Mission papers + insurance question !

[Guest JoshDwellington]

Hey everyone !

I am going through the looong looong process of filling my mission papers, haha !!

The last section is about insurance company, etc.

My question is, what's the best company for a missionary ??

Thanks !

Josh

[Palerider]

Hey everyone !

I am going through the looong looong process of filling my mission papers, haha !!

The last section is about insurance company, etc.

My question is, what's the best company for a missionary ??

Thanks !

Josh

not sure exactly what your talking about....my son has been home for over a year now....I remember we put on the form our current health ins info and not only that...but the Church has insurance on missionaries while serving...

[rameumptom]

Hey everyone !

My question is, what's the best company for a missionary ??

Thanks !

Josh

I would recommend the best company is the Holy Ghost.

I think they use the spirit of a dead Gecko for their insurance commercials. You may not have seen it yet, but it's there.

[MichaelPAGuy]

Why doesn't the church, which has billions of dollars provide at least some sort of health insurance for their missionaries?

[Palerider]

Why doesn't the church, which has billions of dollars provide at least some sort of health insurance for their missionaries?

they do.....:)...read my post above

[MichaelPAGuy]

My bad. I apologize. I did not read that post.

[Guest JoshDwellington]

Oh, thank you for the precious information !!

I didn't know the Church could cater to that . . .

Gotta ask then, thanks !

[MichaelPAGuy]

What kind of insurance does the church offer for it's missionaries?

[Palerider]

Health Insurance.....and they have prescription cards if needed

[pam]

Just make sure if you are on your parents insurance they will cover you while on a mission. Many health plans will not cover a dependent over the age of 18 unless full time student. When I was a claims adjustor for medical insurance...some plans specifically stated that they DO NOT cover LDS missionaries. Of course those were plans where the company's headquarters were in Utah or Idaho and they knew to be specific. But full time student does apply in a lot of cases.

[BenRaines]

Church wants to know if you have insurance so that will be primary insurance. While we had a daughter and a son on a mission they were not covered by our insurance. Daughter had a couple of surgeries for ingrown toenails, toenail removal, etc. We never paid a dime. They also covered her tonsil and adnoid removal within 30 days of her coming home.

Personal insurance is primary, if you have it, church insurance picks up the rest or is primary if you have no insurance.

Church self insures in almost all cases. It is cheaper for them to pay the bills than it is to have insurance. I believe that the church also self insures their buildings. Very few buildings suffer major damage. Since they are all without debt insurance is not as important.

Ben Raines

[pam]

Also another thing. If you go to a foreign country and are carried on your parents insurance...many plans will require that you pay for services upfront and have a request for reimbursement made to the policy holder. There are plans that won't and can't pay a foreign provider directly.

[Palerider]

as I said earlier.....my son was in panama and we payed nothing....he was insured.....we could not leave him our plan because he was not a full time college student...he was covered by the church.

[pam]

Sheesh..I'm just showing the different things to look at when considering the insurance part of the mission.

[Palerider]

Sheesh..I'm just showing the different things to look at when considering the insurance part of the mission.

well sheesh back at you.....:)

[skippy740]

Just remember that with "Mission Medical", it's like an HMO plan with a Primary Care Coordinator.

Guess who that is??? For me, it was my mission president's wife!

Now, when I broke my fibula on my mission, it took TWO days for her to allow me to see a doctor after it happened. And that's not because it took me two days to call her, and it's not like she couldn't return my call for two days either.

It was because she wanted me to WORK as best as I can and THEN call her in two days to see if the pain had lessened. (Look, when you're on icy pavement, and you slip, and you hear a loud "POP" right as you slide down, you KNOW something is wrong and that it requires the attention of a doctor.)

Remember that there ARE some "momma's boys" missionaries out there who would cry out "Mission Medical" as much as they cried out "Wolf". So I understand that not everything is a medical emergency. Also, the more time you spend in doctor's offices, the less time you are out proselyting.

You don't have to worry about all that if you have your own health insurance coverage. I would HIGHLY recommend it just because of my own experience.

Edited December 13, 2008 by skippy740

[Palerider]

alot of plans won't allow you to have your kids on it if they are not full time college students.....thats why you got to go with the church plan.:)

[kduncan99]

Hi,

New here, but needed to chime in. IF you live in Utah there is a little known Hb law that states dependent children must be covered under a parents health insurance up to the age of 26, even if they arent in school.

31A-22-610.5. Dependent coverage.

(2) (a) Any individual or group accident and health insurance policy or health maintenance organization contract that provides coverage for a policyholder's or certificate holder's dependent shall not terminate coverage of an unmarried dependent by reason of the dependent's age before the dependent's 26th birthday and shall, upon application, provide coverage for all unmarried dependents up to age 26."

Nowhere in the law does it state they need to be in school.

[pam]

Hi,

New here, but needed to chime in. IF you live in Utah there is a little known Hb law that states dependent children must be covered under a parents health insurance up to the age of 26, even if they arent in school.

31A-22-610.5. Dependent coverage.

(2) (a) Any individual or group accident and health insurance policy or health maintenance organization contract that provides coverage for a policyholder's or certificate holder's dependent shall not terminate coverage of an unmarried dependent by reason of the dependent's age before the dependent's 26th birthday and shall, upon application, provide coverage for all unmarried dependents up to age 26."

Nowhere in the law does it state they need to be in school.

Having previously worked in the health insurance field for 7 years that is not always true. There are some plans that are called "self funded" plans. Meaning the group supplying the plans are paying for the bills but are paying a company to administer the benefits. Self funded plans are not mandated by state laws. Many large companies are under a self funded type of plan. An example in Utah would be Questar.

In that case, groups can decide what and who they will pay for and are not governed by the state mandates.

[Palerider]

age 26...what....in Missouri....you have to be a full time College student and have the papers to prove it up until age 23 to be insured on parents policy

[Dr T]

well sheesh back at you.....:)

p

a

d

[kduncan99]

Having previously worked in the health insurance field for 7 years that is not always true. There are some plans that are called "self funded" plans. Meaning the group supplying the plans are paying for the bills but are paying a company to administer the benefits. Self funded plans are not mandated by state laws. Many large companies are under a self funded type of plan. An example in Utah would be Questar.

In that case, groups can decide what and who they will pay for and are not governed by the state mandates.

So, Pam, how do you know if your plan is self funded? Our company's excuse was that even though they had an office with employees in Utah, their corporate was based in California, thus not mandated by Utah law.

[pam]

Ask your HR. But they are correct. If your corporate office is in California, that's the state they have to follow.

Let me give an example of that. Say a company has their corporate office in California. They have employees throughout the United States. In the case of mental nervous, most plans will have a limitation on the number of visits you can have within a calendar year. In California there is a state mandate that even self funded groups must follow. Based on the diagnosis, if considered severe mental nervous these claims must be paid SAAO (same as any other). Which means they don't have that visit limitation etc etc. So any employees in other states benefit from this since their corporate office is in California.

I know this is off topic from the original question...but the question was asked and just trying to help educate a bit.

Edited February 23, 2009 by pam

[Just_A_Guy]

If your corporate office is in California, that's the state they have to follow.

I'll defer to your experience in the field, Pam, but based on my limited knowledge of corporate law I find the above statement a bit surprising. Are you sure?