All Insurance and More

Auto-insurance researchers: 'Cell phone bans don't help reduce crashes'

2011-12-20T02:50:00.000-08:00

All those fancy in-car docks and voice navigation? Utterly pointless. At least according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, who reckons that it's not the phone that's the issue, but "the full spectrum of things that distract." The IIHS (funded by a group of car insurers) compared crash data between states that had instituted cell phone bans and those that hadn't. According to its research, while the ban had reduced phone use (whoa, really?), it hadn't helped reduce crash rates. The National Transportation Safety Board has presented several studies linking cell phone use to an increased chance of crashing and their latest proposals would ban most hands-free systems found in major car makers' vehicles today. Hear that? That was the sound of hundreds of third-party accessory manufacturers recoiling in horror.

Learning How to Choose Insurance that Meets your Needs

2011-11-29T02:43:00.000-08:00

We will all over time need insurance, when you learn to drive you have to have insurance, when you go to work you are insured under your employers workmen's compensation, when you buy your first home you must have insurance on it. While sometimes you may have no choice about the type of insurance that you need, other times you will have to choose your own insurance, learning to choose the right types of insurance depending on the needs you have, is important and a skill you will use over and over again throughout your life.

Knowing how to choose the right insurance starts with understand what insurance does and how much insurance you really need. This will vary depending on your circumstances and what your budget it. For instance if you have a car that is not worth a lot of money, there is no sense in putting coverage on it, however you will still need liability and medical to cover any damages that may arise if you have an accident.

The Same is true for your other belongings, if you do not own a house you may not need home insurance but you may wish to insure your belongings especially if you have a lot of expensive electronics. This insurance is called renters insurance and it protects you even if you are not ready to buy a house.

Other insurance you may wish to consider is insurance on your recreational vehicles, life insurance, health insurance and if you work for yourself you may wish to get business insurance as well. All these types of insurance vary depending on your circumstances, such as age, health and the possessions you want to insure and as always your budget. While you may not be able to buy all of them it is important to get the ones that are most applicable to your life, as well as those that may be required such as home insurance if you are buying a home and car insurance.

It is important to take some time to read about the insurances you are getting ready to buy, you should at least know the differences between liability, collision, comprehensive, as well as when you need them for your car. This is true for all insurances, you can make costly devastating mistakes but not understanding insurance terms such as those that tell you the type of insurance you are buying.

Life insurance is a good example of that, since there is a huge range of prices for the different types of insurance, but how they cover you and how much they pay out ranges just as widely. Does your policy stay the same or can your insurance company change it, does it have a cash value? These are all questions that you will need to know the answer for if you are going to buy life insurance.

There are plenty of resources on the Internet that will give you the basic information you will need, to be able to make choices for your insurance needs. In fact many of the free quote sites that offer you quotes for your insurance needs can give you all the basic information you will need to make informed choices about your insurance. You will also find that many of the insurance company sites will explain all of their policies in full at their websites as well.

You can also go to talk to your agent once you have chosen one, they can answer any questions you have and help you to decide the insurance you should have. If you choose to use one of the quote sites you will have agents in your area contact you with your quotes, before you decide on your insurance be sure to take the time to carefully review the quotes and take care of any research you need to do before you make your final decision.

Once you have an agent or two, they will help you to make your final decisions and take care of all the paperwork. You will have the satisfaction of knowing you took your time and made an informed decision no matter what type of insurance you are trying to buy. One of the best places to start your search for information and for the quotes you will need to complete the process is at Insurance Quotes, we offer a wide range of information about all of your insurance needs and have a free quote form that will allow you to compare your insurance quotes before you buy.

No Job, No Insurance, No Health Care

2011-09-11T00:19:00.001-07:00

Workers who lose their jobs in the economic downturn typically suffer a double whammy: they lose not only their incomes but their employer-based health insurance as well. Millions are forced to forgo the medical care that they cannot pay for.

The depressing facts are laid out in the Commonwealth Fund’s latest biennial health insurance survey. An analysis of the data found that nine million working-age adults who lost their jobs between 2008 and 2010 became uninsured. Most of those could not find affordable coverage from insurance companies, and some were turned down when theyapplied.

Of that number, nearly three-quarters delayed needed care because of the cost. They were sick but did not visit a doctor, or chose not to fill a prescription, or skipped a recommended test, treatment or visit to a specialist.

Nearly three-quarters had problems paying medical bills when they did visit a doctor or a hospital. They used up their savings, struggled to pay medical debts over time, took out loans when they could, declared bankruptcy or ended up unable to pay for other basic necessities like food or housing.

Substantial help will not arrive until 2014, when the major provisions of the national health care reforms kick in. The reforms will provide subsidies to help millions of Americans buy insurance on new exchanges and will greatly expand Medicaid coverage for the poor.

In the interim, Congress should extend unemployment benefits to help the jobless pay for health care. It should also re-establish the subsidies provided by the 2009 stimulus package that helped laid-off workers stay on their former employers’ policies while looking for work.

Long-term care, life insurance, annuities part of new hybrid policies

2011-09-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

Have you neglected planning for long-term care often uncovered by Medicare or health insurance? If so, you have more choices these days.

Straight long-term care insurance could rise in price just when you need it or perhaps, never get used. However, you might be eligible for a life insurance/long-term care policy or a long-term care annuity.

In fact, Palm Beach insurance broker Peter Bono says he is converting clients with certain annuities into these newer offerings. They are attractive, he says, for someone whose annuity had large taxable gains. Reason: Thanks to newer regulations, you generally can tap these new hybrid policies, provided that contracts contain appropriate language, tax-free for long-term care.

In Florida, expect to pay a median of $83,950 annually for a private room in a nursing home, $41,184 for a home health aide; or $31,950 for a private, one-bedroom assisted living facility, according to Genworth Financial.

So how do you know which policy to select?

With a long-term care rider on cash value life insurance, you generally can choose a long-term care benefit that pays benefits for a specific term. Whatever is unused passes to your beneficiary when you die.

With a tax-deferred fixed annuity, you may invest a lump sum with the life insurance company. A certain amount of the cash value may be tapped for long-term care benefits. If you don’t use those benefits, you can either withdraw your funds or obtain periodic income for life.

Benefits on either of these are likely not as comprehensive as straight long-term care insurance. However, experts say the long-term care benefits are apt to be more comprehensive on hybrid life insurance policies than on hybrid annuities.

On the other hand, if you have a pre-existing condition and can’t qualify for long-term care insurance, the underwriting for an annuity/long-term care hybrid likely won’t be as tough, according to Bono.

Life insurance policies, coupled with either long-term care or chronic illness riders, account for 6 percent of the market, says LIMRA in Windsor, Conn. But annuity/long-term hybrids are newer. On an annuity, expect to give up 0.75 percent to 1.25 percent of your interest annually, depending on your age, for a long-term care rider, says Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-term Care Insurance in Los Angeles. Life insurance/long-term care costs are priced into your policy premiums and/or benefits.

In either case, you could lose if you withdraw early. Annuities may have both an IRS penalty if you withdraw before age 59½, as well as surrender charges if you withdraw early — often within the first seven years. On a life insurance hybrid, expect at the very least, to lose earned interest upon early withdrawal.

These programs can be attractive if you have lazy money — say $400,000 to $500,000 sitting in a bank account, Slome says. “What you have to do is put in enough now so that in 10, 15 or 20 years, you have meaningful coverage.”

Long-term care life insurance and annuity hybrids are complex, and the benefits may not be enough to fund your care. Inflation may erode the buying power of your long-term care benefit. Consult with your tax adviser. Earnings on your annuity, at least, may be taxed if you don’t use the long-term care benefit. And always check the financial strength of the insurance company you’re considering. The strongest are rated “A plus plus” by A.M. Best.

Comparing health insurance plans to become easier in 2012

2011-09-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

If you've tried shopping for health insurance, you know how frustrating it can be.

Experts say much of the language isn't in plain English and too often the actual costs are hidden or unclear.

But come next March, shopping for health insurance should become much easier.

Under the federal health care overhaul adopted in 2009, health insurance companies and employers who offer health coverage to workers will be required to provide clear and consistent information about your health plan.

The information will include:

An easy-to-understand summary of benefits and coverage

A uniform glossary of terms commonly used in health insurance

The annual premium and annual deductible

What the policy doesn't cover

What your costs will be if you go to a doctor who's not in your plan's network versus one who is.

"It's absolutely a great idea," said Lynn Quincy, senior health policy analyst at Consumers Union. "It's a really big issue that consumers face when trying to compare health insurance plans."

By making the terms of insurance plans easier to understand, consumers are less likely to find themselves in health plans that don't meet their needs, she said.

"Consumers Union has heard too many stories of consumers that purchased a health insurance plan that they didn't understand," Quincy said. "Creating this health insurance disclosure will help reduce that confusion much in the same way that recent disclosures for mortgage terms or credit cards have helped to better inform consumers."

The new form will also list common medical scenarios, such as pregnancy, cancer and diabetes, and will include information such as premiums and patient cost-sharing, and cite the bottom-line cost for treatment of those conditions.

Health insurance companies said they strive to make their materials understandable and worry that the rules will burden them with unnecessary paperwork.

"Health plans increasingly provide user-friendly online tools and clear materials to make sure that consumers understand the benefits and costs of their health insurance policies," said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents the industry. "The benefits of providing a new summary of coverage document must be balanced against the increased administrative burden and higher costs to consumers and employers."

Until the new form takes effect March 23, 2012, here's how to shop for health insurance:

Assess your needs: The insurance needs of a healthy 25-year-old man are very different from those of a woman planning to have children or a person with a chronic illness.

Tech world vies for piece of insurance exchanges

2011-08-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - The U.S. government effort to set up state-run health insurance exchanges may be falling behind schedule, but technology firms are lining up for the lucrative contracts to build the network's infrastructure.

Less than a dozen states are far enough along in planning insurance exchanges mandated by the U.S. healthcare overhaul to bid out contracts, but many of the biggest names in IT are jumping on those contracts and positioning for more, according to industry and government officials.

They include Hewlett Packard Co, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Dell Inc, Computer Sciences Corp, eHealth Inc, Ceridian Corp, Xerox, IBM, Oracle and smaller peers.

IT executives say the value of such contracts could run between $5 million and $100 million per state, depending on how many functions the exchange will perform. Even the most bare-bones option could take up to a year of construction.

"There isn't a Microsoft Office for exchanges... This is really uncharted territory," said Jordan Battani, a researcher with IT and systems integration giant CSC. "Everybody thinks there's a pony for them in this."

The healthcare law passed last year requires all states by 2014 to have exchanges, open marketplaces where uninsured people and small businesses can compare and buy insurance.

States now have less than 17 months before they must present their plans for how they will run those exchanges to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has given out millions in grants toward that effort. Otherwise, HHS will have to create the exchange itself.

Either way, tech companies will benefit from the system to be used by millions of Americans.

"The healthcare law actually creates full employment opportunities for the IT sector and the legal sector," said one healthcare industry source who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss the financial nature of the exchanges. "Ancillary players are going to be making the real money."

How missed insurance payments put home at risk

2011-08-12T01:05:00.001-07:00

If you have a reverse mortgage, don't forget to pay your taxes and home insurance or you could face serious consequences, including the threat of foreclosure.

You may assume that a reverse mortgage keeps your lender from foreclosing on your property. After all, reverse mortgages do not require monthly payments and are repaid only when the home is sold or after you die.

However, a reverse mortgage - also known as a home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) - does not release you from the obligation to pay your property taxes and home insurance premiums. Failure to meet such obligations can put your home at risk.

And it can be easy to forget to make these payments. Unlike a traditional mortgage, a reverse mortgage does not offer the option of an escrow account from which taxes and insurance are paid automatically, says Steve Irwin, executive vice president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).

If you have a reverse mortgage, you still can opt for a "set-aside" account from which your lender pays these obligations. However, less than 2 percent of all reverse mortgage borrowers do so, Irwin says.

People with reverse mortgages typically don't use the set-aside option because doing so reduces the amount of money available to them to pay for other expenses, Irwin says.

"And it can be difficult to determine how much to set aside since no one knows exactly how long the reverse mortgage will be in place," he says.

Health Insurance During Early Retirement

2011-08-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

For early retirees, one of your biggest challenges is finding health insurance. If you retire before age 65, you won't yet be eligible for Medicare. And finding other health coverage you can afford can be a real problem.

Even if your employer has a generous retiree health insurance benefit, it might not always be there. Employers are increasingly ending their retiree health insurance programs. If your spouse doesn't have health insurance benefits that can help you, you will need to come up with some other way of ensuring health insurance coverage until you can begin receiving Medicare.

Individual and family health insurance. If you already have an individual or family health plan, you can maintain the same coverage in retirement. However, if you don't, apply before leaving your previous health plan so that you don't end up with a gap in coverage. If you are in good health, you can still get reasonable premiums, especially if you get a high deductible plan and pair it with a health savings account. You might also consider insuring yourself separately from other members of your family. In some cases, a spouse in a younger age category can get much cheaper coverage if you are both insured separately.

State risk pools. For those with health problems, individual or family health insurance may be unaffordable or not an option. Some states offer risk pools that can help you obtain affordable health care coverage, even with a pre-existing condition or poor health. (You might need to be rejected from a private insurance plan in some states to qualify.) Additionally, under the Affordable Care Act passed last year, there are new long-term care choices. And provisions that go into effect in 2014 will ensure your ability to receive coverage and state insurance exchanges will help you to find affordable health care.

Bottom line. For those who choose to retire before age 65, there are significant challenges associated with getting adequate health care coverage. However, because of the rising cost of health care and the damage one significant uninsured accident or illness can do to your finances, it is important to make sure you are covered. For healthy seniors, this can be done affordably, especially if you have the resources to pay a higher deductible and combine it with a health savings account. For those with poor health, there are risk pools available that can help you get the guaranteed coverage you might need.

Even when you are eligible for Medicare, you will still need to pay some of your own costs. So participating in a good health insurance plan now will help you preserve some cash for out-of-pocket expenses later on in retirement.

Mobile Phone Insurance

2011-03-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

Deciding whether or not to take out insurance on your mobile phone mainly depends on the value of your handset compared to the cost of the policy.

If you're prone to misplacing your mobile phone, or feel that you want protection against theft, there are a number of policies available to help protect your phone.

Mobile phone insurance is now offered by numerous networks and independent insurance providers, although be aware of haggling sales advisors who will try their very best to convince you to take out insurance whether you want it or not.

You can get insurance from either your network provider, or from an independent provider. There are pros and cons to both possibilities and the key is to decide which deal is most suitable for you.

If you take out insurance with your network you have the advantage of placing all costs under one umbrella and knowing that if anything goes wrong a new phone can be supplied with relative ease. On the other hand, independent insurers could offer a wider range of cover options.

In addition, a 'like for like' policy may be offered by an insurance provider in that if you lose your mobile phone it could be replaced with another second-hand model of the 'equivalent specification'. Other providers could offer a new mobile phone as a replacement for your old one.

The cover options that are worth exploring are:

Theft
Accidental damage or loss
Airtime Usage – The majority of companies will place a ‘lock’ on calls after the phone is stolen, but your airtime (inclusive minutes) could be used in the meantime. Costs vary between providers.
European cover – Coverage for phones lost/stolen in the EU.
Number of phones – The number of mobile phones that can be covered with one insurance policy.

Insurance for your mobile phone can cost between £25 and £100 each year. Mobiles can be added to your home insurance, but this is only useful in the event of burglary, after which the stolen items will take some time to be replaced. Specialist handset insurance usually leads to a much swifter settlement.

If you happen to lose your phone:

Report the loss to police immediately
Contact your service provider (your number will be barred via remote control and the handset will be locked).
Be prepared for a delay in receiving your replacement phone/cash if the police decide to investigate the loss of your phone by viewing CCTV footage of the crime scene.

Employers Liability Insurance

2011-03-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

If you run a small or large business you will be responsible for the health and safety of your employees while they are at work. Unfortunately accidents and illnesses will occur at some point.

Employers liability cover offers protection against employees who, as a result of an injury or illness suffered at the workplace, may try to claim for compensation from you (head of the company) if they believe you are responsible or had a part to play.

The Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 ensures that you have at least a minimum level of Insurance cover against any such claims. Employers Liability Insurance will enable you to meet the cost of compensation for your employees' injuries or illness whether they are caused on or off site.

But any injuries or illness relating to motor accidents which occur while employed as a member of your staff, may be covered separately by your motor insurance.

It is important to remember that employers liability insurance differs from public Liability Insurance, as the latter covers you for claims made against you by members of the public or other businesses, but not for claims by employees. In addition, public liability insurance is generally voluntary, while employers liability insurance is compulsory. You may find yourself facing a fine if you do not hold a current employers' liability insurance policy which complies with the law.

Level of cover needed?
You must be insured for at least £5 million, with most insurers offering cover for at least £10 million. You should bear in mind that the £5 million minimum level of cover includes costs, so you may want to take out cover of more than this. Study the contents of your policy carefully and always remember to read the small print - you don't want to be paying for something that isn't necessay.

Who can sell the insurance?
Only authorised insurers can sell Employers liability cover, so make sure you check that your insurer is authorised before you take out the insurance, as the company may be breaking the law.

Authorised insurers are individuals or companies working under the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) maintains a register of authorised insurers, which can be checked on the FSA website: www.fsa.gov.uk

Young female drivers hit with higher car insurance premiums

2011-03-09T04:06:00.002-08:00

A new ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union has decided that risk assessment based on gender will no longer be allowed for car insurance premiums .

The rule, which comes into effect on December 21st 2012 bans gender being a factor in accessing services or goods. The British Insurance Brokers' Association claims that young female drivers will be the hit the most and from December 2012 they could see their premiums rise by up to 50 per cent.

Insurance expert at the comparison site moneysupermarket.com Julie Owens indicates that while female drivers will feel the effects most acutely, the new directive could result in forcing some drivers not to use their cars .

She said: "This is because of a likely convergence and general rise in premiums. With record price increases to car insurance premiums, the ruling means it is likely many more motorists will be forced off the road, or even worse, be more tempted to drive without any cover at all."

Pet insurance has fans, foes

2011-03-09T04:06:00.001-08:00

Pet owners should weigh the cost and coverage of pet insurance before signing up, according to veterinarians.

"I used to be a real strong supporter of pet insurance, but then I had some clients who had pet insurance and tried to use their pet insurance and found out they were excluded," said Melissa Magnuson, a veterinarian who owns All Pets Veterinary Hospital in Nashua and Canobie Lake Veterinary Hospital in Windham.

A client purchased pet insurance for his Maltese, a breed known to "have the worst teeth," Magnuson said. The 18-month-old dog needed multiple teeth extracted to the tune of $1,200.

"He found out that was excluded," she said. "The problem is most pet owners don't know what exclusions to look for."

