Accident insurance, hospital indemnity, etc…

[Anonymous]

Starting a new job and filling out the new hire election of benefits… new employer offers a bunch of add-on policies from Aflac. These aren’t things I have with my current employer — stuff like catastrophic accident insurance, hospital indemnity, etc. Do I need any of this? 40F and the breadwinner, covering my same age husband and 11 year old kid. Employer has standard health insurance (electing HDHP with HSA which is what I do now), long and short term disability, and 1 year salary life insurance (I have my own separate policy).

Help. I have no idea what any of this is….

[Anonymous]

It’s exactly what it says it is. You just have to decide if you want/ need it or not. I know some of those policies do things like send you 200 dollars every day you’re hospitalized if you’re admitted to the hospital , to help with day to day expenses in that moment. Personally I’d rather just put money into savings and then have enough emergency funds to do that on my own, rather than send that money to Aflac. But there are lots of policies and some of them might make more sense to you personally than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s exactly what it says it is. You just have to decide if you want/ need it or not. I know some of those policies do things like send you 200 dollars every day you’re hospitalized if you’re admitted to the hospital , to help with day to day expenses in that moment. Personally I’d rather just put money into savings and then have enough emergency funds to do that on my own, rather than send that money to Aflac. But there are lots of policies and some of them might make more sense to you personally than others.

Yes, general advice is that you should insure for potential catastrophic costs.

If you have an emergency fund, there is no need to pay for a policy which gives you $200 while you are hospitalized.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Thanks. I have 6 months in cash and plenty more in my taxable account. Sounds like this is not something I need

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s more for people living on the edge. I’m financially secure and do not opt for anything other than basic health insurance, life insurance, and LTD.

[Anonymous]

I have a HDHP at my employer, and I also elected the supplemental accidental/hospital coverages like this because I have 3 kids in travel sports. My son broke his wrist playing soccer and we had to initially pay the full cost to reach the deductible. Then I filed a claim with the supplemental coverage and had to submit my bills as proof and they sent me a check that reimbursed all of it ($2500). The premiums for this weren't bad either.

[Anonymous]

Most ppl don’t need these if they have adequate emergency fund and life insurance. Also the payout of the AD&D is not in the millions but around $50-100k range. This is why during your prime bread winning years w young kids and mortgages, you should have good term life insurance (2M these days given how much everything costs).