If you are planning on opening up a small business, it is very wise to offer your employees health insurance. Health insurance for small businesses is getting more and more affordable and is a great way to attract and keep great employees. So many companies do not offer health benefits to employees, and yet, this is one of the reasons most people will say they stay with one job or another.
Health insurance is not something that people want to be without, and if you are willing to help pay part of the premium, you will get good people who are willing to work hard for their pay and benefits.
I am a small business owner and am very frustrated because I want to offer health insurance to my employees, but I don’t know if I can afford to do so. Health insurance for small businesses is somewhat expensive. I have been shopping around and looking at the different products that are out there.
I think after doing my research that I will at least be able to pay part of the premium for the employees that have been with me for a set amount of time and I know they will appreciate at least having the opportunity to have health benefits with my company.
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What is car insurance? Car insurance is essentially insurance that covers you, your passengers, and your car in case of an accident. Most states require that car owners carry liability coverage in their car insurance policy. Liability insurance covers expenses incurred for damaging another vehicle with your own when you are at fault. This means that if you are in a vehicular accident and your car caused the damage, then the liability piece of your car insurance will cover the damages according to the terms of your policy.
Your car insurance premium (cost) is made up of several different factors. Those include your age, driving record, gender, vehicle type, vehicle age, geographic location, number of miles you put on your vehicle yearly, the deductibles (collision and comprehensive), etc.
What is collision coverage? Collision coverage is the portion of your car insurance that will pay you to repair or replace your vehicle in the case of a covered accident. What is comprehensive coverage? Comprehensive coverage is the portion of your car insurance that helps pay for damages to your vehicle that are incurred as a result of situations such as weather, theft, and vandalism.
As with all insurance, car insurance policies carry a deductible. The deductible amount is the portion of the claim that you as the policy holder are responsible for paying. For example, if you carry a $250 collision deductible and you cause a wreck that requires $1000 worth of repairs to your vehicle, then you will pay the first $250 and the car insurance company will cover the remaining $750. Car insurance costs go up as you lower your deductible. If you are willing to carry a higher deductible, then your car insurance will be less expensive.
Another item to keep in mind is that as your car ages and its value declines your car insurance premium will decrease in price. This assumes that you keep a good driving record and do not get any tickets or get in to any accidents. Also, as you car gets older you can reduce the amount of coverage that you have in your car insurance policy. Many people believe there is no need to carry anything more than liability coverage on a car that is old and not worth much anyway. It is always up to you, but it is definitely something to consider.
Car insurance is typically charged at a six month rate. This allows you and the car insurance company to make adjustments a couple times a year. You can pay the premium of your car insurance once every six months or you can break the payments up in to a schedule that is more suitable to you. Many people make payments once a month. Keep in mind that car insurance companies are willing to let you do monthly payments, but they charge a higher rate on a month-to-month payment than they do for the six month total. For example, your six month rate may be $600, but if you make monthly payments, then you are charged $120 per month.
There are several companies that offer car insurance so you have plenty of choices.
Jason D. Barrett is currently focused on writing articles for InfoBriefs.com (Brief reports on several topics), ChildInsure.com (Child Insurance), and ScoutTechnology.com.
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While not a life insurance product, I think it is worth mentioning about the other two more popular types of insurance. Instead of paying a death benefit, critical illness insurance and disability insurance pay a living benefit.
Critical illness (CI) insurance was developed by a South African doctor in the early 1980’s after he was alarmed that while many of his patients had standard life insurance, it was of no use to them if they had a heart attack and survived. Critical illness insurance will pay a lump sum benefit should you be diagnosed with a serious illness or condition and survive a set time frame (usually one month). The big three conditions are heart attack, stroke and cancer - but some insurance companies add additional 18 - 20 conditions under their plans (leukemia, severe burns, loss of limbs…). CI application forms are very similar to their life insurance counterparts, the biggest difference being that a far greater weight is placed on you immediate family’s health history. The insurance company needs to know if there is a history of heart attack or other diseases to determine your eligibility for this type of insurance.
It is vitally important to read and understand the definitions of all of these illnesses, as some of them can be very technical. Also you will have additional riders (add-ons), that you can select when you sign up for this type of insurance - the most popular being the ‘return of premium’ rider (ROP). If you select the return of premium rider, you will be able to have all (or a portion) of your premiums refunded to you, if you have not collected on the policy over a specific timeframe.
Disability insurance will pay a monthly benefit while you are disabled and cannot work or perform your regular duties. This type of insurance while not complicated does have a tremendous amount variation. Firstly the monthly benefit that is paid to you generally cannot exceed 66% of your current salary; you will need to wait a specific waiting period before you collect the benefit, the benefit can last for two or five years or until you reach age 65. All of these factors will determine how much you monthly premiums will cost.
There will be additional riders (add-ons) that you will need to consider at the time of application. You can select a return of premium rider (as described above), a future needs rider (you have the option to get more money as you age and salary increases), a cost of living rider (the benefit is increased with inflation), an own occupation rider (you cannot perform your job - but can you work elsewhere?).
As you can see there are plenty of variations with both of these types of insurance and you should discuss the availability and other factors with your broker.
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