From the AFLAC for PORAC Team – It is our honor and privilege to serve our law enforcement community. We have been serving PORAC since 1977. Today we offer PORAC members Accident, Cancer, Critical Care and Hospital. We also offer Short Term Disability to help replace lost income, accessible in specific circumstances.

With injuries usually happening more often than sicknesses, the Accident plan is by far our most popular plan as it covers injuries on or off the job and will pay benefits based on the severity of your injury. These benefits include hospitalization, follow up visits, physical therapy, as well as accidental death and dismemberment and much more. With this plan, Aflac will also pay one wellness benefit per year of $60 just to have an exam, one per family.

Statistics state that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer in their lifetime. This is why the Cancer plan is so popular. It covers all types of cancer, from minor skin cancers to serious internal cancers. Coverage includes benefits for diagnosis, surgeries, hospitalization, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, approved experimental treatments and much more. There is also an annual wellness benefit each year for every covered family member, when having a cancer screening. With cancer diagnoses on the rise, this is an excellent plan to protect your family.

We never plan for a catastrophic event to happen, but when they do, Critical Care Protection covers specific catastrophic events like heart attacks, strokes, major third-degree burns, comas, and paralysis, to name a few. This policy also covers any ICU stay for events like premature birth, car accidents or even gun shots and includes continuing care if needed once out of the hospital. These benefits can help with medical bills and lost income, so you can be by your loved one’s side in times of need.

The Hospital Choice plan has benefits for emergency room, surgeries, hospital, and ICU stays. It also has benefits for physician visits, major diagnostic exams, labs and x-rays, and ambulance. This plan complements your major medical insurance, helping you with co-pays and deductibles and other out of pocket costs.

The AFLAC for PORAC team is here to help you file claims, from what documents you need, to getting them uploaded to AFLAC. We can also help with coverage changes, questions regarding benefits, enrollments, and more.

To learn more about AFLAC plans and how they can help you and your family, please visit the Supplemental page or call (858) 344-4331 to find your local AFLAC for PORAC agent.

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Featured in the June 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

It may not seem important but forgetting to make an auto or home insurance payment or having a lapse in coverage can have serious repercussions.

Let’s say you don’t drive that much anymore, so you miss an insurance payment or two, but then you get into an accident… If your premium goes unpaid, your insurance policy is void. Meaning, your insurance company is not obligated to rewrite your policy. You’ll be left without coverage and will likely have a higher rate when you do find a new carrier because the lapse has now left you labeled as “high risk.”
Your cancel notice gives you the date that payment must be received by, and if that date occurs with no payment, the system will automatically cancel your policy. Once you’re canceled, your carrier will not take you back unless they are required by law.

Let’s dive further into more facts and answer some questions every vehicle or homeowner should know about their coverage.

Home Insurance Is Required If You Have A Mortgage

While home insurance isn’t required by law, your lender will require you to be insured if you have a mortgage. Your policy will need to cover wind, hail, fire and vandalism. The lender will be named as an additional insured. Should you file a claim for damage or loss, the insurance company will issue a two-party check naming you as the insured along with the mortgage company.

If you fail to pay your home insurance, you could have a lapse in coverage. Your policy will cancel, which is a violation of your mortgage agreement, and there will be no coverage in the event of a loss or claim. Also, the homeowner’s insurance is a package, which covers the home, other structures, your personal property, additional living expenses, and provides personal liability. You will lose all of that if the policy cancels.

Car Insurance Is Required By Law

In every state except New Hampshire, you’re required to have car insurance. You have to have minimum coverage in case you get in an accident, though what you are required to carry does vary by state.
When you register your car, you submit proof of insurance. When you buy a car, you can’t leave the lot without signing up for insurance. It’s just along the way that you might accidentally, or on purpose, miss a payment and cause your insurance to lapse.

What Is A lapse?

You pay for a specific time period on your insurance. It may be six months, a year or other timeframe. In all cases, you will have a start date and end date. As long as you are paying the bills on time, all is well.

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Featured in the May 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

To protect your future earning ability, disability insurance helps protect your income and pays a portion of that income if you are unable to work due to an injury or illness. Disability insurance protects anyone who relies on their income to make a living because without protecting your income, your other assets could be at risk.

The probability of missing months or years of work because of an injury or illness may not seem unimaginable when you are healthy, however, one-in-four individuals in the US will experience a disability before reaching retirement age and Peace Officers may experience periods of disability at a higher rate due to their line of work.

There are several different types of disability coverage available. Short-term and long-term disability both replace a portion of lost income up to a maximum amount. Short term disability plans usually provide benefits for a few months up to one year. Long term disability plans may provide benefits until the disability ends or until one reaches
retirement age.

