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7 Funeral Planning Tips Anyone Can Use

Funeral Planning is not something anyone would look forward to. Nevertheless, you will have to deal with this, at some point in your life since death is inevitable.

By planning your own funeral, you will only be making it easier for your family members to handle things when you are gone. If you don’t want to add to their financial stress, you can even buy a final expense plan. There are many insurance companies that sell such plans. You can get in touch with them through final expense leads.

Here are a few things that can help you plan your funeral, while you are still alive:

Understand the Process

Every funeral service involves four aspects – visitation, a funeral ceremony, a committal service, and the funeral reception.

For the visitation, the corpse will have to be prepared and kept in a casket, so that the guests can pay their respects.

The funeral ceremony could be held at a church, graveyard side, or a funeral home. This service will involve some music, singing of hymns, saying a eulogy prayer, and even some reading of religious or literary passages.

If the family plans a committal service they may want to take the corpse to the cemetery, in a vehicle procession, for burial or cremation.

The funeral reception refers to a post-service gathering where people gather to share some memories of the deceased, and support the grieving family.

Now that you know the entire process, you can make your own funeral planning checklist and make some decisions as to how you want your family to bid the final farewell to you.

Make Plans in Advance

Most funeral homes today sell funeral packages, promising better rates if you buy them in advance. You can plan which package you want to buy; but make sure you don’t pay anything in advance.

There is no saying how the situation might change after you pay for your funeral and till your death date. You may be at a far-off place at the time of your death. In such a case there may not be any option to transfer your prepaid funeral plan to another funeral home. Also, in case the funeral home you paid for, closes down before your death, there is no chance of your family getting that money back. Your money would be safer in a bank and might even collect some interest.

You can always save some money in a payable-on-death account, which can be used for your funeral. This way you won’t have to worry even if the funeral package cost goes up at the time of your death. All that you need to do is designate your beneficiary, who will be receiving the amount after your death. There is no minimum amount stipulation for a POD account. At any point of time, you can change your beneficiary or even close your POD account while you are alive.

Alternatively, you can purchase a final expense plan. This would be similar to a whole life insurance plan; but a less expensive one as the death benefit is lower. Also known as burial or funeral insurance, a final expense plan can be bought by anyone who is 50 or older. Apart from your funeral costs, the final expense plan proceeds can be used to cover your medical bills (if any) or pay back the debts you leave behind.

Keep Track of Funeral Costs

In order to save money for your funeral, it becomes important to estimate the average funeral costs. Funeral costs include a lot of things such as:

·   Funeral home rental fees

·   Viewing charges or funeral service fees

·   Transportation charges

·   Burial expenses

·   Cemetery Fees

·   Embalming costs

·   Cremation costs

·   Miscellaneous expenses like flowers, music, etc.

The cremation costs may vary from state to state. You can make an itemized list of these funeral costs and calculate the amount of money needed for your funeral.

Select the Best Funeral Home

There might be many funeral homes to choose from, when planning a funeral service. Check out a few of these before you make your selection. Get quotes and compare them. Some may not reveal the prices right away; but you can insist.

Choose your Funeral Package

See if the funeral homes you visit offer any packages. Find out what all are included in them. If you don’t need some of these items that come with the standard package, you can ask for a customized package. Make sure you know the prices of each and every item that they provide.

For instance, you may not want to buy a casket from the funeral home if it is too expensive. Or you may find it cheaper to buy flowers from your local florist than get them from the funeral home. Find out more ways like this to save money and reduce the burden on your family members.

Join a Memorial Society

Memorial Societies are nonprofit organizations that provide the necessary guidance to plan a funeral. They also have price surveys of various funeral homes situated in the area. If you become a member of one of these, you can even get some discount at your local funeral home. You may have to pay a one-time membership fee; but it will be a nominal amount.

