Supplemental and Income
Replacement Insurance
Supplemental health insurance can be a smart addition to primary health coverage for several reasons, though it’s not necessary for everyone. Here’s a concise breakdown of why people might consider it:
Covers Gaps in Primary Insurance: Primary health plans often have limitations, like high deductibles, copays, or exclusions for specific treatments. Supplemental plans can cover these out-of-pocket costs or provide benefits for services not included, such as dental, vision, or alternative therapies.
Financial Protection for Unexpected Events: Policies like critical illness or accident insurance provide lump-sum payments or specific benefits for events like cancer, heart attacks, or injuries. This can help cover lost income, travel for treatment, or other expenses during recovery.
Affordable Premiums for Targeted Coverage: Supplemental plans are often relatively low-cost compared to comprehensive health insurance, making them an accessible way to add specific protections without breaking the bank.
Flexibility and Customization: These plans allow you to tailor coverage to your needs, such as disability income protection or hospital indemnity plans, which pay cash benefits for hospital stays, helping with bills or daily expenses.
Peace of Mind: Knowing you have extra coverage for unexpected medical costs or income loss can reduce stress, especially for those with high-deductible plans or limited savings.
Who Might Benefit Most:
People with high-deductible health plans.
Those at higher risk for specific conditions (e.g., family history of critical illnesses).
Self-employed individuals or those without employer-sponsored benefits.
Anyone wanting to safeguard against financial strain from medical emergencies.
Considerations:
Cost vs. Benefit: Evaluate if the premiums are worth the potential benefits based on your health, lifestyle, and primary coverage.
Overlap: Ensure the supplemental plan doesn’t duplicate existing coverage.
Needs Assessment: Not everyone needs supplemental insurance; it depends on your financial situation, health risks, and primary plan’s gaps.
See What Policies Are Right for You!
See What Policies Are Right for You
Accident Insurance
Accident insurance is a type of supplemental insurance that pays cash directly to you if you suffer an accidental injury. This money can help cover costs like medical bills, transportation, or lost income that your regular health insurance might not fully handle. It’s meant to work alongside your health insurance, not replace it, and is especially useful for unexpected injuries from things like falls or car accidents.
Coverage and Use:
It seems likely that accident insurance covers a range of expenses, such as ambulance fees, therapy, and even support for family during recovery. You can use the cash as you see fit, whether for hospital stays, emergency treatments, or daily living costs. However, policies often exclude injuries from intentional acts or pre-existing conditions, so it’s important to check the details.
Why It Matters:
Research suggests accident insurance is valuable if you lead an active lifestyle or don’t have paid sick leave, as it can ease financial stress during recovery. For example, a broken leg treatment might cost up to $7,500, and accident insurance can help if your health plan’s deductible isn’t met.
Association Discount Plans
Health care membership programs are models where you pay a monthly or yearly fee to get primary care services, like doctor visits and sometimes telemedicine, without always needing traditional insurance. These programs, such as direct primary care (DPC) and concierge medicine, aim to give you more personal attention from doctors, with benefits like same-day appointments and longer visit times. They can save money by avoiding insurance paperwork, but they might not cover big medical expenses, so you may still need additional insurance.
Coverage and Use:
Personalized Care:
You get more time with your doctor for tailored health plans.
Easy Access:
Often includes same-day appointments and 24/7 doctor availability.
Cost Predictability:
Flat fees mean you know what you’ll pay, with potential savings on administrative costs.
Considerations:
These programs are great for primary care,but they may not replace full insurance for hospitalizations or specialists. Costs vary, with DPC typically cheaper (around $10 –$50/month) than concierge medicine.
Cancer Insurance
Cancer insurance is a type of supplemental health insurance designed to provide financial support for the costs associated with cancer diagnosis and treatment. It typically offers cash benefits to help cover out-of-pocket expenses, medical treatments, and other related costs that may not be fully covered by primary health insurance plans. This can include things like chemotherapy, hospital stays, and even non-medical expenses like transportation or childcare during treatment.
