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FAQ
Q: What is Unemployment Insurance?
A: Unemployment insurance is a program of social insurance meant to ease the economic burden of unemployment by providing a temporary source of income for individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
Q: Does the money come out of my check?
A: No. Unemployment is an insurance paid by your employer in the form of Unemployment Taxes.
Q: What is covered employment?
A: Covered employment means work performed for employers who are subject to the Oklahoma unemployment compensation law.
Q: What is the benefit year?
A: The benefit year is a period of 52 consecutive weeks in which all your weekly claims must be filed. It begins on the Sunday of the week in which your application is filed. Your claim is good for one year.
Q: What is the base period?
A: The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of your benefit year.
Q: Can anyone apply for unemployment compensation benefits?
A: Yes. However, to qualify you must be unemployed at the time of filing or working less than full-time and earning wages less than your weekly benefit amount. You must have a minimum of $1500 in covered wages in your base period and your total base period wages must be 11/2 times your high quarter wages. If you are not a citizen, you must present evidence to establish you were lawfully admitted to the United States during the period of your employment.
Q: Will I automatically qualify if a file a claim?
A: No. You must first establish monetary eligibility. This means that you must have adequate wages in you base period to establish eligibility.
Q: What is the weekly benefit amount?
A: This is the amount you can receive for a week of total unemployment. Your weekly benefit amount is 1/23rd of your highest quarter taxable wages in your base period. It cannot exceed $293.00 or be less than $16.00
Q: What is travel protection?
A: Travel protection is the combination of travel insurance benefits and emergency hotline services. Travel protection is designed to give travelers peace of mind by protecting their investment, health and belongings.
Q: Why do I need travel protection?
A: It provides you with:
protection for your trip cost if you have to cancel
24-hour access to emergency medical referrals and assistance
reimbursement for unexpected travel expenses you might incur
protection for medical emergencies
medical assistance abroad; your care will be monitored by U.S. standards
Q: What does travel insurance cover?
A: The insurance component of travel protection provides reimbursement for the financial expenses associated with cancelled or interrupted trips, lost luggage or sudden medical emergencies. Click below to get more general information on the many types of insurance provided by travel protection:
baggage lost
baggage delay
collision
emergency medical and dental
emergency medical evacuation
missed connection
travel accident
travel delay
trip cancellation / interruption
Q: I own a boat that I use for fishing and water-skiing. Does my homeowners insurance policy provide coverage for my boat?
A: Most homeowners insurance policies offer very limited or no coverage for physical damage losses or liability claims that arise from the negligent ownership or operation of a pleasure boat. For these reasons, individuals usually need to buy a separate policy to provide physical damage and liability coverage for boats.
Insurance for pleasure and recreation boats is available from many private insurance companies. A boat owners package policy combines a number of coverages into one policy and should cover most losses that could arise out of either the ownership or operation of a pleasure boat. Another package policy, personal yacht insurance, is designed for larger boats such as cabin cruisers, houseboats, and large sailboats.
Q: What coverages are provided in the typical boat owners package policy?
A: Before we discuss the contents of a typical boat owners package, it should be noted that these contracts can vary substantially from one insurance company to another. Therefore, when you are comparison shopping, be sure that you understand what coverages the insurance company is offering in its policy.
That being said, there are a number of common coverages that are provided in most boat owners insurance policies. First, most policies offer coverage for physical damage losses to the boat, typically on an all-risks basis. Second, most policies offer liability coverage for any damages arising out of the negligent ownership or operation of the covered boat. Third, most policies provide coverage for medical expenses incurred by the driver and passengers involved in a boating accident. Finally, some boat owners policies provide an uninsured boaters coverage that is very similar to the uninsured motorist coverage included in the private passenger automobile insurance policy.
Q: What coverages are provided in the typical personal yacht insurance package?
A: Like the boat owners policies, the coverages included in personal yacht insurance policies vary substantially from one company to the next. However, most personal yacht insurance policies have at least two coverages: physical damage to the hull, and protection and indemnity (P&I) coverage
The physical damage to the hull coverage provides protection against losses or damage to the boat itself, including the masts, spears, furniture and any other fixtures on the craft. The coverage can be written on an all risks or named perils basis.
The P&I - protection and indemnity - coverage is similar to the personal liability coverage in the standard homeowners insurance policy. It provides liability protection against lawsuits due to the negligent operation or ownership of the yacht.
Q: What is an annuity used for?
A: A source of income for retirement
Supplement funds for college education
Vehicle for qualified plans such as IRAs, 401(k) plans and pensions
Things to consider before purchasing in an annuity:
How it is to be funded
When payments begin
Type of investment (fixed or variable)
Date of payout period
Q: What would happen if the apartment building I own were to become uninhabitable because of, for example, tenant neglect?
A: As a property owner, you need rental income to cover your overhead expense and generate a profit.
If your rental units become uninhabitable it is unlikely your tenants will interrupt their businesses until your premises can be occupied again.
