Here's a video, explaining why your insurance policies and annuities are still in force:

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Get ready.

Employers are facing an 8 percent cost increase when they renew their health insurance plans for next year, according to early results from a survey by Mercer, the big employee benefits consultants.

They’re not sitting back and taking it.

And guess who’s going to get more of the health care cost burden?

More than half of employers who plan to take action to reduce their costs said they’d increase employees’ deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance or they’ll raise the total out-of-pocket cost employees have to pay.

And so, workers get more of the same.

Mercer says that between 2003 and 2007, the median family deductible went up by half, to $1,500 from $1,000, for a preferred provider organization, the most popular health plan that employers offer.

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Long-term care insurance, which covers expenses for those with long-term disabilities, is a smart thing to buy. But when? One strategy has been to wait until retirement. That may be a bad plan, according to new research from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The group looked at the records of major insurance companies and 250,000 consumers. It found that 22.9 percent of those age 60 to 69 get turned down for a policy. A better chance: In your 50s, only 14 percent are rejected. Of course, you’ll be paying for the policy for more years. But at least you’ll have one.

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