World Christian Resource Directory

Good Neighbor Insurance

1) Father & Son

-- Some of you have talked with Doug, my son, or at least got an email from him. He has been helping me with insurance for the past year. Recently he quit his job at Insight Computers in Tempe and is now working with Good Neighbor Insurance full time. I never dreamed that I would have my son working with me. It is a real privilege. We have our offices in our home on 620 S Winthrop here in Gilbert, Arizona so I am able to coach him as needed. Doug grew up in Indonesia where we lived for 30 years. He spent three years in the US Army and then worked for several years as manager in a pest control company in North Carolina. Last year he received his BA in Business at Western International University and is presently studying for his MBA. He is here with me every- day, so, when you phone and he sounds like me, that's may be a reason. He is very knowledgeable in insurance and adding to that knowledge base every day. If you can't get a hold of me, call him. His number is 480/633-9500.

2) How Large A Deductible Should I Choose?

-- Deductibles run all the way from $100 to $10000 depending on the plan. Usually the rates drop dramatically between $500 and $1000. Thus I seldom encourage a person to take out a $500 deductible. I think the best buy is the $1,000 deductible. Generally speaking, if we are pressed, we can find $1,000 to cover the deductible in a medical emergency. We need to remember that international insurance does not have all of the bells and whistles of domestic insurance, e.g. vision, copays. International plans are basically indemnity plans, the old classic insurance of a couple of generations ago. Co- insurance is another matter to keep in mind. Most companies run a 20/80 plan in the USA with not co-insurance when outside the USA. What does this mean? It means that if you have a medical situation in the USA you will need to pay your deductible plus 20% of the next $5,000. Thus, in a worse case scenario, you will be out $2,000 if you have a $1,000 deductible. Overseas some companies waive the co-insurance and only require you to meet the deductible.

3) Coverage On Both Sides Of The Ocean?

-- One of the most frequent questions asked is, "Will this plan cover me in the USA too?". We do have plans that cover you on both sides of the oceans ... but there are limitations. Several of the career insurance plans will cover you for six months in the USA as long as you are outside the USA six months in any given year. One plan we carry will even cover you for six months before you leave the USA. There are some folks who prefer a 12 month furlough. We have one plan that will cover you in the USA for a 12 month stretch as long as you have been outside the USA for 12 months. Short term plans will cover you in the USA too .... usually they grant five days of coverage in the USA for every month overseas with a maximum of 2 months coverage in the USA in a year.

4) Coverage In War Zones

-- Almost all international policies have a line in their "Exclusion" statement something like: This medical plan does not cover .... any consequence, whether directly or indirectly, proximately or remotely occasioned by, contributed to by, or traceable to, or arising in connection with: (a) war, invasion, act of foreign enemy hostilities, warlike operations (whether war be declared or not), or civil war; (b) Any act of any person acting on behalf of or in connection with any organization with activities directed towards the overthrow by force of the Government de jure or de facto or to the influencing of it by terrorism or violence .... etc. I think you get the picture. So, if you are caught in the cross fire you are not covered. But what if you are walking down the street .... trip and break you ankle .... In that case you are covered for it had nothing to do with a "war." So we can write insurance for people in war zones, but with the exclusion as listed above.

5) Short-Term Team Group Insurance

-- How many short term teams go outside their home countries every year? One US mission in 1996 sent at least 75,000 short termers. Many sending churches and missions want coverage for these teams, coverage that includes med- evac insurance and catastrophic protection. Several insurance companies are set up to cover teams, especially if there is a good number of teams being sent out in any given year. We have been able to write short term team coverage for as low as $1.25 a day per person. The variables of course determine the rate e.g. average age of the team member, length of the trip, number in each team, number of teams sent in a year, maximum coverage, deductible. One of the reasons missions and churches want coverage is because that don't want to be libel for any injuries. Also all are aware of the great cost of med-evacing someone back to a home country, or to good medical care .... generally somewhere between $25,000 and $75,000. If you send one or more teams and would like a quote on how much it would cost to cover your team, please contact us.

6) Term Insurance

-- Generally it has been difficult to write good term insurance for Americans living outside the USA and others living outside their home countries. Now we have several companies that are willing to provide this insurance. We can write term insurance for almost any country in the world. What is term insurance? It is protection for your spouse and children if you pass away. It is different from "life" insurance because there is no reimbursement to you if you live past the term of the policy. Here is how it works ..... if you take out $100,000 of 20 year level term and died before the 20 years was up, your beneficiary would receive $100,000. If you lived past the 20 year life of the term policy, you would receive nothing. Most people take term insurance out because it is much less expensive than life insurance and they want don't want to leave their family destitute if they die.

