Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why use InsuranceCheckRate.coms.com for alternative health plans or rates. InsuranceCheckRate.com will provide very competitive plans and rates utilizing carriers such as Kaiser Permanente, Anthem, United Health Care, Rocky Mountain Health Care, Aetna for health options. Dental carriers include Delta Dental, Guardian, Beta Dental and Metlife. Life and Disability carriers include Prudential, Jackson National, Metlife Standard, UNUM
2. Why use InsuranceCheckRate.coms.com for Business Liability coverage? InsuranceCheckRate.com uses comprehensive Risk Assessment and Control to assist in claims management of both Business liability and Workers Compensation program. Use of carriers such as the Hartford, St. Paul, OCG, Zurich, Allied Insurance, CNA, Pinnacol, Chubb Colorado Casualty, Travelers, Fireman’s Fund, Royal & Sunalliance.
3. Does InsuranceCheckRate.com follow existing laws and regulations. Yes, for example, the application of House Bill 1355 has changed the landscape of group plans and the need for individual carrier applications.
Pre-Existing condition Injuries from accidents which occur earlier than, and sicknesses which begin earlier than, the date on which insurance becomes effective. Individual health insurance policies and some group policies generally cover only injuries from accidents which occur after the individual's coverage becomes effective, and only sicknesses that begin or are first manifested after the individual's coverage has been in effect for a period of time.
Best's rating: Refers to a rating or grade that an insurance company's financial strength is assigned by the A.M. Best Company, a veteran rating and financial information supplier headquartered in Oldwick, New Jersey.
Fee For Service: In health insurance, it is the type of coverage where the insurer pays the specified portion of the charges when a patient goes to the physician, service or hospital of choice. Often considered to be the "traditional" form of health insurance coverage, fee for service protection is rivaled by HMOs, PPOs and other similar types of plans.
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): An entity with four essential characteristics:
1) an organized system for providing health care in a geographic area.
2) delivering an agreed upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services.
3) to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons .
4) for which services the HMO is reimbursed through a predetermined and periodic prepayment made by or on behalf of each person or family unit enrolled in the HMO, without regard to the amounts of actual services provided.
PPO--Preferred Provider Organization: A group of health care providers, each of whom agrees to offer services to a given employer or insurer at a lower cost in return for a stable volume of patients or other incentive.
Deductible: In a policy providing a deductible clause, the amount which must first be subtracted from the total damage incurred before determining the insurance company's liability. Coinsurance: In major medical insurance, the clause that specifies the percentage of a loss which the company will pay and the percentage which the insured will bear.
Copayment: A flat, preset fee paid by an insured for office visits, drugs, and other medical services as member of an HMO or preferred provider service.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: A federal law that affects how confidential information is collected, used and shared. It has created new standards for insurers who must now take more precautions to protect the private information of their customers. The Act has also created constraints to the industry's ability to access medical records related to investigating claims-related injuries.
COBRA--Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. A federal act making provision for the continuation of an employee's health insurance coverage, as well as the coverage for dependents, should the employee terminate his or her employment. This act is in effect whether or not the termination was voluntary. Further, it applies to employer-sponsored group health plans with 20 or more employees.
Medicare: The hospital insurance system and the supplementary medical insurance system created by the 1965 amendments to the Social Security Act.
Medicare supplement policy: An optional type of private health insurance policy designed to supplement or pick up the costs of medical services not covered by Medicare. A type of gap coverage.
professional-employer organization: A commercial firm that contracts with employers, allowing the latter to outsource functions such as employee benefits, human resources and payroll, reducing their payroll and operating expenses.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA): is a federal law that sets minimum standards for retirement and health benefit plans in private industry.
Family Medical Leave Act: provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.
Health Savings Account (HSA): is an account that is established by an eligible individual for the purpose of paying qualified medical expenses.
Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA): is an employer paid medical reimbursement plan.
Flexible Spending Account (FSA): is a benefit that may be offered under a Section 125, Cafeteria Plan
Property Insurance: "First-party" insurance of real and personal property against physical loss or damage, not to be confused with property damage liability insurance.
Bodily injury liability insurance: A form of "third-party" protection covering the insured's legal liability for bodily injury to others caused by the insured's negligence.
Blanket coverage:
1) In property insurance, a single limit of insurance that covers a number of items, such as one amount of insurance to cover two buildings or a single building and its contents. A blanket policy usually contains certain restrictions, which may be absent in "specific" or "itemized" policies, such as the use of a 90% coinsurance clause.
2) In the case of health insurance, a policy or contract covering an entire specified group of people (such as employees) against a listed set of hazards or perils (for example, for medical or dental protection). Business interruption insurance: A time element coverage which pays for loss of earnings when business operations are curtailed or suspended due to property loss as a result of an insured cause of loss. This coverage is now obsolete and has been replaced by a more comprehensive and generic business income insurance.
Business risk management: A newer, broader application of the risk management concept. It refers to an aggressive approach to handling an organization’s multitude of exposure to loss of tangible and intangible property, including income. It may use a variety of tools to avoid loss, such as safety procedures, insurance, shifting of risk via contracts, arranging for alternate supply channels, etc. The concept focuses on growing concerns that face new, often unanticipated, risks.
Business continuation insurance: Should one partner/corporate officer, etc., die or become disabled, business continuation insurance provides cash to the surviving partners/stockholders to continue the business and/or purchase the stock or interest of the deceased partner. Also known as Key Man Insurance.
Risk management: The active identification, evaluation and management of all of the potential hazards and exposures to loss a risk may experience. The handling of those exposures is not limited to insurance options, but includes a variety of methods such as alternative financing, retention, reduction, elimination, transfer, and/or any combination of methods.
Risk Control: Identify and evaluating exposures to loss, and implementing policies and procedures to economically reduce costs through proven loss prevention and loss reduction techniques.
Risk Assessment: provides critical cash flow analysis, cost projections, and historical loss analysis that will assist you in making informed decisions on program structure.
Workers Compensation Insurance: Protection which provides benefits to employees for any injury or contracted disease arising out of and in the course of employment. All states have laws which require such protection for workers and prescribe the length and amount of such benefits provided.
