Guaranteed health plan now could pay off later

After nearly 40 years in insurance, you would think that I had seen my share of innovations. But I really haven't.

I did witness the introduction of "universal" life insurance in the late 1970s.This revolutionary insurance policy has changed for the better the permanent insurance landscape forever.

Now, 30 years later, I have learned of another unique, revolutionary insurance product that will bring great comfort and confidence to millions of Americans, this time in the area of health insurance.

Countless people have trouble getting health insurance because of preexisting conditions. But the conditions did not always exist for most of these people; rather they came upon them at some point because of sickness or injury.

If a person wants or needs coverage, he or she must be fairly healthy to get it. Once you become uninsurable, it becomes difficult or impossible to get coverage from a private insurer.

Now Golden Rule Insurance Co., a subsidiary of United Healthcare, has come out with a guarantee of insurability that can be obtained while healthy and later "switched" on and off as needed for years to come. One can pick up the underlying policy at a standard cost when the coverage is needed and then drop it if employer-group coverage becomes available, picking up again later on if needed, always at a standard cost even if the insurer would otherwise refuse coverage. The guarantee can even apply to whole families.

Maybe you are young and convinced that you do not need medical coverage now but worry that you will not be able to get it later when you feel you need it. Perhaps you have your employer's coverage now but want to be sure that you can change jobs and still have coverage beyond any COBRA extension. Maybe your next job will not come with medicalbenefits. And if you retire early, you will need a gap-filler until Medicare is available. The cost is reasonable in my opinion.

That cost is based upon a percentage of a given medical plan that you choose to have now or to reserve for possibly future use, if needed.

Your cost will be anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent of that plan's premium and will change with that base plan's premium in the future. For many, the cost can be as low as $10 or $20 monthly but more expensive for others who are older or with richer underlying plan designs.

J. Brendan Ryan is a Cincinnati insurance agent. He can be contacted via email at jbryanclu@aol.com