Discuss and Document Your Funeral Plan

Have a discussion with your family members on what type of funeral you may want to have. You may want to write these things down, in case they forget. They may not be able to follow all your instructions to the T; but they will get a fair idea of the kind of funeral you would want. And even if they do miss out on a few things here or there, you sure won’t mind as you won’t be there in person, to monitor them.

The Conclusion

Preplanning your funeral is not something that might excite you. However, it is one thing you do to reduce the financial burden on your family members after you pass away. A clearly documented funeral plan will give them the exact guidelines they need to follow, to bid you the final farewell as per your wish.

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Everything You Need to Know about Affordable Housing

Investing in affordable housing can be extremely profitable, if you do things right. Many property investors include affordable housing in their portfolio mainly because of the government tax credits associated with them. However, you have to make sure the investment you make is marketable in your area and also profitable.

Although affordable housing is cheaper than other real estate properties, there are a lot of costs associated with them. Apart from the buying costs, there are also the renovation and the maintenance charges you will have to consider, before determining its viability.

The main advantage of affordable housing is the tax credits given by the government. As a property owner, you can receive these tax credits by using a percentage of your property (say a few rental units in your building) as affordable housing. The renters of these houses will also get assistance from the government, to pay their monthly rent.

Eligibility Criteria for Affordable Housing

Affordable housing was introduced mainly to provide housing for people with limited income. These include four groups of people:

Seniors and People with Disabilities

People with disabilities and people aged 65 and above are eligible for affordable housing. They require housing closer to public accommodations, along with some modifications such as handrails, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, ramps instead of stairs, and modified closets and cabinets.

Students

Many students including adult students, university students, and non-traditional college students require off-campus housing that is affordable. They prefer affordable housing that is closer to the campus. Many international students keep looking for affordable housing throughout the year, as they won’t have to make too many international trips.

The Military

Veterans and active members of military service keep looking for affordable housing too. The government (Department of Veteran Affairs) provides them assistance through VA loans to construct as well as buy houses. You can contact any of the VA loan lenders through VA live transfer leads and apply for a VA loan.

Both on-base as well as off-base housing options are available for military service members. However, you need to make sure off-base housing that you select is closer to your base.

Rehabilitation and Re-Entry Programs

Another section of people that requires affordable housing includes homeless families and people with addiction who are in recovery. Adults and children who are into mental health programs and state protective services need neighborhood-based housing and group homes with privacy and adequate facilities.

Apart from the above, people in the lower income group can buy or rent affordable housing, by applying through Section 8 and other subsidized housing programs. However, they have to be aware of their area’s median income. This information should be available on most real estate websites, housing authorities, economic development agencies, and state and local governments.

Determining Profitability and Marketability of Affordable Housing

There are two things you need to consider while investing in affordable housing – profitability and marketability

Profitability

The first step in determining the profitability of your investment is to calculate your operating expenses. For affordable units that you have rented out, you have to add up your taxes, insurance, utilities if any, maintenance charges, transfer costs, and other fees charged by the municipality or your county.

If you are buying affordable housing, your operating costs would include financing costs, closing costs, transfer costs, and labor as well as material costs if you are renovating or constructing the property.

You can add up advertising and marketing costs if any.

Once you have estimated your operating costs, it is time to determine your income. While calculating your cash flow, you should also consider the tax credits and financial assistance that you receive from the subsidizing authority, to pay up your utilities. Deduct your estimated operating costs from this amount to determine your gross profit. Make sure you also consider depreciation charges, if any.

Marketability

You can get information about affordable housing available in your area, from your local housing authority office. Make sure these units meet the guidelines specified for rental subsidies. If you are going to sell the units that you are buying, you will have to consider your renovation or construction costs, to establish their profitability. If they are not profitable, they cannot be marketable.

You can also consider buying foreclosed homes acquired by your local economic development agencies. The guidelines for buying these houses may be different for different regions. Also, these units may usually need significant rehabilitation. The turnaround time required to resell these is also longer.

