently in the market for two or more different kinds of insurance policies, consider purchasing all of them from the same insurance company. And, if you currently have all of your insurance needs taken care of, consider merging all of your policies to just one insurance company. Call around and find out which insurance company offers the best deals for switching entirely to them.