As a PORAC member and through members’ participating Associations, members can access the IBT’s short- and long-term disability plans. The IBT currently has approximately 22,400 members enrolled in these Plans. On average, the IBT processes approximately 270 disability claims per year and in 2021 paid out over $5,587,000 in disability claims.

The IBT’s Disability Plans offer Associations the option of several group plans from which to choose to implement the plan that best meets their specific needs. The Plans provide monthly disability benefits of up to 66 2/3% to 70% of a member’s salary to a maximum monthly benefit of $10,000. Each of the group Disability plans also provide accidental death benefits of up to $65,000, which covers you 24/7 on and off duty and up to $50,000 for natural death benefits.

For additional information, click HERE.

Or for questions regarding disability plan coverage, contact the IBT plan administrator, Myers-Stevens & Toohey & Co., Inc. at (800) 827-4695.

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Featured in the April 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

The Insurance and Benefits Trust of PORAC (the “IBT”) is pleased to announce that the Dental and Vision plan rates for 2023 will remain the same with no increases or plan changes. That’s welcomed news amidst the rising price of goods and services!

We hope this will prompt our members to take advantage of these benefits and schedule their annual dental and vision appointments.

Along with annual physical checkups, it’s important to schedule your dental and vision appointments as part of your overall health care.

If you enrolled in the IBT’s VSP plan during open enrollment, remember to schedule your eye exam and have your optometrist check your vision to take preventive measures to improve your vision health!

Annual eye exams with an optometrist are essential, whether you wear corrective lenses or not as there are several factors that may affect your vision, such as a vitamin or mineral deficiencies, excessive exposure to sunlight, excessive screen time and other health issues.

The VSP Vision plan is available to all active employees who are PORAC members and whose Associations have opted into the IBT’s VSP plan. The plan is also available to Retired Associate Members.

In addition, the IBT’s dental plan includes a Delta Dental HMO plan as well as a PPO plan, giving you a wide choice of dentists and offering comprehensive dental coverage, quality care and excellent customer care.

The IBT’s Dental plan is available to only to PORAC Retired Associate Members as a package plan with the VSP vision plan.

For more information on dental and vision coverage click HERE.

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Featured in the March 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

PORAC members deserve unparalleled service, rates and coverages when it comes to their auto/home/renter’s insurance. That’s what you’ll get with California Casualty and why customers choose to renew their policies with us year after year, at a rate far exceeding the industry average.

With 99% customer service satisfaction, you’ll find that we deliver on our promise to protect you and your loved ones with exclusive benefits.

Included in our policies for PORAC members is:

• Free Pet Injury Coverage
  • Coverage for your four-legged family member while riding in your insured vehicle.

• Reduced Deductible
  • Pay less out-of-pocket with a reduced deductible if your vehicle is vandalized or hit while parked at or near the facility where you work or volunteer as a public safety professional.

• Coverage for Firearms
  • Get more out of your homeowner’s policy with coverage for theft of your firearms and related equipment.

• Personal Property Coverage
  • Take advantage of homeowners/renters insurance that covers uniforms not covered by a uniform allowance, $5,000 for theft of firearms and related equipment, and $3,000 for laptops while away from your home.

• Identity Theft Resolution
  • Our insurance policies include free identity theft resolution with a personal fraud specialist to help restore your good name.

California Casualty knows the long hours you work protecting our communities and that’s why we’ve made it even easier for you to manage your personal auto insurance. With California Casualty you can shop and purchase your auto insurance online when it’s convenient for you. Quick and simple, our online quote portal is available 24/7.

Visit: www.calcas.com/porac to receive your online auto policy comparison. Call (866) 680-5142. Shopping for the best value and purchasing an auto policy designed with you in mind has never been easier. California Casualty looks forward to serving you.

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Featured in the February 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

Happy New Year from the IBT of PORAC!

The Trustees and staff of the Insurance and Benefits Trust of PORAC (the “IBT”) wish to take this opportunity to wish all of our participants and their families a very healthy and prosperous New Year!

On November 15th and 16th of 2022, the Board of Trustees of the IBT, held its annual meeting in conjunction with the PORAC Annual Conference and Board of Director’s meetings in San Diego, CA.

Our re-elected Trustees were sworn into office and we congratulate Trustee Bryan Hubbard of Region I, Trustee Michael Boyd of Region II, Trustee Roger Garcia of Region III and Trustee Rick Buss of Region IV on their elections to the Board of Trustees! In addition, we congratulate our Trustees on their re-elected seats on the Board: I, Trustee Richard Buss of Region IV will remain as the IBT Chairman, Trustee Bryan Hubbard of Region II will remain as the IBT Vice Chairman and Trustee Roger Garcia of Region III will remain as the IBT Treasurer. Trustee Franco Vado of Region I remains on the Board of Trustees as the re-appointed Retired Associate Member Representative. Trustees Damon Kurtz and Gary Frace also remain re-appointed Trustees by the President and PORAC Board of Directors. Congratulations to you all on your re-elected seats and appointments!