Premiums can run from $30 to more than $100 a month, according to Loran Hickton, a former executive director at the North American Pet Health Insurance Association.

Lower-cost plans would cover emergency and unexpected situations, but also carry more exclusions than more expensive policies, which sometimes cover checkup visits, vaccinations and diagnostic tests, Hickton said.

Since Jan. 1, 2008, the state Insurance Department said it had approved at least 10 pet insurer plans, but couldn't determine how many plans had been sold.

Sales of pet insurance in the United States totaled $303 million in 2009, up 16 percent from the previous year, according to Packaged Facts, a market research publisher.

Veterinary Pet Insurance, owned by Nationwide Mutual Insurance, touts itself as the nation's largest pet insurer, covering more than a million pets since 1982.

The company, which didn't return a phone message, insures 21 types of animals, including potbellied pigs, hedgehogs, frogs, geckos, tortoises and iguanas, according to its website.

Magnuson urged people to stash money in a savings account each month.

"If after 10 years and nothing's happened to your pet, go on vacation," she said. "If you have a young animal and you're not good at saving money, I tell people insurance might be right for you."

New website will help backpackers compare travel insurance online

2011-03-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

A new website, called leavingonajetplane.co.uk, has been launched which aims to make it easier for people who enjoy trekking across the globe to compare backpackers travel insurance and find the best price and cover for their requirements.

The site is free and operated by veteran backpackers who have exhaustive travel experience. Users can identify which backpackers travel insurance and gap year insurance with major and specialist insurance providers gives them the best deal.

In addition, the website allows users to receive individualised attention and customised quotes. Matthew Coe, the director of Leaving on a Jet Plane Ltd, said: "We also offer a personalised service where users can email us their trip details and we will manually search the providers for them, making sure that all the details of their trip will be covered."

Visitors to leavingonajetplane.co.uk can also enhance their knowledge of a particular destination with informative travel articles on topics ranging from "Top 10 Places to Visit in South East Asia" to "A Traveller's Guide to Ecuador."

Canine rescue centre wins Petplan charity donation

2011-03-09T04:04:00.000-08:00

Pet insurance provider, Petplan, has awarded its charity prize draw to The Dumfries and Galloway Canine Rescue Centre .

The Dumfries and Galloway Canine Rescue Centre was established in 2003 to help rescue, care and re-home stray, maltreated and unwanted dogs and this is the second time it has won the donation after being the first ever charity to win it six years ago.

Fiona Brightly, manager of the rescue home, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this cheque by Petplan. We just can’t believe that we’ve won this donation for the second time. It was incredible to win the first ever cheque, when this scheme started several years ago, but to win it again is just unbelievable."

The insurer works with re-homing charities to help fund the care of thousands of homeless cats and dogs. Petplan provides a cover note for four weeks free insurance to every owner adopting pets through the shelters it supports and also offers a free insurance voucher to visitors and supporters of the charities. Each month a prize draw is held from all the vouchers and cover notes issued and one charity benefits from the prize fund.

House bill expands insurance coverage for autistic children

2011-02-12T20:18:00.001-08:00

CHARLESTON -- West Virginia children afflicted with the neurological disorder known as autism can expect expanded medical coverage in a House bill approved Thursday.

With one dissenting vote, delegates sent to the Senate a measure that broadens coverage so that private carriers, Public Employees Insurance Agency and the Children's Health Insurance Program are pulled into the mix.

Applied behavior analysis, or ABA, the one-on-one, all-day tutoring in which such children are taught social skills, may be done by a board-certified analyst, or tutor under an analyst's supervision, explained Finance Chairman Harry Keith White, D-Mingo.

From the time a child is diagnosed as autistic, he said, the bill provides three years of coverage with an annual $30,000 ceiling.

The monthly limit is doubled to $2,000, once the first three years are exhausted, until the child reaches 18, White said.

White said the bill also mandates an annual report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance by PEIA, CHIP and private insurers.

The lone negative vote came from Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha.

Delegates Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Mary Poling, D-Barbour, expressed gratitude to committees that worked the bill and sent it to the floor.

A fiscal note attached to the bill says 483 children would be covered via PEIA and another 312 through CHIP.

The pros and cons of pet insurance

2011-02-12T20:15:00.002-08:00

These days, cats and dogs are family. Along with all the good times, comes a heart-wrenching decision, should your pet have a medical crisis you can't afford.

"Those are the ones that are going to cost a lot," warned veterinarian Dr. Andrea Powell. "It's the emergencies, the accidents, you know, that you just don't plan for."

In a sense, you can plan for some vet bills with pet insurance.

You can get a quote online. About a dozen companies offer it, with premiums between $10 and $80 a month.

Just like our health insurance, the prices changes depending on what's covered, plus deductibles and co-pays are possible.

Still, some say it's a good idea.

On the plus side, insurance softens the blow of surprise vet bills.

On the down side, existing conditions can be excluded. And since many plans only pay for accidents or emergencies, regular check-ups remain an owner's expense.

That's where veterinarian Michael Certa steps in. He works Banfield, the pet hospital, inside Petsmart stores.

Banfield offers preventive care packages, called wellness plans. Starting around $30 per month, exams are unlimited.

"Depending on the level of plan, they may include neuters and spays for our younger animals. Blood work, and then dental cleanings as well," he explained.

But, emergencies are not included.

Dr. Certa finds some pet owners combine wellness coverage with insurance.

No matter what you do, check the fine print.

And perhaps the simplest suggestion is starting an emergency fund. Setting aside a little money each month will ensure you won't have to worry about finances when your best friend needs a doctor's attention.

Think twice about ditching your life insurance

2011-02-12T20:15:00.001-08:00

A controversial way to wring cash out of unwanted or outdated life insurance is quietly making a comeback.

The ability to sell such policies on the secondary market, through a transaction known as a life settlement, provides an alternative to simply letting the policy lapse after many years and thousands of dollars of premium payments.

But for many people, there are better alternatives. “In reality, it is likely that some 95 percent of potential policy sellers should retain them,” says Peter Katt, a fee-only insurance agent in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The life settlement industry took a big hit in 2008 and 2009 as the investors who buy the policies closed their wallets during the worst of the economic crisis. Now that the economic dust has settled the market “is poised for growth as investors look for alternatives to diversify their risk exposure,” according to a report by the non-profit Insurance Studies Institute.

The transactions are marketed most heavily to people age 65 or older with life expectancies of two to 10 years, and who have policies with a death benefit of $250,000 or more. Typically, they no longer need insurance to cover dependents, mortgage debt, or other obligations and the premiums have become an unwanted and unnecessary burden.

These individuals can cash out by selling the policy for a one-time cash payment, usually through a life settlement broker or insurance agent, to private investors or to companies that specialize in this kind of investment. The proceeds depend on health, life expectancy, the type of policy, and other factors. While the payment can be several times higher than the cash surrender value, it is usually well below the full death benefit.

The policy buyer continues premium payments and, when the policyholder dies, collects the death benefit. The sooner the grim reaper comes calling, the higher the investor’s return.

Advocates argue that life settlements provide an alternative to letting policies lapse or accepting a low cash surrender value. That’s particularly important when the proceeds from the sale are being used for pressing needs such as long-term care, large debts, or unexpected medical bills.

But while selling life insurance for cold, hard cash might seem tempting, especially when times are tough, these transactions are far from simple.

One problem is that policyholders always incur commissions and often must pay taxes when the policy is sold. Commissions, which can range from 10 percent all the way up to 30 percent or more of the gross sale price, are essentially hidden because they are built into the price.

It’s also difficult to know if you’re getting a fair shake, since there is no transparent secondary market for life insurance policies. And because the life settlement industry “is relatively new and may target seniors in poor health it can be prone to aggressive sales tactics and abuse,” warns a report from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a securities industry regulator.

Katt recalls one 80-year-old client in deteriorating health who was offered $525,000 for a $2 million face value policy. After subtracting for commissions and taxes, the client would be left with $350,000. The purchase contract also had a number of vexing provisions, including one that allowed the buyer to contact the seller at least every three months to see if he was still alive. In some contracts, the seller may even be required to provide updated medical records or a physical exam.

“There are only two situations where selling a policy is the best choice,” says Katt. “One is when cash is desired and a life settlement exceeds the policy’s surrender value. The other is where a policy has heavy surrender charges and is poorly priced, and the insured person is still in good enough health to replace the old policy with a better one if needed.”

Individuals who no longer need their policies, but who need cash or want to stop paying premiums, can also turn to other options.

If the need for cash is a primary motivator, check your policy or call your insurance agent to see if you are eligible to borrow against it. Some policies may have an accelerated death benefit, which allows someone with a long-term or terminal illness to receive reduced benefits before death.

What if you want to just stop paying premiums but keep the policy? In that case, you could use any cash value that’s built up over the years to pay premiums. If you decide to sell the policy in a few years, you would likely get more for it in a life settlement transaction because you’re older.

If you decide to investigate selling your policy, be sure the agent or broker you’re working with gets more than one quote. Ask for full disclosure of all commissions and fees. And remember that in many states, you can rescind the transaction in 15 to 30 days of receiving the sale proceeds if you change your mind.

Tricks to tame dental bills, insured or not

2011-02-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

Nearly half of Americans lack dental insurance, and every visit carries the threat of a bill for thousands of dollars.

Even those with insurance can face steep costs for major work. Patients often have to pay about 50 percent of the bill after meeting their plan's deductible. On top of that, many plans also have limits of about $1,500 for how much they will pay in a year, and some insurers won't cover pricey procedures like a dental implant.

Here are a few tricks for saving money and trying to manage dental work costs:

• Can I negotiate a bill with my dentist?

If you have insurance coverage, the dentist has already shaved 10 percent to 15 percent off his price in order to get into the insurer's network, so don't expect another discount on top of that.

If you don't have insurance, you may have some wiggle room on the price, as long as you negotiate before you have the care done. That's when you still have the power to take your business elsewhere.

Many dentists will offer around 5 percent off if you pay cash up front, said Dr. Lawrence Wallace, CEO of Larell Surgical Consultants, a California company that evaluates claims for insurers.

Don't be afraid to ask the dentist to charge you the rate they charge insured patients. Whether the dentist is up for that can depend on how their business is doing. Wallace noted that many practices haven't recovered from a drop in patients during the recession when people lost their jobs and their coverage.

• Are there discount cards or other coverage options available for the uninsured?

Some practices are so big they offer their own dental plans that give patients discounts in exchange for monthly premiums. Dentists also can connect patients with a third-party to set up a payment plan, which will tack on interest and other fees.

Some insurers and companies that form dental networks offer discount cards. These can be free or come with a premium. Before signing up for one, patients should understand how the discounts apply and make sure their dentist participates.

• What about care from dental students?

Dental schools charge less for care ranging from a routine cleaning to root canals or even oral surgery.

The Indiana University School of Dentistry, for instance, charges half what a private dentist might charge for preventive care like a cleaning. Students also do filings, crowns, bridges and dentures under instructor supervision.

Dentists who go back to school for a specialty like orthodontics also provide discounted care, although dental school price breaks on this more advanced work aren't as steep as those offered for routine stuff, said Dr. George Willis, an associate dean at the school.

The tradeoff for these discounts is time. Students generally work slower than dentists, and supervisors must check their work. That means the visit will take longer than normal.

• What are some other money-saving options?

Overseas dental clinics, some of which cater to foreign customers, can offer care at a fraction of U.S. costs. But follow-up care can be tricky, the patient needs time off work to travel, and liability issues can be cloudy if something goes wrong.

Anyone considering this option should ask for recommendations and look for U.S.-trained dentists or surgeons, Wallace said.

Some dentists also are open to bartering too, where a patient can trade a skill like Web design for care. Of course, the patient has to have a skill or service the dentist needs. Some dentists work participate in barter exchanges, which allow people to trade goods and services generally for barter dollars to use on other things.

Promise of Renewed Battle Over Reach of Health Care

2010-11-04T03:36:00.000-07:00

While Republicans cannot fulfill their campaign promise to repeal the new health care law any time soon, they can lead Congress in a sweeping re-examination of its more unpopular provisions, including new taxes and a requirement for most Americans to carry health insurance.

Joyful over Republican gains in the midterm elections, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the man in line to become speaker, told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday: “The American people are concerned about the government takeover of health care. I think it’s important for us to lay the groundwork before we begin to repeal this monstrosity.”

The election results promise a continuing battle over the health care law, not only on Capitol Hill but also at the state level, where many changes are scheduled to take effect in coming years. The partisan divide on this issue is likely to be a prominent feature in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, perhaps making it more difficult for President Obama and the Democrats to secure broad public acceptance of the law.

The results will also probably complicate efforts to carry out the complex measure, which is expected to provide coverage to more than 30 million people by 2019. At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obama delivered a stout defense of the health care law, saying, “This was the right thing to do.”

He acknowledged that the process of enacting it had been “an ugly mess,” and he said he would consider Republican ideas to modify the law, provided they “deliver faster and more effective reform” to the health care system. Mr. Obama mentioned one example, saying he would accept changes in a provision that imposes a huge information-reporting burden on small businesses. Under the provision, businesses would generally have to file 1099 tax forms identifying anyone to whom they had paid $600 or more for goods or services in a year.

James P. Gelfand, director of health policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday: “I don’t think we’ll see a repeal of the health care law tomorrow. But I believe Congress got the message that we need serious changes. The question now is, what kinds of changes are realistic?”

A top priority, Mr. Gelfand said, would be to alter or eliminate a provision that will require many employers to contribute to the cost of coverage for employees. The requirement, he said, would hurt job creation and increase the cost of hiring workers.

Some labor unions may join employers in trying to roll back a new tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored health plans, scheduled to take effect in 2018. Several Republicans said they would try to reduce or repeal a new tax on manufacturers of medical devices.

Wall Street and many employers do not expect sudden changes. “Reform is here to stay,” said Andrew Webber, the chief executive of the National Business Coalition on Health, which represents employer groups that buy health care coverage for workers. Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager and health care strategist at Miller Tabak in New York, agreed. “We place the chances of outright repeal at virtually nil, given the Democratic Senate and president,” he said in a note to investors on Wednesday.

But with Republicans winning control of many governors’ mansions and making gains at the state legislative level, they will be able to determine how the new law is carried out locally.

Republicans in Congress said they would try to give states more latitude and discretion on issues like the design of health insurance exchanges. The law calls for creation of an exchange in each state and says only government-approved insurance plans can be sold on the exchange.

The new rules, though stricter than in the past, may well be less stringent than they would have been if Democrats had not taken what Mr. Obama described as “a shellacking.” In addition, Republicans said they would try to cut the budget for federal enforcement of the law and related rules.

House Republicans said they would also try to reverse some of the law’s cuts in Medicare, particularly cuts in payments to Medicare Advantage plans run by private insurers, though they will be hard-pressed to find ways to offset the cost of such changes.

Republicans said they might agree to keep popular provisions of the new law, like protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, while trying to scrap unpopular provisions, like the requirement for people to carry insurance. However, administration officials and insurance executives said such a combination would not work in practice.

Mortgage Protection Insurance

2010-09-18T00:42:00.001-07:00

A large amount of UK homeowners never consider mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) when taking out their home loan. Although MPPI is not compulsory it should be a priority for anyone with a mortgage.

For people who might have stretched themselves financially with their mortgage it is probably even more important to be covered in the event of unforeseen unemployment. Good policies will cover any bills related to your mortgage - including interest and repayments.

The State benefits for people in this situation are limited and they are means tested, so if you have savings you would be expected to use them first. Payouts can also take around 9 months to be made.

A good MPPI policy will start to pay one month after you are out of work (either through illness or redundancy) and typically last for 12 months. The one-year period is the time expected to be taken by people to find other employment or recover from illness or injury.

Insurance payments should start once you inform your provider that you're out of work and this is verified. Payments are usually made directly to your mortgage lender, although in some cases payments are made to the customer.

Although costs can vary between different providers, it is usually by a small amount. On an average mortgage payment of £650 a month, cover sold by most banks and building societies would cost about £450 a year.

Most people tend to buy MPPI from their mortgage lender at the time of the transaction or through a broker/adviser, but it can be bought as a stand-alone product from any provider. A list of MPPI providers can be obtained from the Association of British Insurer's website.

As with all types of insurance available, remember to shop around and be wary of lenders who insist on selling you their insurance.

PDSA: Pet insurance is strongly recommended

2010-09-18T00:41:00.001-07:00

An animal charity has stated that pet insurance is very important, particularly because these creatures quickly become part of the family.

Elaine Pendlebury, senior veterinary surgeon for the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), said: "I strongly recommend pet insurance for pet owners. There are certain things you can plan for, but there will always be the unexpected."

She pointed out that families should choose a policy that best suits their needs as it could help them avoid paying for aspects cover they do not really need.

Indeed, Ms Pendlebury explained that the health and wellbeing of critters is "vital" and it is "encouraging" that more people are investing in suitable care options.

Her comments came in response to figures from the Pet Food Manufacturer's Association, which revealed there are 24 million pets in the UK - dogs were reportedly the most popular, followed by cats, which make up 19 per cent of the animals owned.

House insurance reminder for victim of distraction burglary

2010-09-18T00:40:00.000-07:00

The victim of a distraction burglary that took place in Towcester may have been reminded about the importance of an up-to-date house insurance policy.

A woman was approached by a man on September 15th who claimed he needed to check the pipes in her property. While the lady was occupied with the first perpetrator, another entered the house and searched the rooms before leaving empty handed, About My Area reports.

The first male has been described as white, aged between 30 and 35, with a clean-shaven face and slim build.

He is also said to have spoken with a northern accent and was dressed in smart clothes at the time of the incident, which took place between 15:30 BST and 15:50 BST.

A female who carried out a similar offence in Plymouth recently has been found guilty of burglary and attempted burglary, according to the Herald. She entered homes on the pretence of looking for lost ferrets, while her accomplice made off with items of value.

Compare car insurance to overcome rising premiums

2010-07-25T21:11:00.001-07:00

Car insurance premiums are rising at their fastest-ever rate, making it all the more important that drivers compare car insurance policies to find the cheapest deals.

According to the latest AA British Insurance Premium Index, premiums rose by more than 11% during the three months to June 30th and the average annual comprehensive car policy now exceeds £704.

This is the biggest increase since the index was first collated 16 years ago and is being blamed on fraudulent claims.

"The latest British Crime Survey (published July 15th) suggests that crime levels are falling, but crucially it misses a new 21st-century wave of fraud such as providing false information and claiming for non-existent personal injuries," said AA president Edmund King.

"Last year, the cost of meeting claims exceeded premium income by 22% and the spiralling increases we're seeing show that insurers are trying to fill that chasm," he added.

Consumers can save money by performing a car insurance comparison and locating the best-value deals.

However, the cheapest policies may not provide the same level of cover as pricier options, and M&S Car Insurance recently advised drivers attending summer festivals to check they have adequate cover for their journey.