There are two main types of cancer insurance policies:
Scheduled Benefits Policy:
Covers specific benefits up to certain amounts, such as $20,000 for chemotherapy, and includes hospital stays, treatments, and transportation.
Lump Sum Policy:
Provides a single payment upon a positive cancer diagnosis, with coverage ranging from $5,000 to $100,000, available for adults of all ages, and can include cancer survivors who have been cancer-free for 5-10 years.
How It Works:
The insurance provider typically pays the policyholder directly, not the healthcare provider, in lump-sum payments that can be used at discretion. This flexibility helps alleviate financial stress, allowing focus on recovery. However, coverage details vary by policy, and some may have waiting periods or restrictions on pre-existing conditions.
Critical Illness Insurance
Critical Illness insurance is a type of supplemental insurance designed to provide financial support during serious health challenges. It generally offers a lump sum cash payment when you're diagnosed with a specified critical illness, such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke. This money can be used for anything you need, whether that's covering medical costs, daily expenses, or other financial needs during recovery. It's meant to work alongside your main health insurance, not take its place, and the exact illnesses covered can differ depending on the insurance provider.
Benefits and Flexibility:
The payment is typically paid directly to you, not to medical providers, giving you the freedom to use it for out-of-network treatments, therapy, childcare, lost income, or even mortgage payments. Some policies might offer monthly payments instead of a lump sum, depending on the plan.
Coverage Details:
Covered conditions often include major illnesses like kidney failure, Alzheimer’s, or severe burns, but the list can vary significantly between insurers. Some policies may also cover less severe conditions with partial payments or include benefits for children.
Dental Insurance
Dental insurance is a form of health insurance designed to help individuals and families manage the costs of dental care. It typically covers preventive services like routine checkups and cleanings at no cost after the premium, while basic services like fillings and extractions, and major services like root canals and crowns, may require meeting a deductible and paying a percentage of the cost. The specifics depend on the plan, which can include Dental Preferred Provider Organization (DPPO), Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO), or indemnity plans, each with different rules on provider networks and out-of-pocket costs.
Coverage and Costs:
Dental insurance often covers:
Preventive care: Exams, cleanings, X-rays, and fluoride treatments, usually at 100% coverage with no deductible.
Basic services: Fillings, extractions, and simple restorations, typically covered at a percentage (e.g., 80%) after a deductible.
Major services: Root canals, crowns, bridges, dentures, and sometimes orthodontics, often with higher coinsurance (e.g., 50%) and subject to annual maximums.
Key costs include:
Premium: A regular payment (e.g., monthly) for coverage, averaging around $35/month but ranging from $16–$61.
Deductible: An annual out-of-pocket amount (e.g., $500) before insurance shares costs, often not applying to preventive care.
Copay: A fixed fee for services, like $25 for a cleaning.
Coinsurance: The percentage you pay after the deductible, such as 20% if the plan covers 80%.
Annual maximum: The yearly limit on what the plan pays, often $1,000–$2,000.
Without insurance, costs can be high: two cleanings and an exam might cost $250–$285, X-rays $200–$400, fillings $150, and crowns over $1,000.
Plan Types and Limitations:
Different plan types affect coverage:
DPPO: Offers flexibility to use in-network or out-of-network dentists, with higher premiums but more choice.
DHMO: Lower premiums, but you must use in-network dentists for coverage.
Indemnity: Allows any dentist, but insurance pays a percentage, and you cover the rest.
Limitations include waiting periods (e.g., 6–12 months for major services), and exclusions like cosmetic procedures (e.g., teeth whitening, veneers), pre-existing conditions, hospitalization, prescription drugs, and out-of-country care (except emergencies).
Fixed Indemnity Insurance
Fixed Indemnity insurance is a type of supplemental health insurance that pays a predetermined, fixed amount for specific medical services or events, such as hospital admissions, doctor visits, or surgeries, regardless of the actual cost of those services. For example, it might pay $200 for each hospital admission or $100 per day while hospitalized.
