Spring Cleaning? What About Home Accident Anytime-Cleaning Projects?
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that is deadly, and an unexpected fire can be devastating to your family and home. Here are some suggestions to help eliminate the risk...
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Your 5 Step Online Guide To Car Insurance Shopping
Why do you need a five step guide to auto insurance shopping? Because, if you want to get the best coverage for your buck, shopping smart for your car insurance...
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Your Credit Score and Insurance
Having a good credit rating does affect your insurance premium. So, what is the best way to keep a good credit rating? Of course, getting things paid on...
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Your First Car Insurance Policy
Getting your first car insurance policy may not be a priority, but it should be. Car insurance protects one of your first investments, your car. But car insurance can be...
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A Big Scam with a Great Disguise
This guy really knew how to scam. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Bijan Razdar had a scammers dream. Razdar was a former Florida insurance agent and...
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Hybrid Owners get Cheaper Car Insurance
This is a great discount. Travelers auto insurance company now offers a 10% discount in 44 states for hybrid cars. According to www.hybridtravelers.com, the main reason for the...
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Massachusetts Finalizes Costs for Mandatory Health Insurance
If you don't already know, the state of Massachusetts is the first state to require its residents to have health insurance. The state has chosen seven different health insurance...
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Will Your Car be a Target for a Thief?
I really don't think I have this issue. Both my vehicles are older and not at all at on the "hot list" of target cars to be stolen.But for...
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Using Your Health Insurance Plan Wisely
When you first got your health insurance, did you just pick a doctor from the list given to you by your health insurance company? Do you think that was...
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Understanding the Three Types of Health Savings Accounts
There are three options available in the consumer driven health care area of health savings accounts to supplement health insurance coverage. These options include: 1. HSA (Health Savings Account) 2....
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Protect Your Home & Homeowners Policy From Burglars
Yes, you read that correctly you need to protect your homeowners’ policy from burglars ruining the entire situation.  Your homeowners’ policy could become worthless if a burglar were to ransack your home and steal various prized possessions.  This is due to the fact that few homeowners document with photos or video their possessions and the assigned values.The process of combing through all items worth stealing or at least worth something to you can be tedious to say the least.  However, if you’re making a claim and have next to no documentation about the value of stolen items then your policy becomes fairly useless.According to the InsWeb Blog 1 out of 39 homes last year were victims of a burglary.  They posit what I just mentioned by asking, “Can you accurately list from memory everything in your house? How many necklaces and rings do you have; DVDs in your movie library; and exactly what type of digital camera is it?”  They recommend doing inventory alongside your annual review of your homeowners’ policy.  
TheInsurancePolicy.com Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0700

Life Insurance Proves Its Versatility
If you thought life insurance was strictly for families or businesses then you were sorely mistaken.  In the state of Oklahoma a group of wealthy college donors has offered their very lives for the cause of formal education.  Well, they’re not sacrificing themselves but they are donating large life insurance policy proceeds to Oklahoma State’s (OSU) athletic department.The billionaire oil tycoon Boone Pickens donated $165 million to OSU’s athletic department a year ago in order to help with upgrades to the athletic facilities.  Now Pickens has also contributed a new way of fundraising.  He suggested “Oklahoma State buy $10 million life insurance policies for 25 of its supporters, with the university as the beneficiary.”  The program has been donned with the name “Gift of a Lifetime”.  All the money received from the insurance is supposed to “be used to endow athletic scholarships and pay for facilities and operations.”  OSU claims to be the first university to create such a program, let us know if you are aware of another university that has already done this.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:00:00 -0700