Travel insurance might be only way to get airfare refund

2010-07-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Since I had an important all-day meeting the next day starting at 7:30 a.m., the reason for my trip was gone. The gate attendant decided since hosting us overnight in Dallas didn’t work, and there was no other airline that could get me to Albuquerque by the next morning, that it was best to return us to Boston.

The airline offered us vouchers rather than crediting or refunding our money. We are not asking for any penalty money. We just want the actual money we spent refunded or credited. Any suggestions or assistance?

Arnold Soslow
Wayland

A. If you buy a product that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, you have a right to your money back. But when it comes to travel we play the odds. Odds are you’re going to get where you’re going — even if it’s a bit late.

And then there are situations like yours when everything seems to go wrong. It is reasonable to expect your money back given the level of disappointment and the failure of the airline to deliver you to the promised destination. That doesn’t mean you will.

“Contrary to popular belief, airlines are not required to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled,’’ the US Department of Transportation explains in its guide to airline passengers’ rights.

When you don’t get where you’re going, you can hit up some airlines for a meal or a room, but, for the most part, forget about a refund. It never hurts to try to make your case higher and higher up the food chain. But you’re seeking goodwill, not the fulfillment of an obligation.

Wendy Shapiro Lanza of Flagship Travel in Marblehead said it is extremely rare that an airline will issue a refund — and only in a situation where an error was made. “Legally, the airline did what they had to do,’’ she said.

She suggested that travel insurance would have provided the only real out, allowing the recovery of the price of the ticket and expenses incurred. The DOT recommends “defensive planning’’ when going to an important meeting or function — going earlier than you might have to allow for delays or cancellations.

Push is on to publicize health insurance tax credit for businesses

2010-07-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's money for the taking – but will there be any takers?

Not if nobody knows about it.

While most provisions of the federal health care overhaul will take years to roll out, tax credits for small businesses providing health insurance to their workers take effect this year. But insurance agents and health care advocates say many business owners remain unaware of the benefit.

With public opinion polls offering a mixed bag of support for the new health law, backers have been trying to spread the word – part of a strategy to counteract continued criticism from some of the country's largest business groups.

"The more people know about the health care reform law and its benefits, the more they support the package," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California.

"The tax credits are a very concrete and tangible benefit that small businesses and their workers will be getting," he said.

Billions of dollars are at stake for small companies struggling to afford health insurance for their employees. California has 456,500 small businesses that could conceivably qualify.

Nonetheless, Tim O'Leary, a Sacramento insurance agent, hasn't received many inquiries about the tax credit. He said many small-business owners remain confused about the law.

"There hasn't been a huge outpouring of interest, because a lot of people don't even know about the tax credit," he said. "It's something I have to educate them about. They are a little confused about what's going on."

The recession has also caused many businesses to focus on more pressing issues, he said. "The tax break is nice, but if you're not in the position to offer benefits, it really doesn't matter. It's not as important as trying to keep their doors open."

Educating the country's corps of small businesses – estimated at about 4 million nationally – could help expand health insurance coverage to those currently uninsured.

Companies with no more than 25 workers and whose average annual salaries are less than $50,000 are eligible for a tax credit of up to 35 percent of the employer's contribution for health premiums.

Nearly eight in 10 small businesses are expected to qualify for the tax credits, according to Families USA, a Washington-based health care advocacy group.

The Obama administration hopes that the tax break will spur more companies that don't currently offer health benefits to do so, helping extend health coverage to most of the country's 45 million uninsured, including 7 million in California.

The tax credits were meant as a stopgap measure until 2014, when government-run health insurance exchanges will be in place to help the uninsured and small companies buy health coverage.

"Many small businesses – like the local diner, the hardware store down the street, or the neighborhood repair shop – face special challenges in providing health coverage for their small number of employees," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

Kevin Goss, for one, has been reluctant to provide coverage to his 15 employees, most working part time, because of the "overwhelming cost of it all."

Goss, who runs a pharmacy in the town of Greenville east of Chico, just learned of the tax breaks during a chat last week with the Small Business Majority, a Sausalito-based advocacy group that championed the federal health bill.

"It hasn't been a sexy issue, and it hasn't been well publicized. So, it's not generally being talked about," said Richard Yaffee, owner of Capital Tax Service, whose clients include small-business owners and people who are self- employed.

Yaffee himself is a small-business owner, employing eight workers and providing health coverage to four of them. Because "health care is really expensive, particularly for small businesses, I have to constantly re-evaluate which plan I will offer," he said.

Yaffee plans to send out letters to his clients informing them about the tax credit – once he understands it himself.

Small businesses have "an inherent suspicion and skepticism … on anything that requires them to provide something that they consider as extra," such as health insurance, Yaffee said.

Many larger companies – defined as those with at least 50 employees – have been openly hostile to the Obama administration's plan to overhaul the country's health care system.

Under the new law, businesses with at least 50 employees will have to pay penalties – as much as $3,000 per employee, in some cases – if they do not offer health benefits to their workers.

Yet nearly all of the country's largest firms already offer health benefits, according to the Kaiser Health Foundation. Taking advantage of their size, they can obtain better insurance rates than their smaller counterparts, a fact not lost on small-business owners such as Goss, the Greenville pharmacy owner.

State Farm to stop offering flood insurance

2010-06-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

State Farm Insurance is pulling out of flood insurance and saying part of the blame lies with Congress.

The company no longer will handle claims and billing for new or renewing policies as part of the national flood insurance program starting Oct. 1, moving administration of those policies back to the federal government.

State Farm says there will be a minimal impact on customers, who will be able to buy a policy through a State Farm agent even after the switch.

The national flood insurance program insures most of the policies in the nation. But Congress has suspended the program three times this year for lack of a reauthorization vote, most recently as of June 1.

Obama faces rare defeat on health help for jobless

2010-06-13T02:31:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — If Chuck Lacasse had gotten his pink slip four days earlier, Uncle Sam would have covered most of his family's health insurance while he looked for a new job.

But Congress allowed emergency health care assistance for unemployed workers to expire May 31, and seems unwilling to renew it despite pleas from President Barack Obama.

Not three months after lawmakers passed his $1 trillion insurance overhaul, Obama is facing a rare defeat on health care at the hands of his own divided Democrats. Moderates have rebelled against adding billions more to the deficit in a treacherous election year.

"The same Congress that spent all this political capital trying to get people health insurance is going to take a crucial benefit away from unemployed people," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the unemployed.

On June 4, Lacasse lost his job as advertising director for a company that makes nutritional supplements. He'll soon have to pay the entire $1,500 monthly premium to keep his family covered under his former employer's health insurance plan.

Until May 31, under Obama's economic stimulus law, the government provided a 65 percent subsidy. That would have lowered his cost to $525.

"This really isn't about welfare," said Lacasse, 40. "It's about buying people some time. In a position as specialized as mine, it would have been nice to know that I had some time to look for the right job." He lives near Green Bay, Wis., with his wife and two children.

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have introduced a measure that would allow the program to continue helping people who get laid off through Nov. 30. That would cover Lacasse.

The lawmakers, who are seeking a vote this coming week, want to attach their nearly $7 billion provision to must-pass legislation that would extend unemployment benefits and make changes in dozens of federal programs. But a similar proposal was dropped from the House-passed bill, and Senate Democratic leaders also omitted it from their version.

"I'm concerned about it," said Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Democratic leadership. "There will be people who fall through the cracks."

Under a 1980s law known as COBRA, laid-off workers generally can stay on their former employers health plan for up to 18 months, provided they pay the full premium plus a small administrative charge. But with family premiums averaging about $13,500, the cost is prohibitive for most people.

That changed under the 2009 stimulus bill and subsequent expansions, which provided a 65 percent federal subsidy for up to 15 months. Workers laid off through May 31 can qualify for the benefit through their former employer.

"It has been a significant program and it has helped many middle-class families to keep their health insurance at a time when maintaining health insurance was difficult because of the high rate of job loss," said Alan Krueger, the Treasury Department's chief economist. Official statistics on how many people were helped have yet to be compiled, but Krueger estimates that as many as one-third of eligible unemployed workers enrolled in subsidized coverage.

Melanie Miller, 34, who suffers from debilitating neurological problems, said the COBRA program allowed her to maintain her independence after losing her ad agency job. "Without the subsidy, I probably would have had to move back and live in my mother's house in the basement," said Miller, an artist who lives in Philadelphia.

With the unemployment rate hovering just under 10 percent and with 15 million people looking for work, advocates say it's premature to withdraw assistance.

"We're recovering, but we haven't recovered fully," said Casey. "Now is not the time to pull up the ladder on people who are hanging on, in some cases to the last rung."

Some conservative Democrats, however, say they don't understand why the government should subsidize workers who lose jobs with employer coverage and not others who are equally deserving — for example self-employed people priced out of the private market.

"You're paying 65 percent of (one) family's health care costs, but the neighbor next door, there's no help for," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif. "So we're picking and choosing. There's an inequality there between our constituents." Not to mention that Congress has treated the program as emergency spending, adding its cost to the deficit.

In Marietta, Ohio, boiler operator Neil Davis is facing the loss of his job as the coal-burning power plant he works at prepares to shut down for good. Davis, 33, has marketable skills but he's unsure how quickly he'll be able to find comparable work. His wife is a stay-at-home mom raising two elementary-age children.

"Being able to have coverage at an affordable rate, we wouldn't be afraid to take the kids to the doctor if they get sick," said Davis. "The economy might be getting better some place, but I don't know where at."

Standard Travel Insurance Does Not Cover Oil Spill

2010-06-13T02:30:00.000-07:00

Kathryn Calley got an unpleasant surprise when she decided to cancel her Florida beach vacation because of the oil spill. She was told her travel insurance would not cover her airfare.

"I figured that we would be qualified to receive reimbursement or credit for a future flight, as I had purchased a travel protection plan," said Calley, who works in public relations in Dallas and had planned a trip to Pensacola with her boyfriend.

"Come to find out, the travel protection plan only covers natural disasters," she said.

The oil spill is classified as a manmade disaster, which experts say standard travel insurance does not cover.

"If I was heading for a beach that has globs of oil on it, I would be distressed as well, but it's not a natural disaster, it's a manmade event," said Judy Sutton, director of product management for Travel Insured International.

"The hard facts of the insurance business are that in any policy, you collect on trip cancellation only for what is called a covered reason," said Ed Perkins, contributing editor at SmarterTravel.com.

In contrast, complications from natural disasters, such as when airports are closed by volcanic ash or hurricanes, are covered by standard travel insurance.

Because airports are not affected by the oil spill, most travelers who seek refunds directly from airlines will probably encounter rules similar to those in effect for insurance policies. A traveler who elects to cancel a flight to a beach destination because of the oil spill will probably have to swallow any nonrefundable fares and pay rebooking fees.

"When there's nothing to prevent the airline from running its flights, then the airline generally takes the attitude that 'it's not our problem,'" said Perkins. "The airlines are saying, 'We will take care of you when we cancel flights. We're not in the business of protecting people from canceled trips.'"

Sutton and Perkins both recommended that consumers consider buying "cancel for any reason" travel insurance as an alternative to more restrictive standard policies.

Insurance to Just Say No To

2010-06-13T02:27:00.000-07:00

No one enjoys paying for insurance, but there's no question that good coverage can protect and save your assets.

However, that doesn't mean you need to buy insurance for everything. In fact, you can insure almost anything these days, but does that mean you should?

When buying insurance of any kind, I advise people to keep these four rules in mind:

1. Cover Only Big Risks: Buy insurance only to protect you against risks that would be financially devastating.
2. Don’t Over-Insure: buy the right type and right amount of coverage, never buy too much, and don’t buy insurance for limited risks, such as a specific disease or to cover a single loan.
3. Cancel Coverage You Don’t Need: Buy insurance when you need it - and cancel it when it’s no longer needed.
4. Keep Emotions Out: Never make a decision to buy insurance solely for emotional reasons.

With these four rules in mind, here is a list of insurance policies that most of us can just say "NO" to:

Mortgage Life Insurance: When people buy a new home or refinance an existing mortgage, promotions for this type of insurance are sure to flood their mail box. Basically, the mortgage company or an affiliate offers you an insurance policy designed to pay off your mortgage in case of your death. Of course having enough insurance to pay off your mortgage is ONE reason to have life insurance, but you're better off buying enough term life insurance to cover ALL of your needs, in one policy at the lowest cost possible, instead of buying separate policies that are sold as add-ons.

But there is one exception. Some of these mortgage life insurance products are "guaranteed issue," which means that the health standards to get approved are lower than typical insurance policies. So if you are in poor health and might not be able to get any life insurance otherwise, then this coverage may be worth considering.

Travel Insurance: The number of people buying this insurance has jumped since before disasters like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, when about 10 percent of travelers bought travel insurance; now the percentage is closer to 30 percent. Travel insurance typically encompasses three main categories of coverage, which include: Trip cancellation/interruption, loss of personal effects, and emergency medical insurance.

The typical cost of trip cancellation insurance is five to seven percent of the price of the travel -- so a $10,000 vacation would cost $500 to $700 to insure. Experts agree that when dealing with reputable travel agencies, consumers are likely to receive refunds on cancelled trips. Group tours and cruise lines will often offer their own cancellation waivers for a very low cost ($40 to $60). Just be aware that this doesn't cover the money you lose if the company itself goes out of business. Also, check the fine print on your credit cards -- they often offer some travel cancellation coverage.

And personal effects coverage may be redundant -- your homeowner’s or renters insurance may already provide coverage for the loss of personal effects when traveling. Of course, you’ll have to pay the deductible first. Airlines are required to reimburse you for up to $3,300 for lost bags ($1,500 on international flights.). Also, check your credit card -- some credit cards provide additional lost baggage coverage, protection for car rental losses and even additional death benefits.

It is advised to consider additional travel medical insurance to cover medical mishaps, particularly when engaging in certain activities such as skiing, rock climbing and scuba diving abroad. This is because if you need emergency medical attention and evacuation, these costs may not be covered by your existing insurance. First, check with your existing health insurance plan and ask what is covered. You should do this before any trip abroad. If your plan does not cover certain items, then this coverage may be a good idea, particularly if you intend to engage in high-risk activities. Travel medical insurance which covers doctor bills overseas or a medical evacuation, can cost from $25 for a few days of coverage to annual policies for over $2,000.

The bottom line: Although losing money's never fun, the chances of suffering a devastating financial loss because your vacation was cancelled is not likely -- for this reason trip cancellation insurance may not be necessary. Instead, deal with a reputable travel agency and consider a cancellation waiver. Flight insurance in particular should be unnecessary of you have the right amount if life insurance to begin with.

Life Insurance on Children: Life insurance should only cover people on whom others are financially dependent, not the dependents themselves. Since you don't rely on your kids for income, you really wouldn’t need financial help upon their death. Grandparents and others sometimes like to give life insurance policy on a grandchild as a gift, but they are simply not worthwhile. Instead, they should make a contribution to a 529 education account or to an IRA.

From a mortality perspective, there is a lower probability that a child will die prematurely. The bottom line is that the decision to buy this insurance involves emotion, not logic. This type of insurance is highly profitable for the insurance companies and those who buy it are not likely to ever collect from it.

Wedding Insurance: This insurance covers a variety of nuptial mishaps -- no-show photographers, photos that don't turn out, stolen wedding gifts, reception facilities destroyed by weather or going out of business. There is even a policy that reimburses losses when the bride or groom gets cold feet! If you buy it for this reason, you should rethink the wedding altogether.

Basically, IF something happens this insurance pays for lost deposits or to reschedule or even restage the wedding. The insurance was first offered in 1993, and although it's been popular in the U.K., the coverage has been slow to catch on in America -- less than two percent of the betrothed in the U.S. buy it.

The coverage costs about one or two percent of the cost of a wedding -- and with the average cost of a wedding around $25,000, expect to pay $250 to $500, or more for this coverage. The chances of a disrupted wedding causing an unrecoverable financial loss is small, so it’s not advised to buy these wedding insurance policies. You can manage your risk more cost effectively by contracting only with reputable vendors.

But you might think instead about buying additional liability insurance, especially if you are planning on having the wedding and reception at your home. Often this is required by reception facilities too. I typically recommend this to protect the hosts from any injury or damage claims caused by their guests.

Pet Health Insurance: I have a fond place in my heart for animals, but my wallet isn’t attached to it. The trend of "humanizing pets" has gone beyond the realm of reasonable as more pet owners are purchasing this coverage. Pet owners are increasingly willing to spend larger amounts of money on the care and comfort of their pets. And reports indicate that about five percent of employers -- including companies such as eBay, Office Depot and Hilton Hotels -- are offering group pet insurance programs to their employees. The benefits include coverage for a pets X-rays, surgeries, lab tests and routine treatments. With the recent large-scale contamination of pet food causing illness and death to thousands of pets across the nation, more pet owners are considering this coverage. Pet owners can expect to shell out anywhere from $10 to $30 a month for a basic plan that reimburses up to 80 percent of covered costs.

Some of the industry's oldest pet insurance companies report that common illnesses can cost $300 to $400 in vet bills and treatments for severe conditions can cost as much as $4,000, or more. It’s estimated that Americans spend over $11 billion at the vet each year.

But buying this coverage goes against two rules: you shouldn’t buy insurance for emotional reasons and only insure for big financial risks. A more cost-effective approach would be to budget for these additional expenses while your pet is younger and later when your pet falls ill, you can decide to either spend your savings or let nature take its course.

Some details of the final House bill

2010-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

House Democratic leaders hope to approve the Senate bill along with a separate 153-page package of revisions to that bill that House members are demanding. The compromise would extend coverage to an additional 32 million Americans over the next decade by expanding Medicaid eligibility and creating state-run insurance exchanges and federal subsidies for lower-income families who lack access to employer-provided coverage. Here's a look at details of the House Democrats' final bill:

NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL AMERICANS
All Americans would be required to obtain insurance or face an annual penalty of $695; employers could face penalties of $2,000 per worker for not offering affordable coverage.

EXPANDED COVERAGE
With changes made by the reconciliation bill, 32 million uninsured Americans will be covered by a health plan, the Congressional Budget Office said. That means that 92 percent of all residents, or 95 percent excluding illegal immigrants, would have insurance in 2019, the nonpartisan agency said.

RULES FOR INSURERS
In exchange for the new business, private insurers would be subject to an array of rules. Starting this year, insurers could not deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing health problem, nor could they place lifetime dollar limits on the amount of coverage.

FOR FAMILIES
Millions of families with incomes up to $88,000 a year would receive government help to defray their insurance costs. Adult children would be permitted to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.

FOR SENIORS
It would fully close the "doughnut hole" -- a gap in the Medicare prescription drug program that is costly for many seniors -- beginning with a $250 rebate for those affected this year.

TAX ON WEALTHY
To help pay for increased benefits, the legislation would increase the Medicare payroll tax 0.9 percentage point, to 2.35 percent, on wages above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly. In a change sought by the White House, beginning in 2013, a new 3.8 percent tax would be imposed on interest, dividends, capital gains and other investment income for individuals making more $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.

