Scan Medical Insurance

Do I really need AFLAC or other supplemental Insurance?

For years I've seen these goofy commercials with the squaking duck, Yogi Berra and other scatter-brained males. A friend finally told me about AFLAC insurance that he has and how it pays for preventative medical tests, etc and for costly situations like cancer, etc. But, I thought all of that was covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield? Do I really need insurance beyond my standard employee health insurance? AFLAC must be pretty successful to pay for all those TV commercials. But, I only know one person (a hypochondriac, in my mind) who has this insurance. Are there competitors to AFLAC? Other options? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. My family had AFLAC before my husband changed jobs. While it isn't a must, it did come in handy when my son broke his arm. The money we got from them helped to pay our part of the bill that wasn't covered by traditional health insurance.
2. As an AFLAC agent I would say no you dont NEED it, but it is very helpful. While Major Medical is great and does pay for your medical bills in time of injury or sickness, you are still left with rent, mortgage, car payment, and all the other bills that continue to come in after you get injured or unable to work. Thats where AFLAC steps in, we pay you cash directly to you, so you can chose where to direct those funds. There are several policies that AFLAC offers, and a range of different things that are covered and the pay outs also vary. For instance the lady whos son broke her arm, if say he had our accident policy, he would have gotten 120.00 immediatly for going into the hospital, 35.00 for each follow up visit, 125.00 for any brace, and the list goes on. AFLAC pay on top of you major medical and all the sums keep building. As far as competetion we are the biggest and best at what we do. The company itself has been around since 1952 but we received out recognition with the duck in 2000. American Family, Colonial are some competitors but if you do some research AFLAC pay out .70 of every $1.00 we take in while others may pay out .30-.40 cents. If you would like more information I would be happy to send you some information, or contact a local rep in your area to better serve you.
3. AFLAC is a good thing to have deducted every month to supplement your health care coverage...if you can afford the added deduction from your paycheck. It will cover lost time from work which can be used to pay your monthly rent and bill while you are off work...blue cross/shield does not do that. If you do not use it during any given year, a check will be sent to you, so in a way, it can also be way to get a cuppla extra dollars that you can use as "fun money".
4. As an owner of an Employee Benefits Brokerage firm - the only supplemental insurance that you should buy through the employer would be: 1) Short Term Disability (STD) - 90% of disabilitys the injured person is back to work with in 90 days. 2) For the other 10% of disabilitys the person would need Long Term Disability (LTD) - Make sure you look at the definition of disability and the occupation clause. AFLAC does not sell LTD. Other insurance from AFLAC?? Hmmmm - definately not Life insurance - buy that outside of work. Cancer insurance - there is a hidden cost of cancer - travel - missed work - but for 99% of the medical - this is covered by your medical insurance. I am just not a huge advocate of a bunch of different AFLAC policys and I hear complaints of high pressure sales tactics from employers who provide these types of insurance programs.