One other way to find affordable housing is to enter the FSBO or For-Sale-By-Owner market. With information from realtors, you can find many short sale deals with sellers looking for quick sales at reduced price for a reduced mortgage payoff.  You can fix them up and resell at profitable pricing.

Successful investment in affordable housing is all about timing the market well. It may not be a good time to purchase properties if the financing, labor, and material costs are high. At the same time, it may not be the right time to put your unit up for sale if there aren’t too many renters. If the median income and the market rent of your area is high, it might make sense to retain your property and enjoy the rental income it generates every month.

Special Considerations for Affordable Housing Investment

You need to be a business executive, an investor, or a landlord, to invest in affordable housing. As a landlord you can help families and the community by creating a market for affordable housing. As an investor, you can invest in some of the best properties at best prices, in certain desired areas, to generate maximum profit. As a business executive, you can create your own brand, maximize its value and generate some goodwill for your brand. You can also create employment opportunities for many.

The Bottom Line

Just being a landlord will not make you a successful investor in affordable housing. You also need to be a savvy business executive who understands how to make these investments profitable and marketable. Collect as much information about affordable housing in your area, create a market, and apply your wisdom to make your investment work for you.

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6 Things to Try While Selling Final Expense Insurance

Final expense is something that everyone needs. Nevertheless, it can be tricky to sell these products since it involves some hard-to-face facts.

The best part about final expense insurance is that it has low premiums and low face amounts, with simplified underwriting. Also, there is an extensive target market to be covered. However, the final expense is still all about death, which makes it difficult to have a conversation about.

So, where do you get final expense live transfer leads from and how do you close them?

Here is what you need to do:

Target External Leads

The ideal target group for final expense is low-to-middle-class seniors aged 50 and above. However, there is no rule that you need to restrict yourself only to this group. You can find many sales opportunities outside this target market too.

Death is something that can come any time. And more often than not, the loved ones of the deceased may not be prepared to handle such situations. Grief is one thing; but costs of funeral and burial services might seem challenging to bear, especially if they don’t have the cash readily available. Your presentation to your clients should be all about eliminating this funeral planning challenge.

Have a spreadsheet ready with the costs of funeral services. List out the plans that might seem affordable to your clients. You can also sell other plans like life insurance plans and term insurance plans if it works out better for them.

Work on Building the Rapport

If you have been selling other insurance products, you may already have established a good rapport with your clients. Make sure you ask them for referrals after every successful sale. This makes it easier to start conversations with new prospects.

Talking about death with a total stranger might not be that easy. So, start by sharing a personal story that they can relate to. It could be about the death of a friend or family member and how difficult it was for their family members to deal with it. Talk about the difficulties they faced while making financial and emotional decisions, within a short span of time. Were they able to fulfill the final wishes of their loved ones?

Have a worksheet ready with all aspects of funeral planning. Walk your client through the details in an easy-to-understand manner. Be the person they can trust when it comes to any aspect of funeral planning.

Focus on Establishing Relationship

The conversations you have with your customers need not be one-time. You should focus on retaining them as your clients for a long time to come. Create a client profile worksheet and fill in the details of your customers to understand their insurance needs.

Make sure you collect all information about their health conditions as well as the medications they might be taking. Assess their financial situation and find out how much premium they may be able to afford. You have no idea how many sales opportunities you might uncover through these facts.

Understand the Underwriting of Final Expense

Most final expense plans come with simplified underwriting. This means there won’t be any physical or medical exams required. The policies can be issued quickly, maybe even instantly, through an e-application process or telephone underwriting.

Since the underwriting procedure is so simplified, it should be easy to find out if your client qualifies for the plan. All that you need to do is review your client’s replies to the medical questions that you will find on the application. Your client may not qualify for a final expense plan in case of any of the following uninsurable conditions:

A stroke or heart attack within the last twelve months

Cancer diagnosis or a relapse within the previous two years

HIV or AIDS

ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Oxygen usage

Congestive Heart Failure

Resident of a nursing home

Inability to perform ADLs (activities of daily living) without help

In any such condition, you should have an alternative option readily available. A few carriers even offer chronic illness riders on their policies to help clients with significant medical issues. You should have complete knowledge about these riders and their benefits.

