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Long-Term Disability Insurance

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Insurance File - Box 2 of Important DocumentsToday is monumental – the last category in Box 2 of our important documents! Though these last two categories (short-term and long-term disability) only hold a few documents, I keep them separate due to different types of policies. Also, should claims get filed, I need space to keep all the documentation for proof of submission.

Kept within the eleventh file opening are the documents for our long-term disability insurance which makes up our ninth and last category in our insurance filing system. 🙂

Long-Term Disability Insurance

Defined

Similar to our short-term disability, our long-term disability insurance policies protect Paul’s paycheck should he become disabled. Paul’s employer offers a basic long-term disability policy free of charge to all active employees. This benefit has basic coverage, but we choose to pay for supplemental long-term disability which provides at least 65% of Paul’s covered pre-disability earnings.

Our long-term disability policies work together and begin on day 90 of Paul’s disability. Should Paul become disabled, our family would receive compensation beginning on day 7 with short-term disability and then transfer to long-term disability on day 91.

Documents

For these policies, I keep the following documents in this eleventh file opening of our insurance file box:

Summary Page

This one-page document has the administrator’s contact information and instructions for filing claims.

Policies

From the employer’s web site, I downloaded (and still need to print out) these two policies. I do keep a record of these links in this file opening.

Instructions

Since Paul’s employer holds these policies, we do not have personal policy numbers. If we need to file a claim, Paul’s benefits’ office has specific instructions and deadlines for submitting documentation. I have included these instructions to make finding the information quick.

All these documents make up the ninth category of our insurance documents. Remember your file will hold your documents which may or may not include all these items.

If you have a long-term disability policy, then gather those documents and place them in this file opening. If you don’t have this policy and hope to have one in the future, then create a label and leave an empty space in your file.

All the categories are now complete. Yeah!

However, I have other documents in the last section of this file. My accordion file offers a front and back opening without a slot for a label. Usually I keep these pockets empty, but we had some unusual documents. I will share that information with you next week. In the meantime, keep up the good work, and happy organizing!

Question: How is your document organization coming along?

Short-Term Disability Insurance

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Returning from the Quick Tip Week refreshed, I’m ready to start and finish another category in our document organization.

We are in the home stretch in organizing our insurance paperwork in Box 2 of our important documents.

Kept within the tenth file opening are the documents for our short-term disability insurance which makes up our eighth category in our insurance filing system.

Short Term Disability Insurance

Defined

This type of policy protects Paul’s paycheck should he become disabled. Short term disability insurance is typically more expensive than long-term disability since you have a greater chance of using short-term than long-term.

Our policy will pay us 60% of Paul’s paycheck from day 7-90 should he become disabled. Our short-term policy covers the first 3 months before our long-term insurance takes effect. Each policy has different options, but this is a typical policy.

Documents

For this policy, I keep the following documents in this tenth file opening of our insurance file box:

1. Summary Page: This one-page document has the administrator’s contact information, our policy number, and instructions for filing claims.

2. Policy: Approximately 15 pages in length, this document lists our coverage, claim information, and limits.

3. Notifications: Currently, we carry a policy with the largest coverage allowed. We started out with 40% coverage and have inched it up to the 60% limit. With each increase, our policyholder has approved our request and sent notification of the changes.

4. Correspondence: Since Paul’s employer changed providers a few years ago and the rates were better with the new company, we switched our policy to the new provider to save money and stay in the group options. I keep the documents from our former contract should I need that information.

5. Release Authorization: Since Paul is the insured, the provider required his authorization before releasing information to me. In making the calls and keeping the documents, I periodically need information from the company. To prevent frustration with agents, Paul authorized a permanent release for me.

These documents placed together stay in this eighth category of our insurance documents.

If you have a short-term disability policy, then gather those documents and place them in this file. If you don’t have this policy and hope to have one, then create a label and leave an empty space in your file for the future. Easy peasy!

With another category complete, we only have one more category to complete file box 2. Keep up the good work. Happy organizing!