More Money Diverted To Holocaust Era Insurance Claims
Another large sum of money has been deposited in an “existing settlement fund concerning Holocaust-era claims that was administered by the international commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims” according to nationalunderwriter.com.  This fresh new pile of money is from an agreement made with the U.S. District Court in New York in regards to “a class-action suit against Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. involving claims in force in the 1930s and 1940s.”  I wrote a post in January about the California Insurance Department’s involvement with the Holocaust Victims Insurance Relief Act of 1999.  Although they are not directly related both stories have to do with money owed to Holocaust victims due to the war destroying many documents.We are talking about a huge sum of money, $35 million that is on top of $100 million already paid by Generali to the settlement fund.  The $100 million went to pay for “claims by Jewish victims of the Holocaust and their survivors and heirs” while “the additional money will go to cover claims that have been approved but not yet paid.”
TheInsurancePolicy.com Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0700

Do More People Need Disability Insurance?
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) the answer is a resounding yes.  A recent study from the NAIC revealed, “56% of U.S. adults say they would be unable to pay their bills or meet expenses if they became disabled and could not work for a year or longer” despite “44% of respondents indicating they had long-term disability coverage.”  Sobering data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) said, “20% of the nation’s population will actually become disabled for a year or more before reaching age 65.”  That is a scary statistic that shouldn’t be taken lightly.  The big problem for many people is the ability to pay for disability insurance if it is not currently offered at their job.  Another issue is should a person spend money on paying for a disability or life insurance policy.  Which policy is essentially more important is the question.  I would say the individual person’s situation will dictate where their premium dollars should end up.  Meeting with an experienced and trusted insurance or financial advisor is the best way for a person to wade through this important decision making process.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

MetLife Study: Voluntary Benefits Highly Touted By Employers & Employees
MetLife Inc. (MET) conducted their fifth annual “Study of Employee Benefit Trends” according to nationalunderwriter.com.  The findings are not too much of a surprise.  Payroll deductions come out on top as 51% of employer survey participants “cited payroll deductions as a major reason to offer voluntary benefits.”Another important reason was the advantage of purchasing group instead of individual insurance.  Obviously group coverage is going to cost significantly less than individual policies.  I’m sure many of us wouldn’t mind one big United States group policy instead of smaller policies among one company.  Dare I say universal health insurance for all?Employees had some similar perspectives on this issue including 63% that said, “payroll deduction was a convenience” and 58% “citing the fact that group insurance required no medical exams.”  Turning in a health insurance application without worrying about a medical exam is definitely a relief for many.  Are you a proponent of voluntary benefits?           
TheInsurancePolicy.com Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 -0700

Scoop Up New Crop Insurance Plan While It's Hot
With my limited knowledge of farming I can’t comment too extensively on crop insurance.  However, I do know there is a great deal of risk involved in farming due to unpredictable weather.  This obvious obstacle to consistent revenue must lead many farmers to consider the possibility of purchasing a type of crop insurance.A new “risk management tool” that insurers are offering in Kansas and most of Colorado has been set up to “insure against farm revenue fluctuations.”  The name of the federally subsidized plan is Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite.  The program covers “almost all farm-raised crops, animals, and animal products.”The U.S. Department of Agriculture “will pay a portions (subsidy) of the premium for the AGR-Lite policy that equals 48 percent, 55 percent, and 59 percent of the total premiums for the coverage levels of 80 percent, 75 percent, and 65 percent respectively.”  Sounds like a heck of a subsidy to me.  I wonder what the premiums on a policy like this come out to?  
TheInsurancePolicy.com Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700

NY Workers Comp Reforms Positive For Employers & Employees
The current New York business environment for many small businesses has been less than stellar when it comes to dealing with workers compensation insurance.  According to nationalunderwriter.com New York Governor Elliot Spitzer announced an agreement today, “between the legislative and executive branches to reform the state’s system that would increase benefits for injured workers over a four-year period” and “at the same time, employers’ costs would be cut 10-to-15 percent and more over time.”  I was not aware that the workers comp industry in New York was such an issue for small businesses.  However, reading some of the improvements to the system opened my eyes to how necessary the changes were.  Here are some of the more pertinent changes:The maximum weekly benefit for injured workers will be increased from $400 to $500 in the first year, $550 in the second year, $600 in the third year, and to two-thirds of the average weekly wage in New York in the fourth year. Once the maximum benefit reaches two-thirds of the average weekly wage, the maximum benefit will be indexed annually.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Tue, 27 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700