Purpose and Use:
It is designed to help cover out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles, copays, and coinsurance that are not fully covered by primary health insurance plans. This makes it a useful add-on for individuals with high-deductible plans or those seeking extra financial protection for medical costs.
Limitations and Regulations:
Unlike comprehensive health insurance, Fixed Indemnity Insurance is not regulated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This means it does not have to cover essential health benefits, can exclude pre-existing conditions, and may have annual or lifetime benefit limits. It is best used as a supplement, not a standalone plan, and some critics argue it can be problematic if mistaken for comprehensive coverage.
GAP Health Insurance
GAP health insurance, also known as supplemental health insurance or gap coverage, is a type of insurance designed to cover out-of-pocket expenses not fully covered by a primary health insurance plan. It typically helps pay for costs like deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or other expenses that arise from medical care, particularly in high-deductible health plans. GAP insurance is often used to bridge the "gap" between what a primary health plan covers and the actual costs incurred by the policyholder.
For example, it may cover:
Hospital stays or outpatient services not fully covered.
Specific treatments like critical illness, accidents, or cancer care.
Non-medical expenses, such as lost wages or travel for treatment, depending on the policy.
It’s commonly offered through employers or purchased individually to complement major medical insurance, reducing financial strain from unexpected healthcare costs. Policies vary widely, so coverage details depend on the specific plan.
Hearing Insurance
Hearing insurance is a type of health insurance coverage purchased from a private insurer, not provided by a government program, that specifically covers costs related to hearing care. This may include expenses for hearing tests, hearing aids, fittings, follow-up appointments, and sometimes surgical procedures or treatments for hearing loss. Unlike standard health insurance plans, which often have limited or no coverage for hearing-related services, private hearing insurance is designed to address these gaps, offering more comprehensive support for individuals with hearing impairments.
Coverage details vary by plan but typically include:
Diagnostic services: Audiological exams and hearing tests.
Hearing aids: Partial or full coverage for devices, including batteries and maintenance.
Professional services: Fees for audiologists or hearing specialists.
Rehabilitation: Support for therapies like auditory training or cochlear implant programming.
Private hearing insurance is often sought by individuals who need specialized care not fully covered by standard health plans or government programs like Medicare, which has limited hearing benefits. Policies can be standalone or part of a broader supplemental insurance plan. Costs, coverage limits, and eligibility depend on the insurer and plan chosen. For specifics, individuals should review policy details or contact insurers directly.
Home Health Care Insurance
Home health care insurance is a type of coverage that helps pay for medical and non-medical services provided in a person’s home to assist with recovery, rehabilitation, or chronic condition management. It typically covers services like skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and assistance with daily activities (e.g., bathing, dressing) provided by home health aides. This insurance may be included in long-term care policies, Medicare, Medicaid, or private health plans, but coverage details, eligibility, and costs vary.
Hospital Indemnity
Hospital Indemnity Insurance Plan is a type of supplemental insurance that provides fixed cash benefits to policyholders for covered hospital-related events, such as hospital stays, surgeries, or other medical services. Unlike traditional health insurance, which covers medical expenses directly, hospital indemnity plans pay a predetermined amount (daily, weekly, or lump sum) regardless of actual costs incurred, offering financial support to help cover out-of-pocket expenses, lost income, or other costs during hospitalization.
Key Features:
Fixed Cash Payments:
Pays a set amount for specific events (e.g., $100/day for hospital stays, $500 for surgery).
Supplemental Coverage:
Works alongside primary health insurance to cover gaps, like deductibles, copays, or non-medical expenses (e.g., travel, childcare).
No Restrictions on Use:
Policyholders can use the cash for any purpose, medical or non-medical.
Covered Events:
Typically includes hospital admissions, ICU stays, outpatient procedures, or emergency room visits, depending on the plan.
No Network Restrictions: Benefits are paid regardless of the hospital or provider used.