Underwriting might vary from one carrier to the other. Good knowledge about the underwriting niches of various carriers might help in determining the best carrier based on the medical condition of your client. However, a standard final expense plan should be good enough for healthier clients taking only the basic maintenance medications.

Work on Improving Your Final Expense Sales Pitch

Now that you have all the information you need about your client and determined the right carrier, it is time to offer the various payment options that fit your client’s budget. Make sure you offer at least three final expense options with different monthly payment plans and coverage.

For instance, you may offer final expense plans with different death benefit amounts such as $7,000, $10,000, and $12,000. This will make it easy for the clients to decide on the amount they would be paying as premium. It will also help them understand how a small difference in premium can help them get so much more coverage.

Customize Your Final Expense Presentation

Your final expense presentation need not be only about selling your final expense plan. You should be focusing more on helping your clients create a funeral plan.

You may include details about various local funeral homes, floral services, travel arrangement options, and so on. In fact, you can offer these details free of cost, to all your prospects, even before selling your product. There are also many marketing tools that you can use in your final expense presentation.

The Bottom Line

Selling final expense insurance may not be as easy as selling life insurance or term insurance. However, you can get many new leads if you think outside the box. Make sure you have the best interests of your clients in your mind. Get all the facts you can and look for the gaps in coverage. You might find many sales opportunities that can help you establish long-standing relationships that can be mutually beneficial.

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7 Things You Need to Keep in Mind Before Investing in Real Estate

No one can become an expert investor in real estate overnight. Although you do make some good money by buying and selling properties, it will take you time to understand the market and gain the necessary skills.

Here are a few common things you will need to keep in mind, if you don’t want to make too many mistakes while investing in real estate:

Having a Plan Ready

The first thing you need to do, before investing in real estate, is make a plan. You need to have a clear idea, how you will be generating income through the property that you buy. A hot real estate market might make it too tempting to buy property. Nevertheless, it is very important that you take a step back and look at things from the right perspective.

Getting a mortgage shouldn’t be difficult if you are pre-approved. Even otherwise there are a number of mortgage lenders whom you can get in touch with, through mortgage live transfer leads. Most of them would be willing you to offer you the loan, if you fit into their criteria. However, without having an investment strategy it is not wise to take out that mortgage or plunk down the required cash.

What kind of property do you want to invest in?

Is it going to be a single or multi-family property or would you rather go for a vacation home?

Would you be interested in buying a commercial building?

Have your purchase plan ready and then look for only those properties that fit your plan.

Doing Rigorous Due Diligence

Today’s customers always do all the research that they can before buying anything, be it a television set, a car, or even a real estate property. This is exactly what you need to do to. You have to make sure the property that you are purchasing is worth your money.

The research considerations may be different for different types of real estate investors. Depending on your purpose of investing, you need to ask the relevant questions and finalize on a good locality. Here are a few standard questions you may want to ask:

Is there any major construction being planned near the property you are buying?

What are the future plans for the area or its neighbouring ones?

What kind of problems can you expect in the future, if you buy a property in a particular area?

Why is the seller selling the property that you are planning to buy?

What are the major things that would need repair or replacement once you buy the house?

Is the property accessible to the key necessities such as hospitals, grocery stores, and entertainment centres?

Is the locality well connected to the major areas of the city?

Consulting Professionals for Help

You have closed several good real estate deals in the past; still, you would need to consult a professional if you want to buy a new property. This professional could be an experienced real estate agent, a qualified handyman, a competent home inspector, an insurance representative, or even a good attorney.

