As many of you are now aware there was a very serious earthquake in Haiti.  There are several of you who have clients currently in Haiti. Below is a list of resources you may offer to your clients and their family members if you are contacted.  These resources should be able to provide them needed assistance:

For a Client in an Earthquake Area: 

Refer them to FEMA’s web page about “What to do After an Earthquake”  The most important things are to listen to the radio and to only place phone calls in the event of an emergency, since call volumes are very high during these times.

For Family Members: 

The U.S. State Department Operations Center is advising Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti to call 1-888-407-4747. Due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording. “Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American citizens through our Warden Network,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. “Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.”  

You can also follow the U.S. State Department’s latest Tweets for up-to-date information: http://twitter.com/dipnote

For Anyone Needing to Contact the HCCMIS World Service Center for Support: 

Call: 800-605-2282 in the US, or collect outside the US at 317-262-2132.  HCCMIS coordinates evacuations via these phone numbers and arranges for medically necessary evacuations through various service providers in several regions around the world.

Chat: If our phone lines are busy, Customer Service is also available online via Live Chat.

Email: If you need assistance but it is not an emergency, please connect with us via email at service@hccmis.com to ensure our phone lines are available for those with emergencies.

Twitter: We will be closely monitoring our Customer Service Twitter account, @HCCMIS_Support, and sending out updates and news as the situation develops.  Please contact us via Twitter with any questions as well.

We at HCCMIS believe that customers are people first and are constantly looking for ways in which we can connect on a more personal level with both our current customers and those interested in our services. In order to achieve this “personal touch,” we have taken the road formerly less traveled by companies in our industry.

In a recent article in the Houston Business Journal titled, “Old-line companies turn to social media for marketing,” HCC Medical Insurance Services (HCCMIS) is noted for engaging our clients in a more contemporary method – through the use of social media.

HCCMIS is currently active on Twitter, Facebook, FastPitch, Linkedin, and our blog. We are also working towards becoming more active on You Tube and Wikipedia.

Rather than just pushing you, the consumer, to “buy, buy, buy” through our social media accounts, we’ve opted to use them as a tools to update you on news and fun facts in both the travel and health sectors. We feel that engaging and following up with our “fans” and followers allows us to get in touch with what you want and need first, then work on finding the most appropriate policy to match those needs.

We’re also using social media as a way to connect with you on a service level. If any questions or issues arise, we want you to feel comfortable talking to us about it. Some people feel more at ease doing this in the world of social media, so we are doing our best to comply with that.

We hope that our efforts in spending more time conversing with you through these methods will both enhance your experience with HCCMIS and allow us to focus on assisting you with your true needs.

Many of you have been there: you’re ready to finally learn about this product or that and take the next step in actually purchasing it. With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, who has time to go and meet with someone to go over ALL the options? You figure, “I’m a smart person; I can read and make my own decision….right?” Well, when the websites you depend on to give you that decision-making information are mere mazes to try navigating through, you may often times just give up. Or, you turn to an “easier” source, which may be not be the best option for your needs. We feel your pain!

With the recent launch of our new website, HCC Medical Insurance Services (www.hccmis.com) clearly understands the endeavors of online consumers. We specialize in international travel medical insurance and US domestic short-term health insurance.

While most individuals may not find any topic containing the word “insurance” very exciting, it’s nice to know when you need information on these products, there is a place to go to get answers to the questions most asked by other consumers who have been in your shoes. We’ve also added a great tool to use to find agents in a specific area who can assist with applying for the policy you’ve chosen or to even suggest the most appropriate policy.

Whether you’re in the market for insurance or not, check out our new site to see what we think every company should boast: user-friendly features.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  For many people, it will kick off the holiday season- but for some it means a big decision looming in the near future.  In February of this year, lawmakers signed a bill, which temporarily discounted COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) health premiums for laid-off workers to alleviate some of the burden while they searched for work. 

While this subsidy has been a blessing to thousands, the benefits were limited to nine months.  Unfortunately, many people who were laid-off earlier this year are still struggling to find jobs.  Those who took advantage of this government subsidy program when it first became available in March will soon need to either begin paying the true cost of COBRA, 102% of their total health premiums, or look into alternative options.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “an average family who is eligible for the subsidy, monthly premiums will jump to $1,078 a month from $377.”

