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Answers to some of our most asked insurance questions

We asked our followers and consultants what their most asked insurance questions are and here we will attempt to broadly answer them. Disclaimer: Every person has a different situation unique to them, some of these answers may not be applicable to you and your situation, please contact your HR or benefit consultant regarding your needs.

Q: Will this voluntary worksite policy pay even if my major medical covers it?
A: In most cases, yes! Worksite benefits include accident, critical illness, cancer, and others. Many of these pay directly to you, the policyholder or member. These policies may have a schedule of payments that are paid to you if something happens, regardless of what your major medical would have paid. The best example of this is the accident policy. Say you slip and fall at home while playing with your children and break your wrist. Your major medical will take care of some medical fees for you and pay the hospital or doctor you go to. However, your accident policy will pay a set amount directly to you. You can use this money towards your major medical co-pays or deductibles or whatever you need to, the money is yours to use at your discretion!

Q: Will my disability policy pay even if I got hurt at work and received workman's compensation?

​A: In most cases, no! Disability policies are usually sold to you as off-the-job-only coverage, meaning if you got hurt at work, you would have to file for workman's comp. Sometimes disability policies are sold with a rider that allows for on-the-job accidents but this is rare and can be expensive. Disability policies are normally used to replace your income if you have an off-the-job accident or illness that cause you to be out of work for an extended period of time.

Q: Can I take my insurance with me if I leave/lose my job?
A: In most cases, yes! This is called a conversion. If you like your insurance benefits and want to retain them even if you leave/lose your job where you originally got them, you have conversion options. Sometimes you can take the exact same thing with you and pay the exact same, sometimes you may have some differences in benefits or costs, but you have options. If this happens to you, contact your benefits consultant and they will help you through the process.

Q: I have a pre-existing condition, can I still get coverage?
A: This one is tricky because sometimes you can and sometimes you cannot. In most cases, if you have a pre-existing condition, your benefit consultant will ask the carrier to please waive this for you. If you are just being offered a benefit like life insurance at your job, then most of the time it is called Guaranteed Issue, meaning you can get the policy no health questions asked! In other cases, you may still be able to buy the policy but you would not be able to file a claim on it for a certain period of time or they may say you can get coverage, just not for that specific condition. For example: many disability policies have a look back period, so they will look back so many months into your medical history, if you consulted a medical professional about that condition within that look back period, the insurance company would not cover that condition for so many months. Usually the look back is 3 months and the non-coverage period would be a year. So you would still have coverage if something else happened to you, just not what you consulted the medical professional on recently. This prevents people from finding out they need knee surgery and then getting on disability and then dropping that benefit right after they recover. Every company has different stipulations, talk in-depth with your benefit consultant if you have a pre-existing condition and want to get coverage, you probably have some options!

Q: Can I cover my mom/dad, my adult children, my grandchildren?
A: In some cases yes but in most cases no. If you have a dependent adult child that is legally dependent on you (usually a disabled dependent) you may be able to get coverage for that child even if they are over age 26. Some companies have life insurance options that can cover your parents, most of these policies require you to take out a policy on yourself first and then you can add some for your parents. Adding your parents to your insurance policy is rare and expensive. If you have legal guardianship over your grandchildren, you may be able to add them to your insurance policies. Everyone is a little different and even different states have certain stipulations when it comes to adding uncommon dependents (someone other than your spouse or children under 26) to your insurance policies, talk to your benefit consultant about your options!

Do you have other insurance questions? 
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