Truscott Benefits Insurance Services

You have 3 main options when it comes to personal health coverage (beyond Cobra): CovereCA (the CA exchange), going direct to a carrier (known as off exchange), or going to a healthshare organization. Our quoting system can calculate if you qualify for a subsidy and provide you on and off exchange rates. There is a separate link for healthshares.

Many people are misled to believing that CoveredCA is the only place a person or family can purchase health coverage in CA. That is wrong. The main reason anyone goes to CoveredCA is to see if they qualify for a state or federal government subsidy to lower their medical premiums. The government calculates this based on your projected income for the year, where you live and the number of people/dependents living under your roof.  If you have a low to middle income or lose your job, this can be a very affordable option for you.

Your second option would be to purchase a plan off exchange directly with a carrier. This is the main option for those whose income is too high to qualify for a subsidy.  Purchasing your coverage through us directly with a carrier does allow us to better service your account and is one less layer between you and the service provider/carrier. Rates are the same on and off the exchange. Some carriers will offer additional plans off exchange giving you more options going direct.

Currently, the most popular health coverage program is the HealthShare. DISCLAIMER… HealthShares are NOT insurance, but they work very similarly. HealthShares gained popularity when the Affordable Care Act was passed. Many religious organizations did not want to pay for abortions or other things not aligned with their beliefs. As a result, through the Freedom of Religion Act, HealthShares gained in popularity.  HealthShares can save you up to 50% off of your monthly medical premiums, but you need to read the fine print and know the limitations and exclusions before you decide to join a HealthShare organization.  There are waiting periods for pre-existing conditions and many things are not covered or excluded.

Employer Groups:

Truscott Benefits specializes in managing employer group benefits. We feel it is important to educate each employee on their employee benefit options and to understand the costs involved paid for by the employer, not just the employee. Employee benefits are a key part of an employee’s compensation and should be looked at as part of their compensation package.  Not knowing the cost behind an employee’s benefits package, short changes an employee’s perceived worth with his/her employer.

As mentioned, our goal is to make everyone one of our clients a better consumer. This means from the receptionist to the CEO, every employee will be educated on the healthcare system, their benefits and how best to use them.

As a broker, we represent most all group benefit providers in CA.  Once we get to know your needs, we can customize and compare benefit programs for your organization.

 

PEOs

Professional Employment Organizations

If you are an employer group with 10 or more employees and looking to save money and/or simplify life… you must consider a PEO.

CA is not an employer friendly state to be doing business in. Many business owners soon realize they are spending more time complying with rules and regulations than making money. PEOs are a great way to alleviate the unwanted responsibilities and to focus on growing your business.

The PEO model:

Simply put… all your W2 employees go onto the PEOs payroll/W2. The PEO then legally takes responsibility for those employees while providing a list of services including: payroll, workers comp, human resources, health, life, dental, vision…  You can often pick and choose which services you want to include in your PEO contract.  The PEO uses the purchasing power of the combined thousands of employees it manages to save you money, while including the HR services and legal responsibilities.

Everyone should have life insurance on some level, because dying is not free. Funeral costs average between $10 and $20 thousand dollars.  With the wave of baby boomers approaching the sunset of their lives, the laws of supply and demand will tell us that these costs will continue to increase. If someone is a provider… has a family… the need for lost income can be substantial.

Business owners absolutely need to incorporate life insurance into their business planning, especially if they have a partnership.  Ask yourself, “What is your business worth,” with you out of the picture. Life insurance can make a family whole if the business become worthless upon your death. If you are in a partnership, do you want the deceased’s spouse to be your new partner, or do you have the cash to buy them out? Life insurance in conjunction with a buy-sell agreement can cleanly buy out a spouse and/or provide the company capital to hire a qualified replacement.

We like to break down life insurance into two groups: Term and Permanent.

Term:

Term life is just that… coverage for a specified term (time). If you outlive that term you will need to purchase new coverage, assuming you can qualify for it. Term is great because it is so affordable.  It’s so affordable because most everyone outlives the term of the policy. Most carriers will offer a conversion rider within the term policy allowing you to convert your term policy to a permanent life policy at specified points of the contract. Buy what you can afford now and as you get older and more successful convert portions or all of the policy over to a permanent policy.

NOTE: The older you get the harder it is to qualify for coverage. Most carriers do not offer term coverage to people over a certain age 65-70.  This is why the need for permanent insurance is so vital.

Permanent Life:

Permanent life comes in many forms and names. We are not going to go into detail here but you should know that over many generations of improvement we now have IUL (indexed universal life). If used correctly, this can be the most powerful investment in your portfolio.

IUL’s pull together the best of all things in the investment world:

• Why do you invest in an IRA or 401K?… taxed deferred growth.
• Why is a Roth IRA better than a standard IRA?… money goes in post-tax but comes out tax free.
• What’s great about life insurance?… Tax free payout upon death.

IULs are funded with post-tax money, grow tax deferred and come out tax free. The money accrued within the policy is tied to one or more major world indexes (NASDAQ, S&P 500…). Although that money will have a ceiling or limit to its return it also has a floor guaranteeing you no loss. You can also borrow against the money you have accrued and use it for tuition, investments and/or retirement.

We strongly encourage you to educate yourself on the power of IULs. Contact us and we can provide links to several videos that go into great detail on the power of these products.