Aetna provides health care benefits to millions of members in all 50 states. LifeWise Assurance company specializes in group life and disability insurance in only a few western states. These two great insurance providers are very different in the products they offer and the scale of their network, but both are stable and growing despite the current economic climate.
Aetna Overview
Inspired by Mt. Etna in Sicily, the most active European volcano, Aetna’s name was chosen to express strength. The name was chosen well, founded as an annuity fund in 1950, the company has grown and though they began by selling life insurance, the company now offers a variety of different plans. They have also gained a positive reputation and presence in the industry. In 2009 Fortune magazine selected Aetna as the Most Admired Company in the health care industry.
Aetna provides health, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability, behavioral health, long-term care, and employee benefits. Aetna provides employee benefits nationwide and also have Small Group Employer plans for businesses with two to fifty employees. In certain areas they also provide coverage for individuals, and options may vary by state.
- Aetna boasts a wide nationwide network including:
- Over 18 million medical members
- Over 13 million dental members
- Over 8 million pharmacy members
- Over 1 million health care professionals in network
- Over 5,400 hospitals in network
Consumer Directed Health Insurance
Also known as consumer driven and consumer choice health plans, consumer directed health plans are fairly new in the health insurance industry. The idea being that consumers are given more control of the money they spend on health benefits. Funds are put into an account that is used to cover any medical expenses. Often the unused portion can be rolled over to the next year provided the customer is still on the plan.
Plan For Your Health
Created in 2004, Plan for your Health is a public education campaign designed to help members gain the information to make financial choices, including health insurance that will suit consumers’ lifestyles now and help to plan ahead for the future.
The campaign includes tips on health benefit products, tools to guide customers toward thinking of different life changes and health care needs, and general information on how to select the best health care products. When deciding on health coverage, it is important to take into consideration your current needs and potential future needs.
Job changes, marriage, family, retirement, divorce, etc. All of these major life events should be measured in the context of health care coverage and should also be considered in an overall financial plan. Aetna offers a Health Plan Matchmaker which acts as a personal assessment tool to help consumers decide their health benefit needs.
LifeWise Assurance Overview
LifeWise Assurance Company works with employers to offer life and disability insurance to their employees. In business for 28 years, their coverage includes more than 460,000 members in ten states on the west coast of the United States:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Idaho
- Montana
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Utah
- Washington
- Wyoming
Group Life Insurance vs Individual Life
Employers often include group life insurance to their employees benefits package. This would pay benefits should the employee die anytime or anywhere from any cause, not just work related accidents.
Group life tends to be more affordable and often employers will pay the entire premium. Group life insurance is a term plan, which means that it does not accumulate value, where most individual life policies do accumulate cash value over time.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
Accidental death and dismemberment insurance is different from group life in that it covers loss from accidental causes only. In addition, the accidental death and dismemberment insurance will cover not only physical loss of limbs, but also covers paralysis, hearing loss and blindness.
Disability Income Insurance
If an employee becomes disabled due to illness or accident, disability income insurance will pay a portion of the employees income while they are unable to work. Most often the employee will receive 60 percent of their earnings.
There are two types of disability income insurance:
- Short Term Disability (STD) will provide replacement income for a short time, usually up to 26 weeks.
- Long Term Disability (LTD) will provide replacement income for an extended period, usually until the employee turns 65 years old. There is often a waiting period of 90 days before long term disability benefits become available.
Flexible Plans and Other Products
LifeWise Assurance works closely with employers to design a benefit solution unique to every group they work with. Prices are competitive and the products offered enhance employers’ benefits packages making them more attractive to prospective employees.
In addition to group life, accidental death and dismemberment and disability income insurance, LifeWise Assurance also offers medical stop loss which is coverage that provides protection for employers self-funding health care plans. Self-funding health benefits can be risky if large claims are made. Medical stop loss insurance will provide protection to employers to avoid risk and still receive the tax benefits of self-funding.
Payroll deduction options are available for employees for any of the insurance products LifeWise Assurance Company offers making it easy for premiums to be paid directly from employees paychecks. LifeWise Assurance provides a secure online portal for employers to manage their group plans, making it easy to update employee information, adjust coverage and view billing statements.
Manage Health and Prepare for the Unexpected
Aetna and LifeWise Assurance Company provide very different products for their customers but both offer security and flexible plans for almost any insurance need. Aetna’s health insurance plans help people to manage their wellbeing with routine checkups as well as prevent and treat disease.
Their financial planning assistance goes a long way toward ensuring peace of mind for the future. But the unexpected can happen which is where LifeWise Assurance’s group life and accidental death and dismemberment policies can help ease the financial burden.
