Voluntary Benefits
Published by Trustmark Voluntary Benefits on March 11th, 2020
Starting a family changes more than just your sleep schedule; it also affects the type of insurance coverage you need to protect your loved ones. Sure, you may have medical coverage, but voluntary benefits are designed to give you and your family extra protection from costs you may not see coming (even with medical insurance). Whether you’re getting married or have little one on the way, there are a variety of reasons to consider changing or enhancing your voluntary benefits coverage. Let’s take a look at some factors to consider when choosing voluntary benefits for your growing family.
Life Insurance
Having a family increases your responsibilities…even after you’re gone. Life insurance helps make sure that your spouse and children are protected financially if you pass away. You may think, “Our family is young and I’m in good health. I don’t need to worry about life insurance just yet.”, but the unexpected can happen at any time and the younger your children are, the longer they’ll need financial support. Plus, with most life insurance policies, you can get a lower rate for purchasing at a younger age. Some policies will even let you keep the same low rate as you age, making it a great and affordable option to consider when starting your family.
In some cases, life insurance can be offered with long-term care (LTC). As people live longer, LTC is becoming more important to help pay for services like home care, adult day care, assisted living and nursing homes. Plus, long-term care may be necessary for young people too if they have a serious illness or injury. Long-term care helps protect your retirement funds and prevents creating a financial challenge for your family.
Disability Insurance
If you and your partner are planning a pregnancy in the future, you may want to consider disability insurance. Disability insurance is meant to help supplement your paycheck if you’re unable to work for medical reasons. If there’s a baby on the way, you know that at least one parent, if not both, will be out of work on maternity or paternity leave for an extended period of time. Disability insurance lets new parents focus on the child, so you don’t have to worry about a cut in your income.
Beyond maternity leave, disability insurance is a great option to consider for any family; 59 percent of American families live paycheck to paycheck and rely on their monthly income to maintain their lifestyle.1 If you are in this boat and have a spouse or children to support, disability insurance helps give you peace of mind that they’ll be protected if you suddenly can’t work.
Hospital Insurance
Hospital insurance is also a useful product if you’re expecting a child since you’ll likely be admitted for a hospital stay. Many people fall into the trap of assuming their medical coverage will cover their hospital stay expenses, but for those with high-deductible health plans, the out-of-pocket costs can still be very expensive. Hospital insurance helps cover those out-of-pocket costs, so you don’t receive an unexpected, costly medical bill after welcoming your new family member.
On top of that, many policies include benefits for routine tests, checkups and screenings. So, those regularly scheduled annual visits to take your child to a doctor could come with added benefits.
Accident Insurance
Children are adventurous, but inexperienced, which can lead to more accidents during childhood. Particularly if your kids are active, it’s a good idea to have accident insurance that will help cover a variety of medical services and injuries such as ambulance transport, physical therapy, fractures, dislocations, burns, concussions and more. Even if you don’t have children, accidents can happen to you or your spouse at any time. Accident insurance helps keep you covered in emergencies, allowing you and your family to focus on healing and recovery instead of medical bills. Much like hospital insurance, you could also get wellness benefits for routine doctor’s visits.
Critical Illness Insurance
The most common critical illnesses are heart attack, stroke and cancer.2 Heart disease claims the lives of 674,000 Americans each year followed closely by the 599,000 Americans that die annually from cancer.3 Even if you consider yourself to be a healthy person, 47 percent of Americans have at least one of the three key risk factors of heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.4 Experiencing one of these medical events can be a huge emotional and financial burden on your family. If the worst does happen, critical illness insurance helps protect your finances and your family from potentially debilitating medical costs. And like the last two benefits, you can look for critical illness coverage that supports routine tests and screenings for an added financial boost throughout the year.
All of these voluntary benefits are great to have as a single person, but the more people you add to your family, the more costs and responsibilities you have. If you intend to get married or have children, consider how each of these benefit options can help create a carefree future by protecting your growing family.
