No one ever wants to imagine that a devastating illness or injury could prevent them from working for any extended time, but according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC,) the reality as the Social Security Administration statistics show, one out-of-four 20 year-old today may become disabled before they reach retirement. U.S. Census bureau figures show that only 31 percent of Americans working in private industry have long term disability income insurance.

Why Have Long-Term Disability Income Insurance?

The Consumer Federation of America explains that long term disability insurance is just that – insurance to help you cover your essential living costs for the time you’re unable to work. Having a safety net that protects your salary by giving you cash to pay your necessary expenses like:

• rent or a mortgage

• food

• utilities

• car payments

Knowing that your disability income insurance will pay for these and other necessities can be a huge relief for anyone who suffers from a disabling injury or illness.

That security can pay for modifications to your home, if they are needed, help with daily activities like bathing and dressing, or cover expenses not paid by your health insurance policy. Without this extremely important financial buffer, you could easily use up all your savings, not to mention, face financial ruin. No one should discount the possibility that someday, they may need long term disability income insurance protection.

Figuring Out How Much Coverage You Need

As your independent agent serving the Green Valley, Sahuarita, and Tucson, AZ areas, we want to help you find the best long term disability insurance policy for your needs. Most long-term disability income insurance plans start paying benefits six months after you become disabled, and continue to pay you for anywhere from several years, or all the way to retirement.

We need to look at exactly how much money you’d need to cover your necessary bills and incidental expenses. We will add up all your monthly expenses and compare that with your income and any disability insurance you’d get from your employer. Then we add in money you have from savings and investments. We don’t want to overlook the possibility that your disability could add more expenses if you have to pay for medical costs not covered by insurance and other things.

Don’t take risks on your financial security and your family’s well-being. Contact us to talk about your options for long term disability income insurance. We’re here to help you compare prices and policies, and to make sure you find the best option for your needs.

Long term insurance is designed to meet the needs of Sahuarita and Tucson residents who want to provide for care beyond what their traditional insurance or Medicare policy will cover. Typical coverage for a long term care policy will include nursing home care and in-home assistance.

The main purpose of this type of coverage is to help you get the care you need if you are disabled or when you are elderly and no longer able to fully care for yourself. Many people do choose to apply their long term care policy towards nursing home care, and in most cases this is permissible. In general, a long term care policy will allow for a certain amount of money per day to be put towards the care chosen, whether it is nursing home cost or in-home care.

The size and type of the long term policy that you choose will have a great deal to do with whether or not the policy will be sufficient to cover the entire cost of the nursing home care. In general, you should expect the long term insurance to be a complement to other insurance types, rather than a stand-alone policy. You can select coverage that can include help with baths, dressing, and eating as well as help with mobility or more serious medical needs.

When you choose your policy, you should determine an approximate amount that you will need to have each day for your nursing home care and get a policy based upon getting that amount. Each policy will have a set maximum (anything from days to years) of time that it will continue to pay these long term benefits so be sure you are aware of the limit on your policy.

Long term care insurance policies can be completely different from one policy to another, so it is important to talk this over with your insurance provider and make sure that nursing home care will be covered by the policy that you select.

Don’t get caught without long term care coverage for your nursing home stay! Our insurance agents are ready to give you free comparative quotes right now, so don’t hesitate to contact us via phone or the website.

Short answer – yes. But…there are better ways than simply adding that payroll to your policy.

Independent contractors in Tucson, Sahuarita, or Green Valley, AZ may or may not be required to carry their own workers compensation policies. If they have their own coverage, simply ask for a "Certificate of Insurance" for proof of coverage, and keep that record with your workers compensation papers to provide your insurance company a copy at premium audit time.

If you do not have proof of coverage from your independent contractors, your firm will be charged a premium based on the contract price and payments. This premium can be significant, and it is easily avoided.

Suppose your independent contractors do not have their own policies? Get one for them, independent of your coverage. Why?

1. Losses generated by their actions will count against your experience rating if your company policy covers them. This action raises your premiums for three of the next four years.
2. You do not control their payroll accounting. Poor records may increase premium charges.
3. The act of hiring outside contractors implies thier operations are unusual to your standard operations, or at least not anticipated by your operations. Admit you do not have loss control expertise and get some help from their insurance company.
4. Let them administer their own employee benefits. Why take on added costs for their overhead, unless it’s contemplated in the negotiations for services.

A typical situation is contract haulers. Independent haulers can be one-man companies who do not have workers compensation coverage, nor do they have any requirements to obtain coverage. They also hire day labor to help unload trucks on a regular basis. If they have workers compensation, the day laborers are covered under the truckers policy. Untrained workers lifting heavy boxes is a recipe for large claims. Avoid this risk be insisting on certificates of insurance.

Call our Insurance Center at Green Valley Agency for help with this common issue. And remember: a safe work place is the best employee benefit.

Workers compensation provides medical, health and lost-time compensation for employees who suffer work related injuries or illnesses.

Sounds straight forward enough, right?

Suppose you’re a healthcare worker in one of our great Tucson hospitals, and you accidently contract hepititus from a needle stick. Your covered by workers compensation. Now, suppose you go home to Sahuarita and pass the illness to your spouse. The spouse gains coverage through employers’ liability. This claim type is Consequential Bodily Injury.

In some states, Loss of Care and Services claims can be made. Spouses claim "loss of consortium" or family members claim a loss for caregiving by the injured parent. Employers’ liability responds to these claims

Under all these described circumstances, employers’ liability pays for the employer’s legal expenses too.

Employers’ liability covers aspects of workers compensation which can be third party claims, a fancy term for someone other than the employer or employee, such as a family member who becomes injured or ill as a result of the employee’s exposures on the job.

Employers’ liability covers some other unusual circumstances. For example, an employee is injured by his employer’s product. Perhaps a heating system manufacturer uses his own product in his office. A maintenance staff member gets an electrical burn because a cut-off malfunctions. The policy pays as though it were workers’ compensation first, and then the employer’s liability coverage handles the incident like it was a third-party products liability claim. This type of claim is known as a Dual-Capacity claim.

As all-inclusive as the workers compensation policy tries to be, unusaual circumstance justify the need for employers’ liability. Since general liability policies usually exclude employee injuries or illnesses, work comp needed to fill this gap in coverage.

Call the 1 ^st Insurance Center of Green Valley Agency to explain in further detail about workers compensation and employers liability policies. And remember: a safe work place is the best employee benefit.