SPECIAL DEALS
• Provides an additional $8.5 billion over the next decade for 11 states and the District of Columbia to help them pay for the more generous Medicaid assistance they have been providing to low-income residents. These states are Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

• Maintains provision giving extra money for hospitals and doctors in North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

• Eliminates Cornhusker Kickback, a provision that would give only Nebraska $100 million in added Medicaid assistance.

Government rules out all-dog insurance plan

2010-03-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

The government has ruled out forcing all dog owners to insure against their pets attacking people - a week after suggesting the idea.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the proposal would not be turned into policy, as ministers did not "want to penalise" responsible owners.

The insurance suggestion for England and Wales was part of a consultation on dangerous dogs launched last Tuesday.

The Tories said the change represented a "humiliating U-turn" for Labour.

More than 100 people a week are admitted to hospital after dog attacks.

Ministers had argued that forcing five million owners to take out third-party insurance would ensure victims were compensated.

'Horrific injuries'

But critics said this would not cover the dangerous breeds - such as pit bull terriers - already banned under law, while responsible pet owners would be unfairly penalised.

The insurance industry claimed the owners of aggressive animals would not pay up and raised questions over who would compensate the victims of uninsured dogs.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Benn said: "We can rule out compulsory insurance for all dogs. The idea of compulsory insurance was something that was raised with us because of the horrific injuries some very dangerous dogs can cause.

More from PM
"It was therefore included in the government consultation document. But we would still be interested in views on whether third-party insurance could be a requirement of a dog control notice (ie if a dog is causing a problem)."

He also said: "We don't want to penalise the vast majority of responsible dog owners because they're just as concerned as everybody else about that small minority who mistreat dogs, get them involved in dog fighting or use dogs as weapons.

"We've got to make sure that the public are protected and we're taking public concern seriously by asking how can we sensibly review the law that we've currently got."

The Conservatives accused ministers of turning their announcement into a "political dog's dinner".

Banned types

Shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert said: "Labour have dithered for years on this issue and then rushed out a policy consultation weeks before an election that was immediately seen as totally flawed.

"A dog tax on more than five million owners was proposed last week, and is now ruled out by Hilary Benn in a humiliating U-turn that just proves how tired and incompetent this government has become.

"We need a comprehensive approach to this problem with a focus on the minority of owners who use dangerous dogs as weapons, not the vast majority of responsible dog lovers."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Another headline-grabbing Labour announcement has gone to the dogs.

"The law on dangerous dogs does need to be tightened up but not by a canine tax on millions of law-abiding British dog lovers."

The 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act banned ownership of four types: the pit bull terrier, the Japanese tosa, the dogo Argentino and the fila Brasileiro.

It also gave police powers to deal with any dogs, of whatever breed, that became out of control in a public place - with destruction of the animal the ultimate sanction.

The insurance proposal was part of a consultation on updating the act.

Nick Starling, of the Association of British Insurers, said: "We are pleased that the government has dropped the unworkable proposal to make it compulsory for all dog owners to have third-party insurance.

"However, any proposal to require aggressive dogs who are not on the dangerous dogs register to be covered by stand-alone third-party insurance would still be difficult to implement as there is currently no such cover available.

"Compulsory insurance is always difficult to enforce; the very people that the government is targeting - those who mistreat their dogs or use them as weapons - are the same people who will not buy cover."

The insurance plan would not have applied in Scotland. However, a backbench bill proposed by the SNP's Christine Grahame is currently being examined by the Scottish Parliament.

The Control of Dogs Bill would allow councils to impose restrictions on owners who failed to control their pets.

Travel insurers urged to halt policy carry-on

2010-02-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

UNREASONABLY high commissions, misleading policies and small print have sparked calls for travel insurance to clean up its act.

The General Insurance Ombudsman has said travel insurance companies are over-represented in complaints, accounting for 15.4 per cent of all disputes in the general insurance division in the past financial year.

The Ombudsman John Price said disputes commonly arose over the wording of policies. ''Some policy wording can be very misleading,'' he said. ''People need to understand what they are getting. People are led to believe they are receiving something when they read this hype saying you will be covered for all these problems overseas when, in fact, you won't be.''

Complaints include refusal to pay claims involving common health ailments, stolen luggage and the voiding of cover to countries that have a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade travel warning.

Mr Price said the industry had worked on providing clearer policies but more could be done. ''The insurance industry has worked towards that, to provide clearer policies, to keep the wording simple and using fonts which can be read without the aid of a magnifying glass.

''They are better at providing policies which are properly indexed so you can look at them and straight away see what the exclusions and conditions are.''

It is bound by a code of practice from the Insurance Council of Australia, which ''ensures that the industry is committed to be open, fair and honest in the way it deals with its customers''.

Mr Price said the industry had improved the indexing of policies and making documents easier to read.

Consumer group Choice has also warned travellers to be wary when buying insurance. ''Commissions charged by travel agents can be quite weighty, up to 50 per cent in some cases,'' a spokesman said.

Policies bought online have increased in popularity in recent years as more travellers research their holidays on the internet.

Ian Jackson, general manager of Australia's largest online travel insurer, Travel Insurance Direct, said travellers were becoming more savvy about commissions charged by agents. He said travel insurance was the most profitable of a travel agent's products, as a percentage.

''We did research two years ago into consumer knowledge about commissions and we found that most people knew they were paying more when they bought through a travel agent but most people thought it was about 20 per cent more and accepted that as paying for the convenience of having someone package up their travel arrangements. I think people would be surprised to find how high some commissions are.''

Australian Federation of Travel Agents chief executive Jayson Westbury rejected claims that costs were too high.

''It's reasonable for a travel agent to make a margin on selling a product,'' he said.

He said consumers should beware of cheap online policies that may not cover everything they need. Almost 6.3 million residents made short departures from Australia last year, up from 5.8 million in 2008.

Live From Washington! It's Obama Health Care Drama

2010-02-21T01:33:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Coming soon to daytime television: America's long-running civic drama over how to provide better health care to more of its people without breaking the bank.

President Barack Obama summons anxious Democrats and aloof Republicans to a White House summit Thursday -- live on C-SPAN and perhaps cable -- and gambles that he can save his embattled health care overhaul by the power of persuasion. Adversaries and allies alike were surprised by Obama's invitation to reason together at an open forum, as risky as it is unusual.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House will post on its Web site a health care plan that modifies the bill passed by Senate Democrats last year. The modification is an effort to address the concerns of their House counterparts.

The plan is important, but not as critical as the political skill Obama can apply to an impasse that seems close to hopeless in a pivotal congressional election year.

''It's a high-stakes situation for him more than anybody else,'' said Gerald Shea, the top health care adviser for the AFL-CIO. ''If the judgment is either that it's a political farce, or if it fails to move the ball forward significantly ... that would be very damaging to the issue and to him.''

A viewers' guide to the White House meeting, looking at Obama and his plan, Republicans in Congress and divided Democrats:

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Obama

He has two main goals. One is to show the American people that the Democrats' health care plan is reasonable, and much of its complexity reflects the sprawling nature of the insurance system. The other is to argue that lockstep Republican opposition is not reasonable and could spoil a historic opportunity on a problem that concerns all Americans.

''I don't want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points,'' the president said Saturday in his radio and Internet address. ''What's being tested here is not just our ability to solve this one problem, but our ability to solve any problem.''

Obama's main audience will be Democrats, who must overcome their divisions -- and ease their qualms -- to get a final bill. He will also tune his pitch to independents, who soured on the Democratic bills after initially being open to health care changes.

Thursday's meeting at Blair House -- the presidential guest quarters across from the White House -- comes nearly a year after Obama launched his drive to remake health care at an earlier summit he infused with a bipartisan spirit. The president will point out that Republicans have supported individual elements of the Democratic bills.

But his latest plan has little chance of getting GOP support. Built on the Senate bill, it would require most Americans to carry coverage, with federal subsidies to help many afford the premiums. It would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. Regulators would create a competitive marketplace for small businesses and people buying their own coverage. The plan would be paid for with a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases.

A Democratic source familiar with the details said the White House proposal would scale back the Senate bill's tax on high-cost insurance plans. It would also strip out special Medicaid deals for certain states, while moving to close the Medicare prescription coverage gap, and making newly available coverage for working families more affordable. The changes would cost about $200 billion over 10 years. It's unclear what the total price tag for the legislation would be; the Senate bill was originally under $900 billion. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.

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Republicans

GOP leaders in the House and Senate say they cannot accept the Democratic bills, and they want to start over to shape narrower legislation that cuts costs for small businesses and uses federal dollars to set up special insurance pools for people with medical problems.

Obama doesn't want to stop there.

Republicans want to place limits on medical malpractice judgments, an approach the Congressional Budget Office says would save money by reducing defensive medicine. Obama has toyed with the idea, saying he agrees that something should be done, but thinks limits on jury awards go too far.

Some Republican leaders have questioned whether there's any reason to go to the summit, but a boycott would play into Obama's hands. To complicate matters, Democratic liberals have begun an effort to get a government insurance plan back in the bill, a nonstarter for Republicans.

''If the president's intention for the health care summit is to finally show that he is ready to listen and work in a bipartisan way to produce incremental reforms that the American people support, he is off to a rocky start,'' said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the No. 2 Republican in the House. Republicans are not going to embrace a Democratic bill that's tanking in the polls, he said.

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Democrats

Before Republican Scott Brown pulled off a Senate upset in Massachusetts to claim the seat long held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats were within reach of passing a health care remake their party pursued for more than a half-century.

They no longer have the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican delaying tactics in the Senate, but they still control both chambers. Yet passing anything but a very modest bill would likely mean using special budget rules that let Democrats override Republicans in the Senate with a simple majority. Using the budget route -- called reconciliation -- to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills probably would enrage Republicans.

That means Democrats will have to stick their necks out, and some may lose their seats this fall if they support an all-or-nothing push on health care.

Democrats are looking to Obama to give them the confidence they need to get back on track. He did it once before, with his address to Congress last September, after a summer of town hall meetings at which angry grass-roots activists attacked the Democrats on health care.

Democrats ''tried to climb a taller mountain than they thought existed,'' said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, architect of the 1994 Republican election victory that followed the collapse of the Clinton health care plan. ''They went on a bigger trip than they prepared for.''

Now it seems they'll be asked to give it one more try.

Risk Managers Hope To Blunt Effect Of Insurance Commission Rule

2010-02-21T01:32:00.000-08:00

A risk management group criticized an agreement that allows the largest insurance brokers to accept certain insurer-paid commissions and said it will counsel its members to push for fair treatment from brokers.

"If we create a solid front of [Risk and Insurance Management Society] members that says these are minimum requirements" we will accept, "it will be hard for brokers to say no," said Scott Clark, risk and benefits officer of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the secretary of RIMS, a group of around 10,000 professionals involved in risk management for more than 3,500 corporate and government entities.

RIMS has been critical of moves by regulators to allow brokers, who act as middlemen for insurance customers, to accept commissions paid by insurers that are based on business volume or profitability.

Earlier this month, Aon Corp. (AON), Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC), and Willis Group Holdings, the largest insurance brokers by revenue, reached an agreement with New York prosecutors and regulators to lift the ban on so-called contingent commissions that was in place since 2005.

The lifting of the ban could boost the brokers' revenues amid toughening competition for business, as insurance prices continue to fall. It likely will also lighten their administrative and compliance burden while ending grumbling that these firms were on an uneven playing field with smaller brokers, which weren't subject to the earlier ban.

The brokers will also have to abide by the terms of New York broker compensation disclosure rules, but RIMS believes the rules are inadequate to protect insurance customers.

Clark said that RIMS will encourage its members to require their brokers to either provide them full fee disclosure early in the broking process or not allow their broker to take contingent commissions at all on the transaction.

Large accounts such as the one he represents "have the leverage in the marketplace to be able to demand that."

There's More to a Travel Insurance Policy Than Just Money Say Go Travel Insurance

2010-01-10T02:27:00.001-08:00

With the news that overseas call centres continue to lead the way in customer frustrations, Go Travel Insurance are today advising travellers to consider customer service, as well as price and level of cover, when choosing a travel insurance policy.

According to a nationwide poll of 2,000 consumers conducted in November by YouGov on behalf of KC (Kingston Communications), the industry leading supplier of telecommunications services, more than half (54%) were most frustrated by overseas call centre staff that did not understand their problem, followed by the need to navigate automated responses (22%) and the inability for customer support staff to provide assistance beyond their script (12%).

As a well established travel insurance provider to UK customers, Go Travel Insurance prides itself on having a UK based call centre that is open 7 days a week. Go also handles all of its claims in-house with a dedicated claims team, providing a consistent end to end service for its customers.

A spokesperson for Go Travel Insurance said "Go is not just a faceless website with an overseas call centre. We look after our customers from start to finish and are very proud of the service we provide. 78% of settled claims receive their settlement cheque within 5 working days of submitting their first communication, while the process can take months with some other insurers."

"Customers need to consider the level of service they are going to receive if they do need to make a claim, as well as price and level of cover. When you take into account all these elements Go offers exceptionally good value for money."

10 Things to Know About Travel Insurance

2010-01-10T02:25:00.000-08:00

With travel insurance, as with life or a box of chocolates, you sometimes never know what you’re gonna get. But if you’re mindful of the basics, it can be a lot more predictable than you might think.

Know if you even need it.

Review your existing insurance and credit card benefits to see if they already cover emergency medical care, lost or delayed baggage, or trip interruption/cancellation. If you don’t already have such coverage for a trip and are wondering if you need it, “ask yourself what made you want to look into [insurance]” for that trip, says travel insurance agent Damian Tysdal of Travel Insurance Review. If a trip’s expensive, he says, “and you’re planning it eight months down the road, a lot of things can happen between now and then. And if it’s more than you feel comfortable losing, you should ensure that amount.”

Decide how much risk you’re comfortable taking as a traveler and break out the numbers, especially when considering trip cancellation coverage, says travel writer Lisa Oppenheimer. “To me, it's a math equation: how much does the policy cost and how much do you stand to get back vs. the cost of the trip?” she says. Booking her trip pieces separately, versus buying a package, helps her control her costs. “Flight tickets can generally be changed up to the day of departure, albeit with a change or rebooking free. Hotels usually will charge you one night's stay if you don't show up. I don't tend to book group tours. So, in my case, if I didn't go, the sum total of rebooking fees and penalties would still probably cost less than or maybe the same as the travel insurance I'm always offered.”

Know your seller.

You can buy travel insurance directly from an insurance agent or a traditional travel agent, through an online travel agency, airline, travel company, credit card company, or any number of other vendors. No one type of vendor is uniformly better than the other. As you shop around for coverage, note that the U.S. Travel Insurance Association (USTIA) ranks insurers in good standing. There are also several travel insurance comparison sites out there including SquareMouth and InsureMyTrip.com.

Be sure what you’re buying is actually insurance and not a waiver plan, urges travel insurance agent Steve Dasseos of travel insurance comparison site TripInsuranceStore.com. A pre-departure waiver plan from a travel supplier is “more a promise to pay in certain circumstances,” he says, but since it’s not actually insurance your state’s insurance department can’t help you if you have a dispute.

Also good to know is who “wrote” your insurance. Tysdal observes that many vendors will sell travel insurance as an extra revenue stream while not necessarily being the underwriter responsible for honoring any insurance claim you’d hope to file. If your seller didn’t write the policy, ask who did.

Know your limitations.

Your travel insurance policy ought to come with a certificate of insurance that lists the limitations and exclusions associated with your coverage, says USTIA president Mike Ambrose. “When you read through the limitations and exclusions you’ll get a good understanding of what they’ll cover and what they won’t,” he says. The certificate will get specific, too. Damage to natural teeth might be covered, damage to false teeth, maybe not. Or, scuba diving mishaps might be covered, but only up to a certain depth. And a favorite exclusion, Tysdal says, are any accidents caused by the insured being intoxicated.

Know the rest.

-If you get sick or hurt before or during your trip, get to a doctor, otherwise the insurance company won’t believe your story, Dasseos says. “Here’s how the policies typically read: ‘For trip cancellation benefits, an actual exam by a licensed physician must take place before the cancellation is made. For trip interruption benefits, this exam must take place during your trip.’”

-If you caught swine flu on a trip and a doctor confirmed you have it, it would fall under any medical coverage you bought. But if you back out of your trip because you’re afraid of getting H1N1 or, Dasseos suggests, “you get a new job and your boss won't let you have the time off,” that is not covered by trip cancellation insurance. If you want to be able to cancel your trip for any reason, you can buy a “Cancel for Any Reason” policy that’s generally 30-50% more expensive than other coverage, Ambrose says.

-Speaking of jobs, a relatively new provision in many policies is that you can cancel a trip without penalty if you’re fired. And in a sign of the times, some providers only require a year of continuous employment, versus three.

-If you have a pre-existing medical condition you may be able to waive your policy’s pre-existing medical condition exclusion if you buy your insurance within a certain period after paying for your trip, prove you’re “medically stable” when buy the coverage, and, in the case of many providers, insure the full cost and length of your trip, Dasseos says.

-Many claims don’t go through the first time because the insurance company is missing documentation, Ambrose says.”Make sure they have received the information and that that is all they need,” he says. Dasseos also urges keeping copies of any paperwork you submit.

-Lost or delayed baggage insurance covers the outbound leg of your journey but seldom pays off if your bag disappears on the way home, as the insurance company sees it as less of an inconvenience. This coverage is meant to replace “necessities you need on the trip that you now have to buy, Tysdal says, though Ambrose observes that some lost baggage policies have a provision that if your bag is lost on your homebound leg “you should go back to your common [insurance] carrier or your airline and if they didn’t make good on your loss, than the travel insurance policy should.”

-If anything you pack is worth more than either what a lost baggage policy will cover or exceeds the maximum liability an airline will assume for a lost bag -- usually $2,500 -- you can buy excess valuation coverage at the airline check-in counter, Dasseos says. It’s not insurance, “but it will increase the carrier’s potential liability,” he says, and most airlines will charge a buck per $100 of extra coverage, usually capping their maximum liability at five grand. Airlines may refuse to sell you the coverage if your items are too valuable or breakable, Dasseos adds. In which case, you might want to question why you’re flying with them at all.

Follow these tips for filing insurance claims

2010-01-10T02:23:00.000-08:00

The severe weather may have left some homeowner and vehicle owners scratching their heads if an insurance claim was necessary.

Following are some guidelines from Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland to help people deal with a property damage claim or automobile accident.

What to Do if Damage Occurs to the Home

When filing a claim, call the insurance company or agent with your policy number and other relevant information as soon as possible. Cooperate fully with the insurance company, and ask what documents, forms and data you will need.

Take photographs/video of the damage.