A handyman or home inspector should be able to alert you about any flaws in the home that you are about to purchase. An attorney should tell you if the title of the property is clear. An insurance representative should be able to give you the necessary details about property insurance. A real estate agent will give you complete information about the property as well as the neighbourhood.

Understanding the Local Market

Learning about the local real estate market is very important before you make any purchase decisions. You have to get a clear idea about the supply demand issues, the land and home values, and also the levels of inventory that exist. These parameters should help you understand the actual profitability of the deal that you are about to close.

Anticipating the Needs of Prospective Tenants

If you are planning to rent out the property that you are going to purchase, it makes sense to understand who your prospective tenants would be. Are you looking out for college students, singles, or young families? College students and singles may be interested in mass transit access and nightlife. Families may be looking for good schools and low crime rates. In case you are buying a vacation home, you may want to find out how far it is from the beach or the popular local attractions.

Choosing the Right Financing Option

There are a variety of mortgage options you can choose from, when it comes to buying a house. However, not all of them may be suitable for your financial situation. You have to make sure you can afford your monthly mortgage payments, before taking out a mortgage. An interest-only loan or an adjustable-rate mortgage might get you a low interest rate initially; but things are going to change when the interest rates rise. Always have a backup plan ready.

Making the Right Offer

House-hunting can be time-consuming and sometimes, even frustrating. However, there are times when you just want to accept the seller’s bid if you find a property that perfectly meets your needs. You may end up overbidding on the house, if you give in to your anxiety of losing the property. Overbidding would mean taking out a higher mortgage and making bulkier monthly payments.

It is always better to search for similar homes that have been sold recently in the area, before making your dream investment. You should get this information from a local real estate agent easily. You can also browse through online real estate websites or the local newspapers for the asking prices of comparable homes. Your bid should be consistent with this, unless the home you are buying has certain unique characteristics that will enhance its value in future.

The Bottom Line

Investing in real estate is a lot more than owning a house. You will have to consider a lot of costs such as your mortgage payments, maintenance, taxes, utility bills, and even the repairs that you may have to make. See if you should be able to cover all of these through the rental income that you get. Find out how long it will take to recoup your investment. Go ahead with your decision only if you find it worthwhile.

#loan #loanofficer #realestate #finance

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5 Health Tips to Prevent Chronic Diseases

Your habits and lifestyle can have a significant impact on your long-term health. Most chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are a result of unhealthy diet and lack of exercise.

With healthy habits you can even reverse some of the damage that might have been caused by high blood sugar or high cholesterol. However, by following a few of these tips you can even prevent these chronic diseases:

Stick to Plant-Based or Mediterranean Diet

Unrefined or minimally processed whole plants and plant-based foods can reduce the risks of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. This diet includes legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, while eliminating eggs, dairy products, and meat. Plant-based diet is a sustainable diet which has the power to reverse advanced heart disease and other diet-related conditions.

You can also reduce your chances of developing chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease by sticking to a Mediterranean diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and whole grains fish.

Include Physical activity in your Daily Lifestyle

If there is something that helps all the systems of your body, it is movement. As per experts, a moderate-intensity activity for a period of 150 minutes is recommended per week. However, if this seems daunting, you can try walking. A 10-minute session should be good enough for a start; but you should do this at least two or three times in one day. Eventually you can try walking faster or even climbing a flight of stairs. If this is not possible, try including any physical activity instead of just sitting around

Aim for Restful Sleep

A Seven-to-Nine-hour restful sleep can keep any individual healthy for long. However, if you have to burn the midnight oil, here are a few things you could consider:

Make sure you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even if it is a weekend

Limit your intake of caffein or alcohol

Try and be physically active every day

Keep away your digital devices at least an hour before going to bed

Make sure your sleep area is dark, comfortable, and cool

Focus on Stress Relief

If there is one thing that can ruin your immune system, it is chronic stress. Keeping away from stress improves not just your physical health, but your mental health too. Try practicing gratitude, meditation or mindfulness to achieve that much wanted relief from stress.

