Choosing the right insurance

Executive and Individual Coverage Programs

Choosing the right insurance at the right time in your life is critical.

If you own a business, your Executive solutions must be carefully selected. Pearl Benefits Group, Inc. is committed to assisting individuals and executives better understand their options, and enroll them in the best combination of benefit and insurance programs, anywhere in the U.S.

We offer a comprehensive menu of choices for executives and individuals that will help better protect our clients from life’s unforeseen pitfalls and help them prepare for retirement and beyond.

HMO: A type of health insurance plan that usually limits coverage to care from doctors who work for or contract with the HMO. It generally won’t cover out-of-network care except in an emergency. An HMO may require you to live or work in its service area to be eligible for coverage. HMOs often provide integrated care and focus on prevention and wellness.

PPO: A type of health plan that contracts with medical providers, such as hospitals and doctors, to create a network of participating providers. You pay less if you use providers that belong to the plan’s network. You can use doctors, hospitals, and providers outside of the network for an additional cost.

Open Access HMO: same as HMO above but without the need for a referral to see a socialist. Members may self refer to specialists of their choice within the HMO network.

HSA: A type of savings account that let’s you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed dollars in a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and some other expenses, you can lower your overall health care costs.
For 2018, you can contribute up to $3,450 for self-only HDHP coverage and up to $6,900 for family HDHP coverage. HSA funds roll over year to year if you don’t spend them. An HSA may earn interest, which is not taxable.

HRA: Health Reimbursement Accounts are employer-funded group health plans from which employees are reimbursed tax-free for qualified medical expenses up to a fixed dollar amount per year. Unused amounts may be rolled over to be used in subsequent years. The employer funds and owns the account. Health Reimbursement Accounts are sometimes called Health Reimbursement Arrangements.

Dental Insurance: It’s a form of health insurance designed to pay a portion of the costs associated with dental care. There are several different types of individual, family, or group dental insurance plans grouped into three primary categories: Indemnity, Preferred Provide Network (PPO), and Dental Health Managed Organizations (DHMO). Generally dental offices have a fee schedule, or a list of prices for the dental services or procedures they offer. Dental insurance companies have similar fee schedules which is generally based on Usual and Customary dental services, an average of fees in an area. The fee schedule is commonly used as the transactional instrument between the insurance company, dental office and/or dentist, and the consumer.

Vision insurance: is commonly used to describe health and wellness plans designed to reduce your costs for routine preventive eye care (eye exams) and prescription eyewear (eyeglasses and contact lenses). Some vision plans also offer discounts on elective vision correction surgery, such as LASIK and PRK.

Variable Life: It is a permanent life insurance policy with an investment component. The policy has a cash value account, which is invested in a number of sub-accounts available in the policy. A sub-account acts similar to a mutual fund, except it’s only available within a variable life insurance policy.

Universal Life: is type of flexible permanent life insurance offering the low-cost protection of term life insurance as well as a savings element (like whole life insurance), which is invested to provide a cash value buildup.

Disability insurance: a plan that provides for periodic payments of benefits when a disabled insured is unable to work. The insurance product is designed to replace anywhere from 45 to 65% of your gross income on a tax-free basis should illness keep you from earning an income in your occupation.

LTC: covers care generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.
Individuals who require long-term care are generally not sick in the traditional sense, but instead, are unable to perform two of the six activities of daily living (ADLs) such as dressing, bathing, eating, toileting, continence, transferring (getting in and out of a bed or chair), and walking.
Age is not a determining factor in needing long-term care. About 70 percent of individuals over age 65 will require at least some type of long-term care services during their lifetime. About 40% of those receiving long-term care today are between 18 and 64. Once a change of health occurs, long-term care insurance may not be available. Early onset (before age 65) Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are rare but do occur.
Long-term care is an issue because people are living longer. As people age, many times they need help with everyday activities of daily living or require supervision due to severe cognitive impairment. This impacts women even more since women often live longer than men and by default, they become caregivers to others.

IRA’s – an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a type of savings account that is designed to help you save for retirement and offers many tax advantages. There are two different types of IRAs: Traditional and Roth IRAs.

Traditional IRA – an individual retirement account (IRA) allows individuals to direct
pretax income towards investments that can grow tax-deferred; no capital gains or dividend income is taxed until it is withdrawn.

Roth IRA – an individual retirement account allowing a person to set aside after-tax
income up to a specified amount each year. Both earnings on the account and withdrawals after age 59½ are tax-free.

401K – A 401(k) plan is a qualified employer-established plan to which eligible employees may make salary deferral (salary reduction) contributions on a post-tax and/or pretax basis. Employers offering a 401(k) plan may make matching or non-elective contributions to the plan on behalf of eligible employees and may also add a profit-sharing feature to the plan. Earnings in a 401(k) plan accrue on a tax-deferred basis.

Section 124/Cafeteria Plan – It’s a separate written plan maintained by an employer for employees that meets the specific requirements of and regulations of section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. It provides participants an opportunity to receive certain benefits on a pretax basis.

HSA – A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available to taxpayers in the United States who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The funds contributed to an account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit.

HRA – Health reimbursement account consists of employer-funded plans that reimburse employees for incurred medical expenses that are not covered by the company’s standard insurance plan. Because the employer funds the plan, any distributions are considered tax deductible to the employer.

FSA – A flexible spending account also known as a flexible spending arrangement, is one of a number of tax-advantaged financial accounts that can be set up through a cafeteria plan of an employer in the United States.

Allow the licensed experts at Pearl Benefits Group, Inc. to match you with the right product for your specific needs.
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