We would also like to thank outgoing Trustee Patrick Martin of Region II for his three years of hard work and dedication to the Board of Trustees and wish him the very best. Thank you, Patrick!

For years now, the IBT has been providing PORAC members with exceptional benefits designed by peace officers for peace officers. These benefits provide comprehensive coverage and affordable insurance products for our member participants.

As we move ahead into the New Year, the IBT’s sponsored Police & Fire Health Plan is happy to have survived its first year under the much-anticipated Joint Administrative Arrangement with Anthem Blue Cross. All Police & Fire Health Plan claims are now being processed in-house, ensuring a higher level of customer service with added savings to the Plan and allowing the Plan to further control administrative costs. This conversion was not without its difficulties, but the Health Plan worked closely with Anthem in resolving the hurdles encountered with taking on such an arrangement, involving the over 24,000 covered lives it insures. We thank our participants for their patience as we worked to resolve these issues.

The IBT’s Health Plan Department is now fully staffed with personnel who are fully trained to process claims and the entire Health Plan Department is available to assist members with any Health Plan issues.

The Police & Fire Health Plan provides major medical insurance for PORAC members whose employers have contracted with CalPERS for health coverage. The Police & Fire Health Plan, offered through Anthem Blue Cross, is a comprehensive 80/20 PPO health plan.

Dental and vision coverage are also offered through Delta Dental and VSP. The vision plan is available for active employees and a dental/vision package is available to our Retired Associate Members. Delta Dental offers retired members both an HMO and a PPO plan.

In addition, the IBT has also partnered with California Casualty to provide auto and homeowners insurance plans to our members. We are proud to partner with California Casualty who have been a big presence and of great assistance to our members over the years, particularly during the devastating wildfire seasons.

The IBT also provides a variety of supplemental insurance plans administered by AFLAC. These supplemental plans are designed to assist in offsetting the costs of medical expenses and pay benefits directly to the employees. The plans include Accident Advantage, Cancer Care and Hospitals Advantage plans.

As always, the IBT remains committed to providing quality products and services to all its members through our business partners and we will continue to find ways to enhance these products and services to best suit our member’s needs.

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Featured in the January 2023 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

AFLAC has been available to all PORAC members since 1977 and provides financial support (cash) when things go wrong. Whether it is a small laceration that requires stitches or a catastrophic cancer illness, AFLAC is there to help keep you financially whole through that accident or illness. These plans are available to help PORAC members cover the costs we do not think about. The obvious things like copays and deductibles, but also mortgages, groceries, car payments, phone bills, etc. In other words, the benefits paid by AFLAC can be used any way you see fit.

An Accident is something you can pinpoint to a time and event. Aflac’s Accident Advantage plans pay benefits based on what happens at doctors and hospitals related to accidental injuries, on or off the job. Defined cash benefits for emergency treatment, hospital stays, physical therapy, and follow-up visits, specific injuries, and ambulance, etc., increased benefits for organized sporting activities like school sports, little league, Baker to Vegas and the National Public Safety Football League. If a member is more than fifty miles from home when injured and hospitalized there are additional benefits for transportation and lodging.

The Cancer Protection Assurance plan was developed to provide members with cash benefits from first diagnosis to hospice, skin cancers to malignant, internal cancers. Designed to help protect the member’s income and savings from expenses that are not covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles and co-pays, experimental cancer treatments, and transportation and lodging, to name just a few of the thirty separate ways this plan can help during a cancer illness.

Aflac’s Critical Care Protection plan provides peace of mind should you experience a named critical health event or need to be in the ICU for any reason. This plan provides financial assistance should the covered person experience a heart attack, stroke, major third-degree burns, coma, paralysis, etc. This plan pays subscribers a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of a covered event with additional benefits payable for things such as a hospital confinement, intensive care unit confinement, limited heart surgeries, ambulance, transportation, lodging, and therapies to help with recovery. The most common use of the ICU benefit is for NICU babies (policy must be in force for at least 10 months at delivery).

The Hospital Advantage Plan is a hospital confinement indemnity policy that provides cash benefits to members. Benefits are paid regardless of any other insurance members may have. This policy is customizable based on individual or family needs and is compatible with other AFLAC plans. The benefits include, initial hospitalization benefit, daily hospitalization benefit, surgical benefits, and doctor visits, in addition to ER and short stay benefits.

For more information on Aflac sponsored products, call (858) 344-4331 or visit the website at aflac.com/porac to review detailed plan information or to connect with a local agent.