It could take weeks or months to find new tenants, even after repairs are complete and you will lose your rental income.
Our Rental Income coverage protects you against loss in rental income in the event of an insured loss.
Q: Liability limits
A: Similar to setting liability limits based on your balance sheet, use your income statement for the same purpose. However, the same concern regarding losses v. wealth still applies
Q: If I cannot afford to buy both life insurance and disability insurance, which coverage should I buy?
A: Both life insurance and disability insurance are important and vital to the financial security of most individuals.
In some instances, however, financial resources are inadequate to purchase the needed amounts of both types of insurance. Generally speaking, throughout the typical working lifetime (e.g., ages 20-65), the probability of an individual suffering a major disability (e.g., a disability lasting 3 months or longer) is considerably greater that the likelihood of dying.
The probability of a young worker suffering a major disability is as much as 6 (or more) times the probability of dying; the multiple is still 2 or more even at the higher working ages. These relative probabilities would suggest that the purchase of disability income insurance is a more important purchase than is the purchase of life insurance.
Another factor supporting this view is that, in the case of disability, total expenses of the family unit will also be higher due to the costs of caring for the disabled worker.
Q: How much disability insurance should I own?
A: The recommended amount of disability income insurance generally ranges from 60-70 percent of pretax income. The applicable percentage for higher-income persons is usually somewhat lower than the percentage recommended for lower-income individuals, due primarily to differences in income taxes.
Amounts considerably less than full replacement of earnings are recommended due to a reduction in income taxes and decreases in commuting and other work-related costs that are likely to occur in the event of disability. On the other hand, medical, rehabilitation and certain other expenses are often higher for disabled individuals creating a need for larger amounts of replacement income
Q: What type of disability income insurance is best; insurance covering short-term disabilities only or policies that cover long-term disabilities?
A: Assuming that only one of these types of disability insurance products will be purchased, sound risk management principles would suggest the purchase of long-term disability (LTD) insurance.
LTD insurance protects the insured against disabilities that may last many years, or even a lifetime, and thus provides protection against large losses of potentially catastrophic magnitude. Although long-term disabilities occur less frequently than disabilities of a relatively short duration (e.g., several weeks or even a few months), the loss of income for a short duration can be more easily absorbed by the family unit than can an income loss that lasts for several years or longer.
Q: What are the primary differences between short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) insurance policies?
A: These two types of insurance coverage differ most importantly in terms of the length of the elimination (waiting) period, the length of the maximum benefit period, coordination of the benefits payable under the policy with benefits payable under social insurance programs (e.g., Social Security and Workers' Compensation), and the "definition of disability" incorporated into the contract language.
Q: What is an elimination, or waiting, period and how does its definition differ between STD and LTD insurance policies?
A: The elimination, or waiting, period in disability insurance refers to the length of time between the onset of a qualifying disability and the point in time when benefits under the disability insurance policy first become payable.
In STD plans, waiting periods may range from 0 days to 3, 7, 10 or 14 days, depending on the specific insurance policy and the cause of disability. Disabilities resulting from accidents often are subject to shorter elimination periods (e.g., 3 or 7 days) than are disabilities caused by sickness.
In LTD plans, elimination periods generally range from 3 to 6 months, or longer, for disabilities arising from both accidents and illnesses.
Q: In addition to coverage of partial or total disabilities and temporary or permanent disabilities, what other aspects of a "definition of disability" are important to consider when purchasing disability income insurance?
A: The way in which a disability is defined, especially as it relates to the inability of the insured to perform a particular occupation, is exceedingly important.
Several insurers market policies that define total disability in terms of the inability of the insured to perform the usual and customary duties of his or her "own occupation"--the job the insured was doing at the time of the injury or onset of sickness.
Other policies define total disability in terms of the inability to perform the regular duties of "any occupation." "Any occupation" is often defined as a job for which the insured has the necessary skills and training and, possibly, at a salary commensurate with the one in which the insured was employed at the time of the incident.
The "own occupation" definition is more liberal to the insured and is frequently recommended over an "any occupation" definition. Sometimes a "split definition" is used which incorporates an "own occupation" definition for an initial period (e.g., 2 years), followed by an "any occupation" definition thereafter.
Q: Where can more information on disability insurance be obtained?
A: A free copy of the Consumer's Guide to Disability Insurance can be obtained from the Health Insurance Association of America, 555 13th Street N.W., Suite 600 East, Washington, D.C. 20004-1109.
Q: Who Really Needs Long Term Care Insurance?
A: Generally long term care insurance is thought to be a product only valuable for the elderly. The fact is the younger you are when you obtain long term care coverage the better. You premiums will be cheaper at a younger age, and in the event you needed long term care then you and your family will have some peace of mind financially.
Q: Why Should I Buy Long Term Care Insurance?
A: If you're like most people, you have invested and saved money for a rainy day. More than likely you probably haven't protected those savings against the expense of an extended illness or disability. The sooner you obtain coverage the better, because the likelihood of needing such long term care is significant and the cost is high.
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