Who, if anyone, should buy supplemental insurance?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Like the infamous Aflac?

My current job is the first to offer it. Is there any reason to go against my disinclination to consider any of it?

2

Probably you should give some info on exactly what the characteristics of this supplementary insurance are and what they would be charging you.

3

Aflac’s premier product is a Disability Income insurance. DI provides payment to the insured who is unable to work due to an injury or illness. Coverage may kick in if you are unable to do your own occupation due to covered injury or illness, or (more restrictively) unable to do any occupation.

A claim for Social Security Disability frequently takes a lot of time and effort to get approved and in any event usually does not provide benefits for the first year of illness or injury.

So… who buys this stuff? People for whom being without income for a year or more would be a major problem and for whom the premiums seem reasonable.

What I recall from my insurance days long ago… something like 1 out of 3 workers under age 45 will have a disabling injury or illness which leaves them unable to work for at least 90 days at some point prior to age 65. And of those, half be unable to work for a year or more. Temporary disabilities happen.

I had an own occupation policy when I was working as a commercial truck driver. And when I was diagnosed with a heart condition that left me unable to qualify for a commercial driver’s license the policy paid. They weren’t happy and it took a bit of explaining from my cardiologist that this was not something that I was going to get over. But they paid the policy limit of 2 years of benefits. I took the money and went and took classes to get certifications for another line of work. The insurance benefit gave me options I would not have had otherwise.

4

Another vote that the OP tell us what the heck he’s talking about.

There’re dozens of variations of life, health, vision, dental, disability, liability, home, auto, and legal insurance that are offered as add-ons to corporate benefit packages. Usually at 100% employee expense with some kickback to the employer for providing this large captive audience.

Any or all of which could be defined as “supplemental” insurance.

Some are blatant rip-offs. Others can be decent deals. Although like all insurance, if you’re thinking you’ll make money on the deal you’re confused about the purpose. Insurance is for limiting / eliminating a small risk of a large loss. Not for making a profit on bennies received vs. premiums paid.

5

I’ve got an umbrella policy that covers an amount approximately equal to my net worth. I can sleep better at night knowing I have extra coverage that would protect me in the event I get sued due to a freak accident.

6

I guess I should have been clearer; I AM talking about Aflac here. They offer accident, cancer treatment, and hospital treatment insurance, among others (at least, those are the ones I’d be at all interested in), with monthly premiums ranging from $16-$22 each. The introductory offer doc I have doesn’t list the details, like amounts or caps or what have you.

7

So, once upon a time I worked for AFLACs main competition. I did not work there long but long enough to get an insight into what these policies do.

Things I learned.

  1. absolutely everyone should own disability insurance and almost no one should buy it from aflac or a similar company who has a pretty lousy product. I like Guardian, but there is a lot of disability insurance out there. It’s probably more important to you than the term life you have. Statistically you are much more likely to become disabled than die prematurely.

  2. cancer insurance is for suckers unless you have a very strong family history of cancer. It’s expensive. Better is a term life policy with living benefits acceleration for critical and chronic illnesses. Several companies offer this. Transamerica, Phoenix, AIG off the top of my head. You get the bonus of getting some term like too and you probably need that. Women with strong family history of breast cancer in particular are what I would consider an exception to this.

  3. never pay for accidental death and dismemberment policies.

  4. if you have very crappy health insurance a hospital indemnity plan (these are the plans that Aflac made its name on) might make some sense, but don’t expect it to do too much. It is likely a waste of money if you have anything like good health insurance. The accident only ones in particular.