Alumni Insurance Program
The Alumni Association introduced its Alumni Insurance Program as a service to alumni three decades ago, and the program has since touched the lives of many alumni families.
The program offers a variety of attractively priced insurance products for alumni and their spouses, parents and children:
Life Insurance
The Lincoln Christian University Alumni Association sponsors an Alumni Insurance Program as a service to alumni. The program offers a variety of attractively priced insurance products, most of which are available to alumni, students, faculty, and staff, as well as their spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, and siblings:
Medical Insurance: For those temporarily without coverage, such as the unemployed and recent graduates, and for special situations, including travelers and students.
Life Insurance: Long-term protection with great rates and fantastic features. Coverage is available to $1 million. And, through benefit increases, total insurance can increase to $2 million.
Click here for more information or call the program administrator at 800-635-7801.
Medical Insurance
Short Term Medical insurance (STM) is now available for graduating students, alumni, and their families. This high-quality, affordable insurance can fill the temporary needs of new alumni who may be without insurance after graduation or others who may have gaps in their medical coverage due to, for instance, unemployment or a move. School-sponsored insurance typically ends soon after graduation, while coverage through a parent's policy may end as early as the day before graduation. Check with your insurer to determine exactly when yours ends. If you don't have immediate replacement coverage, STM may be your temporary solution. Medical insurance is also available for special situations, such as for:
- people who need coverage for longer than six months—up to three years,
- those who travel or live abroad for 15 days to five years, and
- full-time graduate students.
Click here for more information or call the program administrator at 800-635-7801.
New Medicare Insurance Opportunity for LCU Alumni
Are you (or is a family member) eligible for Medicare? If you are turning 65, or you're already eligible, the annual enrollment period for Medicare is fast approaching. Information about 2010 premiums and benefits is available as of October 1, and the annual enrollment period runs from November 15 - December 31, 2009. During this time, you can make changes to your existing plan or select a new plan for 2010. The alumni association offers Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans in all 50 tates. To learn more about your options for coverage, availability, and pricing, click here.
Insuring Long Term Care for Quality and Dignity of Life
Most people look forward to the benefits of retirement—you can travel, volunteer, revisit pastimes, interact with grandchildren, relax and enjoy the moment. Ideally, it's when the investments of a lifetime pay off. With advanced medicine and superior healthcare, you can reasonably expect many years of meaningful activity.
Inevitably however, age involves declining health that may require a certain level of assistance. In fact, there's a 60% chance that you will eventually need some form of long term care. Often, it's minimal, but it can progress to a higher level that may last for several years. In any circumstance, the goal is to maintain the highest possible level of dignity and independence. But this care—even if it's only for a few years—is more expensive than many people realize. And while Medicare and private health insurance cover acute care—surgeries, illness, injuries and short-term rehabilitation—neither covers long-term care. That's why long term care (LTC) insurance makes sense. Just like home and auto insurance, it's better to have what you don't need, than to need what you don't have. Visit www.AlumniLTCInsurance.com to start planning, without obligation.
Fact vs. Fable
Long-term care describes the assistance required when a chronic illness, injury or frailty makes it too difficult for you to function independently. Although most commonly associated with nursing homes, it also includes custodial care for assisted living facilities and in-home caregivers. In fact, 95% of long-term care services are custodial in nature. This is what makes LTC insurance especially valuable. It offers flexibility. Given the opportunity, most people would choose to live in their homes. LTC insurance provides the financial support to make this possible.
Many people can function independently most of the time, but may need help with certain tasks. About 80% of long-term care claims are paid for individuals living at home and in assisted living facilities. LTC benefits may used to cover costs for a variety of professional caregivers: registered and practical nurses, nursing aids, therapists, home-health aides, live-in companions, and homemakers. And contrary to popular belief, long term care is not just a “senior” issue—40% of l ong-term care is provided to those under age 65.
Protection of Assets
When long-term care becomes necessary, you must determine how to pay for it. Medicare provides acute medical coverage to people age 65 and older. Medicaid picks up most of the nation's long-term care bill. But many people don't realize that you must first deplete your assets to welfare levels before you even qualify for Medicaid.
Once your assets are drained, there may be little or nothing left for your family. Worse still, the financial burden might fall on them. In a day of steadily rising healthcare costs, LTC bills could easily triple over the period that care is provided. Few people would even consider not insuring their home. Yet most seem unaware of the catastrophic financial risk and potentially devastating expense of not insuring for their long-term care.
Details to Consider
Although there are no hard and fast rules, keep in mind that LTC insurance works like a life insurance policy. The younger and healthier you are when you purchase the policy, the less expensive it is (for the entire time). Once a condition begins that requires long-term care, you will no longer qualify for insurance. So taking out a policy at age 50, or even younger, is not too early.
An estimated nine million people age 65 and over needed long-term care in 2006. That number is expected to increase to 12 million by 2020. So, take some time to understand the facts and plan for the possibility. LTC insurance safeguards your assets—beyond that, it protects your quality of life and preserves your dignity. Regardless of what happens to your health, you know you'll receive quality care without financially burdening your family or draining their inheritance—making LTC insurance an investment that genuinely provides peace of mind.