Financial: Services

The Federal Government has extended the COBRA subsidy program. This program provided for a federal subsidy of 65% of COBRA health insurance premiums for those Americans "involuntarily terminated" (government-ese for "laid off") between September 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2009. Individuals who qualified could get up to nine months of subsidized premiums. Under the extension, eligibility for the 65% subsidy will be extended to Americans laid off on or before February 28th, 2010 instead of December 31st, 2009, and the subsidy will now extend for 15 months instead of nine. (If anyone paid the full COBRA premium for November or December because their nine months subsidy ran out, they out will be get a credit against future premiums for th  [more info...]

Health Reform Alert From Allen Health Insurance Agent Peter Young The Senate Finance Committee essentially wrapped up its work on a health care reform bill last week, though additional changes are still possible as the bill is put to a vote of the full Committee later this week. A number of changes made to the bill at the 11th hour last week already are generating concerns about the direction of the legislation. For example, one amendment approved by the Committee would result in a significant weakening of the individual coverage requirement by delaying and reducing penalties attached to the requirement. The maximum penalty for a family of four would start at $200 in 2014 and rise to $750 in 2017*. Also, an estimated 2 million people   [more info...]

The Senate Finance Committee essentially wrapped up its work on a health care reform bill last week, though additional changes are still possible as the bill is put to a vote of the full Committee later this week. A number of changes made to the bill at the 11th hour last week already are generating concerns about the direction of the legislation. For example, one amendment approved by the Committee would result in a significant weakening of the individual coverage requirement by delaying and reducing penalties attached to the requirement. The maximum penalty for a family of four would start at $200 in 2014 and rise to $750 in 2017*. Also, an estimated 2 million people who would face financial difficulties would be exempt from buying ev  [more info...]

Consumer looking for dental insurance should bear these things in mind: Firstly look for a stand alone dental plan, don't buy the optional benefit offered with your health insurance. When you change your health insurance (and you should shop every 3-4 years) you will lose any add on benefits that you had on your old policy. That means you will also have to buy new dental insurance too - and that in turn means that you will have a new waiting period before you're fully covered. Waiting periods on dental insurance are substantial: typically a policy will have a six month waiting period before it covers fillings and twelve months before it covers root canals or crowns. So if you buy dental insurance in January and break a tooth on gra  [more info...]

This week an interesting report landed in my inbox, entitled "What's Really Driving The Cost of Health Care Premiums?" I was intrigued: an article on a not dissimilar subject ("Who Is To Blame") appeared in the March 2008 issue of Consumer Reports magazine and I thought it might be worthwhile to see how the two compared. The summary of the WellPoint report declared: "Despite the common belief that costs increase due to excess insurer profits, the aging of America and the high cost of medical malpractice, these factors have little if any impact on health care premiums. The key drivers of health care premium increases are advances in medical technology and subsequent increases in utilization, excess price inflation for medical servic  [more info...]

I approached a succesful young woman whose business was really taking off and suggested that she consider disability insurance. "Oh," she said, "I already have that." She had bought a policy offered through work at her first job after school, so I suggested (as I do) that she allow me to review her policy to see if it was suitable given how her circumstances had changed. Time passed and after several reminders, she finally managed to dig the policy out for me to take a look at. There was a problem. It was not a disability insurance policy. It was a long term care insurance policy. The difference is: a disability policy pays cash to pay your bills (mortgage, groceries, car payments, etc) if you can't work; a long term care pol  [more info...]

North Dallas Health Insurance Agent Peter Young warns that while the internet is an excellent place to research for information on health insurance, there are important things to bear in mind. Firstly be aware that the rates shown are the best rates the insurers have. Some have preferred rates for the healthiest people, while others get offered a higher "Standard" rate. (One major carrier has a preferred rate and two standard rates!) There isn't much shoppers can do about this - when I set up our website, we tried to get insurers to show both rates but were told it wasn't possible. We got around that (sort of) by adding a second page, Products, to our site, listing each carrier in line but it's clumsy - an applicant has to enter her   [more info...]

Plano Dave Ramsey Counselor: Why do clients plan to retire at age 150? - Plano Dave Ramsey Counselor Doug Stephens offers advice about retirement planning and financial counseling using the principles espoused by Dave Ramsey. Sounds like a life sentence doesn't it? No one really plans to retire at 150, but many of us behave as if we do. Each day in my Dallas coaching practice I meet clients that are in their 40's, 50's and beyond that are deeply in debt. In many cases the debt load is still... [more info... ] Dave Ramsey Dallas Counselor Asks: Why are you considering bankruptcy? - Dave Ramsey Dallas Counselor Doug Stephens, MBA, is shocked at the number of new clients that are considering bankruptcy. It prompts him to ask,"why is ever  [more info...]

Dallas Dave Ramsey Counselor Answers: How do I start the 7 Baby Steps? - Doug Stephens,MBA, Dallas Dave Ramsey Counselor helps clients at all levels of the 7 Baby Steps. They often ask me,"How do I start on the 7 Baby Steps?" This is actually a very good question. An even better question might be,"where do I start?" It is the task of the Dave Ramsey Counselor to review the client's financial... [more info... ] Dallas Finance Coach: Can a Dave Ramsey Certified Counselor Help You? - Doug Stephens, Dave Ramsey Counselor in Dallas, Texas answers the most commonly asked question. That is, Can a Dave Ramsey Financial Counselor help me? The simple answer is that a Dave Ramsey financial counselor can help anyone. Dave's 7 Baby Steps ma  [more info...]

Future entries in this BLOG will be provided by contributing experts in the Financial Services industry in the DFW Area. If you wish to become a Contributor please call Lee Thurburn at 972-470-5888.  [more info...]

Allen Health Insurance Agent, Peter Young, says one of the accusations leveled against the insurance industry is companies won't cover "pre-existing" conditions. While this has an element of truth (we lost sight of the fact that health insurance is insurance - you can't buy auto insurance this week to fix damage from last weeks wreck) the furor expanded to drag in all kinds of side issues that pertain to the ability (or inability) to buy health insurance. Like what's really in your medical records, for instance. Time and time again I have clients who are turned down for health insurance because of something that was in their medical records that they were blissfully unaware of. One lady had a rider put on her disability policy bec  [more info...]