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Major Medical: Benefits Guide

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If you are just starting to organize your important documents, you may want to start at the beginning. This series began with Box 1, and today’s post completes category 3 of Box 2.

Under the category of Major Medical, our summary page and identification card information resides in the fifth file opening of an accordion filing system.

The other items housed in this file slot are the benefits guide and correspondence.

Note: My filing system will look different from your system because our lives, policies, and documents are not the same. I share my organizational structure with you as a guide to organizing your documents. Please adjust this system to meet your needs.

Benefits Guide

This booklet (250+ pages) includes explanation of benefits, premium amounts, contact information, and an overview of the health plans and other benefits offered through my husband’s employer. When I question our benefits, I consult this guide for the answer or the contact number for the department to ask.

Correspondence

If we receive any notices or changes to our major medical policy, I would add them to this file. At this time, I keep in this file our COBRA Initial Notification Memo. Should we ever lose our health insurance, this memo proves that our family is eligible for COBRA insurance.

In adding our Insurance Benefits Guide and correspondence to our file, our major medical category in Box 2 of our important insurance documents is complete. Keeping similar documents together with staples or paper clips makes retrieval quick and easy.

In using time wisely, I paper clip our documents and label the categories. Find a system that works for you, and stay consistent throughout your files. You’ll be glad you did. Happy organizing!

Our $23.98 Camera Replacement – valued at $249

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Photograph Credit: Amazon.com

Oh, the value of our $43 personal articles insurance policy! Paul and I have insured my wedding rings and our 2 cameras on this insurance policy. Our cost is $43 per year to fully insure these items and worth every penny.

The Incident

When the girls and I attended a Valentine’s Day party, I was taking pictures of the exchange of cards. One of the attendees backed into my insured point-and-shoot camera and jammed the lens.

At first, I was upset. Not because of the accident, but because here was a fantastic photo opportunity, and my camera would not work. Realizing that I would need a new camera, I did not panic at the cost because the accident was a covered incident. By using time wisely and insuring our expensive property, we hold a personal articles policy to protect our budget when accidents occur.

Replacing our Camera

Since the camera would not take pictures, I put it away. Later, I called our insurance agent and explained the situation. Our agent looked at our policy and determined that he could reimburse us up to $160 for a replacement camera.

With a $160 budget, my husband went looking and found a great camera, retailing for $249, on sale for $183.98 with a case and memory card. Realizing that this camera was a great product, on sale, and we would receive reimbursement of $160, we purchased the camera.

Making a Claim

Upon receipt, we worked with the camera to make sure it worked properly. When it did, we took our broken camera and receipt for the new camera to our insurance agent.

The agent confirmed that the old camera was the insured camera model and wrote us a check for $160 (the retail value of our old, broken camera). He then deleted the old camera from our policy and added our new camera with a replacement value of $249 (listed on the receipt).

Though we paid $183.98 for our new camera, we received a $160 check bringing our camera replacement cost down to $23.98 which included a camera case and memory card. Our personal articles policy covered the accident and allowed us to upgrade to a new model without breaking our budget.

If you have valuable cameras, electronics, jewelry, or collections (i.e., coins, stamps, etc.), you might consider a personal articles policy. A little research and protection now can save you money, energy, and time in the future. In using time wisely, a personal articles policy can help in stretching your dollars. I know, because it saved us $160. Happy savings!

Question:  What items do you or would you add to your personal articles policy?

Personal Insurance: Privacy Policies and Travel Insurance

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Welcome 2012! With the arrival of a new year and a new month, I celebrated this afternoon by decluttering, cleaning, and re-organizing my dining room. Love to start the new year off getting organized. If you are setting goals to get organized this year, then Using Time Wisely is your ally.

On Sundays, I highlight an area of document organization. Having covered in 2011 Box 1, which has credit cards/credit reports and scores, personal, home ownership, and vehicle documents, we continue our insurance document organization housed in Box 2. This series reveals my organizational system. Please adjust and adapt this system to meet your needs. Finding a home for all those documents will make retrieving them a snap.

Thus far in Box 2, our first category, personal insurance, resides in the first file opening. In my file, the summary page, annual enrollment reports, and former severance package fill most of this first file slot. The next two sets of documents are privacy policies and travel insurance documentation.

Privacy Policies

At one point, I housed all the privacy policies from all the insurance companies in this file. But as we have added policies, I found that keeping the privacy notices with the insurance policies is the best use of my time. I do not need to search two different file folders (one for the policy and one for the privacy notice) when I need these documents.

With all the other privacy policies with their associated insurance policies, I have one privacy policy that remains: the health insurance program for South Carolina. This state agency does not write any insurance policies, but they are the administrator of our group insurance policies. Keeping their privacy policy documentation housed in this file with the annual enrollment documentation works for me.

