Blog

Market Linked CD’s Can Provide Higher Returns

Market linked CD’s are a good alternative to traditional bank CD’s and annuities.  Bank CD’s are currently yielding 1% on a short term basis and no higher than 3% on a 5 to 7 year term.  Market linked CD’s work differently as they have a guaranteed minimum return (usually .5% to 1%) but have an unlimited upside.  Instead of providing a set return over a period of time, market CD’s base returns on the performance of the securities in the market such as indexes or individual stocks.  If the investment yields a positive return in any given year, a portion is shared with the investor.  If the investment has a negative or neutral return, the investor is credited with the minimum state return such as .5% or 1%.  Market linked CD’s are FDIC insured just like a traditional CD. Read more

Obama Care Income Limits for 2015

In this post we will explain the Obama Care Income Limits for 2015.  February 15th is the cut off to sign up for an Affordable Care Act plan (Obama Care).  In fact, after the 15th, only people with a valid special election can sign up for coverage.  Those with income below the allowable guidelines gain access to health insurance coverage at substantially lower cost than those with standard plans not affiliated with the exchange.  Those within the income limits can enjoy premium reductions of up to 90% .

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Sell Medicare Plans From Home

You might be interested to know you can have a great home based career. If you are willing to do the work this can be great opportunity for you. If you like helping people and providing people with the coverage they need.  You can learn to Sell Medicare Plans From Home.  Insurance agents traditionally sell Medicare plans on a face to face basis.  They usually hold meetings in either clients homes, a public venue or their own office. If they have one.  This is how a majority of our agents write Medicare plans.  Although, our top producers rarely if ever go out to meet with new prospects or current clients.   They write and retain Medicare plans from their home every day without the need to travel and are consistently our best producers.  While Medicare supplements are often the most popular plans to sell online, some agents do also offer Advantage and part D plans.

Through trial and error we have learned the most efficient and effective way to sell Medicare from your home or office without face to face meetings.  With hard work and dedication our strategy is a fantastic way to build a big book of business quickly. We work with both new and existing agents.  Let us help you start to build a  good client base and become a successful agent.  We provide a 100% free Medicare lead program. In fact, we provide training  both via webinar and in person. In addition, we will pay licensing costs for new agents.  We offer all our agents full support.

Getting Started

Existing agents should either contact us or start with our here.  Those individuals that do not have a license and who want to become an agent, should start with our Becoming a Life and Health Agent blog.  Please  either call our office at 203-796-5403 or email admin@croweandassociates.com with questions.  We are here to help you succeed and are happy to do so!

In order to sell from home, you need to enroll members online and over the phone.  Our online enrollment platform called Connect4Medicare allows agents to enroll members online.  Click here for recorded webinar!

Aetna Medicare Plan Changes Connecticut 2015

If you would like to learn about the Aetna Medicare Plan Changes Connecticut 2015, you should read this post.  Aetna Medicare will be making major changes to their Medicare Advantage plans in some Connecticut counties for 2015.  A quick summary of changes is listed below.  Call or email our office for specific information and CMS approved benefit summaries and other info.

• The current Aetna Value HMO

• $0 premium plan will be discontinued in Fairfield and New Haven counties as of January 1, 2015.  This means you will not have a plan as of January 1, 2015.   If you are in this plan currently you must enroll in a different Medicare plan if you want one for 2015.   There is a special enrollment period for this situation.   This allows consumers to enroll in a new plan anytime from December 15th, 2014 through the end of February 2015.

• The Aetna Value HMO

• will still be available at $0 monthly premium to those in Hartford, Litchfield and Tolland counties.  Benefits have some minor changes. They are now going to a $25 primary as well as a $50 specialist copay.   They are also moving the inpatient hospital benefit to $300 for days 1-4.

• Aetna will have a new $0 premium plan called Aetna Elite HMO

• available 1-1-15 for those in New Haven and Fairfield county.  The plan boasts low copays ($10 primary/$35 specialist) and $550 per stay hospital inpatient copay.   HOWEVER, it will have a $1,000 annual deductible for that will apply to major services.  Office visits, preventative benefits, lab and some other benefits will not apply to the deductible and will still be a copay however.
• Aetna will still offer the Standard HMO plan with only small benefits changes and a 2015 premium of $118.00 a month in Hartford, New Haven , Fairfield, Litchfield and Tolland counties.
• Aetna will still offer the Standard PPO plan with only small benefits changes and a 2015 premium of $101.00 a month in Hartford, New Haven , Fairfield, Litchfield and Tolland counties

Please either call or email our office with any additional questions at 203-796-5403 or by email at Admin@croweandassociates.com.

