Whether you are trying to choose options within an employer-sponsored benefits
program or considering an individual insurance purchase, it's essential for you
to understand what certain types of insurance are designed to do and why that
insurance may be important to you. The following information is designed to
help you assess your insurance needs and make the choices that are right for
you.
Click the links below for more information:
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Most of us take our health and our ability to work for granted. We prefer not
to think about what might happen if we couldn't work. But we need to think
about it, just like we need to think about any family financial need. For most
of us, being unable to work would mean no income and it would threaten our
family security and independence.
Consider this:
- At the turn of the 21st century, thirty-three million Americans were classified
as severely disabled.1
- Three out of every 10 workers between the ages of 25 and 65 will experience an
accident or illness that keeps them out of work for three months or longer.2
- Nearly 60% of injuries happen off the job, which means they are not covered by
Workers' Compensation.3
- Savings can be depleted quickly during a disability. Unfortunately, one-quarter
of households in the U.S. have net assets under 10,000.4
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There's a lot riding on your paycheck. That's why disability insurance is important. Calculate your disability insurance needs.
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Many employers provide their employees with disability insurance in the form of
STD (short term disability) or LTD (long term disability) insurance coverage.
If you have this type of coverage, that's a great start. Most
employer-sponsored plans are designed to replace 50% to 70% of your income
while you are disabled and can't work. To make sure you have adequate
protection, you may want to ask your employer about the possibility of being
offered additional disability insurance to cover more of your income or
you may want to look into purchasing a supplemental policy on your own through
your personal insurance agent. If you would like information on purchasing
disability insurance, please e-mail
our Sales Support Center or call 1-877-322-7222. For broker
compensation information, click here.
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What kind of life do you envision for your family? Most of us see our loved ones
with a comfortable lifestyle, doing the things they love to do and living life
to its fullest. Now imagine that picture without you. If you were
gone, would your family be financially able to continue the lifestyle you want
for them? Or would the absence of your earnings jeopardize what you want?
That's what life insurance is for: to make sure that your financial support of
your family is there even if you aren't.
Consider this:
- Between 1995 and 1997, almost 40% of all deaths that occurred were people
between the ages of 25 and 64.1
- More than half of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck.2
- During the past two decades, the number of households in America without life
insurance has increased by 103% even though the number of households has risen
only 39%.3
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Traditionally, many people bought life insurance from an insurance agent across
the kitchen table. Today, more and more agents are offering products to groups
of employees in the workplace, and individual policy ownership has declined
fairly steeply. Most employers have grown to regard life insurance as an
essential part of their employee benefits package. They usually provide some
level of life insurance perhaps a year's salary or more and often offer
cost-effective opportunities for employees to purchase additional insurance. (A
helpful rule of thumb: most people today need an amount of life insurance that
is equal to 3-5 years of their current salaries.) Calculate how much life insurance you'll need to maintain your family's
standard of living and cover future plans. If you would like information on
purchasing an individual life insurance policy, consult with a local insurance
agent. For information on Unum group life insurance plans, please contact us.
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While you are working and earning, you are also hopefully building up financial
assets. It's important to protect these savings and investments for your future
financial security. The need for extended or long term care could be a threat.
That's why Unum offers long term care (LTC) insurance. Long term care
insurance helps preserve those assets, while providing you choice and
flexibility in the services that you receive.
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Many people think of only elderly people as the ones who might need long term
care. The fact is, many conditions that can create the need for long term care
arthritis, heart disease, stroke, brain trauma, cancers and others can affect
people at any age.
Consider this:
- More than 12 million Americans currently need long term care.1
- Women face a 50% higher risk of needing long term care than men do, simply
because women tend to live longer.2
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The financial impact is significant, no matter whether someone receives care in
a nursing home facility or at home from a skilled caregiver.
- As a national average, a year in a nursing home costs more than $56,000.3
- Bringing someone into your home just three times a week to help with bathing,
dressing, meals and household chores can cost $12,000 per year.4
- Expenditures for nursing home and home health care totaled $117.1 billion in
1998. Medicare covered only 18% of that. Medicaid (available only after your
resources have been depleted) covered 39%. Almost 30% of it more than $35
billion was paid out-of-pocket by individuals. 5
LTC insurance coverage is readily available through most insurance agents. A
growing number of companies are making LTC insurance available as a voluntary
employee benefit that employees can choose to purchase based on their own
needs. Some make LTC coverage available to family members of the employee as
well. When purchased through an employer, premiums for the LTC coverage are
often lower than privately purchased policies. Also, the younger you are when
you buy the insurance, the lower your price will be.6 If you would
like information on purchasing long term care insurance, please e-mail our Sales Support Center or call 1-877-322-7222.
- For legal notices pertaining to LTC products click here
- For broker compensation information, click here
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The links below will help you find other disability and health related resources
available on the web.
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Disability & Health Related Links
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Medical Links
Links to medical websites are provided for general reference only.
- www.medlineplus.gov
Information on medical conditions and medications; includes a medical
dictionary of medical terms and acronyms.
- www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
Diagrams and descriptions of the human anatomy, including the skeletal,
muscular, and nervous systems, with animated images that show how systems
function and interact with other parts of the body.
- www.rxlist.com
Information about most prescription medications, including indications,
dosages, and side effects; the search function makes it possible to use
approximate spelling.
- http://behavenet.com
Behavioral Healthcare information.
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Job
Assistance Links
- www.jan.wvu.edu/links/disres.htm
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) website provides reasonable accommodations
for almost all types of disabilities and suggests ways to approach employers
with low-cost accommodations.
- www.careeronestop.org
Contact information for workforce development offices that partner with state
vocational resources, unemployment agencies, and the Social Security
Administration; links to jobs posted in the area(s) of your job search.
- http://www.parac.org/svrp.html
State resources and job assistance.
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Job Search
Links
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State
& Government Agency Links
This page contains links to other websites, web servers and systems which are
not guaranteed to be checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Unum. Unum cannot assume responsibility for the
availability, content, or even the existence of servers, sites or systems
outside of the Unum domain.
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