Gratitude

Think of three things that you may be grateful for or write three gratitude letters. You will start experiencing positivity within a few weeks. You will start noticing more good things and paying more attention to the positive moments of your life. You will start feeling better even if you are having a hectic day, by reminding yourself about the gifts that you have in your life.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is all about living in the present and being aware of whatever you feel, sense, and experience. It helps you feel relaxed and stress-free. Pay attention to every activity that you do, whether it is brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, or taking out the trash. If you find this difficult, there is another option you can try.

Schedule a 20-minute session every day to practice mindfulness. Sit in a quiet place in a comfortable position and observe your breathing. Focus on your inhalation and exhalation and observe how your belly shrinks and expands. You only have to observe without actually changing the way you inhale or exhale. Start with a 5-minute session and work your way till you can do this for 20 minutes.

Meditation

If you are new to meditation you can start with the 4X4 breathing (box breathing). This is how you do it:

·   Sit in a comfortable and relaxed position at a quiet location

·   Start breathing out slowly, while focusing on the air that is getting released from your lungs

·   Count one to four in your mind as you inhale through your nose. Focus on the air that is filling your lungs and stomach

·   Now hold your breath for four counts (or less if you are not comfortable)

·   Exhale slowly while counting from one to four

·   Again, hold your breath for four counts

Repeat this process for five minutes. Slowly you can take it up to 20 minutes per day. However, you need to make sure you practice this at least three times per week.

Spend Quality Time with Your Loved Ones

Being with your loved ones can keep you physically and emotionally happy and healthy. Even if it is not possible to meet them physically, you can also stay connected with them virtually through social media. Technology has made it very easy to keep in touch with people and let them know what you feel about them

A Few More Things to Ponder Upon·   

Adopting healthy habits is a long process that can take weeks and sometimes months even. However, once you implement them it won’t take too long to experience their benefits. Here are a few more things you can consider:

·   Avoid unhealthy and junk foods even if you don’t have easy access to healthy food options

·   Try not to get influenced by the advertisements that show influential people enjoying unhealthy foods

·   Set realistic goals and take small steps to achieve them

·   Try listening to meditation tracks, at least five minutes a day. Do this thrice a week.

·   Try not to expect too much of yourself. Don’t criticize yourself too much

·   When receiving opinions about healthy habits from people, find out the science behind those opinions. There are many professional medical associations to seek advice – including American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and Medical Society of Clinical Oncology

·   Focus on the bigger picture that tells you what is most important to you and how you can achieve better results and fit into the larger whole

The Bottom Line

Adopting healthy habits to prevent chronic illnesses is great. However, it is still important to purchase a good health insurance plan that can cover you for illnesses you may not have foreseen. Get in touch with a few health insurance providers through health insurance live transfers. Compare their coverage and premiums before finalizing on the right plan.

#health #health & fitness #retirement

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Supplemental Health Insurance – Is it For You?

Having supplemental health insurance would mean getting help to pay for services that may not be covered by your regular health insurance. These plans will also cover your out-of-pocket-expenses related to your main health insurance plan.

There are supplemental plans that can help you get some cash benefit over a period of time. This comes in a lump sum amount that you can use to cover your lost wages or pay for your food, transportation, or medication. You can also use the amount to cover any unexpected expenses that may come up due to an injury or illness.

Your requirement of supplemental health insurance depends on the coverage of your current health insurance plan and the kind of deductible associated with it. It is not that supplemental health insurance is overly expensive. Nevertheless, not everyone may require duplicate coverage through supplemental health insurance.

Here is a low down on the kind of supplemental health insurance that is available and what is good for whom:

For Medicare Holders who are above 65 Years of Age

If you are having Medicare and are above 65 years of age, this is what you need to do, to get comprehensive health coverage:

Buy a regular Medigap policy along with a Medicare Part D Prescription Drugs Plan. You may also need a stand-alone dental/vision plan

Enroll yourself into a Medicare Advantage Plan. This will usually cover your dental and vision related expenses and also includes Part D coverage.

