No Thank You, I'm Good For Now.

My name is Dr. Mark Parisi. I am a healthcare professional and licensed insurance producer. I specialize in securing the financial futures of individuals and small business owners against death (including COVID-19), disability, critical illness, and terminal illness (including COVID-19) and providing tax-free retirement saving solutions. I have "skin in the game," so to speak, as a practicing healthcare professional myself with three adult children who are all frontline healthcare workers. It is no understatement to say that I am absolutely passionate about what I do.

"No thank you, I'm good for now." This is the common refrain I often hear when people respond to my requests to have a quick conversation about their life insurance needs. Undoubtedly, this reflexive response is borne out of the fact that we're all constantly bombarded by companies trying to hard sell us stuff and, occasionally, by "pushy" and "annoying" sales people promising that their products and services can't be beat. So, in this context, this refrain is a gentle, respectful and courteous way of simply saying, "Look, leave me alone...I'm not interested in what you're selling!" I think all of us sales professionals have heard this refrain and have probably even used it ourselves - in one form or another. We have learned not to take rejection in sales personally.

I am more interested in discussing the another common underlying reason for this all-too-common refrain which is borne out of something very different. There are many people that respond this way that are simply uninformed and do not understand the benefits and coverage that they have. They believe that simply having "good group benefits" from a well-respected employer means that they are "set for life." This could not be any further from the truth and the fact is that is pays to really understand your benefits and when you may be better served adding an individual life insurance policy and possibly dropping the group life insurance plan or at least supplementing it.

The first thing to understand is that group life insurance coverage and individual life insurance coverage are very different from one another. Group life insurance plans are an employee benefit offered by some employers which allow an employee to sign up for basic life insurance coverage - usually without requiring any form of medical exam or underwriting - at a very low cost. The employee is issued a "Certificate of Coverage" which is different than owning a "Life Insurance Policy." These group life insurance plans are often based on the idea of providing a certain uniform dollar amount of death benefit coverage for all employees - often up to $200,000 per employee - for a certain period of time while the employee would realistically be working for the employer - say twenty years - with additional benefits payable specifically if the employee dies as a result of accidental death or dismemberment - referred to as an accidental death and dismemberment rider which usually pays double the death benefit.

Now, here's the problem with many of these group life insurance plans.

1) The death benefit offered is often grossly inadequate to provide for the needs of an employee's family if something were to happen to them tomorrow. While a $200,000 death benefit may sound like a lot, the fact is that the liability and financial hardship faced by the family of a frontline healthcare professional who is earning, say, $65,000 per year after taxes, and is over twenty-five years from retirement with two young children, a mortgage, a car payment, and credit card debt may be in excess of $750,000 - conservatively.

2) These term group life insurance plans typically do not offer anything beyond a death benefit - there may be no coverage for disability, critical illness or terminal illness - sometimes referred to as "living benefits." Also, the coverage offered is only for a period of time - say, twenty years. After that, the policy must be renewed when the rates for coverage will be much, much more expensive and may simply not be affordable for the employee.

3) These group life insurance plans often end when separating from the employer. Now, to be sure, the employee is given the opportunity to convert these plans into a comparable individual life insurance plan. But, that's exactly the problem. The group coverage was grossly inadequate to begin with so converting it into a comparable individual plan does not solve the problem. The plan still lacks important features and benefits like adequate death benefit, living benefits, and cash accumulation.

The solution here is to take advantage of the opportunity to consult with a licensed insurance professional who can study your existing group coverage and benefits and educate you and have an honest conversation about what is important for you and your family versus what you actually have. It costs nothing and there's no obligation to purchase anything.

Please feel free to contact me for a free, no-obligation "insurance review" to see if you're getting all the coverage and benefits that you're entitled to and may need.