When you get a job in the west (not sure about elsewhere), you are offered a number of different insurance options. The cost is shared by the company and deducted from your pre-tax salary. Many people dont fully understand the impact of not having these insurances and therefore just go for more income.
BAD mistake!!!
You need heath insurance for sure andI think most people realize this and take care of it. But also very important is “LTD” - Long Term Disability". And “AD&D” - Accidental Death and Dismemberment.
THese insurances will cover full-time care should one of the spouses become disable for whatever reason - chemotherapy, disabling diseases of the brain like MS, really anything that willcause a person to be no longer able to work and be in need of nursing and other care during the day. Without these insurances, you can become bankrupt in the blink of an eye and be left without assistance when you need it most.
If you do not have these insurances available through your work, do yourself a HUGE favor and buy them independently.
Yeah, we never thought of these when we didn't have kids. Now as we have a child, we realize we need these.... we also need to get our 'will' made... we're so lazy about that :(
I will definitely get one done by the end of this year, not relying on hubby dear anymore.
I always used to wonder about how useful insurance schemes are. But when my 2 daughters were hospitalised within a space of 8 months, I was ever so grateful that we had been covered. It was awful seeing them in hospital, but imagine if I had to worry whether I could have actually even brought them there.
Good idea insurance ,
I would just share my own experience here ,
this year unfortunately my wife underwent for scissorean **ry for her child and it was carried out in a very expensive hospital here , as the fatus had to be taken for NICU although my insurance was not covering all the expenses directly but had to reimberse that.
But , I was really happy getting all the expenses back, which definetly exceeded more than my some salaries.
and I realized that time the importance of Health Insurance , thanks to the policy of UAE govt here , that they have made mandatory for each resident to be Health Insured otherwise his/her visa will be not get stamped and that is why nearly every employer is giving health insurance by default to their Employees.
**we are blessed to be in canada where its FREE. thanks to Allah.
those in the US who have a decent coverage come to a rude awakening when they hit the life-time "cap". its usually, as i've been told, 1 million dollars. i saw on dateline that its better for those people to declare bankrupcy and opt for free coverage for the poor.**
Hasmat, I dont know whether Canada considers things like adult day-care and in-home nursing care under their free health insurance.
If an adult becomes disabled, this is not covered under health insurance in the US. Its covered under "Long Term Care" insurance which many people opt not to buy. And you're right...without this insurance, many people have to go bankrupt in order to get this care for their loved one. This means that you lose your house, any savings, you have to sign over life insurance proceeeds etc.
Actually, the reason I'm promoting these insurances are much more personal. My brothers wife is suffering from an aggressive neuro-degenerative disease. She now has the cacpacity of a 5 year old. My brother was out of work for a year but did get medical coverage through cobra. But he does not get any sort of home care for his wife. Now that he has a new job, he has to go to work and sometimes his wife is left home alone. She's been found wandering 2 miles from her home and didnt know her address (luckily a neighbor found her and took her home), she has taken all of her medications all at the same time, she put a metal pot in her microwave. If new lesions develop, she could have grand-mal seizures. My brother's new job is very low paying and doesnt quite cover the mortgage and their house is all they have. Yet, it looks likely that they will lose the house.
If they had this LTC insurance then she would get the care that my brother cannot afford and they would be able to keep their house.
No one plans to become disabled, no one even wants to consider the possibility. Yet it can and does happen. Me? I'd rather consider the ugly possibility and plan for it, especially since it costs maybe 10 dollars a month.
Man, when I lost my job, I also lost my insurance, I tried independently, but it costs me 295 dollars per month, and it made me hobo, you know how much? I'm moving Pakistan at end of this month, the insurance policy in america is not good. people say in Pakistani doctor robs patient, but I would say american doctors are the one who are number one in robing. Period.
K, Im not discounting the importance of medical insurance because that can bankrupt even a well-off family in a very short time. Its of vital importance.
But most people neglect to consider other coverages like disability. Imagine if a wife with young children is diagnosed with breast cancer and has to go thru disabling chemo treatments and keep on taking care of infants and household chores. Or if when you're approaching retirement, a spouse becomes disabled due to alzheimers. This is not a medical issue and having nurses or care givers in your home or at a facility is not covered by medical insurance. And the cost is generally over $100 per day to have care provided during the time that the spouse is at work. You run through your entire life savings very quickly and in order to receive these services through medicaid, you have to become destitute and sign over every asset in order to get required care. Better to spend 10 bucks a month so that you can get this care if god forbid the need should ever arise.
MO3 thanks for starting this thread. I don't think a lot of people really understand the importance of insurance until something actually happens. Just to give an example, one of my mom's friend's husband recently died. They have 4 kids, ranging from 19-6 yrs in age. They have a GORGEOUS house, cars, amazing furniture, along with a couple of buildings and other properties. Pretty much nothing they have is completely paid off. This guy had absolutely no health problems that they were aware of. One morning he left for work and later in the day the wife got a call from one of her husband's friends to come to the hospital because her husband wasn't feeling well (he had already passed away after a sudden heart attack). So she went to the hospital and realized he had already died. The man had over a $1mil life insurance policy that she was already aware of. And a few months before that he had bought an additional life insurance policy and hadn't told his wife. She found out a few days after his death. And I am positive, had he not have the life insurance policies, his family would have lost a lot more than just their husband and father.
Also, their mom is a housewife. The kids are either in college or school so none of them are working. Their lifestyle would have completely changed, they probably wouldnt be living in that house anymore if he didnt have any life insurance. Meanwhile, when he was alive, he would tell his wife about all his dealings with people, who owes him money, and to whom he owes money, etc. She knew everything about their financial situation. So it's definitely best to have life and health insurance. It is cliched, 'you never know what may happen to you.' but bad things do happen and losing a family member alone is already painful, there's no way you should leave your family with such a financial burden either if you have an option not to.