Fraternity-Testvériség, 1952 (30. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1952-11-01 / 11. szám

Minding Our Own Business I

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The tragic death of the Rev. John B. Szeghy, pastor of our Indiana Harbor, Ind. church, was a severe blow for all of us who knew and loved this faithful servant of God and his fellow-men. He died when enjoying perfect health, unexpectedly and with pitiful suddenness, standing on the edge of the sidewalk near his home; he was struck by an automobile. For forty years he was a good member of our Federation — but evidently it never occurred to him to protect his family by taking out additional accident insurance. May his example be a lesson to all of us.

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Sick benefits can be paid only when a few rules have been complied with previously. One of these rules is that the sickness must be reported within ten days on the pink sheet, filled out by the attending physician and the branch officers. Please remember that in case of late reports benefits can be paid only from the date of actual reporting at the branch.

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Branch secretaries are being urged to watch the official notices of the different departments of the Home Office in our monthly magazine which is published at great cost mostly for this purpose. For instance: the section where the Department of the Auditor publishes the list of dropped members must be of primary interest for every branch secretary, because in some cases members living far from their local branches send their certificates for cash surrender directly to the Home Office. Glancing through the published list the branch secretary in these cases can see at once if any of his members dropped out this way.

In reporting hospitalization cases, please remember that the hospital bill must be sent in. Only from this bill can our Medical Director compute the number of days actually spent in the hospital. And kindly remember also, that hospitalization benefits can be paid only when a member has actually spent some time in a hospital. Don’t confuse it with ordinary sickness cases which have nothing to do with the hospitalization plan.

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Remember also in connection with hospitalization cases that benefits are payable only after 30 days from the date of the hospitalization

certificate. And another important thing: if the member was treated for the same ailment before he or she took out the hospitalization insurance, benefits can not be paid.

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It happens sometimes that a member of the Sick Benefit Department lets himself or herself be treated by someone who is not a registered Medical Doctor. Strangely enough, these non-medical people fill out and sign the “medical” report without any hesitation in spite of the fact that the instructions on the report sheet plainly tell them that it is to be filled out and signed only by Medical Doctors.

We at the Home Office can do nothing else in these cases but refuse payment of benefits, as we are ordered to do so by our by-laws. We urgently request the branch secretaries to tell this to their members whenever an occasion arises to do so.

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Why pay more for life insurance when you can buy it for less right now? If put off, you’ll just pay a higher rate next year because life insurance rates are based on age attained.

“Buying now” saves important money in many circumstances. For instance, most young married couples would be wise to forego many other things, temporarily, so that the husband may immediately get an adequate amount of life insurance at the lowest rate.

Fathers can do their children a very great service by insuring them at an early age. Later they’ll enjoy a great deal more protection than they otherwise would be able to afford.

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Automobile deaths in the United States have resulted in the payment of $53,000,000 to the families of life insurance policyholders in the first nine months of this year.

That is the total of death claims paid on persons killed by motor vehicles and involves payments under some 27,000 policies.

The automobile death toll is costly to the nation as well as tragic. It is the equivalent, currently, of the combined death toll from in- fljuenza, ulcers, appendicitis, homicides, polio, children’s contagious diseases and war deaths.

This is one element of life preservation where people can do something, as most of these automobile deaths are preventable.

By Edmund Vasváry