5 Facts about Health Insurance Policies

We know that this economy has a lot of people struggling.  We keep our rates low and affordable to help with long distance costs.  However, what about other parts where you could save money?

These are some tips about health insurance plans.  Many health insurance plans have specific exclusions that eliminate your benefits for anything that could have been covered under Workers Compensation or similar laws.

1. DOES YOUR PLAN COVER YOU ON AND OFF THE JOB?

Many health insurance plans have specific exclusions that eliminate your benefits for anything that could have been covered under Workers Compensation or similar laws. Now read that last sentence again.

COULD HAVE BEEN COVERED!?

That is correct. Most self employed people and even some small business owners do not carry Workers Comp on themselves.

There are designed insurance plans that will cover you on and off the job — 24-hours a day, if you are not required by law to have Workers Compensation coverage.

2. ARE YOU WRITING IT OFF?

Independent contractors (1099's), home based business owners, professionals and other self employed people generally are not taking advantages of the tax laws available to them.

Many people who are paying 100% of their own costs are eligible to deduct their monthly insurance payments. Just that alone can reduce your net out-of-pocket costs of a proper plan by as much as 40%. Ask your accounting professional if you are eligible and/or check out the IRS website for more information.

3. INTERNAL LIMITS
All true insurance plans use some form of internal controls to determine how much they will pay out for a particular procedure or service. There are two basic methods.

-Scheduled Benefits

Many plans, some of which are specifically marketed to self employed and independent people, have a clear schedule of what they will pay per doctor office visit, hospital stay, or even limits on what they will pay for testing per 24-hr. period. This structure is usually associated with "Indemnity Plans". If you are presented with one of these plans, be sure to see the schedule of benefits, in writing. It is important that you understand these type of limits up front because once you reach them the company will not pay anything over that amount.

-Usual and Customary

"Usual and Customary" refers to the rate of pay out for a doctor office visit, procedure or hospital stay that is based on what the majority of physicians and facilities charge for that particular service in that particular geographical or comparable area. "Usual and Customary" charges represent the highest level of coverage on most major medical plans.


4.YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO SHOP!

If you are reading this you, are probably shopping for a health plan. Every day people shop, for everything from groceries to a new home. During the shopping process, generally, the value, price, personal needs and general marketplace gets evaluated by the buyer. With this in mind, it is very disconcerting that most people never ask what a test, procedure or even doctor visit will cost. In this ever-changing health insurance market, it will become increasingly important for these questions to be asked of our medical professionals. Asking price will help you get the most out of your plan and reduce your out-of-pocket expenses.

5. NETWORKS AND DISCOUNTS

Almost all insurance plans and benefit programs work with medical networks to access discounted rates. In broad strokes, networks consist of medical professionals and facilities who agree, by contract, to charge discounted rates for services rendered. In many cases the network is one of the defining attributes of your program. Discounts can vary from 10% to 60% or more. Medical network discounts vary, but to ensure you minimize your out-of-pocket expenses, it is imperative that you preview the network's list of physicians and facilities before committing. This is not only to ensure that your local doctors and hospitals are in the network, but also to see what your options would be if you were to need a specialist.

Ask your agent what network you are in, ask if it is local or national and then determine if it meets your own individual needs.

Contact your health insurance provider and make sure you and your employees are covered for every situation.

Save money on your long distance bill with help from Business Network Long Distance!

Before you Cut off the Landline...

It can be hard to remember why we keep around landlines that seems so aged when new technology is all around us.  However, can you say about any of your new technology that it lasts all the time through storms or that it doesn't get lost or stolen.  A landline is a dependable form of communication that many forget about.

Depend on the landline and depend on Business Network Long Distance for quality long distance.

Insurance You Can Count On!

In the United States we love our insurance policies. We insure just about everything. We insure our homes, our cars, health, recreational equipment, the things in our homes and cars too. We insure our business, the people who work for our business, the things we use at our business and possibly the customers who use our business. 

Well how do you like that? That sure sounds nice and cozy doesn’t it? Insurance helps us to keep our peace of mind. That if things should not go the way we hope, should some kind of tragedy strike, we will not have to suffer too great of a loss.

We seem to have a plan for almost every situation these days, but what about your communication needs.  You have a cell phone and insurance on your cell phone, but do you have a backup plan?  Isn’t that what insurance is really all about?  Having something in case the first thing falls through or gets broken.  Your cell phone if lost or stolen leaves you with no way to contact people or activate your insurance. 

Enter…Landline.  The landline is your insurance line for communication needs.  Not only that but it also provides extra reliability with contacting 911, giving you another form of insurance.  Your business depends on communication, are you prepared for any situation?

Of the two hundred and seventy million 911 calls made in the United States each year, the response time to the individual location is based on knowing the exact address.  If your home or business does not have a landline telephone in it, the call made for help may take a significantly longer amount of time to arrive.

You see the 911 operators are only able to respond with the type of pinpoint accuracy you really need in an emergency situation when the call is made from a landline telephone. This is possible because when a 911 call goes out from a landline telephone, the dispatcher is given the exact location the call has been made from as soon as the call is placed. This is done automatically as the call has been made from a fixed location.

