Medical Insurance For Senior Citizens - Blue Cross Premier vs Kaiser Senior Care

I posted about Health Insurance for Senior Citizens last time because it's a topic that's been on the minds of people that I know. And weirdly enough, it's not a widely discussed topic despite generations of Filipinos shouldering the care for their parents' well-being.

The probable reason for that is there's hardly any choices. And what's available is prohibitively expensive. I actually browsed several insurance sites but didn't get any info about medical insurance for senior citizens. And I also previously read that Blue Cross was really the only one offering medical insurance to senior citizens.

But a good thing about that post is that it attracted someone that mentioned yet another alternative - Kaiser Senior Care. So I decided to write a post and try to compare the two.
Read more »

Health Insurance for Senior Citizens

"The only choice for senior citizen's."

If you've tried looking for health insurance for your parents, or anyone older than 65 for that matter, then you've probably come to the same conclusion. The only medical insurance currently available is Blue Cross' Premier plan.

But technically speaking, that isn't true. Another more basic (and affordable) insurance is still available - PhilHealth.

Of course, in practice, PhilHealth is usually not enough. And so, if you're looking for medical insurance for senior citizen's you're pretty much stuck with Blue Cross Premier.

However, that's almost beside the point. Insurance is available, so it's more practical to discuss the mechanics - and the price.
Read more »

Car Loans - What You Need To know

Thinking of buying a car? Or know someone who is? Then this article is for you.

My article on car loan rates is one of the most popular articles on this blog. And consequently I got asked a lot of questions about car loans in general. So I thought it would be useful to post everything I know and learned here.

So here's some of the usual questions and decision points I encountered.

Read more »

So I've Got A VUL, What Now?

One of the most read posts of this blog is the one about my personal opinion why people should not get a VUL.

Which feels really great. I wrote that specifically to make a dent against the constant barrage of VUL salestalk. There's practically an army out there pushing VULs. Which is not bad, people need insurance and investments. It's just that most of the time, in my opinion, it's recommended and sold not because of the client's best interest but because it gives higher commissions than the other insurance products.

The relatively minor downside, is that I might be alarming or maybe even panicking some people who already bought a VUL. I've already gotten several comments, emails, and facebook messages regarding it.

So in this post, I'd like to share what you can do it you already have a VUL.
Read more »

On HMOs

Health care is really important.

You've probably read it, but I think few really appreciate it. If you're prone to sickness you probably do. If you're like me, where most things pass after a week, sometimes even without medication (or at least that used to happen when I was younger) you probably don't.

If you're a parent though, you'll probably be so thankful that you'll not only appreciate it but also spread the word.
Read more »

Insurance You Don't Need

A while ago I read an article on Yahoo Philippines about saving money by avoiding some unnecessary, though not necessarily frivolous expenses.

I browsed through the comments and was surprised to see that a mini-argument was brewing about the necessity of life insurance.

The article was saying you could save money by not buying insurance you don't really need. A couple of commenters were insisting that insurance is always a necessity.

So that got me thinking, are there really insurance you don't need? And is life insurance always necessary?
Read more »

HMO Benefits And Their Importance To The Employee

While a lot can be said about being in business for yourself - either via freelancing or owning your own business - being a regular employee does have certain advantages.

And the foremost advantage is being covered by health insurance.

Having health insurance is so important that it's almost impossible to overstate it's benefits.

For one, the ability of illness to wipeout your finances and get you into debt is so great that it's almost peerless.

Second, illness not only costs money, but can prevent you from earning more. That's true even for regular employees.

Even though being ill should not be taken against you during performance appraisals (which can determine your salary increase), it doesn't do you any favors when being compared with peers who have produced more simply because they were still there when you were out sick.

But the benefits of health insurance doesn't stop at simply having it. Here's a look at the three most important benefits of HMO to employees.
Read more »