I don’t think it rocket science to note that anyone you talk to has financial needs. We need A Plan. You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where that is OR you fail to look at a map and consider the options.

Men and women deal with these needs and/or perceived needs differently. Most women will usually say they’ve not taken care of their future needs well enough, whereas many men just don’t want to think (or talk) about it. Since I’m a man, I can say that although I am not fatalistic, my inclination is to not want to think about things I have no answers to. This inclination I have to fight, because it of course makes no sense. One cannot find a solution if one spends no time seeking the solution.

When it comes to doing planning, women are often more willing to do this, despite any insecurities they may feel. Men do tend to resist doing this.

Speaking of planning … Did you know that today – there are less people with life insurance than ever in my 30 years in this business. The odd thing is that life insurance costs much less today, than it once did. And its not just life insurance where planning makes sense, but also planning for the times we are ill and suffer in some accident. That is also part of planning.

Many think that this would be too expensive, so they never really get the information they need. But if you buy a cup of coffee or other drink of some type each work day, chances are you actually will think it’s quite cheap (since it likely will cost less than the drink) – and the good feeling that one has when taking care of this cannot be described in words. You have to experience it.

I can help you plan. I can give you the information you need to make good choices that will not only protect you and your family – but also give you a peaceful feeling that you will not experience from other things.

Call me today at 209-390-1163 OR toll-free 855-MPMYERS or click the email button to the right and send me a message.

I’m looking forward to talking to you.

Michael Myers

Over the thirty years or so I have been working in sales, I have seen sales gurus come and go. Their advice sometimes has merit, sometimes it simply does not. Some are genuinely interested in helping others in sales learn what it is people want and need. Others just like the sound of their own voice.

One of the worse pieces of self-proclaimed wisdom is the strong idea that a sales person should never become “an unpaid consultant”.

I could not disagree more. Here is why:

Product – no matter what it is – insurance, financial services, legal aid, plumbing, carpentry … well, you get the idea, no matter what it is – it’s just a commodity.

Customers form their strongest relationships with people who give the most value. In today’s selling environment, what you sell — be it a product or service — is, in itself, the least valuable thing that you offer. In fact, it is probably viewed by most buyers as a commodity
But good advice is something people do not get from very many people. Good advice trumps whatever the product is by a 1,000 percent!

So ask me any question about insurance. I am here to help, even if I don’t have something that will be useful to you. The worst case scenario is I will point you in the right direction. And if I can help you, I will give you the choices you need to make a good decision you will be happy with for a long time.

A little published provision of the so-called Health Care Reform, is a provision called CLASS. This is ostensibly to provide a level of Long Term Care benefits to all Americans.

The actual portion of this bill reads like this: (but please keep reading)

STATED PURPOSE OF THE BILL (Sec. 3201)

The bill provides a very modest amount of daily cash as a benefit (much less than what is typically required), and a person must pay for FIVE years before there are any benefits. It is my understanding that if a person opts out and does not pay in, they cannot come in later. Actual rates are not yet published, but are expected to be higher than what is traditionally available from private insurance.

So that I am not misunderstood: Long Term Care benefits are needed. However, is there a better way?

The answer in almost all cases is: YES!

I encourage you to look at this and ask me for more information. I can provide you with a way of taking care of Long Term Care needs (should that need arise), while at the same time providing living benefits for yourself should you get injured or sick, or should you have to deal with a life changing critical illness (like Cancer) – and at the same time, provide a death benefit for your spouse and/or children!

Call me (209.390.1163) or email me (michaelpmyers @ gmail.com) for more information.

Michael Myers

Being in the insurance industry since 1978, I have listened to people’s concerns. And I understood.

• “I pay for life insurance, but I never get any benefit from it.”
• “Yes, I need Long Term Care Insurance, but I can’t afford it.”
• “I am worried about getting hurt or sick and not being able to work. But I can’t pay for life insurance and disability income insurance. It’s one or the other, so I guess it’s like insurance.”

In times past, I could understand why a person could feel that way. But today’s policies do more than yesterday’s policies.

I have a policy that I’d love to show you. It’s life insurance – but it’s also long term care insurance (and you won’t believe how good it is!), it’s also critical illness (cancer, etc), and it’s also disability income. You have got to see this for yourself!

If you work in law enforcement, or for the state government, you really need to look at this and compare it to your present program(s). You will be very pleasantly surprised!

