Upcoming UNLV Classes

UNLV Classes Taught by Nevada Benefits' Phil Randazzo

Never stop learning!

Phil Randazzo, founder of Nevada Benefits, teaches classes from time to time for the University of Nevada Las Vegas' Continuing Education Program.

Upcoming Classes:
 

Retirement Planning Today

Learn time-tested strategies that will help you make informed financial decisions. Whether your objective is to build a nest egg, protect your assets or preserve your lifestyle throughout retirement, this course will help you plan your future with confidence.

Learn about the many ways to save for retirement as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each. Discover how to save money on taxes, manage investment risks and protect your assets from potential long-term health-care expenses. Whether you plan to retire 20 years from now or have just recently retired this course will show you how to develop a personalized plan to achieve your retirement goals.

Dates/Times and Locations:

Session I: 131PF1117B
Tuesdays, February 26 through March 6, 2013, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Palo Verde High School333 Pavilion Court Dr.
Las Vegas NV 89144

Session II: 131PF1117C
Thursdays, March 21-28, 2013, 6:30-9:30 PM
UNLV Paradise Campus, Room TBD  851 E Tropicana Ave.
Las Vegas, NV, 89119

Session III: C121PF1117ATuesdays, March 26 - April 2, 2013, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PMPalo Verde High School333 South Pavilion Center Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89144-4001

Retirement Planning Today

Plan for an active, worry-free retirement by exploring common lifestyle and financial questions faced by retirees. Guided by an experienced financial planner and a retirement tax expert, you will learn how to calculate IRS-required minimum distributions from your retirement plans and examine how investment returns are taxed. Coursework also investigates options for health care, long-term care, incapacity, and end-of-life decisions.

Dates/Times and Locations:

Session I: 131PF1116AThursdays, March 7-14, 2013 , 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
College of Southern Nevada, Room TBD
333 Pavilion Center Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89144

Session II: 131PF1116BTuesdays, March 12-19, 2013 , 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
College of Southern Nevada, Room TBD
333 Pavilion Center Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89144

You may register for a class online, call the school at 702.895.3394, call us at 702.258.1995 or email us today!

Lifetime Financial Fitness - Division of Workforce and Economic Development

Lifetime Financial Fitness - Division of Workforce and Economic Development

Financial fitness

In your company right now, over half of your workers are having troubles paying their current bills on time or at all. 25% are in financial doodoo (just can't pay them at all) and 80% of those are spending your time dealing it. 90% of your employees are dissatisfied with their financial situation. The department of defense supposedly loses about $1 billion in lost money dealing with employee money problems.

What can we do to change this?

Paying people more money doesn't translate to living better financially. Most people just get themselves into more financial trouble as their income rises.
Offering more employee benefits such as 401k, better insurance, etc doesn't necessarily give them any better financial backing. These things are nice and do give some financial padding, but fail to enact any real change.
Financial education and resources are the answer. By showing a vested interest in the financial well being of your employees creates more loyalty, enables autonomy, and allows for more personal choice. It doesn't force a change, but it does create awareness.

How much would spend on each employee for wellness programs? $40, $100, $200, $1,000, $10,000 a year?

Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act

 On October 21, 1998 a new federal law, the Women's Health  and Cancer Rights Act, became effective. The law requires health plan that provide coverage for mastectomies to also cover reconstructive surgery and prostheses following mastectomies.

 The law mandates that an insured receiving benefits for a medically necessary mastectomy who elects breast reconstruction after the mastectomy, will also receive coverage for:

 

• Reconstruction of the breast on which the mastectomy has been performed

• Surgery and reconstruction of the other breast to produce a symmetrical apperance

• Prostheses 

• Treatment of physical complaints of all stages of mastectomy, including lymphedemas 

    

UNLV Classes

Mr Randazzo teaches classes to inform you financial decisions. Learn about the many ways to save for retirement as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each. Check it out!
Dates/Times and Locations:
Session I: 
Thursdays, September 27 and October 4, 2012, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
UNLV Paradise Campus, Room TBD 851 E Tropicana Ave.
Las Vegas, NV, 89119

Session II: 
Tuesdays, October 2 and 9, 2012, 6:30-9:30 PM
UNLV Paradise Campus, Room TBD  851 E Tropicana Ave.
Las Vegas, NV, 89119

Session III: Thursdays, October 18 and 25, 2012, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PMPalo Verde High School333 South Pavilion Center Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89144-4001