Make the repairs necessary to prevent further damage to the property (i.e., cover broken windows, leaking roofs and damaged walls). Do not have permanent repairs made until the insurance company has inspected the property and there is an agreement on the cost of repairs.
Save all receipts, including those from the temporary repairs covered by the insurance policy.

If the home is damaged to the extent that it’s unlivable, ask the insurance company if the policy includes coverage for additional living expenses incurred while repairs are being made. Save all receipts to document these costs.

What Damage to the Home is Covered?

Damage caused by wind, wind-driven rain, trees or other falling objects, and the collapse of a structure due to weight of ice or snow are covered under most standard homeowners policies, but review the individual insurance contract for specific coverage and exclusions. Frozen pipes as the result of extreme cold might not be covered if the damage is due to negligence, such as failing to maintain an adequate temperature in the house when the ability to do so is there. Check the policy and call the insurance agent or company if clarification is needed.

What Damage to the Home is Not Covered?

The following events are typically not covered by the standard homeowners insurance policy:

Interior water damage from a storm, when there is no damage to the roof or walls of the home

Damage as the result of a flood

Removal of fallen trees (if the trees do not land on and damage the home)

Food spoilage due to a power outage

Water damage from backed-up drains or sewers.

Some insurers offer endorsements (i.e., additional protection that may be purchased) for certain contingencies not covered under the standard homeowner policy. Check with the agent or company about what is available.

What to Do if in an Automobile Accident

Call the police.

Obtain the following information: The names, addresses, telephone numbers and driver’s license numbers of all persons involved in the accident, and any witnesses.

Record the time, date, location, road conditions, make and year of vehicles involved, apparent damages and injuries and your version of what happened.

Call the insurance agent or company to report the incident as soon as possible.

Ask the agent what documents, forms and data are needed.

Take notes each time there is communication with the insurance company, agent, lawyers, police or others involved in the situation. Write down the dates, times, names and subjects you talked about, as well as any decisions or promises made.

Ask the insurance company if you have coverage for a rental vehicle if your car is not drivable. Save all receipts and bills, including those from renting a car or having your car towed and/or stowed.

Keep a disposable camera in the glove box or use a cell phone to quickly take photos in the event of an accident.

Unemployment insurance fund poses challenge

2010-01-10T02:22:00.000-08:00

A potentially contentious issue may arise in this year's General Assembly when our state legislators convene in Annapolis this month.

Advertisement Maryland's unemployment-insurance fund is coming close to running a deficit due to the recession's impact on unemployment. Fortunately, our state has not yet borrowed from the federal government to meet its unemployment benefit obligations to Maryland citizens out of work.

Replenishing the unemployment insurance fund will pit state legislators, business interests and labor in a contentious discussion over how best to ensure its current and future solvency.

The choices available are limited to cutting benefits to unemployed citizens or raising the payroll tax on businesses. Maryland also has the option to seek a loan from the federal government to cover the potential fund deficit.

Unemployment benefits are funded by a payroll tax on employers that is collected at a rate that is supposed to keep the fund solvent in both good and bad economic times. The payroll tax varies among employers and industries based upon experience regarding rates of termination and layoffs.

The federal government covers administrative costs and any extensions of unemployment benefits beyond the standard 26 weeks. When deficits occur in a state's unemployment insurance fund, it may borrow from the federal government to cover those deficits.

Our current predicament in Maryland is the result of not only a severe economic downtown, but also the result of labor and our state legislators expanding unemployment benefits over the years, while businesses opposed increases in the payroll tax to fund those expanded benefits.

The net effect was the inability of all three parties to realize that we were setting ourselves up for significant solvency problems in the fund if the economy were to sour.

The stereotype of an unemployed worker no longer holds true. The effects of this recession have reached into all levels of employment - from blue-collared to professional workers, and also including business owners who have lost their businesses due to the recession.

Valuable employee skills and intellectual capital are at risk if Maryland fails to reasonably fund the basic needs of the unemployed who are out of work due to no fault of their own.

Maintaining a solvent unemployment insurance fund is in the best interest of government, labor and business. Out-of-work citizens need a dependable safety net until new employment is found.

Maryland businesses want to avoid the migration of unemployed skilled and knowledge-based workers to other parts of the country during times of economic uncertainty. Confronting a diminished available workforce when the economy rebounds will cause a significant hardship for Maryland's businesses and undermine the state's tax base.

The solution to the unemployment insurance fund's solvency concerns will probably result in an approach that incorporates both a temporary tax increase and benefits reduction in the near term, while devising a longer-term strategy to maintain the fund's solvency in anticipation of future fluctuations in the economy.

A collaborative dialogue between government, business and labor will yield realistic options around which a consensus may form to correct the trend toward fund insolvency and restore an appropriate benefit schedule consistent with maintaining a quality workforce in Maryland.

That collaborative dialogue will only be successful if government, labor and business acknowledge the roles they had in creating our current predicament, and agree to mutually work together toward a fair and equitable solution.

Math on annuity returns misstates the picture

2009-12-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

I sold an equity-indexed annuity (EIA) to a doctor in August 1996. He put $470,000 into a contract linked to the S&P 500. His annuity value in August 2008 was $940,000, a 6 percent annual return. Had he invested in the index directly, his return over the same period would be about

3 percent a year.

I took $150,000 out of the market in October 2007. Had I left my money in the market, the value today would be around $90,000. I just received my EIA summary, and the value is $180,000.

The EIA was such a "lousy" investment that I gained $30,000 over two years instead of losing $60,000.

I agree that some EIAs were misrepresented and a number of agents were not properly trained. You seem to think that the Securities and Exchange Commission would do a much better job of overseeing EIA sales than the current insurance regulators.

Have you heard of Bernie Madoff? I bet most of his investors would love to have an equity-indexed annuity instead of the SEC-compliant Madoff scheme.

– P.H., by e-mail

As I understand EIAs, they are not properly compared to a pure equity investment because they are a fixed-income product with lower inherent risk and, in most investment periods, a lower return. But had you invested the same $470,000 over the period you mentioned, here is a comparison of what you would have had by investing in some major funds:

Vanguard Index 500: $933,216

Your EIA: $940,000

Fidelity Puritan: $1,057,278

American Funds American Balanced A: $1,093,325

Vanguard Wellesley Income: $1,245,291

Vanguard Wellington: $1,289,609

(Source: Morningstar Principia)

As you can see, the EIA would have beaten only the pure equity index over one of the worst investment periods in history — and by a small amount. The $933,216 figure for investing in a low-cost index fund includes reinvestment of dividends, an important part of investment returns that is lost in EIA contracts. Include dividends, and you'll get more than your 3 percent figure.

The EIA contract, however, would have trailed the performance of some very large, popular and liquid balanced funds, including two that would have paid the salesperson a nice commission. This is why I think investors are best served by having well-diversified portfolios with very low expenses.

History shows that we can't put much trust in either SEC regulation or insurance regulation when it comes to protecting individual investors.

What made you think Bernard Madoff was SEC-compliant? Madoff was undetected fraud, pure and simple.

I recently sold my business and am retired. As a pharmacist, I plan to do some part-time work to stay active. My wife and I are both 71. Our house, car etc. are all paid for. We don't carry a balance on our Visa account. Several years ago, I left the stock market, feeling I had too much exposure for what seemed like bad times coming.

I have $1.9 million in CDs, from 4.5 to 2.5 percent. I still have $12,000 in mutual funds, $375,000 in John Hancock Venture III and $139,000 in Equitable Accumulator 99 annuities.

Knowing that interest rates on CDs are not going to get any better, what do you recommend for safe investments in the stock market?

– R.G., by e-mail

There is no such thing as a safe investment in the stock market. That doesn't mean you should avoid it. It just means you have to know that it is possible to lose money as well as make it.

Long term, investing in a broad index of common stocks tends to provide a higher return than other alternatives — although that idea is getting a bit hard to swallow with no return on domestic equities for the past 10 years.

International equities are still selling at lower valuations than domestic equities, so you could start by making commitments to broad indexes like the iShares MSCI EAFE exchange-traded fund (ticker: EFA, expense ratio: 0.35 percent). Recently, it was yielding 2.75 percent. Similarly, the Vanguard Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund (ticker: VWO, expense ratio: 0.20 percent) recently offered a yield of 3.1 percent.

In domestic equities, the Vanguard Value exchange-traded fund (ticker: VTV, expense ratio: 0.1 percent) recently had a yield of 3 percent. Those yields are all in the ballpark with typical yields on five-year CDs.

Questions about personal finance and investments may be sent via e-mail to scott@scottburns.com.

Make a successful car insurance claim

2009-12-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

If you’re unlucky enough to be in a car accident, you don’t want to be caught out by your insurer’s loopholes and miss out on your money as well!

I'm immensely fortunate in that I have never (touch wood) been in a car accident. Thankfully my car insurance policy remains untouched.

However, for those of you that have been in a shunt, or even something more serious, that wasn't your fault, a vast number are missing out on getting the payout they deserve.

More than a third of us (38%) are failing to make a successful claim by not gathering enough third party details needed for a successful claim. It's so concerned by the trend that it has developed an iPhone application (aptly called The Car Claim iPhone App),specifically to ensure drivers gather the exact information they will need in order to secure a payout.

And brilliantly, not only is the application absolutely free, but non- MORE TH>N customers can also use it.

But never mind the iPhone, what do drivers need in order to make a successful car insurance claim?

Get some evidence!
You'll want to ensure you have some evidence of your losses, so that you can claim the money back from the other person's insurer.

This is where a camera phone comes in handy - try to take pictures of both cars, and the location of the accident if possible (the MORE TH>N tool is quite handy for this, as you can upload your location via GPS).

If you don't have a camera phone, Admiral Insurance recommends always carrying a disposable camera in your vehicle for precisely this reason.

Don't accept the blame!
This is one repeated by all insurers.

If you are in an accident, do not say it was your fault or offer to pay for the damage at the scene of the crime. Don't discuss who was responsible at all - that is a matter for the insurance companies to sort out.

Take ALL of their details
You'll also want to get the full name and address of the other driver. It's an idea to get a couple of different telephone numbers for them, as well as the details of their insurer. They'll want all of your details too.

You'll also want to make a note of how many people are in the other car - some sneaky people will try to claim for injuries to passengers that weren't even in the car!

Finally, you'll want to take the details of any independent witnesses of the accident, which you should also pass onto your insurer. Should the third party deny liability, these could prove invaluable.

With all this notetaking needed, it's a good idea to have a pen and pad in your car at all times, just in case.

When to get it fixed
If your car is unusable after the accident, make sure you inform your insurance company.

It's generally a good idea to avoid getting it repaired until either your insurer or the other party has approved them, otherwise they are unlikely to pay.

When they don't have car insurance
If the other person involved in the accident doesn't have car insurance, the first thing you should do is call the police.

In this situation, your insurer should cover the costs of the damage to your vehicle. However, they will not cover the additional costs (phone calls or taxis for example) that would ordinarily be covered by the other driver's insurer.

You should also contact the Motor Insurers' Bureau, an organisation established to help compensate the victims of negligent, uninsured and untraced motorists, which may be able to assist you.

Is it worth claiming?
If you have only had a brake light smashed, then it probably isn't worth claiming for the damage.

Yes, it would be handy to not have to shell out for a new brake light, but making that claim may impact on your future premiums as you'll lose any no-claims bonus you may have built up.

If the insurer says no...
Sadly, around one in ten adults have made a fraudulent claim, according to research, so insurers can be pretty tough on claimants.

However, if the insurer declines your claim there are certain things you should do. First of all, you should request a written statement explaining precisely why your claim has been declined. If you are unhappy with the reason given you can dispute it with the insurer in question.

If that doesn't result in a satisfactory outcome, your final option is to complain directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Can We Afford It?

2009-12-12T20:07:00.004-08:00

Republican critics have a fiercely argued list of reasons to oppose health care reform. One that is resonating is that the nation cannot afford in tough economic times to add a new trillion-dollar health care entitlement.

We understand why Americans may be skittish, but the argument is at best disingenuous and at worst a flat misrepresentation. Over the next two decades, the pending bills would actually reduce deficits by a small amount and reforms in how medical care is delivered and paid for — begun now on a small scale — could significantly reduce future deficits. Here is a closer look at the benefits and costs of health care reform:

STATUS QUO IS UNSUSTAINABLE
More than 46 million Americans have no insurance, and millions more have such poor coverage that a severe illness threatens bankruptcy. Small employers are dropping coverage because of the cost. Those lucky enough to have insurance are struggling with higher premiums and co-payments, and worry that if they are laid off they could lose coverage.

Without reform, that bad situation will only get worse. The Commonwealth Fund, a respected research organization, warned that the average premium for family coverage in employer-sponsored policies would almost double in the coming decade, from about $12,300 in 2008 to $23,800 in 2020, with part paid by workers and part by employers. Premiums are also soaring for individuals who buy their own coverage directly.

BUT A TRILLION DOLLARS?
Both the House and Senate bills would cover more than 30 million of the uninsured, and fully pay for it — in part by raising taxes (either on wealthy Americans or high-premium health plans and certain manufacturers and insurers) and in part by cutting payments to health care providers and private plans that serve Medicare patients.

A trillion dollars is still a lot of money, but it needs to be put in some perspective. Extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy would very likely cost $4 trillion over the next decade. And the Medicare prescription drug benefit, passed by a Republican-dominated Congress, is expected to cost at least $700 billion over the next decade. Unlike this health care reform, it became law with no offsetting cuts and very little provision to pay for it.

YES, THEY OVER-PROMISED
President Obama and his aides have, at times, made it sound as if health care reform was the answer to runaway deficits and soaring premiums. That is true in the long run, but not now.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that the vast majority of Americans, those covered by employer-sponsored insurance, would see little change or a modest decline in their average premiums under the Senate bill. It predicts that the bills would reduce deficits in the first decade by a modest $130 billion or so and perhaps $650 billion in the next decade — a small share of the burden.

Critics scoff that Congress will never carry out the required cuts in payments to Medicare providers. It is true that Congress has repeatedly deferred draconian cuts in doctors’ reimbursements. It has had no reluctance imposing other savings. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal analytical group, examined every major Medicare cut in deficit reduction bills over the past two decades. Virtually all of the savings imposed in the 1990, 1993 and 2005 bills survived intact. So did 80 percent of the savings in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

There is an easy way to stiffen Congress’s spine: it should adopt separate pay-as-you-go rules that would require that any concession to providers be paid for by tax increases or compensating cuts in other programs.

SHOULD WE GIVE UP ON SAVINGS?
The House and Senate bills, and the stimulus legislation, have a lot of ideas that could bring down costs over time.

Electronic medical records could eliminate redundant tests; standardized forms and automated claims processing could save hundreds of billions of dollars; “effectiveness” research would help doctors avoid costly treatments that don’t work; various pilot projects devised to foster better coordination of care and a shift away from fee-for-service toward fixed payments for a year’s worth of a patient’s care all show some promise.

These reforms are mostly untested. And the C.B.O. is properly cautious when it says that it does not see much if any savings for the government during the next decade, in part because of upfront costs and in part because no one knows what will work. These efforts are unlikely to be tried on any serious scale without reform.

NO SINGLE FIX
The debate is not over and sensible proposals are emerging in the Senate to strengthen cost control. Various amendments would increase the penalties for hospitals that infect patients, let Americans import cheaper drugs from abroad and modestly increase the powers of a new commission that is supposed to recommend ways to reduce Medicare costs. The House bill has cost-cutting measures that could be incorporated into a final bill, including authority for the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.

Aggressive testing of promising ideas should increase the likelihood of ultimate success. And millions of uninsured Americans should not be forced to wait until all the answers are found.

New York Time Editorial

Can We Afford It?

2009-12-12T20:07:00.003-08:00

Can We Afford It?

2009-12-12T20:07:00.002-08:00

Can We Afford It?

2009-12-12T20:07:00.001-08:00

Critical illness insurance to be reformed

2009-12-11T01:40:00.001-08:00

Major changes in critical illness insurance policies could result from an Association of British Insurers (ABI) consultation.

The industry group has been canvassing expert opinion for planned amendments to the current definition of the Total Permanent Disability (TPD) benefit included in critical illness policies.

It is hoped the updated definition will allow customers to understand more clearly what the insurance does and does not cover.

Critical illness insurance claims are commonly made when the policyholder suffers from a serious disease or condition, such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

Common conditions are listed on the policies, but a customer who contracts a non-listed condition can still claim for cover through the TPD benefit.

The ABI changes have the stated intention of removing ambiguities surrounding this "catch all" alternative.

Included in the proposed reforms is a new Statement of Best Practice for the policies.

Nick Kirwan, the ABI's assistant director for health and protection, said: "It is vital that customers understand what their critical illness policy does and doesn't cover.

"We heard that people want standard definitions, and that education and clarity are key to improving understanding. We have more work to do, but we now have a clear view of how to go forward and achieve these aims."

Critical illness insurance was invented by a South African doctor in the 1980s and is currently offered by most UK life insurance providers.

Travel insurance firm urges vaccinations

2009-12-11T01:37:00.001-08:00

Claim-triggering illnesses could be reduced among holidaymakers by increased usage of vaccinations, a travel insurance firm has pointed out.

Post Office Travel Insurance said today (December 2nd) that many people are confused about the potential medical risks of travelling to various popular holiday destinations.

Research from the cover provider also indicates that 44% of holidaymakers fail to look up recommended vaccinations prior to their overseas trips.

Meanwhile, around one-third (31%) do not remember which diseases they have previously been vaccinated against.

Holiday illnesses generally lead to travel insurance claims, which can in turn boost premiums for the traveller in future.

However, correct use of vaccinations lowers the chances of the holidaymaker having to make the claim in the first place.

Rachel Croft, head of Post Office Travel Insurance, said: "People should check out the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice [before travelling] to make sure they do have the necessary vaccinations."

She added: "There are some situations where, if you were ill abroad and you haven't taken malaria tablets, the insurance company would say that you should have taken those tablets and won't pick up that claim."

A recent survey from experts at Lonely Planet suggests that UK travellers' top three "hot" destinations for 2010 should be El Salvador, Germany and Greece.

Celebrity trends influence pet insurance market

2009-12-11T01:34:00.000-08:00

Pedigree dogs carry higher pet insurance risks for owners than mongrels, a report indicated today (November 20th).

Sainsbury's Pet Insurance revealed that pedigrees accounted for 45% of the claims for dogs it received during the first six months of 2009.

Selective breeding has resulted in some animals being more vulnerable to certain medical conditions.

West Highland Terriers were revealed to be particularly high-risk, with the number of claims received by the firm over the six-month period equivalent to 67% of the dogs insured.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were ranked second on the list at 50%.

Lucy Hunter, Sainsbury's Pet Insurance manager, said that current fashion trends could have influenced these results.

"Seeing so many celebrities with small pedigree dogs has certainly fuelled demand for these pets," she commented.