Question: Do you carry a short-term disability policy?

Special Health Policies: Stem Cell Preservation Policies

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On this Father’s Day, we celebrate the Dads in our lives and complete category seven in our insurance files. Woo hoo!

You may have finished this category already depending on the special health policies you hold.

Since I have three policies and two of them are stem cell preservation policies, I dedicated last week’s post to our Critical Illness and Cancer Protection Policy, and this week I will cover stem cell preservation policies. We have one policy for child #2 and the other for child #3.

Stem Cell Preservation Policies

These special health policies are optional and quite expensive. In fact, the reason we have two policies and not three is due to the cost. When our son (child #1) was born, we did not have the finances to bank his cord blood.

We had just finished building our home when we found out we were pregnant. Excited and wanting the best for our baby, we scrimped and saved for the delivery costs, but we did not have the extra $1700 for this policy.

Knowing we missed out on this opportunity helped us prepare for our future additions. When our girls came along, we chose to bank their stem cells and keep their policies within this ninth file opening.

Defined

Stem cell preservation is storing the umbilical cord for future uses. Per Cryo-Cell International’s web site:

Umbilical cord blood is the blood that remains in the vein of the umbilical cord and placenta at the time of birth. Cord blood is rich in stem cells and Cryo-Cell’s umbilical cord blood service collects, processes and cryogenically preserves these cells for potential medical use. Umbilical cord blood stem cells have been used to treat nearly 80 diseases with over 25,000 transplants worldwide.

Benefits

If our children get an illness that needs pure stem cells, then we have perfect matches for our girls and a high chance that our son will match one of them.

With these policies, we can get the stem cells within 48 hours without cost to us. We do pay annually for the storage, but at our time of need, we will not incur transportation costs for the stem cells.

Since transplanting the cells will exceed our budget, we carry our critical illness and cancer protection policy which will pay in one lump sum supplying the needed funds for a transplant.

Documents

For these policies, I keep the following documents organized by the client number in this ninth file opening of our insurance file box:

1. Summary Page (one for each policy)

This one-page document lists the procedure to follow should Paul and I pass away together.

Since these policies belong to our daughters, Cryo-Cell will need to appoint a guardian (per our wills) on behalf of our girls. When each daughter reaches age 21, she will own her own policy and continue paying for the storage fee annually.

Having this information in writing will aid our executor should Paul and I pass away together. I’ve planned for the future because tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

2. Enrollment Application

Printouts of the offer, price, and services including the 7-page clinical application document remain stapled together.

3. Policy

4. Delivery Confirmation Notices

Since we had to arrange for pickup of the kit, we kept all the instructions and air bills for confirmation.

5. Preservation Certificate

Confirmation of the cord blood received, processed, and preserved with Client ID number.

6. Receipts

With an annual storage fee, I keep our receipts showing payment received.

These documents are paper clipped together into two bundles and housed behind our Critical Illness and Cancer Protection Policy in this seventh category of our insurance documents.

Though you may never consider harvesting your child’s cord blood, you might have alternative therapy or a chiropractic policy which need similar paperwork. By planning your file to accommodate these policies, you will save energy and time by filing them directly than creating a new slot. Happy organizing!

Question: What do you think of cord blood preservation?

Special Health Policies Overview

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In setting up our insurance document file, I worked with the policies we held and provided space for additions. The ninth file opening in our insurance document file holds special insurance policies we have chosen to carry.

If you do not have any special health policies, you may choose to skip this category or leave it empty for future policies.

Remember the key is organizing your paperwork. I just share how I organize our documents to give you a starting point. Your file will look different because you hold different types of policies than I.

Within my filing system, this seventh category of special health policies holds two types of insurance in three separate policies.

Special Health Policies

  • Critical Illness and Cancer Protection Policy
  • Stem Cell Preservation – Policy 1
  • Stem Cell Preservation – Policy 2

Other items you might file within a special health policies’ category include:

  • Alternative Therapy
  • Catastrophic
  • Chiropractic Care
  • Durable Medical Equipment

As you file your insurance documents, start with the policies you have. If you plan to add more policies, then just leave an empty labeled slot for the future.