Obama Care  in Connecticut

The purpose of this post is to provide an understanding of Obama Care in Connecticut to help consumers make a better decision when they decide to enroll or not.    Our office is registered to advise the general population on which plan may be best for them and to process an enrollment in person or over the phone. Please review the list of bullet points below and call or email if you have any questions.

• Obama Care is run by Access Health in CT.  Prospective members sign up for the plan through the Access Health website.  Once you register, you can complete and submit an application.  Access Health then sends the insurance company that you chose during your application process the information is then sent to the insurance company that was chosen during the application process.  This will then prompt them to send out a monthly bill as well as ID cards.
• Subsidies are available to those within the income guidelines.  They are automatically applied to the premium and the bill received in the mail will be reduced by the amount of monthly subsidy being received.  Subsidy levels depend on the total annual income of the family and the number of family members.  They do NOT look at prior year income but look at current years income.  A person applying in 2014 is going to be provided or not provided a subsidy based on their 2014 income not prior years income.

• Subsidies levels are as follows:

• Single person under $45,960 adjusted gross is eligible for a subsidy.  A family of 4 under $94,200 is eligible for a subsidy.    For an example of the amount of subsidy provided we can use a 61 year old male.  At $47,00 annual income he is not eligible for subsidy and would pay $691 a month for a silver plan.  At $32,000 of income that same person would only pay $150.09 a month for the same silver plan.   A family of 4 making $96,000 a year would pay $1217.22 a month for a silver plan while a family of 4 making 52,000 a year would pay $217.00 a month for the same plan.
• Subsidies are only available by applying through Access Health
• Current companies offering plans are Anthem BCBS, Connecticare and Healthy Partners.  United and Harvard Pilgrim will  also be available in 2015
• Anyone can enroll in Obama Care but only those under the income level will get a subsidy

• The company sends a paper bill every month.

• The doctor networks are smaller than the normal networks.  We have found that the companies Obama networks have about 70% of the doctors that are in the companies normal networks.
• For those under the income guidelines, this is the lowest cost insurance they will be able to buy on an individual basis by a substantial amount.
• The benefits of the Obama Care plans are more comprehensive than the comparable plans out on the open market
• Obama Care will base your income on the total family income, even if the whole family does not enroll in the plan.

You can either call or email us with any questions or help enrolling.  We do not charge a fee for help with enrollments.  The insurance companies pay us directly.  The rates are the same with or without our assistance enrolling.   Office number is 203-796-5403 or email Edward@croweandassociates.com

Americo LibertyMark 15% Bonus Annuity

Americo LibertyMark 15% bonus annuity.  Until recently, the state of Connecticut has given approval to very few bonus annuities.  Equitrust had the largest bonus at 6%.  Although, now there is a 13% bonus product in CT with the approval of the Americo LibertyMark annuity. (Please Note:  The bonus is 15% in many other states).   The product comes with both a 7 year term as well as a 10 year term version.  This means that you would need to invest your money into the product for either 7 or 10 years before you could obtain the entire amount without a surrender charge.   In addition to the 13% bonus, LibertyMark has one of the stronger interest crediting methods available with a 2 year S & P annual point to point at 80% or 60% participation. This depends on the option that you select.

 LibertyMark

Structures their bonuses in a unique manner.  LibertyMark pays you the 13% bonus out at two different times.  When yo make your initial deposit you will receive a credit of a 5% bonus.  This means that the remaining 8% is credited at the end of year 10 on the total accumulation value of the product.  As an example, assume someone puts $100,000 in the product and it grows to $180,000 at the end of year 10.  The 8% bonus would be based off the $180,000 which would equal a bonus of $14,400.00  As with all fixed annuities, the principal investment is protected.   This means that the return in a given year can not go below 0% even if the market is down.

Please contact us if you have questions or would like to learn more.  You can either call our office at 203-796-5403 or email us at Edward@croweandassociates.com.  We are here to help you with all your insurance or investment needs.