7) Automatic Bank Withdrawal

-- Most insurance companies are seek- ing to cut their administrative costs. One way they do that is by encouraging automatic bank withdrawal from your checking account for monthly payments. Very few international companies will bill a client on a monthly basis or permit a monthly payment. And if they do, the insurance is much more expensive. One of the major benefits, if the automatic bank withdrawal is available [often via credit card], is that it insures that your policy will not lapse. As an insurance broker I have seen this happen several times .... where a good client, because of a busy schedule or forgetfulness, failed to mail in the monthly premium. In one case my client had to wait almost two years to find someone to insure her. So the Automatic Bank Withdrawal [automatic credit card deduction] option in insurance against losing your insurance. When applying for career, long term insurance ask about this option. Overall paying with an automatic bank withdrawal, although it may cause you a head ache once in a while, gives you a little more health insurance security.

8) Who Can Be Covered? / Info Needed For An Insurance Quote.

-- Long and short term workers, furloughing Americans in the USA, foreign nationals working or studying in the USA, non-Americans working cross-culturally in another country other than the USA eg. Japanese working in Zaire, Indonesians studying in Australia, career overseas workers, non-Americans who wish to purchase "private health insurance" instead of using their government run health care system. **** If you want a quote on insurance give the age of each person to be insured, country of residence, citizen- ship, where you plan to go and how long you plan to be there. State plainly any outstanding chronic medical conditions. Also your TELEPHONE, fax numbers, email and postal address. If you want coverage while on furlough in the USA give the state and zip code of your US billing address and the type of work you do. If you are presently in the USA or plan to furlough shortly, PLEASE GIVE YOUR USA TELEPHONE NUMBER.

9) Articles We Will Email To You At Your Request

[1] Overseas Coverage for American Medicare Recipients;

[2] Pre-Existing Conditions;

[3] Insurance Lingo;

[4] Pre-Certification;

[5] Preventive Care;

[6] "Billed Amount" and "Allowed Amount";

[7] The Difference Between Gambling And Insurance;

[8] 2) Med-Evac ... Do You Need It? Is It Worth It?;

[9] What Does It Cost To Be Un-Insured?;

[10] International Insurance for Americans that Covers Furloughs Too!;

[11] Keep Your Insurance Account Current!; [12] American PPOs & HMOs - What's the Difference?;

[13] Keep Those Medical Receipts!

[14] Exclusions;

[15] The Real Driver Behind Health Care Costs;

[15] 2) International Insurance Plan for Overseas Workers;

[16] Splitting Policies - A Way to Save Money;=20 [17] The Curse of Being Declined for Health Insurance;

[18] Hassle Free Application for Health Insurance;

[19] Deductible is Not a Dirty Word;

[20] Why Rising Insurance Costs;

[21] What is "Co-Insurance?";

[22] New International Insurance Plan for Overseas Career Workers;

[23] Splitting Policies, a Way to Save Money;

[24] The Curse of Being Declined for Health Insurance;

[25] Good Health is Better Than Good Health Insurance;

[26] Generic Drugs - How Safe are They?;

[27] New International Citizen Insurance Series;

[28] Pre-Certification;

[29] Why Insurance is Important;

[30] Choosing a Health Plan;

[31] Exclusions;

[32] Dangerous Liaisons - Mixing Drugs;

[33] Short Term vs Long Term Major Medical Coverage;

[34] Rules for Getting the Most Mileage Out of Your Insurance.

10) Brochures On Short-Term Insurance For Teams Available

-- Are you organizing a short-term team for overseas travel? If you would like hard-copy brochures on insurance for each team member, let us know how many you need and we will provide them for you. We can also provide "group" insurance for your short term team so that they will not need to apply individually. Also you are completely free to photo-copy any brochures you receive from Good Neighbor Insurance.