In creating designated space for your insurance documents, you are working through your piles of paperwork while using time wisely. Keep organizing!

Question: What types of special health policies do you carry?

Roadside Assistance: Are You Overprotected?

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

When I earned my driver’s license at the age of 16, my parents gave me two items: an emergency $20 bill and my own AAA card.

If I got stuck in traffic with a low gas gauge, then I was to use the $20 bill to get gas and go home. My parents took care of filling up the gas tank. (I appreciate it more now than I did then.) 😉

The AAA card provided roadside assistance. If I had a flat tire, locked the keys in the car, or the car would not start, I was to call AAA for help. Though I did not need the services of AAA, I proudly carried my card through high school, college, and into marriage.

Fast-forward a few years into our marriage when Paul and I purchased our first new vehicle. As a perk, our vehicle came with a 5-year roadside assistance package. Since our AAA membership was up for renewal and we did not need the roadside assistance, I counted the cost of keeping or losing these AAA benefits:

Maps

When we traveled, we requested the maps from AAA. With the easy to follow directions, we enjoyed our commutes to and from our destinations. Without AAA, we would not have this access. But, I could find this information within a few minutes through the Internet.

State Guides

In planning our stays, we found the state guides so helpful. With admission times and prices, we could design a trip that fit within our time frame and budget. If we dropped AAA, then we would miss the new additions to these books. With or without AAA, I could search online for entertainment in that area and find the same information, but AAA would save me time.

Discounts

By showing my AAA card, I received discounts at lots of establishments. Without my card, I would lose these savings. Though I would have to plan ahead, daily deal sites (i.e., Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.) offer savings of 50% or more which are better than the 10-20% discounts received with my AAA card.

Notary Services

With free notary services for legal or official documents, AAA signed and sealed those documents without charge for members. Though I did not use this option often, I needed it for authorizing an insurance change, selling a vehicle, and submitting a court affidavit. At the time of our decision, I was not sure if other providers we used had this service.

One day when I stopped by our State Farm insurance office, I asked our agent if they had notary services. To my surprise, they offered free notary services to their customers. Yeah! I had every area covered for which I needed AAA.

Roadside Assistance

Upon hearing that I was considering dropping AAA, our State Farm agent offered to add roadside assistance to our policy.  Though I did not need it, I wanted to know more and asked for details. Discovering that this option was less than $10 annually, I filed this information away for future use.

When we purchased our second vehicle, we added the roadside assistance to that policy. We then waited to add this coverage to the new vehicle until our 5-year roadside assistance ended through the dealership. Now both of our vehicles have roadside assistance coverage through our insurance company.

Though each insurance company is different, our roadside assistance option works this way:

1. Need assistance

2. Get the help you need – call a tow truck, pay him, and get the receipt

3. Submit the receipt to my insurance agent, who immediately writes a check for the service amount

Cons

    • Find your own help
    • Pay up-front
    • Visit the insurance office

Pros

    • Get help sooner than 45 minutes to an hour
    • Quick reimbursement
    • Receive temporary AAA cards to entice me back into a membership

With our decision upon us, we weighed the pros and cons of our AAA membership. Realizing we could stretch our dollars further and gain similar benefits through other means, we allowed our AAA membership to lapse and did not renew. That decision occurred almost 7 years ago, and we have not regretted our decision.

Now, some insurance companies automatically offer each customer roadside assistance. If you hold a AAA card just for the roadside assistance, then check your insurance policy. You may be overprotected. In using time wisely and stretching your dollars, you might save $50-$100 by adding a roadside assistance option to your auto insurance policy and dropping your AAA membership. You have a choice.

A simple question about notary services ended up saving our family around $60. If you are looking to tighten your budget to reach your financial goals, then check your insurance policy. You might be overprotected. Happy savings!

Question: Does your auto insurance company offer a roadside assistance option?