Benefit Awareness is a Wisconsin based insurance marketing and consulting firm created to provide small businesses access to cutting-edge insurance, and benefit programs that previously have not existed in the small group marketplace. Benefit Awareness is committed to driving meaningful change to improve the quality of health, and cost of services for our membership community.
Written By Chris Martin - Insurance Coach w/ Benefits Awareness.
None of us are invincible and accidents do happen.
It happened to me in August of 2017 after I almost died from a massive stroke (from a jiu jitsu accident) and I am grateful to have had the right insurance programs in place then, and now.
The purpose of my story is to spread awareness to the risks of not having proper insurance if something like this were to happen to you. For only a few dollars a month y0u and your family can be protected.
What are the odds it will happen to me?
1 in 5 will be disabled in their lifetime.
Approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes.
Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. Every 4 minutes, someone dies of stroke.
70 percent of U.S. households with children under 18 would have trouble meeting everyday living expenses within a few months if a primary wage earner were to die today. 4 in 10 households with children under 18 say they would immediately have trouble meeting everyday living expenses.
I am one of those stats. In 2017 (at age 39) I suffered a massive brain stroke…and guess what was going through my mind? Have a listen for yourself (Podcast Clip from Jiu Jitsu Radio - #61) -
Here are a few things to consider if you are on the fence about buying insurance:
Get insured when you are younger, and healthy. Do not wait till it is too late to buy insurance, you may not qualify later on because of health conditions.
For example now, after my stroke, I am not able to buy more insurance (life insurance or disability insurance) coverage if I wanted to. I would not qualify because I already had a stroke.
If you have a family (or a business), buy life insurance. It’s not very expensive.
Life insurance coverage through an employer generally isn’t enough coverage to support a family, plus what happens to that life insurance policy if you were to leave your job?
Disability insurance from your employer is (typically) taxable and only covers 50% - 60% of your working income. Social security only pays a few hundred bucks a month (and takes a long time to qualify for), and is not enough to live on. To protect your income (paycheck) purchase a small individual disability policy when you are young and healthy.
Not all health insurance plans cover treatment for certain medical procedures, medications, or even include coverage for all physicians, hospitals, or clinics. Critical illness and cancer polices can help manage your medical bills and income loss if you effected by these conditions.