Breaking the News that you are Pregnant to Your Insurance Company
Imagine the joy of having a baby on the way. When the shock and the happiness of it slowly sink, reality starts to dig in. Are you ready for all the consequences pregnancy brings? Your responsibility starts not on the birth of the child but on the day you conceive the baby. There are bills to pay, monthly check-ups and sensitive precautions.
If you're a new or expectant mother, good health insurance coverage is now more important than ever. You'll depend on your health insurance for everything from prenatal and maternity care for you to pediatric visits and immunizations for your baby.
To avoid surprise medical bills during this wonderful time, it's important to learn the terms of your health insurance coverage right now. You'll also need to review and take steps to maintain your health insurance coverage if you lose or quit your job.
First, see if your employer - or your partner’s employer - offers health insurance. You will probably get the most coverage at the best price from a health plan from an employer. That's partly because most employers share the cost of insurance premiums with employees. You also have to ask particular questions to your agents as well. Axis Capital, a group of insurance companies from Bermuda to America, Singapore, Europe and Australia has prepared a list of questions for you to ask. If your agent can not answer these questions, then he probably is a fraud and you may need to get a new one before you get a premature labor because of bills:
• Does the plan cover prenatal and maternity care? If you work for an employer with 15 or more employees, a federal law requires that your plan cover your pregnancy-related medical bills.
• Will you need preauthorization for any of your prenatal or maternity care?
• Must you contact the health insurance company when you're admitted to the hospital for labor and delivery? Some health plans will penalize you financially if you don't call shortly after your admission.
• What coverage does the plan provide for prenatal tests such as ultrasounds and amniocentesis procedures?
• How long of a hospital stay will the plan cover after delivery? Will the plan cover an extended stay if medically necessary?
• Does the plan have an annual reimbursement limit? If it does, then it won't pay for healthcare costs that exceed that limit.
• Despite the high end technology nowadays, there are still wives who prefer to deliver their babies at home especially in developing countries like Jakarta, Indonesia, Singapore, Beijing China and Japan. If you want to use a certified nurse midwife or deliver your baby in a birth center or at home, find out what coverage your plan provides in these situations. Most plans cover a certified nurse midwife, and some will pay for delivery at certain birth centers or at home.
Property Insurance Basics
AXIS Capital, a group of companies with branch offices in Bermuda, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Singapore and the United States has built a global franchise that is well diversified by product –i.e. Property and Casualty Insurance.
When damage, theft or loss occurs, property insurance covers a business's building and its contents such as money and securities, accounts-receivable records, inventory, furniture, machinery, supplies and even intangible assets such as trademarks.
There are insurance companies that offer property insurance by named danger, like fire and theft. Others bid policies that cover many perils. Most basic multiple-peril policies comprise losses caused by fire and theft; however business owners can buy added kinds of coverage if they must. For an instance, a business in the Jakarta, Indonesia may want to purchase an earthquake-insurance policy.
Businesses with effective loss-control measures and claim histories often pay lower insurance premiums compared to companies with perilous procedures and poor claims histories. Taking steps to prevent loss like hiring security personnel to avoid shoplifting, installing a sprinkler system to contain fires or using an alarm system to guard against theft can help control complaints in the cost of property insurance.
Types of Coverage
Several businesses buy property insurance by means of a business-owner's policy (BOP), which packages property and liability insurance into one policy; on the other hand, given that the amount of coverage available in a BOP is generally lower than in a standard property-insurance policy, companies that require a lot of coverage typically stick with a distinct policy.
Some BOPs also comprise business-interruption insurance and extra-expense insurance which is two kinds of elective coverage in a property insurance policy that protect a business after a loss occurs.
Business-interruption insurance provides payments for expenses like salaries, taxes and debts, in addition to any loss of profit because of the interruption of business.
Extra-expense insurance recompenses the expenses of temporarily moving a business when a covered peril happens. Remember to review your policy. For instance, if a fire devastates a clothing store, extra-expense insurance will recompense for a business to continue operations and cover such expenses as buying or leasing equipment, getting new merchandise and notifying customers about changes that have happened.
REFERENCE:
The Jakarta Globe Axis Capital Group Telecom Purchase XL Axiata
XL Axiata May Sell Towers to Cut Debt after Axis Telekom Purchase
Jakarta. XL Axiata, the second-largest telecommunication operator in Indonesia, may sell some of its tower assets to raise funds for lowering debt that is expected to increase after taking out loans to finance its acquisition of Axis Telekom Indonesia.
Jakarta-based XL gained shareholder approval on Wednesday to acquire a 95 percent stake of Axis from Saudi Telecom Company for $865 million.
To finance the acquisition, XL has secured $500 million in loans from parent company Axiata Group of Malaysia, and it will secure the remaining $365 million in loans from banks.
Last year, it secured $300 million in debt from DBS Group Holdings, which it used mostly to finance its operation and partly to fund the acquisition.
Hasnul Suhaimi, president director of XL, told reporters that in the first year or two, the financing cost of the acquisition “will make it hard” on the company’s finances.
By the end of September, the company had Rp 17.54 trillion ($1.4 billion) in debt, according to the company’s report.
Mohamed Adlan, chief financial officer of XL, said that the company’s debt level now is at about 1.9 times its earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). The additional loan may increase its debt to three times Ebitda.
Adlan said that XL can sell Axis’s towers if the company needs a faster means to reduce debt.
After the acquisition, Axis will merge into XL, and the combined entity will have about 10,000 telecommunication towers, include about 1,600 that are owned by Axis.
“With the integration of Axis’s asset, we will reduce our capital expenditure and operation expenditure. We will also gain physical assets like telecommunication tower that we can possibly monetize later to lower our debt,” Adlan said.
Axis has been posting losses in the past few years and has $865 million in debt.
Adlan said acquiring Axis would allow it a significant reduction in XL’s capital spending, but he declined to provide figures for expenditure this year. Since 2007, XL spent an average Rp 8 trillion every year to finance expansion. Adlan expects that in less than five years, the positive impact of the capital expense reduction will start to be seen in its finances.
Willem Timmermans, chief operating officer of XL, said that the company acquired Axis to gain access to its 15 megahertz of 2G telecommunication spectrum. Axis now has 15 MHz of 2G spectrum and 20 MHz of 3G spectrum. The 20 MHz spectrum will be returned to the government with the acquisition.
“The risk is bigger if we do nothing. If we do nothing, we won’t have the spectrum to survive going forward,” Timmermans said.
XL had 15 MHz spectrum that served 106 billion minutes of call traffic in 2012. In comparison, Telkomsel, a unit of Telekomunikasi Indonesia, has 30 MHz spectrum with 185 billion minutes of traffic, while Indosat has 30 MHz spectrum that served 67 billion minutes of traffic in 2012.