"However, because these animals are pedigrees, they can suffer from certain hereditary medical problems that can require veterinary treatment, which makes it all the more important to have adequate pet insurance."

The number of small pedigree dogs covered by Sainsbury's plans grew by 41.3% between 2006 and 2008.

Home insurance claims rise for New Year

2009-12-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

The festive season will see an increase in the number of home insurance claims stemming from burglaries, it has been claimed.

Aviva, a home insurance provider, analysed 10 years' worth of previous claims data and found that homes are 22% more likely than usual to suffer a break-in on December 31st.

Burglars tend take advantage of the fact that many householders have a night out on New Year's Eve and leave their homes empty.

Meanwhile, Christmas Day was found to be the day on which fires are most likely to occur, with claims rising to 130% above the norm.

Greg Gladwell, director of household claims at Aviva, said: "While the spirits may be high on December 31st, don't forget to lock up the house behind you otherwise you might find someone else will be enjoying all your new gifts."

He added: "Watch out for all those dry flammable materials like wrapping paper and Christmas tree branches and don't forget to turn off the gas stove when you're watching the Queen's speech."

Aviva's report also showed that the three most popular items stolen from homes during the 2008 Christmas season were laptops, iPod Classics and Nintendo Wii games consoles.

Towns eye FEMA program, lower insurance rates

2009-09-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

With the start date of the new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps looming, towns throughout the Bayshore are turning to a voluntary federal program that could potentially lower insurance rates for residents.

Four municipalities along the Raritan Bay are in various stages of entering the Community Rating System, said Rich Einhorn, regional CRS coordinator. The federal program rewards municipalities for taking pro-active measures against flooding with discounted rates on flood insurance.

These measures range from offering information about flooding on a municipal website to having lower density zoning in flood plains, according to the CRS website. Communities are given points for how well they comply with the goals. For each 500 points, towns get a 5-percent discount.

Five towns tied for the lowest score in New Jersey with a six, good for a 20-percent discount on flood insurance rates. In the county, Bradley Beach had the best score with a seven. Roselle, Calif., is the only town in the program's 18-year history to reach the lowest possible score, which comes with a 45-percent discount.

In 2008, FEMA unveiled redistricted flood maps in the region, which pinpoint areas that have at least a 1 percent chance of flooding each year. The new maps will add thousands of residents into the zones when they go into effect Sept. 25. Most of those are in Middletown and Keansburg, but Hazlet and Union Beach residents would be affected as well.

Federal law mandates that mortgaged homes in these zones must be covered by flood insurance. If homeowners do not have flood insurance when the maps go into effect, their mortgage companies will buy it for them and pass along the costs, officials have said.

Since the redistricting began, Aberdeen, Hazlet and Oceanport have completed their applications for the program, Einhorn said. Once an agent assesses their level of compliance, they will be given a score and officially enrolled in the program by May 2010, Einhorn said.

Middletown is currently applying for the program, and Sea Bright is working to improve its rating, which currently does not warrant lower rates, he said.

"They are all related to us coming out with the new maps. We talk about the CRS, so the word is out there," he said.

If accepted, the municipalities would join Bradley Beach, Manasquan, Spring Lake and Union Beach as the only participating towns in the county. In FEMA's Region II, which oversees New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, only 75 communities participate.

Einhorn said the biggest detriment to the program is that it requires a great deal of coordination on a town's part to document and add all the goals. Generally, someone has to get many existing departments to release information and commit to projects, such as having road elevations certified. Towns that go above and beyond the minimum are generally rewarded with more points, he said.

"As you can see, it's not made for everybody. For communities with a lot of flood insurance policies, it makes a lot of political sense," Einhorn said.

Health Insurance Rose Five Times Faster

2009-09-17T02:51:00.000-07:00

A national advocacy group says health insurance premiums rose five times faster than earnings in Illinois from 2000 to 2009. More details are scheduled for release Thursday in a report from Families USA, a group working to expand health care coverage.

The group based its findings on federal data. The cost of health insurance is outpacing inflation, driven by the rising cost of medical care. Congress is considering several bills that aim to restrain costs and cover the uninsured. But benefits consultants have said if any reform is passed this year, it won't have a major effect for a few years.

Pray that you have insurance

2009-09-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- I am sitting here, filled with a disbelief so profound about those of my fellow citizens who don't seem to believe that we are in the grasp of horrendous health-care and insurance problems that I could scream, were not so many others screaming!

Yet, from their responses, it would seem that many Americans still don't believe we have a deadly serious dilemma. It's the old "It-can't-happen-to-me" theme, mixed up with the ridiculous idea that government can't do anything good at all. So let me offer my own personal story.

Two years ago, out of nowhere, I came down with tongue cancer, a nasty affliction that involves a 10-hour operation which leaves you with a number of thankfully treatable problems. I think the doctors were a little disappointed with me. I had never, ever smoked -- and that's the major cause for tongue cancer (never chewed tobacco, either). I was a moderate social drinker and an avid exerciser.

This entire "surprise" came upon me like a tsunami. At any rate, I went through the ordeal of the operation and am now in recovery. The cancer, they say, is gone.

Everything was going quite well until, a year ago, my insurance company canceled me. It had obviously stayed up nights searching out a reason to rid itself of this tiresome journalist, and it found I was actually an independent contractor and not a regular employee.

The fact that I had paid for my own health insurance for 50 years under three employers seemed to interest no one. I was out on the street. And were there no government Medicare, that is where you would surely find me. Alms, anyone?

But thank God there was Medicare. My assistant and I worked ceaselessly through the tiresome paperwork that it takes a PhD in health insurance to figure out -- six months of COBRA, the government's interim insurance system, which cost roughly $464 a month, then finally, Medicare and, in my choice, AARP/United supplementary insurance.

Now I have to say that Medicare has been extremely efficient. Its reports are easy to read and figure out -- and apparently many others feel the same way. Nicholas D. Kristof wrote in one of his columns in The New York Times that 56 to 60 percent of people in government-run Medicare rate it a nine or 10 on a 10-point scale, and 68 percent of those in Medicare feel that their own interests are the priority, compared with only 40 percent of those in private insurance. My experience has been the same -- but then, I wasn't exactly in a place where I could argue about my choices. I had no choice at all.

Neither do Americans much younger than I, for I soon found that I was not alone. My goddaughter, diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 36, found herself having an operation in which nine of her major organs were removed. She has not lost her insurance, but she knows exactly what would happen if she did. She would really be out on the street, for at her age, she would not be eligible for Medicare or for government coverage. What health insurance company wants cancer survivors, even those doing well and in recovery, as both of us are?

Then there's the small matter of the amount you still have to pay yourself -- even with my insurance supposedly taken care of, I spent $36,000 last year of my own money for health-care expenses.

Given this background, I was deeply touched by the overarching idea behind President Barack Obama's speech last week. "It is wrong," he said, for not all Americans to have health insurance, "and nobody should be treated that way in the United States of America." And as to Wall Street, which of course is part of the health insurance moneymaking machine, "I don't want to put them out of business. . . . I just want to hold them accountable."

I sit here wondering whether those who are so perfervidly against government-run alternative health insurance care at all about those of us whom the private health-care system has treated with such errant and selfish shabbiness. Who knows? Maybe next time it will be one of them.

Travel insurance could protect Brits abroad this Bank Holiday

2009-08-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Of the 1.9 million Britons headed abroad this weekend for the Bank Holiday, 5.2 million – 10 per cent – admit that they will not be taking out travel insurance to protect themselves.

According to a survey conducted by Lloyds TSB, these reckless travellers say that they forget to take out travel insurance, which is why they travel unprotected from the cost of lost luggage or medical treatment.

But, they might be reminded by previous experience, with 1.4 million travellers reporting being taken to hospital whilst on a foreign holiday.

Lloyds TSB warns that "their Bank Holiday heaven could quickly become their worst nightmare if they take flight without the appropriate holiday cover."

More than half of the travellers asked (54 per cent), said that in the past it has simply not occurred to them to take out travel insurance, while one in five said they have intended to get cover but have subsequently forgotten and jetted off without it, and nine per cent cited a lack of spare time before their holiday as the reason they left home without travel insurance.

Of those travellers who have headed abroad without travel insurance, 51 per cent say that they didn't protect themselves because they have hardly ever claimed against a policy.

But, the data also shows that whilst holidaying abroad, 10 per cent of Brits have lost their luggage, 14 per cent have had to visit a doctor, and one in five has been admitted to hospital, emphasising the need to take out adequate travel insurance protection.

Catherine McGrath, head of current accounts at Lloyds TSB, comments: "We all know how stressful it can be in the run-up to a holiday and it's inevitable that something is going to fall by the wayside.

"However, sometimes our holidays aren't as relaxing as we hope they will be and it's then that a decision not to take out travel cover could come back to haunt us."

Mexico City now offering free travel insurance to help bring back tourists

2009-08-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Mexico City is now offering tourists free travel insurance to help bring back tourism revenue. Travel has dropped dramatically all over the country since swine flu erupted back in April. Many travelers are still wary. The program being offered is the Tourist Assistance Card, which entitles the holder to a wide range of benefits. The only requirement needed to gain access to the program is to provide a proof of stay at one of the 470+ registered hotels in the city.

The free medical coverage is not just limited to swine flu, but also for accidents, ambulance transport, hospitalizations and prescription drugs. Dental care is also provided along with legal assistance with robberies, lost luggage and delayed or cancelled flights. Carriers will also be able to choose from public or private hospitals. The offer will last through December 2009.

The cards were first issued to tourists earlier this month by Mexico City’s mayor Marcelo Ebrard. In the past the city normally averages around 3 million tourists throughout the year, but the industry has plummeted since the swine flu outbreak. Hotel room bookings were estimated to be at around only 10% of the norm during April and May. Travel is just now starting to increase again. The Mexico government claims that the swine flu is now under control in Mexico. The country has reported approximately 138 fatalities in over 14,000 cases. High crime rates and drug cartel violence reported throughout the region especially in border towns have also stopped many visitors from coming to Mexico.

Have You Thought About Your Mortgage?

2009-08-27T19:07:00.001-07:00

According to information from the British Bankers Association, mortgage approvals for the month of July 2009 were at their highest levels since February 2008. In spite of the upward swing of interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages, more people are moving forward with securing a first time mortgage loan or refinancing an existing one. Could it be time for you to take a look at your current mortgage arrangement.

If you haven’t done any comparison shopping lately, you may be surprised. That excellent rate you received several years back may be eclipsed by some of the offers on the table today. If so, it would be worth your time to pursue a refinance of that existing mortgage. With the right deal, you will save a significant amount in interest payments and be able to retire the debt faster.

For people who did not qualify during the darkest days of the recession, it is worth your time to try again. There is a good chance that at least some lenders will look on you with more favour. If so, you could begin to look for your dream home and possibly find it among the constantly increasing number of homes that are going on the market each month.

As with any financial contract, make sure you understand what is and is not covered by the terms of the agreement. This will help you to make sure any commitment you make is within your power to honour. At the same time, consistent and timely payment will only serve to help your credit rating, something that is good in any type of economy.

Pet insurance 'is vital during the recession'

2009-08-18T05:50:00.001-07:00

Taking out pet insurance is one of the best things an owner can do for their furry friends - and getting the right cover is especially important during the recession, it has been claimed.

Writing for the examiner.com, dog health expert Elisabeth Miller said the issue can often slip people's minds when their canine companions are young and healthy.

But as age takes its toll, they will inevitably fall ill or suffer injuries - and they rely on their owners to provide them with proper treatment.

While some people may be tempted to skimp on insurance and put off expensive procedures, their beloved animal's health will suffer as a result, she warned.

"Pet insurance is one of the most responsible things you can do to ensure your canine's continuous health and wellness," Ms Miller wrote.

She added that adequate cover is "surprisingly affordable", meaning those who shop around are sure to find a plan that suits the needs of both their dogs and their wallets.

Ms Miller's comments echo the views of Steve Cheetham, chief veterinary officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty, who said pet health insurance is "an integral part" of responsible ownership.

Animal Friends Pet Insurance are specialist pet insurers who have been insuring Dogs and Cats in the UK since 1999, we are your first choice for Ethical Insurance.

Insurance Tips for Parents of College-Bound Students

2009-08-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

--- The dorm supplies are packed in the car and the semester's tuition is paid, but are your insurance policies ready to go with your child to college?

Car insurance:

If your child is taking a car to school, you must notify your insurance company if the car will be garaged at another location. This could alter your premium either up or down.

Failure to reveal such a change can jeopardize a later insurance claim.

If your student owns a car, he or she must have his or her own car insurance policy. Again, inform the insurance company if the car will be located away from home.

If your student is not taking a car to school, you can likely save money on car insurance premiums. Notify your agent that your child is now driving the car only occasionally and ask that your bill be adjusted accordingly.

Home insurance:

Check with your home insurance company to see if you have adequate coverage for property in a student's dorm -- especially if your child has an expensive computer and other costly electronics.

Parents' home insurance does not extend to an off-campus apartment rented by your child; for that they'll need renters insurance.

Health insurance:

Most health insurance plans will allow your dependents to remain on your plan until they reach a certain "cutoff age" (usually 23 to 25 years old). However, the plan may also require that your child attend school full-time in order to remain insured.

If you have a managed care plan, such as an HMO, it will have geographical doctor-network limits. That means the health plan might be worthless far away from home and outside the plan's network of providers, except for emergency room visits.

Find out what the college health plan covers. Visits to the college health center are usually free, and your student will have a co-payment for lab tests, X-rays and prescriptions.

Find out if the college health plan covers pre-existing conditions and whether there is coverage during school vacations.

If your child is a college athlete, he may not be covered for injuries sustained during practice or a game. Check your health insurance policy to determine if your child is covered in the event of a sports-related injury.

Life insurance:

Would your child be able to continue college in the event of your death? If you don't have a sufficient amount of money in savings or other assets to cover the college years, consider buying a term life insurance policy for the duration of your child's college education.

New specialty spurs hopes for helping abused kids

2009-08-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It appeared to be a clear-cut case of child abuse: An infant hospitalized with bleeding in his brain, his father behind bars suspected of shaking the baby.

Only after the boy died without his father at his bedside did doctors realize the bleeding was brought on by a vitamin K deficiency — not abuse.

Dr. Jim Anderst, who diagnosed the deficiency about 18 months ago while working at a San Antonio hospital, tells the story to doctors-in-training he teaches at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and says it underscores why the subspecialty of child abuse pediatrics is necessary.

The field involves not only treating suspected abuse victims but coordinating with police and welfare workers and testifying in court hearings. It will reach a milestone in November, when about 200 doctors sit for a board examination offered for the first time by the American Board of Pediatrics in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Its recognition as a subspecialty also is expected to lead to a formal system of accreditation for some of the roughly 25 child abuse pediatrics fellowship programs across the country for which there is currently no formal oversight.

Anderst, who leads one of the fellowship programs, said his findings sometimes force children from their homes. Other times, like with the boy who died after failing to receive a vitamin K shot typically given to newborns, they free parents from jail.

"It stuck with me because it made me realize the impact you can have if you try to go about it appropriately and find out what actually happened to these kids," said Anderst, who said that without the second look the boy's father would likely still be jailed today.

"Certainly, there are many cases where it is obvious. There can be multiple fractures and injuries. There are all sorts of things that can happen to kids that could be abuse but might not be, and we have to try to determine the truth."

Studies have repeatedly shown that many doctors lack the expertise to handle these difficult cases. Practitioners hope the changes result in more experts who can teach in medical schools, conduct research and serve as a resource for general pediatricians.

A survey released this year in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found current levels of child abuse training are inadequate. Many residents reported concerns about handing sexual abuse cases and most had difficulty identifying certain genital parts. The report notes concern regarding the lack of knowledge of female genitalia among medical professionals is not new.

Desmond Runyan, professor of social medicine and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the lack of training makes some doctors reluctant to handle child abuse cases.

"I've found in my own experience kids are still kids, and it's not unpleasant to deal with kids," he said. "It's sometimes difficult work and sometimes unpleasant, but I can't imagine that telling people they have cancer or some other fatal disease is any easier."

Practitioners also hope greater recognition of the subspecialty will lead to higher payments from insurance companies and government health care programs — a relief for hospitals that typically lose money on their child abuse teams because of the time involved in the cases.

Runyan said a clinic he helped found in Durham, N.C., had to stop providing medical examinations for suspected child abuse victims in 2006 because the effort was losing about $400,000 a year.

But others fear the subspecialty will make it more difficult for pediatricians who lack the board certification to testify in court. They note that general pediatricians will continue to handle most of the estimated 3.2 million cases of child abuse reported each year.

How many of those cases are misdiagnosed is unclear, although only 794,000 were substantiated in 2007, the latest year for which federal information is available.

Dr. Rachel P. Berger, a pediatrician in the Child Advocacy Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said she worries the shift might lead to difficulties in areas with nobody certified if defense attorneys challenge the credentials of regular doctors.

"Who is going to testify on behalf of those children?" she asked. "Are you going to fly in a child abuse expert for every one of these cases? Clearly not. So I think we've created a big problem for being able to testify."

Other say the risk is worth it.

Dr. Robert W. Block, a professor at the University of Oklahoma of Community Medicine in Tulsa, led efforts to create the subspecialty. He said the designation is a critical development in a field that has evolved rapidly since a 1962 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that urged doctors to consider the possibility of child abuse.

Gradually, doctors gravitated to the field and conducted research on broken bones, burns and sexual abuse.

"There are children, their siblings and families in great pain and stress," he said. "This is an area where you can do a whole lot of good."

Pet Insurance

2009-08-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

Having Pet insurance for your exotic is always a good idea. Depending on the type of pet, exotics can have rare illnesses or even rarer complications that can rack up costs very quickly.

There are many pet insurance companies that will cover cats and dogs but it is harder to find one to cover exotic pets.

VPI Pet Insurance covers a variety of exotic pets listed below, they also have a separate bird policy.

Amphibians
Chameleons
Chinchillas
Ferrets
Geckos
Gerbils
Goats
Guinea
Hamsters
Hedgehogs
Iguanas
Lizards
Mice
Opossums
Potbellied pigs
Rats
Rabbits
Snakes
Sugar gliders
Tortoises
Turtles

There are of course many pet insurance companies out there and policies and coverage vary with the type of exotic. Some disease and illness might not be covered and some might be, so be sure to check. Your veterinarian might also be able to point you in the right direction for your specific breed of exotic.

Hispanics watching health care debate closely

2009-08-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

OAKLAND, Calif. — Perched at the edge of an exam table, Delmira Maravilla is anxious for a check-up — and for a timeline on the president's promise of health care for all Americans.

She's paying out of pocket for the exam, and like one-third of Hispanics, the mother of nine doesn't have health insurance.

Latinos like this immigrant from El Salvador have much to gain if the legislation taking shape in Washington passes. Among the major ethnic groups, they are the least likely to have health coverage through work. And Hispanics often face language and cultural hurdles to getting good-quality health services. They're far less likely to have a regular health-care provider, and to get the kind of routine screening that prevents serious health problems.