Miss. Attorney General Hood Draws Line In Sand Over State Farm Pullout
The domino effect of State Farm’s continual march through the Gulf Coast states has touched down in Mississippi.  Last week State Farm Insurance made the announcement “it would cease writing new homeowners policies in the state.”  In response Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood revealed a proposal: That would force carriers writing auto insurance in the state to provide homeowners and commercial insurance if they write those policies elsewhere in the United States. He said the legislation mirrored similar legislation passed in Florida.Hood believes State Farm’s recent announcement is meant to “intimidate a federal judge and our legislature to deal with the wind pool situation” and that “this is a tactic the company has used successfully in other states to get its way.”  State Farm responded to the allegations:We feel this is a remarkable response to what was just purely a business decision, but it does underscore the legal and political challenge we face in Mississippi. State Farm is not trying to pick a fight. We are just trying to service our current customers and do not want to accept the additional risks new policies would pose in the current environment.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700

Senate Committee Votes To Pass "Mental Health Parity Act"
I’m trying to figure out why mental health care has not risen to the same level of importance in insurers minds as physical health care?  Are the mental afflictions of certain people generally considered less of a medical condition than a broken leg, pulled tendon or kidney stone?  Is the pain and suffering not sufficient enough for insurers to not offer the same level of coverage?  Apparently so, because this week according to nationalunderwriter.com “Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 18-3 today to pass a bill that could require insurers to offer the same level of coverage for mental health care that they offer for physical health care.”  The “Mental Health Parity Act” specifically “would apply to both treatment of conditions such as depression and of substance abuse problems such as alcoholism” and put “no limits on days or treatment visits, and no exorbitant co-payments or deductibles, according to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.The President of the American Benefits Council, an employer group, said, “It earned our support because it imposes no mandates on the services or conditions a plan must cover, permits plans to contract with separate networks of mental health providers to deliver covered services, allows plans to employ a wide range of medical management practices to help ensure that only medically necessary care is covered and preempts state laws that ‘differ from’ the federal requirements.”Do you agree with this proposed legislation?  Should mental health care be on par with physical health care? 
TheInsurancePolicy.com Fri, 16 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700

Seguro Médico: Internet Insurance Resources En Español On The Rise
Si usted dice el español usted ya sabe que…oh wait a minute this blog is in English.  I forgot for a moment.  I found an interesting article on insurancenetworking.com about the insurance industry starting to address the need for more Spanish language websites.  For those living in California it is no secret that Latinos constitute a large portion of the population, 31%, but unfortunately they also “account for more than half of the 6.3 million Californians who lack health insurance.”  Blue Cross of California has taken the lead by offering a Spanish language website at www.nuestrobien.com, that offers:Articles in English and Spanish on prevention, nutrition, early detection of health problems, leading health care problems for Laitinos, a ‘Kids Center’ provides games and animated clips on how the human body works.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Thu, 15 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700

Jewelry For Valentines Day? Consider Insuring Your Purchase
As February 14th approaches I’m sure many people are considering or have already purchased jewelry for their significant other.  If you have spent over $1,500 in jewelry you might want to consider some insurance to protect your goods.  Your homeowners or renter’s insurance will only cover up to a certain amount and “will not cover a lost item” according to kcra.com.A very informative article about jewelry talks about the importance of understanding the difference between scheduled and unscheduled property:Unscheduled property (jewelry not specifically listed) is typically included in basic homeowner or renter’s policies under blanket coverage. There is a usually a deductible (typically $500) and a maximum amount of coverage (typically $1500) although these amounts can vary with the specific policy. This type of coverage does not require an appraisal but sales receipts, written descriptions or photos are beneficial in proving the items existed and estimating their replacement value.
TheInsurancePolicy.com Sat, 10 Feb 2007 07:00:00 -0700


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