Session IV: Tuesdays, October 23 and 30, 2012, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Palo Verde High School
333 South Pavilion Center Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89144-4001
Rejuvenate Your Retirement (Retiree Program)
Wednesdays, October 24 and 31, 2012, 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Summerlin High Tech Center
College of Southern Nevada333 Pavilion Center Drive
Summerlin, NV 89134
Thursdays, November 1 and 8, 2012, 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Summerlin High Tech Center
College of Southern Nevada
333 Pavilion Center Drive
Summerlin, NV 89134
You may register for a class online, call the school 702-895-3394, or email phil@nevadabenefits.com

Group Insurance- Think about the employees

The most difficult thing to hear from clients calling in is that they just had a major medical catastrophe that has left them unable to work. They are calling in because COBRA is way too expensive and they have no clue what to do. I have nothing to do for them except say they must stay with their COBRA and be thankful they have the insurance. The problem I have is that this financial tragedy could have been avoided! The same problem occurs when a person leaves employment and is sick with a terminal illness.

Option 1:
If you are an employee or an employer, always choose the high deductible plan. This may seem difficult to grasp the high deductible, but the premium costs can be manageable. You can get help with the high deductibles by purchasing an accident policy such as Aflac, Colonial, Humana, Anthem Balance, etc. For employers- don't pay 100% of the premium cost! It is awesome that you want to help your employees out and you are concerned that if they are given the choice to pay on their own, they wouldn't get the insurance at all. Maybe give them an incentive that you will increase their pay or something to help them shop for their own coverage, or contribute to an FSA (flex spending account) or HSA (Health Savings Account). This will give them money in the bank and an ability to be prepared for possible medical bills. The reason you don't want to pay too much is because it creates the perfect COBRA storm when that employee leaves employment and is stuck paying 100% of the premium, which they can't.
Employers should also invest in a long term disability policy for their employees. The plans are incredibly cheap as a group. Purchase a plan with at least 5 years of coverage, covering 60% of their salary. By paying less to their health insurance you increased their salaries, and were able to use a small portion to fund the disability insurance. Now when a catastrophe strikes, they not only get the doctors paid, but they too get paid!

Option 2:
Get your own insurance plan while you are healthy. Look into a personal insurance plan with a high deductible. This plan can easily be the last insurance plan you will ever buy. The nice thing about individual plans is they stay with you as long as you pay the premium. If the costs get too high as you age, you can always shop for a new plan (assuming you are still healthy) or even increase the deductible. If a catastrophe strikes, you aren't struck with an unexpected cost COBRA.
Set up a savings account. Take the extra money you would have spent on a plan and put it into your retirement accounts, a Health Savings Account, or a permanent life insurance policy.
Purchase an accident plan as well such as Anthem Balance, Humana, Aflac, or Colonial. Get a long term disability insurance policy of your very own. If you get a disability plan at work, take it and buy a supplemental one for yourself. Individual disability policies are more expensive, but the price is locked in until you reach 65. Get a minimum of 5 years of coverage.

Option 3:
Be insurance poor.
Get the most expensive plan at work. Don't save your money. Purchase all of the supplemental plans you can. When you get disabled, lose your job, or get in a bad situation, you will have to rely upon the government and the insurance companies your entire life.

Healthcare and health

We get a lot of calls here in the office about what people's options are when it comes to getting health insurance. A lot of people that go looking for insurance are starting to look because they have a health condition or event that finally makes them realize that it might be nice to have insurance rather then pay out of pocket for enormous health bills. Unfortunately insurance doesn't work that way. Insurance carriers bet on the fact that you won't get sick and use their money. You, on the other hand are betting the opposite. The insurance carrier then charges an amount of money in order to take on that risk and allow them to cover their losses if they lose their side of the bet. Well, what kind of bet maker would want to bet you aren't going to get sick if you already were sick?
The laws have been on the side of the insured, rewarding those who make the bet against the insurance before they get sick. By purchasing a plan that covers your medical expenses prior to a sickness, the insurance company has no choice but to keep paying out their losses as long as you pay to keep the policy in force. The only problem is the cost to wager the bet gets more expensive as you get older and the cost of care goes up as well. A lot of people have their insurance subsidized by their employer. This is great that employers care a lot about their employees, but a disaster when employees leave and are stuck paying the full bill through COBRA when they lost their income from before. You always have the option to buy a new individual plan, but remember that you are starting a new wager, so the insurance company is going to want to play a game where they think they can win, so if you are sick, you are going to have to stick with your COBRA or look into a program called HIPAA when that option goes away.
One good idea to avoid these possible dilemma would be to purchase your own insurance and ask your employer to give you  pay raise to help pay the costs instead of making them pay for a group plan. It may be the last insurance plan you get to buy, so make a good choice.
The new health care law has allowed for people to cancel their insurance and when an illness arises you can be accepted no matter what on a plan with a high deductible as long as you were not insured for 6 months. This seems great! No need to pay insurance and then get insured when the need arises. The danger in doing this is paying extremely high premiums for coverage and still be stuck with a high deductible. If you are healthy and young when you buy a policy it will stay lower and you can have better deductibles and when the going gets tough you will have access to the best doctors and care as opposed to living off the governments' dime.
This loophole will be cleared up in 2014 when the new tax comes into effect for those who chose not to elect coverage.