11) To Subscribe To _International Insurance Insights

-- Simply write us at < GoodNbor@gte.net > or sign up via our Web-Site:
http://gninsurance.com/

Good Neighbor Insurance, LLC
Tel: 480/813-9100
Fax: 480/813-9930
Email: goodnbor@gte.net
Website: gninsurance.com
PREPAID LEGAL:
Email: jeffgulleson@prepaidlegal.com
Website: prepaidlegal.com/go/jeffgulleson

12) Mnu's "Day Tripper" For Short Term Teams

-- The "Day Tripper" is international short-term insurance protection for teams at a very economical daily rate. Some organizations send dozens of teams overseas every year and get frustrated in trying to figure out rates and handle the insurance administration for these teams. Now we have a plan put together specifically for teams with a daily rate. If a person goes with the team for 10 days and he is no older than 29, he can get coverage for as little as $1.08 per day. What will $1.08 a day provide? It will provide maximum coverage of $50,000 with a deductible of $250. This coverage will include hospital room and board, intensive care, emergency dental, medical evacuation, emergency reunion, repatriation of remains, trip cancellation, lost checked luggage, $25,000 in case of accidental death and dismemberment, and common carrier accidental death. For coverage, all you need to do is fax us a list of team members with their date of birth and passport number or SS number along with a simple enrollment form that we provide. If you are interested in making sure your short-term teams are taken care of and your organization is protected please let me know, and we will fax or mail you the "Day Tripper" packet.

13) Coverage For Preexisting Conditions?

This is always a major question ... Do you cover preexisting conditions? We do have one company that offers career worker coverage with a provision to cover preexisting conditions. How does it work? If you are accepted for coverage with this company, for the first two years the preexisting conditions will not be covered. After that, the company provides $50,000 of coverage for preexisting conditions, limited to $5,000 a year. That may not seem like much to you, but many companies will put permanent riders or waivers on certain conditions. That means they will "never" cover any recurrence of that condition they "rider." For example, you may have a bum knee that once in a while, every five years or so, acts up. If there was a "permanent rider/waiver" on the knee, there would be no coverage for you if it acted up and gave you trouble. But with the company above, they will provide you with $5,000 of coverage per year for ten years to help you take care of that knee. That, I think, is a wonderful benefit. So if you have a precondition that you are concerned about, and want the assurance that you will have at least limited health coverage for that condition, please contact us. We will gladly share the details of the policy with you.

14) Group Coverage - Complete Takeover

-- One of the major problems career groups have is finding group coverage that will cover all preexisting conditions. This is called a "complete takeover." Group rates go up like all insurance rates, and when they do, we like to look around for other options. The general problem is that your group has aged and developed some medical problems; so now you need to find a company that will do a "take over," thereby covering all of those existing medical problems. If your group is experiencing unbearable insurance premiums and you are interested in investigating lower rates with a company that will provide insurance with a "complete takeover" please do call. I believe we can help you.

15) Interesting Insurance Trivia

One American domestic insurance company, in a report to their agents, shared the following: (1) Physician charges account for 38% of claims dollars; (2) 1.6% of insured use an ambulance; (3) The average insured makes 2.4 office visits a year; (4) 12.9% of insured visit the emergency room once a year; (5) Average cost of visiting a physician is $69; (6) On the average a person will be hospitalized every 25 years with the average cost of $7,400 per stay.

16) Keeping Your Account Current

One purpose of this letter is to help you get the most mileage possible out of your insurance coverage. Therefore, in every issue we continue to emphasize the seven rules you should follow in using your insurance. One rule is to keep your account current. Recently, two of our insured friends, for various reasons, failed to pay their insurance premiums. Their insurance was terminated. I understand this problem. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with my premium too! The problem is that you don't know when sickness will strike; and if your insurance is terminated, there will be no coverage. One person told me that they faithfully paid their insurance for years, forgot to pay the premium once, were terminated, and two months later became quite sick with huge medical bills. They had to pay for everything themselves, just as if they had never had insurance. Another reason for keeping your account current is that a company is not obligated to reinstate you if you developed some sickness during your coverage and then were terminated. For example, if you had coverage, developed high-blood pressure, forgot to pay your premium, and were terminated, the insurance company can then consider the high-blood pressure as a preexisting condition and not reinstate you. So, to get the most mileage out of your insurance, keep your account current!

17) What Kinds Of Insurance Does Good Neighbor Insurance Offer?

Good Neighbor Insurance represents seven different international insurance companies, so we have an array of insurance products available. We offer seven international life-time plans for career workers with deductibles from $250 to $5000. Our short-term plans have deductibles from $100 to $2500, and offer coverage for from two weeks to three years. We also offer term insurance from two major worldwide insurers for terms of 1 to 30 years. Then there is group insurance for short term teams going overseas for a week to several months. We also provide group insurance for organizations that plan to work overseas for years. Finally, we have plain travel and medical evacuation policies for groups and also individuals. If you need information about any type of medical, term-life or travel insurance, please do contact us.

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Visits since January 31st, 2001