Affordable Premiums: Often low-cost compared to comprehensive health plans.
Example:
If a plan offers $200 per day for hospitalization and you're admitted for 3 days, you’d receive $600, regardless of your medical bills.
Who It’s For:
People with high-deductible health plans. Those seeking extra financial protection during hospital stays. Individuals without adequate savings for unexpected medical costs.
Limitations:
Not a substitute for comprehensive health insurance.
Limited to specific hospital-related events (e.g., may not cover outpatient treatments unless specified).
Benefits may not fully cover high medical costs.
Short Term Care Insurance
Short term care insurance is a type of insurance designed to cover temporary care needs, typically for periods less than one year. It provides financial support for services like in-home care, assisted living, or nursing home care when an individual requires assistance due to illness, injury, or recovery from surgery. Unlike long-term care insurance, which covers extended care over years, short-term care insurance focuses on shorter durations, often with coverage periods ranging from a few weeks to 12 months. It may cover services such as skilled nursing, physical therapy, or help with daily activities like bathing and dressing. Policies vary in terms of coverage limits, waiting periods, and eligibility criteria, and they are often more affordable than long-term care insurance due to the limited duration of benefits.
Vision Insurance
Vision insurance is a type of insurance coverage that helps offset the costs of eye care services and products. It typically covers routine eye exams, prescription eyewear (like glasses or contact lenses), and sometimes discounts on procedures like LASIK. Plans vary but often include annual or biennial benefits for exams and materials, with copays or allowances for specific services. Some plans may also cover partial costs for medically necessary treatments related to eye conditions. It’s usually offered as a standalone policy or as an add-on to health insurance
.
Wellness Discount Plans
Wellness discount plans are programs offered by employers or insurance providers that encourage healthy behaviors by providing financial incentives or discounts. These plans typically reduce health insurance premiums, copays, or other costs for employees who participate in wellness activities, such as completing health assessments, attending fitness programs, quitting smoking, or meeting specific health goals (e.g., weight loss or managing chronic conditions). The aim is to promote employee health, reduce healthcare costs, and improve workplace productivity.
For example:
An employer might offer a 10-30% discount on health insurance premiums for employees who complete a biometric screening or participate in a gym membership program. These plans are often part of broader workplace wellness initiatives and may comply with regulations like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which allows discounts up to 30% (or 50% for tobacco cessation programs) if structured fairly and inclusively.
MEET YOUR TRUSTED Advisor
Hey, I'm Joseph Laurenzana
As an independent insurance agent, I have a wide variety of companies and products to cater to the needs of people and their families. With my prior 11 years of experience and professionalism, I am driven to help people and families get the insurance they need for the best prices in the market.
I am focused on serving the life, health, small employer group, disability, supplemental income, Medicare and long-term care insurance needs of individuals, families and small businesses. I will meet via Zoom, Google Meet, or in person with my clients to understand their needs and provide objective guidance and solutions.
I am licensed in seven states including Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, South Dakota, Arizona, Texas and Florida. I will always add more states as the needs of people will always come first. Contact me for a free consultation.
My Commitment
Full Free Consultation
Committed to Excellence
Tailored Policies
Personalized Approach
Longevity Focused
Exceeding Expectations
Pages
Pages
All insurance consultation is free. All rights reserved. This is not an offer to enter into an agreement.
Information and programs are subject to change without notice.
Joseph Laurenzana
Cedar Lake IN 46303
(219)267-0201
NP 3483390 Arizona 3483390 Florida G205596
Illinois 3483390 Indiana 3978602 Michigan 3483390
South Dakota 40748292 Texas 3246986
custom_values.company_logo=https://storage.googleapis.com/msgsndr/lu1SnlpIfXGp54RPZ10l/media/67b2a73c11feb96eaad3dc3a.png
custom_values.headshot=https://storage.googleapis.com/msgsndr/lu1SnlpIfXGp54RPZ10l/media/67b2a73c11feb96eaad3dc3a.png
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn