Is supplemental health insurance worth it? (HSA, plan, hospital, surgery)

[A1eutian]

My workplace was visited by one of the bigger, better known supplemental insurance companies. They pitched things like long term disability insurance, cancer insurance and so on. But having done research on these types of products, most of it was negative.

People complained of claims being delayed or denied, poor customer service, and generally getting the runaround.

In the end I decided not to pay for it because I have health insurance already, and feel like the extra money would be better spent elsewhere or put in the bank.

[bigbear99]

Long term disability is, for most people, important, although the variants can be daunting. Dread disease insurance is something easy to skip. Why should it matter if you have cancer instead of multiple sclerosis, for example?

[Qwerty]

These voluntary plans are gaining popularity with the various HSA qualified health plans. Are they worth it, that depends. Some of the voluntary plan companies are better than others with the duck company being considerably worse than others, I think. A lot of people, especially with children, really like their accident plans. These plans send you a check if you say fall down and need stitches or break your arm, etc. I know many people that have really benefited from the cancer plans. The hospital indemnity plans are great if you know you are going to have to have surgery or whatever. They usually have a stackable wellness option so if you get your annual physical, they send you a check for $100 or whatever. If you have 2 or more of these plans, you get a check from each plan. They typically have additional funds for getting a cancer screening, glucose screening, etc. as well. Those funds offset the annual premiums and for younger people, that tends to pay all or most of the premium on the policy. It doesn't hurt to try one for a year or two and see how it works out for you if you can afford the plan.

If this is your only option for long term disability, yes, that is WELL worth getting, but I would look at more stable choices for LTD--from your financial planner usually--since those policies tend to have more broad coverage and are less restrictive.