Life and Health Insurance

A fixed annuity can help you accumulate tax-deferred earnings as part of your overall retirement plan. Annuities offer the opportunity for lifetime payments and tax-deferred earnings and provide a guaranteed death benefit for your beneficiaries. All guarantees are backed by the continued claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

You may want to consider investing in an annuity as part of your long-term financial strategy if:

• You’re in a higher tax bracket, and want to defer additional income.
• You’ve reached your deductible limit on all your retirement accounts and wish to save more for retirement.

An annuity is different from most other retirement savings vehicles — it’s actually a contract between you and an insurance company. In return for making one or more premium payments, the insurance company agrees to provide you with an income stream — usually during retirement. You can elect to receive payment all at once or as a series of payments, even for the rest of your life.

Individual health insurance programs are designed for individuals and families who cannot obtain health insurance through an employer. Due to the continually rising cost of medical care, it has become more important to provide health insurance for you and your families.

Michelle Lebel Agency offers health insurance programs to individuals which offer extensive coverage as well as high-deductible programs which are designed to protect against catastrophic financial losses.

As an independent agency, Michelle Lebel Agency can provide insurance plans from numerous health insurance companies. With the health insurance market changing frequently, we are always on the lookout for quality, service-oriented insurance companies for our clients.

Individual Dental Insurance is available to individuals and families that are not covered on group dental insurance. For people without dental insurance, cost often stands in the way of getting the care they need to maintain the health of their teeth and gums. Even for routine preventive care, a trip to the dentist’s office could mean a substantial amount of money out of your pocket.

A freedom-of-choice plan allows you to see any dentist you wish. However, this plan does impose 6- to 12-month waiting periods for some services. This is not the best plan for an individual who needs comprehensive coverage within the first 12 months. However, if dental coverage is desired for a long period of time, and there is no rush to receive the major benefits, this plan may work for you.

Individual Disability Income Protection is a must for a business owner and highly recommended for executives. If you are a business owner, you should consider purchasing both group and individual policies, if possible. As an executive, you should be sure to obtain group coverage if it is available. Only forty-three percent of large companies provide group long-term disability insurance.

Your chances are even less likely to get long-term disability insurance if you work for a small company. The cost of a plan provided by your employer is usually less than you would pay for an individual disability policy and often you can get coverage automatically without having to qualify medically. If your employer doesn’t provide disability insurance then you may want to consider an individual disability policy.

Or, you may need a personal disability insurance policy to supplement an employer group plan. Be sure to check the group provisions carefully: How long does the group disability insurance coverage last? How much is the benefit? Does the disability insurance policy cover bonus and commission income? Will the coverage continue if you leave that employer?

A typical Individual Disability Income Protection plan starts to pay benefits after you have been off work for 1 to 6 months, and pays benefits for several years or until retirement age, depending on the policy.

Long Term Care is the type of care received either at home or in a facility, when someone needs assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing due to an accident, an illness, or advancing age.

Rising life expectancy means that the potential need for “long-term care” grows with every passing year of your life. The likelihood is that you or a member of your family will need long-term assistance due to a prolonged illness, a disability, or general deterioration of your health and ability to perform routine daily activities.

Most long-term care expenses are not covered by Social Security or Medicare, Medicare Supplement (“Medigap”), or private health insurance. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all nursing home care, but you must meet federal poverty guidelines and may have to “spend down” most of your assets on health care.

Vision insurance provides coverage for services relating to the care and treatment of the eyes. It typically covers services delivered by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Depending on the specific plan, some or all of the following services may be covered:

• Yearly eye exams – glasses (with an annual limit).
• Contact lenses and fitting (with an annual limit).
• Glaucoma screening.

Some vision insurance plans may provide more extensive coverage (such as certain eye surgeries), while others may limit coverage to “reasonable and customary” charges incurred during routine eye exams. Reasonable and customary charges generally do not include the cost of glasses and contact lenses.

For most homeowners, the mortgage is the single largest source of personal debt. Mortgage protection insurance is a specialized life insurance policy designed to pay off that debt in the event of your death.

Imagine the worst-case scenario. A fatal accident today would force your loved ones to immediately experience financial hardship. On top of your final expenses, the mortgage is due, but your family has no way to pay it without your income. They haven’t even had enough time to grieve and now they have to deal with the impending tragedy of foreclosure.

Like most life insurance, mortgage protection insurance eases the financial burden of your loved ones. It is an affordable way of ensuring that your home is paid for no matter the circumstances. Cancer, stroke, heart attack, injury, death… your family will never be in jeopardy of losing its home as long as you put a custom mortgage protection insurance plan in place.