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Archives March 2010

Life Insurance & its Hiddden Benefit

It can’t be stressed enough that any life insurance policy should be considered as a financial investment. Just as all other assets, there is a value behind your policy. Not only is there a face value (typically, what will be paid upon the insured’s death), but also a lesser value paid by the buyer that will be given in order for the face value to be collected once the insured person passes away.

Selling rights to life insurance policies was a major concept that first began in the late 80s, during the AIDS epidemic. Certain patients were left unemployed, while others simply needed a way to come up with excessive funds for the necessary medical treatment. For these patients, selling their life insurance policy was a prime opportunity to give anyone with AIDS money instantly.

Buying life insurance policies became a huge fad, because many believed that most of these sellers only had a short period left to live.

Once AIDS went from being a definite death sentence to a chronic, not necessarily fatal disease for those in the United States, the market for patients looking to raise fast cash also diminished.

After the AIDS pandemic declined the market for buying life insurance policies did not completely disappear. In fact, it opened up doors for a new market, which just so happened to be those approaching their 70s. Even today there currently remains a major market of interested buyers.

The sale of a life insurance policy can be known as two different things. A viatical settlement, which means that the insured is not expected to live over two years or simply a life settlement.

The minor difference comes in terms of tax consequences.

Life insurance experts such as Gloria Grening Wolk, the author of “Cash for the Final Days”, suggests that if you chose to sell your life insurance policy at any age that you don’t go with the first one who makes an offer.

Just like buying a house, you should shop around to see what others are willing to give you for the same product.

A financial planner in Newton, Mass., Jonathan D. Pond, suggests that selling a life insurance policy before one dies can definitely make sense in some circumstances.

“If you really need the cash, it’s certainly worthwhile to consider,” said Pond.

Pond generally instructs his clients looking to make money to always look around for other sources of income such as home equity loans, reverse mortgages, and the surrender or loan value of whole-life insurance policies.

It is important to realize that on a typical policy there is a substantial amount saved as a death benefit, so even if you choose to sell your policy, the policy’s holder may not be able to receive as much cash as a potential buyer would. The individual payment depends on factors such as age, gender, health, life expectancy, type of policy and its specific cash value.”

If you have any questions regarding life insurance or wish to purchase a policy which would build cash value over the years please contact ASJ Insurance & Financial Service Inc. at (602) 212-1048 or visit their website at www.asjtermlifeinsurance.com to get an instant term life insurance quote.

ASJ Insurance & Financial Service Inc. work with many leading top rated insurance companies like The Hartford, MetLife, Lincoln Financial, ING, West Coast Life, Ohio National, Lincoln Benefit Life, AXA Equitable, Pacific Life, American General and many other companies. The experts at ASJ Insurance & Financial Service Inc. will work with you to guide you and get you the best possible price.

Latest on Health Care Costs & Reforms

According to a recent study conducted by the PLoS Machine, value-based insurance design (otherwise known as VBID) in which consumer payments are waived for highly effective treatments, but are raised for less effective ones, could increase the benefits of healthcare in the US without increasing expenditures. This could potentially be the very answer to health reform that all Americans have been waiting for.

Health care benefits and co-payments have always worked side-by-side and been distributed equally among employees. This arrangement has worked well for many years. But is it effective? Or is VBID the answer struggling health care consumers have been longing for?

Advocates of “value-based insurance design” suggest that it makes more sense to price health care costs based on their specific value to individual patients rather than using a “one-size-fits-all” solution. The costs saved by VBID could be used to formulate coverage for the currently uninsured, providing a substantial improvement in health outcomes.

All current cost sharing programs are nearly always based on the expense of the service or medicine and rarely is related to its potential benefit to a patient. The new plan would design specific services for targeted groups of patients.

Strategies that influence the quantity of health care consumed are essential to controlling healthcare costs. Cost sharing decreases health care costs, but it can also reduce demand for essential care and thus reduce the overall quality of care.

