Thank God My Employer Took Out a Policy and so Did I

My life totally change when I got ill and was forced to resign from a full-time job. The pay was good but very stressful. I thought, yah, right. Now I can take a break.

And what a break it was. My big hospital doctor and my family physician (FP) both discouraged me from leaving my job. Both were worried that since I was quite ill, the more I needed to work. What or who is going to answer my medical bills? If someone depends on you financially, the likelihood is that you need insurance. Whether it is health, life or business insurance it is a financial resource.

Having left my regular employee arrangement, I managed to convince my bosses that they continue paying for my health insurance benefit in exchange for part time work. Reduced work load gave me time that I needed to attend to my illness. And it took a year before I completed all the necessary tests to give a conclusive medical prognosis. Thanks to my health care insurance I didn’t have to worry about paying for my doctor consultation bills, all my laboratory tests which practically covered every examination possible, including a very expensive medical procedure called kidney biopsy.

And thanks to the part-time work arrangement I was able to continue paying my life insurance premiums. I couldn’t have afforded losing out on that. This is the money that will provide the cash to my family after you die. Morbid? Just thinking real. The money the beneficiary receives or the death benefit assures that daily living expenses and loan payments, including tuition funds shall be covered. My life insurance assures me that my children will not be burdened with debt. Having a life insurance policy means that my children do not need to sell anything to pay bills.

Everyone’s needs are different. It was good I had health insurance, care of my employers and great that I had some level of protection for my family from a life insurance. In general, deciding how much life insurance a person needs mean deducting the total income that would be lost upon the death of the working member from the total sum of family’s current financial requirements. The formula I followed when I first acquired my life insurance was benefit equals 10 times my annual income. It could be higher or lower depending on the paying capacity.

So cheers!