O&G
Oil and Gas.
OA
Old Age.
OAA
Older American Act of 1965.
OAC
On Approved Credit.
Office of Assigned Counsel;
San Diego County Office of Assigned Counsel, 450 B Street, Suite 840, San Diego, California 92101, Telephone: (619) 338-4800 or by email at OAC@sdcounty.ca.gov.
OAH
Order After Hearing.
OASDHI
Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance. Also known as Social Security.
OASDI
Old Age, Survivor and Disability Insurance.
OASI
Old Age, Survivor Insurance.
Objects
The permissible appointees of a power of appointment.
Obliteration
A form of physical revocatory act to a will that affects the words on the paper.
OBRA (OBRA-90)
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.
Occupational
This policy provision states that illness and injury that occurs both on and off the job are covered.
Occupational Accident or Occupational Disease
An occupation accident is one that arises and occurs in the course of employment. An occupation disease is impairment of health caused by continued exposure to conditions inherent in a person’s occupation or a disease caused by or resulting from the nature of an employment. It does not include illness or disease to which the general public is normally exposed. Occupational accident and disease are exclusions on all your health insurance products; they are covered under workers’ compensation.
OCGA
Office of Contract & Grant Administration. Official Code of Georgia Annotated.
OCR
Optical Character Recognition.
QDRO
Q? Domestic Relations Order.
OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
OEP
Open Enrollment Period.
Offshore Trust
A trust that is settled and governed by the laws of a jurisdiction other than the United States. In the vernacular, generally one that is literally offshore, such as Gibraltar, the Cook Islands, the Bahamas, etc., and generally used for asset protection purposes. See Asset Protection Trusts.
OFH
Office of Fair Hearings. In Florida, responsible for Medicaid Fair Hearing requests filed pursuant to AHCA.
OLT
Ohio Legacy Trust.
Ombudsman
The California Department of Aging sponsors a Long-term Care
Ombudsman Program with offices that serve each county. The
ombudsman program advocates for the rights of people in longterm
care facilities and responds to complaints about abuse.
OON
Out-Of-Network.
Open Access HMO
HMOs that do not use gatekeepers. There is no requirement to obtain a referral before seeing a specialist. Co-pays may be higher for specialist care.
Open Panel
When a physician contracts with a health organization to provide services to its members or subscribers, but retains the right to treat other patients not in the plan, this is an open panel.
Open Panel HMO
A network of physicians who work out of their own offices and participate in the HMO on a part-time basis.
Optional Disclaimer Trust
The disclaimer trust permits deferring the decision about whether or not to have a bypass trust until after the death of the first spouse to die. With the volatility of the law and the economy, this might be the best time to decide whether or not estate tax planning is needed. Also, a couple may appear to have no estate tax worries now, but increases in wealth may push them into needing a trust. The disclaimer trust makes an excellent back-up estate tax plan.
The Tax Relief Act of 2010 provides for a $5 million exemption (indexed for inflation in 2012) per person from federal estate and gift taxes, and a top tax rate of 35%. In addition, the unused portion of the estate tax exemption of the first spouse to die may be transferred to the surviving spouse (so-called “portability”). This portability provision makes it possible for a married couple to transfer up to $10 million free of federal estate tax without having to use a Family Trust (see below). However, without further Congressional action, on January 1, 2013, the estate and gift tax exemption decreases to $1 million per person, the top tax rate increases to 55%, and portability is repealed.
Portability is available to a surviving spouse only if an election is made on a timely-filed estate tax return (Form 706) by the predeceased spouse’s estate – even if the estate is not otherwise required to file a Form 706. However, only the last spouse’s exemption is portable. So one cannot re-marry in a serial manner to accumulate estate tax exemptions.
When a married person dies, he or she can pass all of his/her property to a surviving spouse without incurring any estate tax because of the unlimited marital deduction. So, if husband and wife each have an estate of $5 million, husband can pass his $5 million to wife estate tax free. So when wife dies, her estate would be worth $10 million. Without portability, wife could pass up to $5 million estate tax free, but her estate would be required to pay a 35% estate tax on the excess.
Prior to the existence of portability, the most common way to use both estate tax exemptions of a married couple was to create a “Family Trust” upon the death of the first spouse. Other names used for a Family Trust are “Credit Shelter Trust”, “Bypass Trust” and “Residuary Trust”. Upon the first spouse’s death, an amount equal to the decedent’s estate tax exemption is allocated to the Family Trust. The surviving spouse has access to the property in the Trust, but upon the surviving spouse’s death, the property remaining in the Trust is not included in his/her estate.
Optionally Renewable
Allows the insurer the option to terminate on the next premium due or policy anniversary. Premiums can be increased by classification.
Oral Trust
Oral trusts of personal property usually is valid, but may be invalid for real property because it fails to comply with the Statute of Frauds.
OSC
Order to Show Cause.
OTC
Over-The-Counter.
Out-of-Pocket
is the maximum amount that an individual will be required to pay during a plan year for deductibles and coinsurance. Once this amount has been paid by the insured, the insurer will pay 100% of additional covered expenses up to the policy limit.
Overinsurance
A condition in which (1) more insurance is in force on the insured or the risk than the potential for loss, or (2) so much insurance is in force as to constitute a moral or morale hazard (such as so much disability insurance being in force that it becomes profitable to remain unable to return to work).
Own Occ
Own Occupation.
Type of benefit in disability insurance where benefit accrue when insured cannot engage in their chosen occupation, even if they could perform other work.