With unemployment rates higher than ever before, many people find themselves without benefits for the first time in their lives. We often take for granted life insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, and disability insurance that are part of our companies’ benefits to us. These benefits are often overlooked by many. The fact is that many families rely on these types of insurance from only one member of the family. Often times, one of the parents takes a lesser paying job because of the benefits that they entail. The best way to make sure that you are covered in case of job loss is by preparing yourself before the worst situation may come along. The good news is that preparation and finding benefits doesn’t have to be as exhausting of an ordeal as you may first imagine.
Life Insurance
For life insurance. you should know that most companies only provide term life insurance. What this means is that the amount you have will not continue to cover you forever, and when you lose your job, you will lose your life insurance. Often times it is smart to get regular life insurance outside of your company’s life insurance. This way you never have to worry about the term going away, and it will still be there if you lose your job.
Also your family can count on that money coming in no matter when it is time for them to cash in on the amount. If you are about to lose your job, term insurance can be found at a lower cost per month and then you can transfer it into regular life insurance when your finances are looking a bit better. This way you can make sure your family is covered while you are looking for a new job.
Health Insurance
The most important insurance you need to make sure to keep up with is your health insurance. This often will go away the minute you are terminated from your job. If you are laid off, part of the package can include a period of time where you will still be covered. It is not smart though to believe that you will gain new employment or that new employment will include health insurance. At this time, you need to start looking at outside avenues to get your health insurance covered. You are left with a few different options to look at, and they include short term health insurance, COBRA, individual group health insurance, and high deductible health insurance plans.
Besides the obvious reason of injury or sickness, there are a few other reasons that health insurance is crucial for many people. If you show a gap in your health insurance, it can be difficult when trying to get new insurance. This will also in most cases make the premium much higher, thus ensuring that the savings you had without insurance for a month or two will be gone to the wind.
Disability Insurance
Next on the list is disability insurance. If you are unsure what disability insurance is, it is essentially when an insurance company pays you when you are hurt and cannot find employment or engage in activities that your job requires. This often times is the first insurance to go away when you lose your job. Also, many employers do not include this in their plans. This is why it is so important to have this insurance when you still have a job. If your company says you cannot come into work because of an injury or you are physically unable to come to work, then disability insurance can be an absolute lifesaver by ensuring that you can still bring in an income of some kind. Also with disability insurance, you will not have to pay any taxes on income that you receive from this payment. The reason for this is that you pay the premium each month, and it is included in that figure already, which helps take a little bit of weight off of your shoulders.
We all know that losing employment can be very difficult. Often times the stress takes many people under as they do not ever see the light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing you can do during these times is to be prepared for the worst case scenario. You should never undervalue the importance of insurance in your life. Without insurance, many of us would never be able to pay off bills that can be presented to us and to our families. Taking these measures to make sure you and your family are safe will give you peace of mind and help you sleep easier. There is often nothing better than knowing your family is protected no matter what may happen.