Travel Insurance

As holders of Visa credit cards (Yes, I use credit cards for 90% of my purchases and pay off those amounts each month!), we receive worldwide automatic travel accident and baggage delay insurance when we pay for our flights with our Visa credit card.

Visa sent us the Description of Coverage which outlines the plan, eligibility, cost, beneficiary, benefits, exclusions, and effective date. In the event I need to file a claim, I can find the information quickly from the documentation, kept safe in this file.

In keeping my family’s personal insurance documents organized, I have placed the privacy policy and travel insurance documentation behind the former severance package paperwork. In continuing this series next week (without anymore Top 10 interruptions), I will complete this first category in Box 2.

Keep plugging along. By breaking down your goals to little sections, you will get there. Choose to organize one file this week. Work on a new one next week. Within a few weeks, you will have a category complete. You can do it! Happy organizing!

Personal Insurance: Former Severance Package

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With so many documents housed in the important documents filing system, I forget about most of them until the day I need them.

In preparing for this post, I pulled out the Separation and Release Agreement, also known as a severance package, from Paul’s former employer. I remember that day.

I was at home with our infant son when Paul called to say he had been served these documents. Knowing it was due to cutbacks rather than his inabilities or work ethic, Paul accepted the offer without any regrets and did not look back.

You see God had already prepared a job for Paul. Months prior to the layoff, Paul applied for a position with the State. Within a week of receiving this severance package, Paul got a phone call informing him that he got the State job.

As I look at this severance package, I am reminded of God’s provision for our family. Not only did God provide a job, he also increased our benefits with retirement options, full insurance coverage, weeks of vacation, and increased salary. Though the layoff might have seemed to be devastating, God directed us from a good situation to a better one. Praise be to the Lord!

Former Severance Package

This former severance package is housed in Box 2 of our important documents. After the summary page and the annual enrollment documents, I have these documents stapled together:

  • Separation and Release Agreement (11 pages)
  • Paul’s notes from Human Resources meeting (1 page)
  • Insurance explanations (5 pages)

Housed behind the annual enrollment documents, this severance package resides. Though I have not needed these documents, I keep them for reference and as a reminder of God’s unfailing work on our behalf. What a comfort to know that God sees the big picture when only the next step is visible.

If you are struggling financially or are working through a layoff, look to your Creator for comfort, wisdom, and provision, for God is good ALL THE TIME.

Personal Insurance: Annual Enrollment Reports

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Creating a place for each document AND keeping those documents in the correct file gives you freedom from clutter. To keep the clutter at bay, I have 4 stackable trays on my desk. The top tray holds all the paperwork that needs to be processed. This 2-inch tray gets filled very quickly.

In fact, too quickly.

As the pile mounds, I choose a time to sort, schedule, file, and research these items.

With many items coming through our household, I usually keep one or two on-going tasks that need to be done in the pile. However, having a designated place for each bill, statement, important document, and insurance item makes filing day manageable.

In keeping the insurance documents manageable and off my desk, I have designated a home for them in Box 2 of my important documents filing system. Behind our summary insurance page in the first file opening, I keep our annual enrollment reports.

Most of our insurance policies are through group plans at Paul’s work. Each year, we attend an insurance meeting with a representative to select, review, and/or change our insurance selections. During odd years (i.e., 2011), we have open enrollment, where we can add, delete, or change any insurance we hold through these plans. Next year during an even year, we will have annual enrollment, where only some of the insurance policies are available for additions, subtractions, or changes.

The minimum number of documents I need to house in this first file opening of my insurance documents is two years worth. Since the open enrollment covers two years with only limited changes available the second year. However, I currently have six years worth for reference and confirmation of our choices. You do not need to keep this many. This is just my personal preference.

Annual Enrollment Reports

In this file slot, I keep these following documents:

    • Business card of representative from insurance meeting
    • Summary of new elections
    • Summary of payroll deductions
    • Summary page of each policy change
    • Copy of any new enrollments with premium charges
    • Statement of Benefits
    • My notes and calculations for future comparison
    • Insurance booklet which explains all the new changes for the current enrollment period

All these documents are then stapled together. I write the enrollment year on the front of the documents and house them in this file opening. In January, when the new premiums take effect, I will refer to these documents to verify that the payroll deduction amounts are accurate.

I will also refer to these documents during annual enrollment next year before our insurance meeting with our representative. For the most part, these documents just reside in this file until needed.

By having a designated place, I am able to keep my desk free from excess clutter and can quickly locate these documents in the file. As you organize your documents, the process may be slow, but the clutter-free office area will be a welcome reward. Keep plugging along while using time wisely. Happy organizing!

Question: Do you have open enrollment each year, or do you alternate between open and annual enrollment? Please add your answer to the comments.