Insurance.
Insurance comes in many forms:
- Health Insurance - protects against sickness and disease.
- Life Insurance - protects against premature death.
- Homeowners Insurance - protects your home.
- Auto Insurance - protects your car and you as the driver.
Federal, state and local governments may provide some:
- Workers' Compensation - protects workers injured on the job.
- Social Security - federal program that provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits and paid by payroll taxes.
- Medicaid - state/federal program to provide health benefits to needy families/people.
- Medicare - federal program to provide health benefits to all people 65 and older.
The choice to buy insurance or self-insure can be overwhelming. Whose product is the best? Can I afford it? What kind of insurance do I need? For seniors, it can be especially daunting. As we get older, we tend to experience loss at greater levels than when we are younger. This translates to higher premiums, which unfortunately coincides with the non-income producing years. But, that doesn't mean quality insurance can't be found and afforded by our seniors, and there are resources in place to help.
One such resource is Medicare. Medicare is a federal program with several parts. Part A is free for anyone over 65 and they are automatically enrolled. It helps seniors with health insurance. We will explore Medicare in next week's post.
Sources:
- "Insurance", www.investopedia.com
- Medicaid, www.medicaid.gov
- Medicare, www.medicare.gov
- Workers' Comp, www.wcc.state.ct.us