CLICK FOR AMERICO LIBERTYMARK BROCHURE

CLICK FOR LIBERTYMARK STATE AVAILABILITY

CD Type Fixed Annuity Rates

In this post Crowe and Associates gives clients some information about CD Type Fixed Annuity Rates.  The more options you are aware of for your investment dollars the better decisions you can make.   A fixed annuity works in a very similar manner to a bank CD.  The insurance company offers a fixed rate.  That rate does not change for a specific set number of years.  At the end of the term, the money is free of any type of surrender penalty. You can then either leave it in the account, cash it out or move it into a different investment.  For example: A five year fixed annuity at 2.85% will have a guaranteed payment of 2.85% per year.  You can move that money anywhere you want at the end of the 5th year with no penalty.

  A fixed annuity does have surrender penalties.

The penalties apply only if you take out more than 10% of the money  in any given year prior to the end of the term.  Unlike a bank CD, fixed annuities are not FDIC insured.  Although, they are backed by the state of issue up to a specified amount. The amount in Connecticut is currently up to $500,000.

Like a CD, companies compete with each other to offer the highest annuity rates for any given term.  In fact,  Guggenheim currently offers terms of 3 to 10 years.  They have the best rates available for each individual term.  We include a current rate sheet in this post, below for your review.

CLICK FOR GUGGENHEIM CD TYPE ANNUITY RATES

 Crowe and Associates would like to help you with your both your insurance and investment needs.  Please call us if you have any questions or need any insurance or investment advice.  You can reach us either by phone at 203-796-5403 or email at Edward@croweandassociates.com.

Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Connecticut 2015

Crowe and Associates wants to make sure all our clients are aware of the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Connecticut 2015.  This is a great opportunity for both uninsured individuals as well as families to get much needed health coverage. Medicare Advantage plan companies are able to make plan and benefit changes to existing plans every January, during open enrollment. There will be major changes this year for many plans in Connecticut.  These changes include premium increases, plan terminations, as well as the introduction of referral based plans and more.

Medicare Advantage plans are currently offered in Connecticut by United Healthcare (AARP and  non AARP branded), Aetna, Connecticare, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield and also Wellcare.  Most of these companies will be making major changes to existing plan holders benefits.   Please note:  Medicare Supplement plans such as the AARP Medicare supplements (also called Medigap) do not change benefits.  They are only subject to rate increases.

The Medicare Open Enrollment Period

(OEP) is your opportunity to review your plan and make changes if necessary.  The OEP period runs from October 15th to December 7th.  If you apply for any changes during that period  they will be in force as of January 1, 2015.   OEP is the only opportunity during the year to change plans or companies. (Unless you have a special election).  Crowe and Associates works with all MAPD plans offered in Connecticut for 2015.  As a result, we are able to review all available plans to help you find the best option.  Plan reviews can be done by phone, at our office in Brookfield, our various library seminars or even in the home.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to schedule a review for the open enrollment period.  You can contact us by either calling our office at 203-796-5403 or emailing us at admin@croweandassociates.com.

Short Term Health Insurance Connecticut

Crowe and Associates would like to offer our clients some information about the Short Term Health Insurance Connecticut.  We want you to be aware of all you options when you are trying to decide what type of insurance is the best choice for you and your family. There is now a short term health insurance plan available to people in Connecticut.

HCC offers a well priced short term health insurance plan

This plan can run for up to 11 months to members.  This plan is a great option for college students and anyone that wants insurance but missed the enrollment deadline for the Affordable Care act plans. It is also a great option for those that are 64 years of age and need a plan to carry them over until they are Medicare eligible.  Plans can be purchased for as little as one month up to a maximum of 12 months.  Enrollment in the plan is done online in about 10 minutes for those that want to apply.  The plan has the following features…

• Choose from deductible levels of $250 to $7,500
• You purchase this plan on a month by month basis for a maximum of 11 months
• 5 general health questions on the application
• Online enrollment
• Premiums up to 70% lower than standard health insurance plans
• Coverage can begin the day after applying
• In fact, Anyone can apply for this insurance coverage

We have provided a link below that will allow you to quote rates as well as enroll in a plan of your choice.  If you have any questions, please feel free to either call our office at 203-796-5403 or email us at Edward@croweandassociates.com.  We are always happy to help you with any insurance needs that you may  have.  We want you to feel confident with your insurance coverage choices.

CLICK FOR ONLINE RATES AND ENROLLMENT LINK