Virginia 8 Hour Life & Health Review

This topical 8-hour continuing education course will provide the Virginia Life and Health  licensee with current and up-to-date information on numerous topics in order to successfully renew their license. Topics in this course include updated and in-depth discussions of annuities, life insurance taxation, medical plans, health insurance taxation, and long-term care coverage.  Please note that this course does NOT include the three hours of ethics continuing education required of Virginia insurance licensees required to renew a license.  

Keep in mind that Virginia requires that licensees complete 24 hours of continuing education each licensing period and those hours must include three hours of professional ethics education.  

Specifically, the course examines these topics: 

• Annuities: this portion of the course package takes a deep dive into annuities on multiple levels and goes well beyond the basics. Topics included in this section include annuity principles and concepts, parties to the contract, insurance aspects of annuities, premium payment options, immediate and deferred annuities, surrender and other charges, Internal Revenue Service issues, nonforfeiture concerns, payout options, fixed versus variable contracts, equity-indexed and market-value adjusted annuities, replacements, uses of annuities (qualified retirement plans, IRAs, and more. 
• Federal Taxation of Life Insurance: This portion explores numerous tax concerns related to life insurance, including taxation on personal life insurance, cash value accumulations, surrenders and withdrawals, dividend taxation, policy loans, beneficiary tax issues, IRS exclusion ratio, values included in the insured’s estate, incidence of ownership, IRS Contemplation of Death rule, group insurance and imputed income, IRA taxation, group insurance, modified endowment contracts (MECs) and the seven-pay test, taxation of qualified and non-qualified annuities, transfers and rollovers, suitability, and Section 1035 Policy Exchanges. 
• Medical Plans: In this section, the course delves into medical plans offered in today’s marketplace and coverage available for individual and group policies. Included in this portion of the course is an introduction to medical plans, plan concepts, benefit schedules versus usual, customary, and reasonable charges, providers, dependents, newborn and adopted children, deductibles and cost-sharing, copayments, coinsurance, specified versus comprehensive care, limited  health insurance policies, critical illness policies, accidental death and dismemberment contracts, dental, hospital indemnity, credit disability and health policies, blanket insurance, defined contribution versus defined benefit plans, types of providers and plans, stop-loss and maximum out-of-pocket, carryover provision, managed care, HMOs and their models, the purpose of HMOs, services offered, PPOs and provider concerns, networks of providers, parties to the contract, point-of-service options, and gatekeepers. The lesson continues with a discussion of major medical insurance, including its characteristics, limitations, basic plans, supplemental major medical, exclusions and conditions,and coinsurance. The lesson continues with a dive into impairment riders and pre-existing conditions, hospital and outpatient benefits, alternative services, coordination of benefits in group plans, selected portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), “metals” categories for medical plans through the marketplace, essential benefits, exclusions/conditions, selected sections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and finishes with a look at protected health information (PHI) and its parameters. 
• Federal Health Insurance Taxation: Accompanying the life insurance tax section, this portion of the course discusses health insurance taxes. Included in this lesson is an introduction to the material, pre- versus after-tax dollars, disability income taxation, business disability insurance, including key-person, buy-sell contracts, business overhead expense coverage, medical expense taxation concerns, deductible unreimbursed medical expenses, long-term care taxation for qualified and non-qualified LTC policies, and the potential deductibility of premiums paid. Continuing, the lesson explores accidental death and dismemberment from a health insurance standpoint, partnerships and sole proprietors coverage, Health Savings Accounts and other tax-favored health plans, high-deductible health plans, contribution limits and excess contributions, Flexible Spending Accounts and limits. 
• Long-Term Care Insurance and Medicaid: This section of the course package details Long-Term Care, or LTC insurance coverage, including its relationship with Medicaid, the introduction to the lesson, important definitions and concepts, activities of daily living and their relationship with coverage, benefit triggers, underwriting LTC contracts, covered services/comprehensive care, benefit periods and amounts, levels of care and facilities, optional benefits and riders, reimbursement versus indemnity/cash benefits, and nonforfeiture benefits. The material continues with a discussion of other LTC attributes, including individual, group, and joint policies, elimination periods, pre-existing conditions allowances, general underwriting issues and policy requirements, extension of benefits, and home health care. The material concludes with an exploration of marketing rules, policy exclusions, licensing and education requirements, replacement of an existing LTC policy and related concerns, required replacement notices with samples, and an in-depth discussion of suitability. Finally, the course entertains tax-qualified and non-qualified LTC plans, partnership contracts and how Medicaid may come into play, state right of recovery, Medicaid look-back periods, how partnership plans work, documentation and disclosure mandates, the structure and financing of Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIPs), and basic health programs. 

This updated course includes many illustrations and examples to aid in learning and retention, and goes beyond the basic information needed for licensees. The course will introduce the candidate to terms, definitions and concepts that are not just the foundation of life and health insurance, but are intended to accelerate and amplify the student’s knowledge.  

To receive a certificate of completion for this 8-hour course, a 45-question final exam must be successfully passed.

VA Bureau of Insurance Course ID: 229590