Call me (209) 390-1163 or email me (michaelpmyers@gmail.com) and let me show you how good it is. You may even save money from what you are presently doing … it’s that good!

Michael

Disclaimer: From a legal standpoint, this is a life insurance policy. But it does the things I describe. This post is not intended to be a legal description. I provide that at the time of illustration (or before on request).

Sometimes people will continue working primarily due to feeling the need for health insurance. This is understandable, in view of the uncertainty today.

When a person does reach Medicare age, questions often arise. Questions like:

1) What is original Medicare?

2) What are Medicare Advantage Plans?

3) What about prescription drugs? And finally …

4) What about Long Term Care?

Original Medicare is broken into two parts, Part A (Hospital) and Part B (Doctors and other things). Part “A” comes with Social Security and you do not pay for it. Part “B” you do pay for, as it is subtracted from your Social Security Check. Some people qualify for help with this premium, while others pay more (due to large incomes). Most people pay $96.50 for Part “B”. Some people elect not to enroll in this, but I believe that almost everyone should enroll in Part “B”. It is the best deal in health care today.

Medicare Supplement Plans (sometimes called MediGap policies), pay on the deductibles and co-pays that Medicare does not pay. They only pay on expenses that are “covered” by Medicare. In other words: if Medicare pays something for the service, then MediGap policies have a benefit. Conversely, if Medicare does not cover the expense at all, then neither does any MediGap policies.

Medicare Supplement polices are standardized. Each policy has a letter designation, and every company who sells that “letter designation’ has the same policy. So a “Plan F” from company XYZ is the same policy and has the same benefits as a “Plan F” from company ABC. The only difference is the premium and how well a company serves your needs.

I am a big advocate of original Medicare combined with a good supplement. In my view, and in most cases, a person will have the lowest overall medical expenses choosing this option. (Ask me and I will help you decide if this would be true for you). But the best part is a person’s medical expenses are predictable using this option.

You are allowed to enroll without health questions when you enroll in Part “B” of Medicare. The legal time frame is three months prior to three months after (a total of seven months). Some companies choose to allow more time. And some companies allow this at any time on some plans. And in CA, a person can change companies but keep the same plan in their birthday month without health questions.

Choosing Original Medicare with its Part “A” and Part “B” along with a MediGap policy is felt by many (including myself) to be best for people who wish to know exactly what their health costs will be or for those who travel a lot.

Medicare Advantage Plans are also known as Medicare Part “C”. It is essentially the privatization of Medicare. A person still pays for Part “B”, but could pay anywhere from Zero dollars to around a hundred dollars per month for the plan. It is different in each County. Although it is Medicare, these plans work a little more like a person may be use to coming off a group health plan. Typically, you will have co-pays and the like, with a maximum out of pocket. You do not know what your total costs will be, but you do know the maximum it could be (which is typically considerably higher than staying with Original Medicare and a supplement). These plans differ somewhat in that a doctor may choose to accept it or not, and may in fact, choose to accept you this week, but not next week. He may choose to accept your best friend, but not accept you. A physician cannot do this with original Medicare, but it is legal for him to do this with Medicare Advantage Plans. They refer to it as “deeming”. A decision to accept you does not establish a policy, but rather a decision made on each visit. Just so you know, it is not common for Physicians to do this, but it can and does happen for reasons beyond anything you have control over.

Medicare Advantage Plans operate under very strict enrollment procedures, but a person needs to know that each year, for the last six weeks of the year, a person can change their plan, or return to Original Medicare, if they choose. There are other times, under various rules that allow changes. Ask me for it, and I will give you the complete rules regarding this.

The important thing to understand is that a person does not give up Medicare when enrolling in one of these plans. However, there are rules that must be followed and it is in a person’s best interest to review this each year, as under current CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) rules, the plans may change each year. I cannot stress enough the need to do this if a person chooses a Medicare Advantage Plan. The changes can be drastic.

Medicare Advantage Plans, in my view, are not a good option. However, there are exceptions to this statement. If appropriate, they are usually best for people; 1) who wish to keep premiums low, 2) do not mind taking a risk on the total potential out of pocket, and 3) do not travel a lot.  Some counties still have zero premium plans available, which covers a person as well as they may be use to under their group insurance plan (of course, each plan is different and a comparison should be made).