1Charles Schwab. Modern Wealth Survey. 2019.
2Market Watch. Critical Illness Insurance Market 2019—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast of 2025. 2019.
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths and Mortality. 2017.
4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart Disease Facts. 2019.
Life Insurance
Having a family increases your responsibilities…even after you’re gone. Life insurance helps make sure that your spouse and children are protected financially if you pass away. You may think, “Our family is young and I’m in good health. I don’t need to worry about life insurance just yet.”, but the unexpected can happen at any time and the younger your children are, the longer they’ll need financial support. Plus, with most life insurance policies, you can get a lower rate for purchasing at a younger age. Some policies will even let you keep the same low rate as you age, making it a great and affordable option to consider when starting your family.
In some cases, life insurance can be offered with long-term care (LTC). As people live longer, LTC is becoming more important to help pay for services like home care, adult day care, assisted living and nursing homes. Plus, long-term care may be necessary for young people too if they have a serious illness or injury. Long-term care helps protect your retirement funds and prevents creating a financial challenge for your family.
Disability Insurance
If you and your partner are planning a pregnancy in the future, you may want to consider disability insurance. Disability insurance is meant to help supplement your paycheck if you’re unable to work for medical reasons. If there’s a baby on the way, you know that at least one parent, if not both, will be out of work on maternity or paternity leave for an extended period of time. Disability insurance lets new parents focus on the child, so you don’t have to worry about a cut in your income.
Beyond maternity leave, disability insurance is a great option to consider for any family; 59 percent of American families live paycheck to paycheck and rely on their monthly income to maintain their lifestyle.1 If you are in this boat and have a spouse or children to support, disability insurance helps give you peace of mind that they’ll be protected if you suddenly can’t work.
Hospital Insurance
Hospital insurance is also a useful product if you’re expecting a child since you’ll likely be admitted for a hospital stay. Many people fall into the trap of assuming their medical coverage will cover their hospital stay expenses, but for those with high-deductible health plans, the out-of-pocket costs can still be very expensive. Hospital insurance helps cover those out-of-pocket costs, so you don’t receive an unexpected, costly medical bill after welcoming your new family member.
On top of that, many policies include benefits for routine tests, checkups and screenings. So, those regularly scheduled annual visits to take your child to a doctor could come with added benefits.
Accident Insurance
Children are adventurous, but inexperienced, which can lead to more accidents during childhood. Particularly if your kids are active, it’s a good idea to have accident insurance that will help cover a variety of medical services and injuries such as ambulance transport, physical therapy, fractures, dislocations, burns, concussions and more. Even if you don’t have children, accidents can happen to you or your spouse at any time. Accident insurance helps keep you covered in emergencies, allowing you and your family to focus on healing and recovery instead of medical bills. Much like hospital insurance, you could also get wellness benefits for routine doctor’s visits.
Critical Illness Insurance
The most common critical illnesses are heart attack, stroke and cancer.2 Heart disease claims the lives of 674,000 Americans each year followed closely by the 599,000 Americans that die annually from cancer.3 Even if you consider yourself to be a healthy person, 47 percent of Americans have at least one of the three key risk factors of heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.4 Experiencing one of these medical events can be a huge emotional and financial burden on your family. If the worst does happen, critical illness insurance helps protect your finances and your family from potentially debilitating medical costs. And like the last two benefits, you can look for critical illness coverage that supports routine tests and screenings for an added financial boost throughout the year.
All of these voluntary benefits are great to have as a single person, but the more people you add to your family, the more costs and responsibilities you have. If you intend to get married or have children, consider how each of these benefit options can help create a carefree future by protecting your growing family.
1Charles Schwab. Modern Wealth Survey. 2019.
2Market Watch. Critical Illness Insurance Market 2019—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast of 2025. 2019.
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths and Mortality. 2017.
4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart Disease Facts. 2019.
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Written by Trustmark Voluntary Benefits
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