Lipitor

In an effort to cut cost Sierra health and Health plan of Nevada is no longer covering the brand name Lipitor. Only the generic drug called Atorvastatin. You can still get Lipitor,  your out of pocket cost would be the diffrence of the brand name drug and the generic,  plus the brand name co-pay.

Fuller Waiting Rooms

With more people insured waiting rooms are full but the doctors population is plumiting. More and more doctors cannot afford to be in practice anymore. Their expenses are not reducing however health carriers are  paying them less. How are they suppose to run their practice? I believe we are going to see less intrest of people going down this career path which is gonna cause a shortage of physicians and fuller waiting rooms.

Coventry Takevover!!!!

The recent merger with Aetna and Coventry One brings up the question of "Should one consider switching their Coventry policy to a different carrier now or wait for the merger to occur"? It's risky because Aetna's plans have their own policy, procedures, and regulations that they are going to have Coventry abide by. Additionally, most likely members with Coventry are going to receive a rate increase because Aetna's current individual rates are higher than Coventry's individual rates. We feel if a person is healthy it would be our recommendation to switch to a new carrier now and not wait to see what the new merger will bring in the future.

T n T

Dental Plans

I believe there is a misconception about dental insurance. It turns out to be like a forced savings account. You pay into dental premiums and all you get are preventive dental services. There are waiting periods for services such as fillings or root canals. I believe that it would make more sense to purchase one of the plans that have negotiated rates with dental providers where you can get dental services done immediately upon purchasing the dental product. The best part about these products is that they are generally half the cost of other dental plans. 

Trish & Tabitha

Aug 2012 Health Reform Law Preventive Care Services

In Nevada the new health reform law went into effect August 1, 2012 . The new benefits have been applied to fully insure self funded plans that are non-grandfathered plans. Below are all the benefits with this new reform law. 

Breast-feeding support, supplies and counseling  for each child's birth, contraception methods, sterilization procedures, domestic violence screening, HIV screening and counseling, sexually transmitted infections counseling, and Well-women visits. Also human papillomavirus testing, beginning at age 30, and for every three years thereafter.

The truth about health insurance

A common misconception about health insurance is that it is health care, when in fact it is only a tool that facilitates access to health care. In reality, no one really needs health insurance in order to see a doctor or have procedures done. They could just as easily pay cash for these services as they become needed. The concern most people have about paying cash is they can't truly plan on how much they will have to spend. Doctor's rarely disclose the cost of their services and each visit with all of its extra labs and procedures, varies greatly. An individual also lacks the bargaining power by themselves to achieve lower pricing and will typically pay a higher cost for cash services.
By purchasing any health insurance you transfer some or all of the risk of medical bills to the insurance company. That company also has multiple members and individuals who have given these companies their risk as well. The insurance company then collectively bargains with doctors, hospitals, etc to keep costs down. The reason most doctors prefer to have patients who have insurance is because they have contracts in place with these insurance companies that allows them more protection on whether or not they will be paid.
When you choose to pay a higher fee to your insurance carrier, you typically relinquish more of the risk to them (typically lower deductibles and preset co pays). If you choose a health plan that fits your budget but the deductible seems too high, don't stress. It just means that you have taken on a little more risk when it comes to your health care costs. The beauty is you have joined a health insurance network and have become privy to the contracts these carriers have negotiated. Also, when I talk about risk, it means possibility. Not everyone will get sick on the same day or even everyday of their lives. The way health insurance companies make money is by taking monthly checks and assuming that some people will use their insurance and most of them won't. This is what keeps the cost of insurance down. The less risk the insurance companies take on you, the more likely they are to collect a check from you and not pay any claims.
The goal when looking for health insurance is to remember there is always risk. Pick a plan that fits your budget. If you can pick a plan slightly under your budget, do so and put some of the extra money into savings. This will help pay the bills on those high-risk times. Make a health plan and get you know your benefits.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog forum!
We are revolutionizing the health insurance industry. We make brokers and quotes accesible 24/7 and give you access to REAL people. We are also local and understand your needs. We work closely with our vendors and are well trained in the products we sell.
We also are working to revolutionize the industry by providing financial and wellness education for our clients and people all over the state.
Call us today and get connected!