Yes!

Everyone knows why life insurance is important, but many of us choose to ignore the reality of what would happen if we were to die suddenly.

The results could be devastating for your surviving family members, leaving them with a large bill for your final expenses, or even worse, loss of the family home because they can no longer cover the mortgage.

A Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy helps pay some of the health care costs that Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like:

• Copayments
• Coinsurance
• Deductibles
• Medigap policies are sold by private companies.

Some Medigap policies also cover services that Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like medical care when you travel outside the U.S.

If you have Original Medicare and you buy a Medigap policy, here’s what happens:

Medicare will pay its share of the Medicare-approved amount for covered health care costs.

Then, your Medigap policy pays its share.
8 things to know about Medigap policies

• You must have Medicare Part A and Part B.
• A Medigap policy is different from a Medicare Advantage Plan. Those plans are ways to get Medicare benefits, while a Medigap policy only supplements your Original Medicare benefits.
• You pay the private insurance company a monthly premium for your Medigap policy. You pay this monthly premium in addition to the monthly Part B premium that you pay to Medicare.
• A Medigap policy only covers one person. If you and your spouse both want Medigap coverage, you’ll each have to buy separate policies.
• You can buy a Medigap policy from any insurance company that’s licensed in your state to sell one.
• Any standardized Medigap policy is guaranteed renewable even if you have health problems. This means the insurance company can’t cancel your Medigap policy as long as you pay the premium.
• Some Medigap policies sold in the past cover prescription drugs. But, Medigap policies sold after January 1, 2006 aren’t allowed to include prescription drug coverage. If you want prescription drug coverage, you can join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (Part D).
• It’s illegal for anyone to sell you a Medigap policy if you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, unless you’re switching back to Original Medicare.

A Long-Term Care Insurance policy covers a person’s basic daily needs over an extended time.

While health care insurance or Medicare helps pay for immediate medical expenses, say, a surgeon’s bill, long-term-care insurance helps people cope with the cost of chronic illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, or various disabilities

A prescription drug plan (PDP) is a stand-alone plan, covering only prescription drugs.

Enrollees who choose the option of prescription drug coverage through a Medicare Advantage plan would also have coverage for other medical expenses as part of that plan.

Final expense insurance is designed to cover the bills that your loved ones will face after your death.

These costs will include medical bills and funeral expenses.

Final expense insurance is also known as burial insurance.

Final expense life insurance is a type of whole life insurance that offers small coverage amounts to people who may not otherwise qualify for another type of policy like traditional term or whole life.

There are two types of final expense policies:

1. Simplified-issue life insurance , which requires you to answer a few questions about your health and
2. Guaranteed-issue life insurance, which guarantees coverage except for all except those who suffer from certain serious medical conditions.

Disability insurance replaces a portion of employee income when they can’t work because of an illness or disability.

For the most part, disability insurance will not replace all of someone’s income.

Instead, disability insurance provides wage replacement benefits that cover, on average, up to 60% of employee earnings.

In simplest terms, a qualified retirement plan is one that meets ERISA guidelines, while a non-qualified plan falls outside of ERISA guidelines.

Qualified plans include 401(k), profit sharing plans, 403(b), and Keogh (HR-10) plans.

Tax treatment is the main difference between qualified and non-qualified retirement plans.

Contributions to a non-qualified plan are not deductible to the employer until the employee takes a withdrawal and is taxed on the income.

Employer contributions to a qualified plan may be deducted immediately.

An annuity is a type of policy issued by an insurance company designed to accept and grow funds, and upon annuitization, create a stream of income or payments.

The money you pay in can be either a lump sum or a number of payments.

These contributions generally earn a rate of return, generally tax-deferred.

Key person insurance is simply life insurance on the key person(s) in your business.

In a small business, this is usually the owner, the founders or perhaps a key employee or two.

These are the team members who are crucial to a business–the ones whose absence would sink the company.

You definitely need to consider key person insurance on those key team members.