Prescription Drugs are covered under Medicare Part “D”. These plans are typically sold nationally (as opposed to by County). They can be included in Medicare Advantage Plans or purchases separately. It takes quite a lot to explain these, but suffice it to say that there are quite a few differences between plans. The design of these plans came out of Congress, and I cannot explain the rationale behind the design, as I find the design illogical. However, I can show you, not only a good plan for you, but also how to utilize the plan to best serve your interests which means, to save you money.

Long Term Care is really a separate subject. Although Medicare does have a Limited Benefit for Skilled Nursing, the two operative words are “Limited” and “Skilled”. It is good for short stays while a person is recovering and making progress. Basically, it is for those instances where a person is not sick enough to be in the hospital, but still needs some care while recovering. It is not for long-term convalescent care. This type of coverage can be handled in a lot of different ways, and which way is best for an individual will depend on their financial situation, married or not, and a host of other factors. The only constant is planning is needed. The decision cannot be made at the time of need, or at least not made well.

A recent experience got me to thinking…

Our local grocery store is owned and managed by a nice family. The family has been in the community for over 100 years. Apparently they rely a great deal on their delivery people to “decide” what they will carry in their grocery store. I do not know why they choose to do this, but, convenience aside … I think they make a mistake by allowing others to decide what products they will carry.

Why do I say this?

Here’s an example:  My family enjoys a particular brand of Chocolate Chip ice cream.  Apparently we are not the only ones, as it is usually the first flavor to sell out at the local market.  Now, the way I see it – “supply and demand” dictates that if a product “sells out” consistently – you might want to stock more of it and less of some other flavor that doesn’t sell as well.

Not at our local market.  At our local market when the demand increased for this particular item – the ice cream delivery person simply stopped stocking it. This makes his job easier I guess.  So now, when he delivers his stock, there is not as much he needs to unload.  I can only surmise that the delivery man must be a simple wage-earner.

Now I assume my local market earns money on each item sold. But I have noticed that they follow this same logic with other popular items they sell.  If it sells well, evidently in order to not have to stock quite so often, they just don’t carry it any more.   I guess your store shelves remain filled this way, you require less personnel for stocking, and the quiet, easy going manner in which you’ve always operated remains uninterrupted.  More time for fishing that way.

Here at mpmyers.com – we do not reason this way. We are here to serve you, our client. This means we are willing to work for you.  We sell you – not what is easiest for us – rather what our clients want and we work very hard to obtain exactly what you need. We take that very seriously, and we have for 30 years.

Next time you have an insurance need – call me. If I don’t have it, or can’t get it, I will likely be able to direct you someplace where you can get it. I won’t try to sell you Rocky Road – when what you want is Chocolate Chip.

For years, those of us in the insurance business who sought to put our clients first called ourselves “Brokers”. Now the term Broker is really a misnomer, for we are in fact – from a legal standpoint Agents.

With that thought in mind – call me an Agent of Change. Changes are coming, there is no stopping them. My job is to guide and advise you in how these things impact you.

Whether it be in the medical insurance field (under or over 65), employee benefits (or outsourcing employees), planning for long term care, or using old products such as life insurance in new and better ways – to “bank on yourselves” (you have to see this illustrated to understand how different and better this concept is over the old ways of doing things) – call me. I am here to help you. I am an Agent of Change.

Michael Myers

It is often the case that we feel, should something happen to us where we need long-term care, we will “just stay at home”.

People generally feel that way because of one of two things:

1. They don’t like the idea of convalescent hospitals with all of the negative connotations the word calls to mind, or
2. They think it’s less expensive to stay at home.

It is true that some convalescent hospitals are less than desirable, it is also true that some do a very good job of providing a home while attending to special ongoing needs of their patients. They do a good job of giving people a reasonably good quality life. The cost is reasonable when compared to being in a hospital, but still would “break” all but the richest of people over time.

According to a study just released, the average cost is $203 per day, or $74,208 per year. This cost is going up at a somewhat alarming rate of about 4% per year.  However, the cost of staying at home with 24-hour nursing care is about double this. State licensed home health aides average about $18.50 per hour. So this cost is over $400 per day.

This may surprise you: the study also concluded, from raw claims data, that

about 70% of all claims of one well-known insurer were paid out for home-health care.

Regardless of which option you choose, how does a person handle this type of expense?

The key is planning.

In my (nearly) 25 years of helping folks in this area, I’ve seen a lot of changes. I am here to help my clients determine, in a relatively simple process, which avenue open to them – longterm care insurance or some other source of funding – will best serve their needs.

Give me a call or send me an email and I’ll show you how to do this.