Maravilla knows how easily her family's carefully calculated budget can be overwhelmed by the cost of health care: her 6-year-old daughter's recent fall against the edge of a table set her back a devastating $1,500 in emergency room bills. Any accident, any unexpected illness, can be catastrophic, she said.

"I would be so much calmer, less worried, if I knew I had health insurance for my family," she said. "Health problems happen to everyone, but it's too expensive for us who are poor."

Experts say health disparities among ethnic groups are great, with one in three Hispanics and one in five African-Americans not having health insurance, compared with one in eight whites. And as the recession deepens, the gap is growing along with rising unemployment and cuts to work-sponsored insurance.

"We can't have the status quo. It's just a disgrace. I don't know what other words to use," said Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, a nonprofit group that represents Hispanic doctors.

Rios was among the advocates calling on legislators to consider measures designed to bolster care for Hispanics through preventive medicine, health education and increased diversity in the medical field.

Jane Garcia, the CEO of La Clinica de la Raza where Maravilla gets her checkups, sees the need for reform every time she makes her rounds.

About 71 percent of her patients are Latino; 44 percent are uninsured, and that number has been going up. New patients range from the recently unemployed to undocumented immigrants who can no longer get care in neighboring Contra Costa County, where supervisors squeezed by a budget shortfall voted to cut services to them.

"The number of people presenting for services are really overwhelming to the system," she said. "And more of them are coming in uninsured."

Although the House bill represents the most comprehensive effort to date to extend health care to all Americans, there is a significant segment of the population that will likely be excluded: illegal immigrants. Pressed by CBS News' Katie Couric about whether they should be covered, the president responded simply, "no."

Absent immigration reform and a path to citizenship, that would mean millions could be left out of the system. About 59 percent of the 11.9 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States have no health insurance, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Advocates are split on whether to hold out for reform that includes them, or support change that would help the majority of Hispanics.

"This has always been in the elephant in the room — all of our families are mixed, some documented, some undocumented," said Rios. "But we're so close to having health care reform. We'd be working against ourselves to let immigration issues stall the process."

Others, like Jennifer Ng'andu, deputy director of the National Council of La Raza's Health Policy Project, believe any plan that doesn't include undocumented immigrants won't last. They make up about 15 percent of the nation's approximately 47 million uninsured.

"If we don't talk about integrating communities that have been traditionally shut out, we're going to be talking about health care reform again in 15 years," said Ng'andu, who has been talking to legislators and to health care advocates on their behalf.

To proponents of greater immigration controls, allowing illegal immigrants to benefit from federally subsidized health care and insurance would go against enforcement goals by legitimizing their presence.

"They would have no incentives to leave," said Mark Krikorian, of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Undocumented immigrants are the majority of Rogelio Fernandez's patients at the United Health Centers clinic in Parlier, a town of approximately 12,000 whose population swells and dips with field workers following agriculture's planting, pruning and harvest seasons.

His clinic provides primary care on a sliding-fee scale and discounted medication to those who need it. But in this tough economy, he's seeing patients cut back on visits and on their medication because, without insurance, they can't afford them.

"Unless they are more inclusive, these proposals really won't help a lot of our patients," said Fernandez.

Studies show that inadequate access to regular, quality health care that meets their language needs has consequences. Hispanics are suffering disproportionately from chronic diseases such as diabetes and getting less preventive measures such as cancer screenings and obesity counseling.

Not taking care of this population now will have real costs in the future, said Rios. Hispanics make up 15 percent of the total U.S. population, but they represent 25 percent of children in preschools and kindergartens.

"We are at a time when we need change, or we're going to see an increase in obesity, diabetes, cancers, heart disease," said Rios. "It's not fair to them, to us, to the country."

Mexico City offers travel insurance for tourists

2009-08-10T23:51:00.001-07:00

Officials in Mexico City hope to lure skittish tourists with unusual bait: complimentary health insurance. Under a new program, tourists who stay in the city’s hotels are eligible for free coverage for emergency medical care, hospital stays, prescription drugs and ambulance services.
The initiative, called the “Tourist Assistance Card,” grew out of Mexico’s recent H1N1 flu crisis, which sent tourism plunging nationwide as would-be travelers steered clear. In Mexico City, which had the country’s most reported flu cases, a near-complete shutdown hammered hotels and restaurants, compounding damage caused by the global recession.
The insurance program is run by the city’s tourism office through a private insurer, MAPFRE. Anyone staying at a Mexico City hotel is eligible for coverage, officials said, and can get help by dialing a call center, which will have attendants fluent in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. A deductible will apply for some services, but officials did not provide details. Typically, travel insurance places limits on coverage for emergencies.

“Of all the world’s largest cities, Mexico City is the first to try this,” Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday at a ceremony unveiling the service.
Mexican tourism officials expect depressing year-end results, in part due to the flu outbreak and the recession. Tourists also have stayed away due to drug-related violence that has killed more than 9,000 people since January 2008, according to unofficial tallies in the Mexican media.
During the flu crisis, travelers fled resorts such as Cancun, leaving them as surf-washed ghost towns. Some hotel chains have tried to attract tourists by promising free vacations to anyone who contracts H1N1 during their stay. Meanwhile, the city braces for the next flu season.
“We are preparing ourselves for winter,” Ebrard said. “We’re working with great care.”
For more information on the insurance program, visit the Medical Care and Assistance section of the city’s tourism website.

Like Your Health Insurance? Maybe You Shouldn't.

2009-08-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

If we fail to reform our health care system this year, a major reason will be that a majority of Americans are satisfied with their health coverage and believe that reform could hurt them. According to a recent (unscientific) Consumer Reports survey, 64 percent of readers are satisfied with their plans -- down from 67 percent in 2007, but still a clear majority. A recent New York Times poll found that 59 percent of Americans do not think that health-care reform will benefit them personally; 69 percent are concerned that reform could harm the quality of their own care and 68 percent are concerned that it could limit their access to treatment.

This is deeply misleading, for two reasons. First, what does it mean to say that you are satisfied with your health insurance? Consider homeowner's insurance. Until you need it -- your house burns down -- you have no way of judging its quality. The same goes for health coverage; until you have a serious illness, the kind where your plan's limits and exclusions may kick in, how do you know if your health coverage is any good?

For one thing, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee uncovered, some insurers go out of their way to revoke coverage for people with serious health problems by looking for mistakes on their original applications. For another, you could be underinsured, like 29 percent of all people with health insurance, according to Consumer Reports. It is politically relevant that two-thirds of Americans seem to like their health coverage, but whether they should like it is another question.

The second problem is that the health coverage that most satisfied Americans have -- employer-based coverage -- is less secure than they think. In America today, we have three main health insurance systems. At one end we have Medicare and the Veterans Health Administration, which (although many anti-reform protesters don't realize it) are government-funded and government-run programs, and generally popular ones. At the other end we have the individual market, in which individuals buy insurance policies directly from health insurers. The individual market is completely broken; according to a recent Commonwealth Fund study, 73 percent of people who tried to buy individual coverage in the last three years did not end up buying a plan.

In the middle we have the employer-based system, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau covered 59 percent of the population in 2007. The employer-based system is good and bad. On the plus side, it solves the fundamental problem of the individual market. Again, think about homeowner's insurance. The insurance company figures out how much your house is worth, estimates the chances of it burning down, multiplies those numbers together, and charges you that much (plus a little to cover expenses and profit) in premiums. That is, the cost of a policy should be related to the expected costs of that policy to the insurer.

Now translate this to health insurance and you'll see why the individual market is broken. If you have a serious illness, like cancer, your expected annual costs could easily be $60,000. The insurer has to charge you at least $60,000 for coverage, or else it will lose money. You can't afford that, so you go without insurance. According to the Commonwealth Fund, 70 percent of people with health problems found it impossible or very difficult to find affordable coverage in the individual market. In short, a "market" for health insurance works only if you prevent insurers from doing what insurers naturally do -- discriminate among people according to how risky they are.

The employer-based system solves this problem. Employers can spread the cost of health insurance across their workforces, so that all employees are treated equally, regardless of their medical history. Furthermore, the tax rules governing employer-provided health care require that employers offer plans that treat all employees equally. The result is that if your employer provides health coverage, you can probably get it.

However, the employer-based system has two major weaknesses. First, and most obviously, it means keeping your health insurance is dependent on keeping your job. That means that your health is only insured to the extent that your job is insured -- and your job isn't insured. If you lose your job, or get a divorce from the spouse whose employer covers you, you have to find a new employer who offers a health plan, or you will be stuck in the individual market. Alternatively, if you get sick, you may be stuck in your job, no matter how much you may want or need to leave it.

Second, employers are dropping their health plans; the percentage of people covered through an employer has dropped from 64 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2007, and that decline is likely to accelerate. Why? Because, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, the average annual premium for family coverage has already increased from $5,791 in 1999 to $12,680 in 2008 -- a 9 percent annual increase -- and a study published in Health Affairs forecasts that national health spending will grow at an average annual rate of 6.7 percent until 2017. Arithmetically, with each year that passes, it becomes harder for companies to keep their health plans without reducing benefits, reducing wages or increasing employee contributions to health plans.

The bottom line is that your current health plan may not be as good as you think it is, and there is a good chance that it will not be around when you need it.

Health-care reform comes in several different flavors these days, but the basic minimum is that it allows all people to buy health insurance regardless of medical history, and it provides subsidies to help poor and middle-income families buy health insurance. That means that if you get sick and lose your job, you will still be able to get health care. That is something that everyone should be in favor of -- because everyone can get sick and lose his or her job.

Obama on health bill: 'This has to get done'

2009-07-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — President Obama repeatedly reassured a skeptical public Wednesday that an overhaul of the nation's health care system will put "more money in people's pockets," improve care for patients and offer peace of mind.

"This has to get done," he said during a prime-time news conference from the White House, the latest in a slew of appearances aimed at pushing Congress to act and selling his ideas to the public.

Obama takes his campaign on the road today, with a town hall-style meeting in Cleveland and a tour of the famed Cleveland Clinic.

Meanwhile, members of Congress will continue to grapple with how to pay for changes designed to control costs and extend health coverage to the 46 million uninsured.

"I want to cover everybody," Obama said, rejecting the idea that a final bill might fail to extend coverage to nearly everybody.

Obama focused less on extending coverage to those without insurance, however, and more on controlling costs for those who have it, calling a curb on health care inflation critical for families' pocketbooks and the nation's economy.

"If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket," he said, speaking directly to television viewers. "If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day."

Concerns about the high cost of overhaul proposals — estimated to be $1 trillion or more over the first 10 years — prompted Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to withdraw Wednesday from a bipartisan group of senators that has been trying to draft legislation acceptable to Democrats and Republicans.

Hatch criticized the "rushed approach to health care" prompted by Obama's demand that Congress vote on health care bills before its August vacation, and he expressed concern that Democrats would pass a plan that puts the economy at greater risk. "I'm just deathly concerned about the high costs of this bill," he said. "We have to face some realities."

Obama said a House plan to tax couples earning more than $1 million a year to help pay for the plan "meets my principle that it's not being shouldered by families who are already having a tough time."

Of his August push, a deadline not likely to be met in the Senate, Obama said, "I'm rushed because I get letters every day from families that are being clobbered by health care costs."

On another subject, Obama was asked about the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates by Cambridge, Mass., police who had been called about a possible break-in at Gates' home. Gates, who is African American, had forced his jammed front door open. Police say they arrested Gates for disorderly conduct.

"The Cambridge police acted stupidly," Obama said. He added that despite his own election, the incident shows that race "still haunts us."

Insurance 101: What types of life insurance are there?

2009-07-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

You can become very confused when shopping for life insurance if you're not familiar how the types of insurance policies differ from one another. There are three basic types of insurance: permanent insurance, term insurance, and variable insurance. All of these types of insurance serve a purpose, so one is not better than the other. However, depending on your situation and type of need, one policy can be better suited for you than another. It is my intention in this article to clarify for you the differences and put you on the path to the proper insurance best suited for your needs.

Permanent insurance is the oldest type of insurance and is meant to last for your entire life, basically until you breathe your last breath. It is generally the most expensive to afford. Term insurance, on the other hand, is only meant to last for a specific period of time, or “term.” The term can be defined as a number of years, for example 20 years, or for a duration of time, such as the time your children are in school. The third type of insurance is called variable insurance. This type of insurance acts like an investment—more on that later.

Generally, term insurance is purchased by families that are young and growing during the time when cash is tight but the need to cover risk of loss is the greatest. Term is an excellent choice primarily because it is pure insurance and the most economical coverage available. Again, there is no savings tied to this type of insurance. Term insurance can be equated to your car or medical insurance policies in the fact that if you don't pay the premium, the insurance lapses, and if you don't have an accident or health condition, the insurance doesn't pay out. So with term insurance, if you don't die there is no payout. It is because of this last fact that some people prefer permanent insurance or pay extra premium to have their premiums returned to them should they survive the term.

In instances where you want to guarantee that the insurance will be in place when you leave our earth and go shake hands with St. Peter, then permanent insurance is for you. Permanent insurance is a bundled product, meaning the premium pays for the cost of insurance (COI) with the balance going into a savings account. Depending on the purpose of this policy, there are different types of permanent insurance policies to choose from. There is the individual policy which is issued on a single life. There is the joint policy that covers both a husband and wife. And then there are the "first-to-die" and the "second-to-die" policies. The latter two are used as tools in business and estate planning.

Variable life policies offer policyholders the opportunity to put their money to work in the stock market rather than collecting minimal interest in the insurance company's general account. This type of policy has premiums whose costs are in between the economical term insurance premium and the more expensive whole life premiums. It should be noted here that no insurance policy, including a variable policy, can be called an “investment.” There are laws that prohibit that. The Department of insurance here in California has taken the position that a policyholder cannot "invest" in an insurance policy where the "investment" is essentially the difference between the cost of insurance and overpaid premiums.
In closing, all three types of insurance policies discussed above serve specific purposes and are quite valuable as tools in planning for your personal financial future. We’ll delve into each type in subsequent articles. If you can't find all your answers in this article and others, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will do my very best to direct you. Remember, advice is cheap; it's the mistakes that are costly.

S&P Cuts Ratings On ING's US Life-Insurance Units

2009-07-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its credit ratings on the six U.S. life-insurance units of ING Groep NV (ING), citing their importance to the company, along with their risk profile and recent performance and change in operating focus.

The Dutch financial services company has said it will make some significant changes in its U.S. operations with the launch of a "back-to-basics" strategy as it simplifies its overall structure. In May, ING posted a worse-than-expected first-quarter loss as impairments on real-estate and equity investments hit its insurance operations, while its banking business remained profitable despite heavy provisions against loan losses.

S&P, which lowered its ratings on the insurance units by one notch to A+, said ongoing performance pressures in both the banking and insurance operations may continue hurting results. An A+ rating is about halfway between AAA and junk and denotes satisfactory credit quality.

The ratings agency, which warned in April it was considering a downgrade, also cautioned Thursday it could further cut the ratings if ING notes higher-than-expected investment losses. S&P has negative outlook on the ratings, which means further downgrades aren't out of the question.

Vets fear outbreak of deadly dog virus

2009-06-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

Dog owners in the Midlands are being urged to keep up to date with their pet pooches' vaccinations in order to avoid a potential claim on their pet insurance, as well as a great deal of heartache.

According to the Express and Star, vets fear a bout of the deadly parvovirus disease may be about to sweep the region after two dogs were struck down by the illness.

One animal was killed by the disease, while the other is currently fighting for its life after undergoing intensive care, and vets are keen to remind owners to ensure their dogs are protected.

Beth O'Neill, senior veterinary surgeon at the Lockwood Animal Hospital where the two pets were treated, said concern is growing that the two cases could mark the start of a regional outbreak.

"Pet owners need to check and make sure they are vaccinated and the sooner the better as the disease really can spread like wildfire," she advised.

The warning comes after research by US scientists published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal found that domestic dogs and cats can harbour the MRSA virus, which could be passed to owners if they are bitten.

Animal Friends Pet Insurance are specialist pet insurers who have been insuring Dogs and Cats in the UK since 1999, we are your first choice for Ethical Insurance.

Why you might need travel insurance

2009-06-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

Life is filled with unexpected moments, and many tend to occur on vacation or a business trip.

To help protect against unpleasant, unexpected moments, many people buy travel insurance before leaving home.

Many others wonder if it’s worth the additional expense, which generally starts at about 5% to 7% of your trip cost.

But depending on your circumstances, insurance could protect you against a wide range of potential problems.

“As a musician, I have to travel a lot for both business and pleasure,” said 40-year-old pianist and composer Jonathan Faiman of Hartsdale, Westchester. “Life is unpredictable, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. I always add the optional insurance when booking travel because it gives me added piece of mind.”

For someone like Faiman, insurance makes perfect sense.

“If I think I may need to cancel my travel plans or alter them considerably, by adding the cancel for any reason option to a travel insurance policy, I know I won’t ever lose money on otherwise nonrefundable travel,” he said. “This aspect of the policy alone has saved me a fortune.”

Dan McGinnity, a spokesman for insurance company Travel Guard, said, “Purchasing a travel insurance policy offers vacationers and business travelers alike added piece of mind, especially when traveling internationally.

“We offer free telephone assistance, available anytime, should any problem arise,” he said. “We’ll help fix the situation, whether it’s rebooking a missed flight, finding and paying for emergency medical attention for you, or helping you replace a lost or stolen passport.”

A comprehensive policy typically covers you if your plans are disrupted, your luggage is lost or stolen, or if you become ill or injured after purchasing the policy and need medical attention or, perhaps, an emergency evacuation.

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“Americans have a misconception that their existing health insurance will cover them anywhere,” McGinnity said. “It’s essential for travelers to determine, in advance, what their existing medical insurance will cover.”

Most standard policies don’t cover cancellations based on your state of mind. That means deciding you’re afraid to travel won’t be covered.

While not cheap, cancel for any reason coverage will cover all nonrefundable expenses.

“What you choose will determine your level of coverage, what will ultimately be covered and the policy’s cost,” McGinnity said.

5 Insurance Policies for Summertime

2009-06-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has ever forgotten to apply sunscreen knows it’s a good idea to take precautions during the summer even while at play. But for those who wade into the season unprepared, a nasty sunburn can be the least of their problems.

Many summer-related activities pose risks of injuries or damages that can be expensive for those without an adequate insurance policy. For example, traveling abroad without health coverage and getting into a medical emergency may cost the traveler hundreds or thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for health-care services. Even those who stay home during the summer face seasonal risks like flooding from hurricane damage, which isn’t covered by homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.

“There are certainly events and activities that occur during the summer where having an insurance policy would be helpful,” says Sheryl Garrett, a fee-only certified financial planner.