What does this mean?  For many individuals, the entire COBRA premium, without the subsidy, will prove to be too high while on a reduced budget.  So what alternatives are available?  An article in USA Today discussed a couple of alternatives, one of which is purchasing short term medical insurance.  Traditionally, short term medical policies are used to fill temporary gaps in coverage for individuals in transition between jobs, recent graduates, or new employees waiting for group coverage to begin.  Many short term medical policies offer next day coverage and have limited underwriting requirements.  Depending on the carrier, coverage may be purchased for periods as short as 30 days and up to 6 months or, in some states, up to 12 months! The ease and flexibility typical of short term medical products can help give you peace-of-mind — perhaps allowing you to better focus on job hunting.    

If you are looking for a competitive short term medical policy, check out HCC Life Short Term Medical (STM).  HCC Life STM is underwritten and administered by HCC Life Insurance Company, a leading insurance company rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company.  The HCC Life STM policy boasts a wide range of deductible options, as well as a choice of overall policy maximums and coinsurance.  The plan also features a unique $50 co-pay option in place of the deductible for visits to an urgent care center.  Online fulfillment is also available so you can download and print ID cards and all relevant insurance documents immediately for coverage beginning as soon as the next-day.  For a free quote, click here.

Have some peace in knowing that there are options available if COBRA no longer makes sense for you and your budget.  Hopefully, with these options you’ll have something to be thankful for this year after all!

Do you know the answer? The first person to send a Direct Message containing the correct answer to one of the following Twitter accounts will receive a $25.00 Visa Gift Card! Here are the accounts:

http://twitter.com/ShortTermHealth

http://twitter.com/TravelHealthIns

Rules, Eligibility, Disclosure

Participants must be following one of the above accounts to be eligible for this contest. HCCMIS will award only one prize per HCCMIS account listed above. The contest winner will be determined by the first DM received by HCCMIS with the correct answer to the question ‘Can you guess the big change HCC Medical Insurance Services implemented within the past week?’. Prizes will be awarded to two different individuals with each account having a different winner. You must be age 18 or over to win. No employees of HCC Medical Insurance Services, HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries are eligible for this contest.

Once the winners have been determined, each will be contacted via a DM on Twitter to obtain mailing information for the Gift Card.

A few months back, a friend of mine (Holli) was in a nearly fatal motorcycle accident in India and suffered major brain trauma. The hospitals there, like in most developing countries, weren’t sufficient to care for her injuries. So she needed to be med-evac’d. Do you have any idea how much that costs?? Evidently, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!

So it got me to thinking. What would my family do if I were in an accident like that? The hospitals here in Honduras probably aren’t much better than the ones in India. And I don’t have US health insurance to cover something like that. And who just has $150,000 lying around?

So a couple of weekends ago we were visiting with friends here in Tegus. (The husband commutes from the US every couple of months, and his wife and family live here permanently.) They have health insurance that works in Honduras AND in the US. And it covers emergency evacuation for situations just like the one Holli was in.

So since then I’ve been researching international travel insurance. One of the sites I found was www.hccmis.com. And according to the prices on their site, it’s very affordable depending on the deductible, even on a Honduran salary.

So if you are traveling abroad (studying abroad, backpacking, whatever!) or living abroad like me, then I suggest you consider what you and your family would do if you were in an accident like Holli’s. If you want, you can click HERE to obtain a free quote for international health insurance. It’s quick and painless, and this kind of insurance could turn out to be priceless if something ever happened to you abroad!

Effective July 1, 2009, MultiNational Underwriters will be operating under the name of HCC Medical Insurance Services (HCCMIS for short). This new name further assimilates the company with its parent company, HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc, which is rated A+ by A.M. Best and has assets of over $8 billion.

HCCMIS promises to uphold the same commitment to international and short-term medical products and is excited to provide the same astonishing service as MNU always has. While you may still access information and services via www.mnui.com, you will soon be redirected to www.hccmis.com, the company’s new home site.

Tweet tweet! HCC Medical Insurance Services is now “tweeting” under the names of HCCMIS, MNUInsurance, and HCCLife_STM. They are posting company information and headlines from around the world daily. Keep up with the most recent news by following them at these Twitter addresses:

HCCMIS: http://twitter.com/hccmis     

MNUInsurance: http://twitter.com/mnuinsurance           

HCCLife_STM: http://twitter.com/hcclife_stm  

Recent tweets, as well as the above links, will be soon accessible via the company’s home site, www.hccmis.com, under “Twitter.”