The first and most important benefit any working American needs is health insurance. More bankruptcies are filed each year because of the unforeseen emergency hospital stay, surgeries, etc. The whole reason for health insurance is to be sure the hospitals and doctors get paid to make you all better. You never know when a catastrophic accident or illness will strike. In many ways, health insurance is the biggest "what if" in the insurance market. But this is not the kind of insurance I am talking about here.
The next most needed insurance I would say is a toss up. I can make a good argument for either disability or life insurance to land in the number two spot. For this article I will choose disability insurance as my next to discuss. This is the sort of thing that replaces your income if something should happen to you away from your job that would summarily keep you from coming in and doing your job. One question I always ask is, "How long could you go without a paycheck"? The majority of people usually answer, "Until my next paycheck". Disability insurance could be the difference in someone losing their home or not due to an unforeseen illness or injury who needs income to keep the bills paid until they get on their feet again and can work. This is the next most needed bit of "what if" insurance. But I'm not talking about this either.
Next in line would be life insurance. This is the ONLY insurance ever guaranteed to pay anyone a dime. It's necessary, if for nothing else, for final expenses and/or burials. This is not a "what if" in any book. It's a necessary part of our lives. We need to be responsible to take care of the inevitable "final day".
Just like it's name sounds, this is a product that covers you in the event you have a "what if" moment in the area of an accident. It works hand in hand with both of the above other pieces of needed "what if" insurance in that it can help pay a lump sum benefit based on the severity of any accident and it can also be used to handle co-pays and deductibles you will surely have with an ambulance ride and/or an emergency room visit.
True story: A few years ago we are sitting and discussing insurance offerings as a place of business. We had been sitting with each employee all day and were winding down. One gentleman sat with a benefits counselor and got the same information on life insurance, disability coverage and the like. At ever turn we were met with opposition and the unnecessary need for these insurance products. As we were wrapping up, the client wanted to look at the accident insurance one more time because he rode a motorcycle to and from work and he knew the dangers he might run into. Six weeks later, the "what if" hit home as he had a near fatal motorcycle accident on his way home from work. The accident put him in an ambulance, the emergency room, in surgery for almost every bone in his body, and a hospital room. This man dies after a 30 day stay in the hospital as his body just could not heal. The accident policy paid a claim to his wife and four children in excess of $50,000.00. Since they had health insurance, that coverage helped. But because he refused all manner of discussions about life insurance, this piece of "what if" insurance saved his wife and children from a financial nightmare on top of the emotional devastation of a "what if".
So, the next time you think there might be an insurance hole to fill based on your way of life or just for piece of mind...think about "what if" and then make the call.
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