Health Insurance Info

Bringing services offered by life insurance cos under service tax regime would result in higher premium for products barring term plans as stiffs are likely to pass on the additional cost to buyers
The cost of life insurance and healthcare may go up with Budget 2011 bringing services offered by hospitals and life insurance companies under the service tax system.
The move is expected to result in a higher premium for all kinds of insurance products barring term plans-including products such as donation and pension plans-as the companies are likely to pass on the additional cost to buyers.
“There is a service tax on traditional policies even now on the risk cover. Currently, it is at 1%. However, according to the Budget proposal, this service tax will increase to 1.5% as is the case of Ulips (unit-linked insurance products),” said Rajesh Sud, managing director and chief executive, Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd. “It will be levied on the entire premium in case of traditional policies.”
Sud said the move went against the general expectation that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will provide more tax incentives to promote long-term savings and insurance.
Kartik Jhaveri, founder and director, Transcend Consulting, a private financial planning and wealth management firm, also said the move was unexpected.”Insurance companies are likely to pass at least a part of the lumber on to consumers,” Jhaveri said. “The move may also prove advantageous to mutual fund companies.”
P. Nandagopal, managing director and chief executive at IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd, said the impact of the proposed changes would likely be marginal.
“The tax will not be levied on the entire premium and hence, the impact will be less,” Nandagopal said. “But taxing of the investment component is a tedious process and we have to wait for the final guidelines for calculating the actual impact on policy holders.”
Healthcare costs are also set to rise, with Mukherjee bringing all services provided by hospitals with 25 or more beds and with air-conditioning in the service tax net.
Until now, service tax on hospital services was charged only from customers whose payments were made through an insurance company or a business entity. But the budget proposes that the tax also be levied on customers who pay themselves.
The service tax rate remains 10% but a 50% abatement means the effective rate will be 5%.
The step removes an anomaly in the tax structure.
“Earlier there was a service tax levied on cashless facility on health insurance policies. So while a customer who paid for hospitalisation expenses did not pay any service tax, an insured being availing the cashless benefit would have to pay a service tax,” said Bhargav Dasgupta, managing director and chief executive, ICICI Lombard GIC. “This budget has done away with that variance. However the bad news is that healthcare costs in India will increase.”
Source: [Livemint.com]

Starting, running and owning a business is extremely hard work and can often take its toll on the body. Holding private healthcare insurance therefore provides a safety net to fall back on should a medical condition strike.

No matter what the industry or type of work conducted, the self-employed frequently work long-hours and put themselves under a great deal of pressure. It is not uncommon for this pressure to result in a great deal of stress, which can frequently lead to heart or mental health conditions. For those self-employed individuals who conduct manual work the physical stress on muscles and joints can be harsh, resulting either in impact injuries or the development of long-term conditions over time.

Continue reading ‘Why Comprehensive Healthcare Insurance Is Valued So Highly By The Self-Employed’ »

Obtaining well being benefits from your employer is one of the easiest ways to get health insurance. Many of these plans are partially paid by the boss, giving you a way to save income on your health care. Employer paid services likely provides better benefits than subscriptions that are purchased individually. The group benefits that the boss receives for insuring a certain number of people allows the insurer to offer more benefits to the employee.

If you receive free or discounted benefit through your employer you can view this as a raise in your salary. Health subscriptions can soon be mandatory. Receiving a discount from your employer to purchase your plan would enable you to meet health coverage requirements and watch your budget. It is constantly advisable to take advantage of these services. You never know when an emergency can arise. Right now, a common 5 day stay in a hospital can exceed 100k! Having insurance must prevent you from going into debt, or worse, being unable to receive proper treatment for your sickness or injury. In the next couple years, employees will receive bonus tax benefits for carrying a corporation sponsored plan.

Continue reading ‘Healthcare Benefits From The Employer’ »

There are several options available to maximize the chance for children to be included in a health plan. Employer-provided plans routinely offer cover for family members and adding children to private plans is relatively inexpensive. For those families with low incomes who cannot afford cover, there are federal and state funds available to pay for basic cover. But all these options disappear when the child becomes an adult. This is the magic time everyone used to look forward to. Finally, the law recognizes people are old enough to take responsibility for their own actions and removes the built-in protections. Except, of course, these new adults are either still in full-time education or joining the group with the highest unemployment rate in the country. For young adults going through college and university, this is the time when debts are really starting to mount up.

Tuition fees and living costs take years to pay off. Adding in the cost of a health plan is often the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Even though all the “better” colleges and universities offer good value group insurance, this is one additional cost too many. Younger people take the rational view. They have good heath and statistics on their side – the statistics show the vast majority of people enjoy good health during the prime of their lives. The main risks come from accidental injuries with many hit with big bills following traffic accidents. So most young people put off the decision on buying into a health plan and hope their parents will solve the problem for them. This calculation may be about to change. The insurance industry applies a simple formula to set premium rates.

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Most know that Senate democrats have issued a statement claiming that the August deadline on Health Care reform imposed by Barack Obama will not be met, but not many know that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says that they will vote on the legislation, possibly as early as next week.

Emanuel isn’t alone, all across the country political pressure is being utilized to gain public support, support of key democrats, and business leaders, and our region hasn’t been left out. In a discussion this past Friday, Senator Bob Casey Jr., told a health care roundtable at the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh & Lemieux Family Center that to slow-down and not vote on a health care reform plan would be a mistake.

Continue reading ‘Casey Speaks on Healthcare Reform at Roundtable Discussion in Pittsburgh’ »

We all need healthcare to various degrees, there’s no going around it. Some of us may simply require occasional check-ups and prescription medications to fight the cold in the winter, while others may be in desperate need for specialist visits and on-going treatment programs due to complex health conditions, age or unfavorable working conditions. Either way, dealing with such costs out of own pocket may drain your family budget in a glimpse of an eye with the current medical service prices being astronomical and setting new records every year. So using insurance for financing your healthcare needs has become inevitable even though it’s not yet obligatory until 2014. The cost of having healthcare services financed through an insurance scheme may seem a bit high for many people, especially if considering individual policies. It’s true that for many households such insurance plans with high coverage amounts can get a good chunk of the family budget, which could be used for other purposes. But in fact, it still costs much less than trying to pay for the healthcare services out of own pocket.

There are millions of people without insurance plans who state that they can’t afford health insurance. But if they cannot afford simple insurance premiums then paying for the medical services is furthermore impossible for them since the costs involved are much higher. So what’s the solution? The only solution by far is making the right decisions when looking for an insurance plan to get covered with. Cheap health insurance is always a matter of what type of plan you choose, how you buy it and what services are covered. Quite often people get the first plan they come across without even bothering to learn what’s included, what are the deductibles and which doctors and facilities make part of the coverage network. And this results in unnecessary out of pocket expenses that add up to your regular insurance costs and make health maintenance even more expensive for your household. In order to minimize the burden of insurance costs on your budget you need to spend some time on looking for the right health coverage plan to meet your personal needs. First of all, shop around by getting as many health insurance quotes from different providers as you can.

Continue reading ‘Family Budget Decisions on Healthcare’ »