Insurance Services

 

LIFE INSURANCE

There are many different types of life insurance policies, all of which are designed to serve different needs such as, protection for your mortgage, your family, your small business, your key employees, your replacement of income and give you return of premium, cash accumulation or survivorship needs.

 

We can quote from term life to permanent life depending on your individual or small business needs.  Not everyone has the same needs therefore personalized service one on one is the key to successful life insurance planning.  Complete Insurance Brokerage available: We represent more than 30 companies and have competent advice in this area.

 

Term insurance is generally the least expensive and least complicated type of life insurance. It provides insurance protection at a low cost for a specified period of time. If you are still living at the end of the term, protection ceases unless the policy is renewed.   While there are some companies that offer “return of premium", there is no "accumulation" element, or cash value with term insurance.

 

Permanent life insurance is distinguished from term insurance in several ways. While term insurance provides protection only for a specific initial period of time, permanent insurance can provide protection for your entire lifetime, or in certain instances, up to a specific age -- at which point the insurance company will pay the policy owner the cash value.  In addition, permanent life insurance policies can build cash value -- money that you can borrow against and, in some instances, withdraw to help meet future goals, such as paying for a child's college education. Note: You will usually have to wait a period of time after the purchase of your policy for sufficient cash value to accumulate for you to borrow against. If the unpaid interest on your loan plus your outstanding loan balance exceeds the amount of your policy's cash value, your policy and all coverage will terminate.

Permanent life insurance policies enjoy favorable tax treatment. Cash value generally grows on a tax-deferred basis, meaning that you pay no taxes on any earnings in the policy so long as the policy remains in force. Cash value may be taken out of the policy income tax free, as long as you adhere to certain premium limits so your policy is not considered a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC). Policy loans generally are not considered taxable income, and withdrawals generally can be taken up to the amount of premiums paid without being taxed.

The two general types of permanent life insurance policies are Whole Life, a dividend-paying policy, and Universal Life, a flexible policy.

All product guarantees are based on the claims paying ability of the issuer.

 DISABILITY INCOME INSURANCE

Disability income products are designed to provide individuals or small business owners with a stated amount of income in the event you cannot work due to a disabling illness or accident. Statistics prove that the probability of disability greatly exceeds the probability of death during an individuals working years. The need for protection against the economic death of a wage earner cannot be over emphasized.

We represent several different carriers and can provide STD (Short Term Disability) or LTD (Long Term Disability) for either individual coverage or small group through our Complete Insurance Brokerage.

LONG TERM CARE

 
What is Long Term Care?
 
Long-term care refers to the wide range of types of assistance required for people who are unable to function independently on a daily basis over a relatively long period of time. This can result from either physical or mental limitations and is defined in term of the inability to perform essential activities of daily living (ADL's), such as eating, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, getting into or out of bed and moving about, or due to cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's Disease. The term does not include hospital care, and long-term care insurance benefits do not include hospital benefits. The commonly accepted definition of “long-term" is 90 days or longer. Californians now live longer than ever following their retirement. As a result, the number of Californians age 65 or older is expected to nearly double within the next 30 years, from 3.1 million in 1990 to over 7 million in the year 2020 and the group of 85 and older will triple to over 900,000!

 

In September 1994, California implemented a major new program to help people with moderate incomes and assets purchase high quality long-term care (LTC) insurance. This program, known as the California Partnership for Long-Term Care (CPLTC), is a partnership between the State of California and select insurance companies that offer policies containing special consumer protections.

How does the Partnership Work?

Perhaps the most unique feature of this program is its guarantee that the State and Federal Government will provide a financial back stop should the LTC benefits provided by the Partnership be insufficient to meet the needs of the purchaser. Individuals who buy partnership policies are entitled to keep additional assets equal to the amount their policy pays out, should they ever need to apply for Medi-Cal for health or LTC benefits. In the absence of such protection, single individuals can only retain $2000 in non-exempt assets in order to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. This special asset protection helps assure consumers who can only afford premiums for a one or two-year policy, that should they exhaust their policy benefits they won't have to become impoverished before then can receive Medi-Cal benefits. Individuals who purchase Non-Partnership policies and use up their policy benefits must “spend down" their assets to poverty level in order to receive Medi-Cal assistance.
 
MML Financial & Insurance Services offers both California Partnership and Non-Partnership policies.