 Now that is an insurance policy you can count on when you need it!  A plan that has no “may be” to it. Sure a cell phone call signal can be traced by pinging the signal off a series of towers. But that can take time. Time you and your business or customers may not have.  The inaccuracy from a cell phone can be a real problem if the call is made from a cell phone within a public space.  Don’t leave the safety of your home or business left in the hands of your cell phone. You don’t have to settle for less.

This great low cost insurance that you can have to safeguard your home or business is found only in landline telephone and is irreplaceable.  To learn how affordable the great policy can be for you. Contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill!

Your Credit Report Made Simple

Business Network Long Distance presents 3 ways to get your free annual credit report for the business owner:

Yes, you can now get your credit report without paying a dime. And unlike before, now it is truly free. No longer do you have to sign up for a "free" credit report by signing up for "credit monitoring protection service" for a low annual fee of $79 a year! The days of dodging the annoying charges and service fees for a free credit report are over.

Under the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report within a 12 month period from the big three credit report bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion).

The goal of this new government act is to ensure that Americans have the right to stay informed about what these three credit reporting bureaus say about you without having to pay for it. Since identity theft, fraud and errors are quite common today, why should you have to pay for a copy of a report to fight back against these problems?

Here are the 3 ways to get your free annual credit report:

The three credit reporting agencies have created a website to request your annual credit report.

1) Go to www.annualcreditreport.com

2) Call (877) 322-8228 to request your free credit report.

3) Complete a form from the Federal Trade Comission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

If you go directly to the three agencies or use any other type of service you may end up having to pay or sign up for the subscription services I mentioned above! Make sure you use one of the 3 methods I have listed to get your annual free credit report.

You can get the reports from all 3 agencies at once or stagger the reports from each one during the course of 1 year. The advantage of staggering the reports that you receive is to keep track of how any major changes in your financial picture affect what is on your credit report. For example, if you plan on getting a second mortgage over the coming year, or applying for student loans, ect. it might be wise to get a report before and after these major events!

This new Act does not supplant the other methods you can take advantage of to receive a free credit report. If you are applying for unemployment or been denied a loan, or need a credit report in order to get a job, you still have the right to obtain a free credit report.

Take advantage of this new government regulation and make sure all of the information listed by all three credit reporting agencies are correct. Any errors or omissions can reduce your credit score and end up costing you a lot of money when you apply for any type of credit.

Spend more money on paying off loans and improving your credit report by saving money on other bills.  Contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill today!

The Real Cost of Cellphones

The rage of social media --- texting, Facebook, on-line shopping, on-line banking and bill paying has cost employers millions of dollars in paid out wages to employees playing on the job. Profits are lost due to a decrease in productivity. In addition to paying current wages, employers have been forced to hire specialist to track employee quality and quantity of work, as well as, invest in Spyware to make sure that the time employees spend on-line is for business purposes.

            In analyzing how much employee cell phone usage cost an employer. An example of 10 employees who earn $15 an hour that check their cell phones for 3 minutes every other hour on an 8-hour shift. (3 minutes multiplied by 4 times a day= 12 minutes). Those 10 employees multiplied by 12 minutes daily= 120 minutes total then multiplied by 5 days a week= 600 minutes or 10 hours, which equals $150 dollars a week. Yearly the cumulative cost for those 10 employees checking and responding to email and Facebook for one year is a staggering $7,800 dollars in lost wages and 520 hours in lost productivity. Believe it or not the above example of an employee using only 12 minutes a day used for social media is extremely conservative.

            What do you think your employees are doing on their phones?  Don’t let that be a company expense.  Cell phones in the work place are a major distraction for employees, which create not only losses in payroll and productivity, but also create an unsafe work environment as well. Cell phones are hurting both large and small companies. In order to put money back into your company start by saving money on your business landlines by choosing Business Network Long Distance as an alternative long-distance provider. 

The Landline Investment

Your business needs less hassle and more convenience, do just that with a landline.

Contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill today!

Long Live the Landline

Since its invention in 1875, the landline has been trusted by millions of people.  The invention has been improved throughout the years to make it a reliable form of communication.

During the 21st century, landline telephone usage reached its peak.  Some may think that it is on the downfall, however to this day 64% of households maintain a landline. There are several reasons to consider, when you consider maintaining a landline.

The landline through many improvements has stayed reliable.  While technology has changed, they kept the hard wires instead of switching to towers.  This is because the towers that are used for cell phones can get jammed and are unpredictable.

The landline has also maintained to be an affordable line for communication.  The cell phone increases in price with new technology constantly emerging that you have to upgrade for, while the landline lasts for years.  Also, if you break your landline, you don’t have to worry about waiting for it to cost a reasonable price when your contract is up.  You can go to your local convenience store for your new landline.

Your business needs a line to depend on for communication.  The landline is just that.

Save your landline and save money!  Contact Business Network Long Distance for an affordable and reliable long distance service for your business.