For People Who are Under 65 / Those without Medicare

If you don’t have Medicare or are under 65 years of age, you need to find out if you (and your family) have been completely protected by your existing health insurance plan. Ask yourself the following questions, to determine your requirement for supplemental health insurance:

Will your existing health policy cover the expenses if you (or your family member) meet with an accident or become seriously ill?

Do you have a plan to take care of the out-of-pocket-costs associated with your existing health insurance plan, despite being sick and out of work?

Are you or any of your family members highly likely to develop a serious illness or get into a serious accident?

Do you find it worthwhile enough to spend on supplemental insurance? Or would you rather self-insure by keeping that money in a separate account to cover your out-of-pocket costs?

How much would you be paying as premiums in about a year or decade if you buy supplemental health insurance?

Would your employer be subsidizing the cost of such supplemental coverage?

The kind of policy you are looking at, the circumstances that you are in, and a lot of other things matter when it comes to buying supplemental health insurance. However, it is important that you clearly understand the benefits and limitations of such policies before buying one. Not all such policies would cover all your expenses. A few might require you to wait for a certain time period before you start getting the payments.

The Affordable Care Act does not necessarily regulate all supplemental insurance plans. So an insurer can actually deny your coverage depending upon the limitations of the policy, your medical history, or your pre-existing conditions.

Different Kinds of Supplemental Insurance

Medigap: Medicare Supplemental Insurance

Medigap is a very common supplemental insurance that most senior citizens would prefer to buy. You can buy Medigap from any of the private insurance companies that you can connect through health insurance live transfer leads. However, the condition is that you should already have Original Medicare.

An Original Medicare with Part A and Part B will usually cover most of the health-related services. Yet there are a few things that are not covered, including:

·         Basic vision care

·         Dental care

·         Custodial long-term care

·         Prescription drugs (unless your employer has offered you drug coverage; else you may get this covered by buying a Medicare Part D)

Even in the medical services that have been covered by the Original Medicare, you may have to share some of the costs. There is a deductible for inpatient care by way of daily coinsurance (in case you are hospitalized for more than two months). There is also a deductible and co-insurance for physician care and outpatient care. A Medigap policy should cover all or most of these deductibles as well as coinsurance costs. It will also cover 80 percent of your emergency care costs when traveling outside USA.

Medicare Advantage Plan

This would be great to cover Part A and Part B of Medicare, along with Part D. The premiums here are quite low; but the out-of-pocket costs will be higher than Original Medicare with Medigap. Also there is no guarantee that the doctors or hospitals you are visiting currently will accept the payment terms of this plan, since these have limited provider networks.

Dental and Vision Coverage for Adults Your dental and vision-related costs are not usually covered in your regular health plan. Even Original Medicare will not cover these unless you have a Medicare Advantage Plan. Most employers offer dental and vision coverage for their employees by paying up their portion of the premium. If you don’t have this, you may have to buy a stand-alone plan for this, from any of the private insurers.

Critical Illness Insurance If you are suffering from a critical insurance such as cancer, you can get a disease-specific insurance to ease out your financial burden. Through such a policy you can get a lump-sum cash benefit that you can use to cover the additional costs that are not covered by your regular health plan. You can also use the money to pay for experimental treatments, deductibles, child care, normal living expenses, travel and lodging, or for visiting out-of-network specialists. However, you need to make sure your illness is mentioned in the specific list of diagnoses of such plans. Apart from the above there are also other supplemental health insurance policies such as hospital indemnity insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance that you can buy depending on your situation.

The Bottom Line Supplemental health insurance can be useful if you are paying a lot of out-of-pocket costs or if you are using services that are not covered by your existing health insurance. However, it is very important that you understand how such a policy works and read all the fine print before you buy one.

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