Consequently, some experts have proposed VBID, an approach in which the amount of cost sharing is set according to the ”value” of an intervention and the additional health benefit it adds per dollar spent rather than its cost. For example: under VBID, cost sharing could be waived for office visits necessary to control blood pressure in people with diabetes, which constitute high-value care, but could be increased for high-tech scans ordered to diagnose chronic dementia.

In the current study, using computer simulations of costs and life expectancy gains based on US healthcare data, R. Scott Braithwaite of the New York University School of Medicine and colleagues, estimated that approximately 60% of health expenditures in the US are spent on low-value services and 20% are spent on high-value services, indicating that the vast majority (80%) of health expenditures would have cost sharing that would be affected by VBID.

Broader diffusion of VBID to drug costs alone increased the benefit conferred by health care by 0.03 to 0.05 additional life-years, without increasing overall costs or out-of-pocket payments. Extension of VBID to other health care services could increase the benefit conferred by health care by 0.24 to 0.44 additional life-years. Among those without health insurance, using cost saving from VBID to subsidize insurance coverage would increase the benefit conferred by health care by 1 .21 life-years, a 31% increase.

If you have any questions regarding health care insurance and live in the states of Arizona or California please visit ASJ Insurance & Financial Services Inc.’s website today (http://www.asjhealthinsurance.com) to get an instant comparative quote from several health insurance companies like Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Cigna, United Health, Health Net, Pacific Care, Kaiser, Assurant Health and many more. Or give them a call at (602) 212-1048 to discuss various options available to you.

Importance of Life Insurance

Given the constant reminder of how important savings and cutting back are during times of economic crisis, like today, many people are wondering exactly how necessary life insurance really is. We’re here to tell you that the answer is: very important.

 Life insurance is the number one way to reach financial independence. The burden of planning a financial future for you and your loved ones will virtually be lifted off your shoulders, as this is the exact job of any life insurance policy.

Americans nowadays have a variety of stresses to worry about including raising families, caring for aging parents, not to mention managing their own careers. So, it’s safe to say that what exactly happens to your family after you pass on is probably far from your mind. Although, equally important as the above responsibilities.

No matter what your individual situation may be, it is critical to have some sort of control of your finances at all times. For certain scenarios this means setting goals, formulating a plan, and monitoring the progress. In terms of your family’s future, you should take it a step farther, and purchase a life insurance policy to make sure that your family is 100 percent taken care of, regardless of what the future may hold.

Life insurance is the foundation of all sound financial plans. It is necessary.

Life is full of uncertainty and inevitable tragedy. Whether we experience them ourselves, read about them in the newspaper, or even hear about them on the news, it is happening all around us at any given time.

You are able to provide comfort for your family (dependents), by letting them know that there is a life insurance plan provided for them, should a tragedy struck and you are no longer there to provide for the family.

Did you know that life insurance not only helps pay for pricey funeral expenses, but it can also be used to pay off your mortgage, credit card balances, auto loans, other secured or unsecured loans and other household expenses? It can also supplement retirement savings, fund future education costs, and even help pay off estate taxes. Your family will be able to avoid having to sell assets because they need to pay off outstanding bills or taxes, just because you forgot to take the time to organize a simple life insurance plan.

If you’re the financial breadwinner in your family, then more than likely your wife and/or children depend heavily on you. In the event of your untimely death, life insurance can cover child care and even future needs such as college tuition etc.

Life insurance is the perfect answer for smaller families with low savings to depend on, yet a lot of responsibilities. One individual life insurance policy can help the surviving members of a family survive for years, pay the bills, and raise the children.

This isn’t saying that only men with families are the only key recipients of life insurance. Even women, who are married with children and either, own their own business or have significant financial assets to protect, need life insurance. Make the decision to protect you and your family’s future. Get life insurance today. If you are in the states of Arizona or California, please contact ASJ Insurance & Financial Services Inc. They are the experts and represent many reputable life insurance companies like The Hartford, MetLife, Lincoln Financial, AXA Equitable, Lincoln Benefit, Pacific Life, Ohio National, West Cos, American General and many other companies. You can get an instant comparative Term Life Insurance quote at www.asjtermlifeinsurance.com or inquire about beginning your life insurance plan today at:  (602) 212-1048.