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Featured in the December 2022 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

Nobody wants to buy insurance. But it’s a have-to-buy item.

If you’re like most people, it’s not that you don’t understand the value of life insurance. In fact, many people believe they need more coverage. You probably wouldn’t mind having more life insurance. It’s just that you don’t want to buy it.
Thinking about buying life insurance, talking about buying life insurance, discussing the reasons for buying life insurance – all of this makes many people feel uncomfortable.

“I Don’t Have The Time Right Now.”

You’ll eventually get around to buying life insurance, but not today. With all the things you’ve got to do, buying life insurance can come off as a low priority – just one more thing you ought to do. Plus, the whole idea of discussing life insurance isn’t a whole lot of fun. Who wouldn’t rather attend a ball game, take the dog for a walk, or spend those precious few hours of free time in the evening with family and friends?

Nonetheless, buying life insurance is really an important task that should be addressed now, rather than later. Especially considering your line of work as a peace officer. Life insurance can help to ensure that your family will have enough money to meet their financial obligations in the event of your death.

The Subject Is Uncomfortable

No one really likes to think about death. Death is an unpleasant subject, and life insurance raises issues of our own mortality. Some people say that the very thought of starting the life insurance buying process makes them feel stressed out. It’s a subject we’d rather ignore than address.

It doesn’t have to be that way. People who act on the need tend to focus on the positive aspects: the idea of meeting their responsibilities to provide for, and care for, their loved ones. They think of it as contingency planning, protecting their family against the uncertainties of life. They also recognize that life insurance is really about life and love, about helping to ensure a positive quality of life for their spouse and children if they die prematurely.

The Bottom Line

It’s easy to understand why people tend to put off purchasing life insurance they know they need. But look at it this way: buying life insurance is one way you can help secure your family’s financial future. And what could be better than knowing your loved ones will be protected, even if you’re no longer around to take care of them?

The Insurance and Benefits Trust of PORAC’s Group Life Insurance Program is provided to assist you in financially protecting your loved ones. It also affords you the peace of mind of knowing that should something happen to you; they will be taken care of financially. The Life Insurance Program provides many different options including both the 10- and 20-Year Group Level Term (GLT) plans. These plans are offered at very competitive rates. For example: Under the 10-Year Group Level Term Plan, a Member, age 35 and a non-tobacco user may obtain $500,000 of life insurance coverage for $23.00 per month. For more information and assistance, please contact our Plan Administrator, Myers-Stevens & Toohey (CA License #0425842) at (800) 827-4695.

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Featured in the November 2022 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

California Casualty, in partnership with PORAC, offers PORAC members Auto & Home/Renters Insurance designed with your needs in mind.

California Casualty recognizes that peace officers work every day to provide protection and safety to California citizens. So we at California Casualty strive to protect you with the same honor and integrity by providing auto and home insurance designed specifically for peace officers.

Our policies include public safety professional-focused coverages, such as a reduced auto deductible, a Fallen Officer Survivor Benefit, reimbursement of up to $500 for uniforms you’ve purchased, if stolen out of your vehicle, homeowners/renter’s insurance that covers up to $3,000 for laptops while away from your home, and many more.

California Casualty’s insurance is coverage you can count on, service you deserve and at a value you’d expect.

Let us help you protect the things that are most important to you and your family.

Start your personalized quote today. Visit us at www.calcas.com/porac or call (833) 989-3898.

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Featured in the October 2022 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.

CalPERS Open Enrollment Runs from September 19 Through October 14

The 2023 rates for the Police and Fire Health Plan sponsored by the Insurance and Benefits Trust of PORAC, were finalized in June. Our rates are some of the lowest rates available to our members and, in some cases, lower than some HMO plans!

The Police and Fire Health Plan proudly serves over 24,000 safety members and their families in all 58 counties in the state, with one of the most comprehensive health plans available in the CalPERS system.

If your employer is a member of the CalPERS health plan network, your association is an association of PORAC and you are a member of PORAC, you should be eligible to enroll in the plan.

If you were previously covered by the Police and Fire Health Plan but are not now or you wish to be covered, open enrollment is the only time you can change plans (with little exception). The 2023 open enrollment period will run from September 19 through October 14.

Please review the rates and compare PORAC’s rates in your area. We encourage you and your family to consider joining the over 24,000 current subscribers in one of the most comprehensive health plans available to PORAC members in the CalPERS system.

The Insurance and Benefits Trust of PORAC is committed to serving its members, and we look forward to serving you and your family’s insurance needs now and into the future.

We also have a dedicated staff whose only job is to make sure you and your family receive the best care and service available.

For questions about the plan, contact our Insurance Services Representatives at (800) 655-6397.

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Featured in the September 2022 issue of PORAC Law Enforcement News.