The trick is to make sure these policies are necessary and that you’re not overpaying for them. As insurance companies devise more products, it can be difficult to separate your true risk from the nightmare scenarios invented by clever marketers. They know that in the tough economy, many people fear getting hit with a big bill out of nowhere and may be more open to pitches for insurance.

So here’s how to size up five types of safety nets that are particularly relevant this time of year.

Travel
Travelers’ checklists often include little more than a camera, passport and sunblock. But before boarding the plane, make sure you have health coverage in case an emergency occurs while you’re away.

U.S.-based health-insurance providers rarely extend substantial benefits while you’re outside the country, says Garrett. Contact your insurance provider to verify your coverage abroad. To fill in any gaps, consider purchasing travel insurance.

Some 300 types of travel insurance exist, and most are sold by travel agents or online travel booking sites, says Scott Simmonds, an independent insurance consultant based in Saco, Maine. Policies can cover a wide array of health services, from hospital visits to medical evacuations from foreign countries. Without it, travelers may have to pay out-of-pocket for treatment, or risk being denied care.

Travel insurance typically costs 10% of the total trip, including flights and hotels, says Garrett. Before signing up, read the fine print to confirm your coverage, which will vary by policy and agent.

Rental Car
Whether you’re planning a weeklong road trip or driving to the nearest beach, check on your auto insurance before renting a car.

Drivers who own a car can contact their insurance provider to find out if they’ll be covered if they get into an accident or damage a rental vehicle, says Sam Belden, a vice president at Insurance.com, a policy comparison site. They also should consider whether they can afford to pay their policy’s deductible, says Belden.

Another option without additional cost is to use a credit card that provides a collision damage waiver. Most gold MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express credit cards offer this coverage to cardholders. Hold onto any receipts from the rental-car company citing damage to the rental car and send them to the credit-card company. Today, roughly 80% of all gold cards provide this benefit, but consumers should contact their credit-card company to confirm coverage before they rent the vehicle, says Simmonds.

If neither of those options pans out, consider purchasing a collision damage waiver from the rental company, which costs $12 a day on average, says Simmonds. Without coverage, in case of an accident, the rental-car company will usually determine how much you owe and charge your credit card -- even if it’s not your fault, he says.

Liability
Of course, accidents don’t always happen on the road. On the golf course, you can swing your nine-iron and mistakenly hit your opponent in the head. At a barbecue, your potato salad might make someone sick. In your own backyard, a guest might slip on the edge of your pool.

Most homeowner and renter insurance policies are sold with around $100,000 of liability coverage per occurrence, which kicks in when you’re held responsible for bodily or property damage on or off your property, says Simmonds.

“If you have any personal assets to protect you’ll need to have an umbrella policy,” says Garrett. “Otherwise, they could be at risk if you get sued.” To determine how much umbrella liability you need, round up your net worth, including your home and retirement savings, to the nearest million dollars, she says. Someone with a net worth of $1.3 million should get a $2 million umbrella policy, which costs an average $250 per year in premiums, she says.

Flood
When it comes to bad summer weather, homeowners’ policies cover most damage caused by hurricanes, but it doesn’t cover flood damage.

Typically, homes that require flood insurance are in low-lying areas near the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi River or a smaller river that can overflow. Home buyers will be alerted if they need flood insurance by the bank underwriting their mortgage. They can also contact their local city hall, which should keep track of flood zones.

Flood insurance, which is sold through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, can range from $300 a year for a house with a minimal chance of a flood – say, one sitting on a mountaintop – or up to $10,000 a year if you’re living near a coast in a flood zone, says Simmonds. Read the fine print before signing up to make sure there aren’t any loopholes in your policy, like coverage restrictions based on the location of the damage or the cost of the repair.

Wedding Weather
There’s a reason why June is such a popular month for weddings, and it isn’t the rain, sleet or snow. Still, the weather doesn’t always cooperate.

Some couples try to guarantee the storybook setting by buying weather insurance, which covers costs related to changing your wedding plans in the event of rain, says Simmonds. The price of this insurance is based on historical weather data at your location and date, and it can often cost $2,000 or more, he says. A free alternative: Have a backup plan with your wedding venue to move the reception indoors in case of rain, says Garrett.

Extended travel insurance for pregnant women: holiday insurance when pregnant

2009-06-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Traveling while pregnant can be a challenge that you're never sure of the safety factor for you and your baby. Obviously, before traveling the most important thing is to get your doctor for medical advice, but assuming all goes well then the next thing is to think about travel insurance.

Pregnant women may find it difficult to find the right trip to meet all the needs of their pregnancy, some airlines have restrictions for pregnant women, regardless of whom you have holiday insurance, so it is best to check with your airline before purchasing. Some airlines require a letter in May from your doctor stating that you are able to travel and confirming your estimated due date.

Before proceeding with the purchase of your policy, you need to ensure you have adequate coverage in case of disaster. For example, if you have a multiple birth ensure that you are covered for this on your insurance, not only for a single birth, it is essential that you take a policy to cover your needs.

If you booked a package holiday, travel insurance may be included in the price of May, but not for your specific needs while you are pregnant, you will need to ensure that you take adequate holiday insurance pregnant. Some policies cover in May for medical emergencies during the holidays, but not specifically in May for the losses suffered by pregnant women, for example in case you need to cancel the direct result of your pregnancy.for more information about Extended travel insurance, holiday insurance when pregnant, travel insurance 90 days visit

During recession consumers should keep insurance

2009-06-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Barry Miller figured he was saving $100 a month when he scaled back his disability insurance. After all, he was healthy.

"It just looked like the policy was too expensive," said Miller, who was paying for his own disability insurance carried over from a previous job. "Sometimes you don't know what will happen."

What happened was this: In January, he was diagnosed with Bell's palsy, a condition that causes facial paralysis. Now, at 61, he has left his job as a sales manager for a girls' accessories company, and the Ridgewood, N.J., resident is out $3,000 a month in disability payments.

This is the summer of the new frugality. Americans everywhere are clipping coupons, searching for freebies and finding all sorts of creative ways to save money. Saving money is chic; another way to impress the neighbors. But others are making far tougher choices that threaten to cost them far more than they save.

Reducing insurance coverage, whether it's a consumer or a small business making the cuts, does mean instant cost savings. But it's proving to be problematic for some people, leaving homes and businesses underinsured and their owners facing huge monetary losses should disaster or illness strike. It's also making families vulnerable to financial hardship because some are giving up their life insurance.

"The economy is prompting a lot of people to reassess or re-evaluate everything everywhere and they are looking to make sure they are getting the most for their money," said Mark Gibson, assistant vice president of advertising for State Farm Insurance Cos. "Our industry is no different."

That creates something of a buyers' market. Many consumers are shopping around for the best price.

After receiving a rate increase notice last year for polices on two automobiles and two homes, Justin Gregonis decided to leave his current insurance provider and go with a cheaper company. Gregonis, of Phoenix, said he was able to get the same amount of coverage without changing his deductibles for a savings of about $1,200 a year.

"I was willing to go with whomever was going to get me the best rate and have the best coverages," he said. "Insurance in itself is just basically like playing the lottery. It's just a gamble, but you have to have it."

Consumers' willingness to abandon their insurers is making some companies work with customers to try to retain them.

Companies like Allstate Corp. and Travelers Cos. are introducing new discounts and lower priced products. But consumers need to be careful about discounts, for example, when carriers offer lower prices to customers who buy both homeowners and auto policies.

To help consumers, President Barack Obama has been advocating health care reform, which could pressure private insurers to keep premiums reasonable. And state regulators limit how much insurers can charge for coverage such as auto and homeowners insurance.

But many consumers are still cutting back on all types of insurance.

Al Tobin, managing director and leader of Aon Corp.'s property practice, said some clients aren't renewing the same limits on what are known as specialized policies, such as California earthquake coverage, because they can't afford them. Aon, an insurance broker, helps companies find commercial insurance coverage.

"We have seen a trend for quite a few months where clients are buying less," he said.

Insurers don't release figures on how much their customers are reducing or ending their coverage. But according to an Insurance Resource Council survey that questioned 1,000 adult consumers by telephone in December, 28 percent with at least one vehicle shopped for lower auto insurance rates, while 9 percent said they had canceled or decided not to renew their auto coverage.

Five percent of homeowners surveyed said they had canceled or not renewed their homeowners insurance, as did 14 percent of renters.

"We expect consumers to be taking a lot of steps to reduce costs," said David Corum, vice president of the Insurance Resource Council, an industry-supported research organization. "People are willing to take on more risk in tough economic times to save money, but when they do that, the outcome can be catastrophic."

There are certain policies that consumers and businesses absolutely must have — auto insurance, for example, or homeowners insurance for people with mortgages. But many consumers are sliding by without discretionary coverage such as life insurance or even health insurance. And small companies may not be buying enough insurance to cover their losses, or to guarantee they'll stay in business should disaster strike.

The less coverage consumers and companies have, the more risk they take on. It's a hard choice, but one many consumers feel they have to make.

W.W. Johnson is between jobs, and currently on an unpaid internship for health administration. His wife's job in communications is dicey. So, he called his insurance broker and slashed the coverage for his Kennedale, Texas, home and five cars. An insurance bill that ran over $900 a month was chopped by $300.

"I have cut everything that I can cut," Johnson said after agreeing to higher deductibles and dropping collision coverage on three vehicles. "And I'm still shopping around for the best deal."

Some consumers aren't buying insurance for their vehicles at all — although that's illegal.

In 2007, the latest data available, about 13.6 percent of U.S. drivers were uninsured. That translates to almost 32 million uninsured vehicles on the road.

"You are breaking the law" if you drive an uninsured vehicle, said Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman with the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based trade group.

Salvatore noted that car owners are required to have a minimum amount of coverage under state law. But, she warned about those minimums, "that doesn't really provide much financial protection."

Consumers can drop collision and/or comprehensive coverage on their vehicles, but if they are in accidents, they could end up paying more money out of pocket. However, such coverage sometimes isn't worth buying for older cars with low market values.

Health Insurance Comparison

2009-06-17T01:26:00.001-07:00

The instant one decides to buy eudaimonia shelter, the interrogation of which health shelter companionship to airway comes to knowledge. One of the foremost shipway to decide the right eudaemonia protection companion is to likeness the ratings of the diverse eudaemonia insurance companies.
No concern where you are in unrecorded, chances are you individual whatever identify of shelter, whether it is domestic individual’s, eudaemonia, dental, automobile, or being contract. Unhealthiness is vertical and as extended as the medical manufacture seems to be making more and charging many, then wellbeing protection give be a obligation. Owner’s contract is required by the loaner. And automobile contract is also required by the lender, and ofttimes the verbalize.

So if this is the casing, they why don’t grouping make the contract they necessity? Most would fulfil that outgo is the particular think for that. As we are entering the toughest scheme times in the endure 100 life, we are existence affected to number our pennies as never before. In both instances, shelter has been thoughtful a wealth, but the libber is that it is a redress, not a privilege.

or starters, when sensing for eudaemonia contract, you should go to eudaemonia contract likeness websites. There you can ascertain excitable comparisons between quotes from A rated companies by filling out one dolabriform signifier.

When you compare, you can see the differences between the powerfulness of the companies financials, benefits, and changes in business. You can also judge out how well the affiliate is suited to existence fit to pay succeeding claims and additional member benefits. If a friendship does not perception poised to pay in the proximo, then it is not a viable alternative.

When you do your checking, you give reach that there are a few organization impression ratings that people run to render the most coefficient to. Many of the top rated companies that do ratings are companies same Foulmart Ratings Insurer Financial Capableness Ratings, and the healthy familiar Criterion and Penurious’s Business Capability Rank. Again, the business magnitude of the troupe tells you how advantageously a organisation module be competent to gain reliable it can pay out it’s benefits, and again, business posture is real fundamental to making a beatific contract society.

The health protection companies are rated on a leafage from AAA to CC. The wellbeing shelter companies rated NR bonk not been rated. The eudaemonia contract companies rated AAA human extremely virile business characteristics, spell those rated CC mortal washy business characteristics, and may not be healthy to pay the claims.

When sensing, ratings from BBB+ and higher are reasoned to be decorous. A assessment of less than BBB+ leaves you arise to vulnerability. The + or the harmful signalize after a judgement meet shows the qualifying standings for the major categories. If you see a DDD rating, that capital that there has been a loser to sort payments, and there has been few regulatory involution. Again, by sticking to companies with a BBB+ rating or modify should dungeon you in serious companionship.

Keep in design that a eudaimonia shelter rating does not buy into record canellation penalties, deductibles, or fraudulent claims. It also doesn’t determine into story any potency restrictions of unnaturalized change which may forbid business obligations to being met.

When there are any changes, the ratings can and usually replace. If something drastic happens, it can also be suspended or straight reserved. You should modify ratings periodically to see if there are any new of antithetical circumstances.

Insurance lobby suspends AIG

2009-06-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

The Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI), an insurance industry lobby group, has suspended AIG Insurance Company Ltd for breaching an agreement arrived at by members on March 26 this year.

AKI is the sole issuer of motor vehicle insurance stickers meaning the firm could be locked out of the business.

The genesis of controversy is High Court judge Mr Justice Jacktone Ojwang’s March 4, 2009 ruling in which he nullified nine sections of the Work Injury Benefits Act 2007 (WIBA) following a petition by the Law Society of Kenya.

Apparently, AIG decided to offer Employer Liability (Common Law) policies contrary to a resolution passed at an AKI meeting held on March 26 at the College of Insurance, Nairobi.

In a letter sent to members of the same day, Mr Gichuhi had warned that effective from that day no member was supposed to offer Employer Liability Insurance, which is a cover for an employer against any suit by an employee.

In a circular copied to all CEOs of the member companies, AKI executive director Tom Gichuhi said AIG is further suspended from all committees of the association effective June 11.

“Members are advised to desist from having any business dealings of any nature with AIG Insurance Company,” said the circular dated June 12 and copied to the CEO, Insurance Regulatory Authority.

They include exchange of underwriting information or details or loss ratios, participating in any programmes on co-insurance basis or facultative placements.

But several industry sources who the Daily Nation contacted on condition of anonymity for fear of antagonising AKI accused the association of overstepping its mandate and hypocrisy.

“They (AKI) have a big legal battle in their hands unless they rescind the decision because what will happen to businesses where AIG have co-insured with other underwriters?” wondered a CEO of one of the insurers.

Other sources intimated that while four have written to AKI informing it that they are offering the cover, others are offering it quietly.

“I can confirm to you that several members are offering the cover but AKI has decided to punish only AIG,” said one highly placed and reliable source.

Renter's Insurance

2009-06-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Whether you live in a condo, townhome or aparment, if you're a renter you need renter's insurance.

According to Ralph Rios of Allstate it's a must have. "Most renter's don't realize that there is a need to protect their belongings, [they're] unaware of the availablilty and relatively inexpensive cost of it," Rios says.

Weather can be unpredictable in Hampton Roads and with hurricane season upon us, you need to be prepared in case disaster strikes. Your landlord is only responsible for repairing the structure of the building. Any personal belongings that you have would be up to you to replace.

Renter's insurance protects you against fire, water damage from busted pipes, theft and bad weather that may damage your belongings. Even if your next door neighbor's kitchen catches fire and spills over to your home, it's your renter's insurance that would cover your contents.

Below you'll find a list of items that would be covered:

TVs, VCR, DVD players, computer, or any electronic devices (you would be protected against power surges)
Clothes
Furniture
Appliances (that you purchased)
Paintings, mirrors, decor
Basically, anything that you have purchased and brought into the property
Covers the cost of a hotel stay if your home were destroyed and you had to leave
Something you might not realize is that if your car was broken into and your personal belongings were stolen, it's not your auto insurance that would pay, it's your renter's insurance that would handle that claim.

The cost is roughly about $120 to $125 a year. If you break that down, that's about $20 a month or about the cost of a soda a day. Rios says, "I think it's just something that you just can't afford not to have."

You may need additional flood insurance that covers your belongings if they get damaged by rising water or if the structure is destroyed and along with it your personal items. Rios told 10 On Your Side the cost for additional flood insurance is about $100 a year. Check with your local insurance agent to see if you need extra coverage. Your current auto insurance company may offer a discount if you add on another policy.

According to Rios, the average renter has about $30,000 worth of belongings. "It can really add up, even someone that is just starting out you don't realize if you had to replace furniture, clothing your appliances it can add up quickly," Rios said.

Renter's insurance also covers you away from your home. Rios gave 10 On Your Side this example: If you're out golfing, and accidentally knock out someone's window, your renter's insurance would take care of that too.

Flood Insurance NOT Becoming Popular

2009-06-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - After the floods hit last June, one thing people began looking at flood insurance.

A representative at one local insurance agency said he has not had more people sign up for flood insurance, but a record amount of people are wanting to know more about it.

John Heaton believed people are not signing up because it can be costly if you live in a flood zone.

"if you don't have coverage you don't have anything that can help you financially to put your house back together, you are taking a chance," Heaton said.

Heaton said people in or out of a flood zone should look into getting sewer back up insurance. He said this is a good idea because many times in a flood drains and sewers will back up into the house.

This type of insurance is a less expensive.

Drunk holidaymakers put travel insurance at risk

2009-06-09T01:51:00.001-07:00

A survey this week by a travel insurance specialist found that 70 per cent of holidaymakers did not realise that they will be required to cover the costs of medical treatment should they sustain an injury while under the influence of alcohol. A further 80 per cent of those surveyed admitted to getting “very drunk” while abroad.

“We advise all travellers to think twice before drinking heavily on holiday this summer”, said Stuart Bensusan, insurance director at EssentialTravel.co.uk, the London-based company that carried out the research.

“Obviously holidaymakers should be free to enjoy a drink, but they need to drink responsibly and take necessary precautions, such as drinking lots of water and leaving personal items in the hotel,” he added.

According to EssentialTravel.co.uk, the most common insurance claim rejected due to evidence of excessive alcohol intake is for the loss of personal items, such as a passport, wallet, camera or mobile phone.

Around 28 per cent of “drunken holiday claims” were made following personal accidents, including moped falls, while 19 per cent of claimants were injured during a fight. A further 21 per cent claimed for the cost of hospital fees after suffering alcohol-related dehydration or alcohol poisoning.

“There is no set limit for alcohol consumption - claims are considered on a case-by-case basis,” said a spokeswoman for EssentialTravel.co.uk. “But if a medical report suggests that alcohol consumption was a factor, or if the insurer has reason to suspect it is, then the claim could be invalidated.”

Hospitalisation in Europe can cost between £870 and £1,300 per day, according to CEGA, a leading claims assistance company. Medical bills following a broken limb can amount to several thousands of pounds, while an air ambulance from Tenerife to Britain, for example, will cost an estimated £20,000.

A survey conducted earlier this year by Insure and Go revealed that 13 per cent of skiers and snowboarders admit to taking to the slopes while drunk.

Dog owners stress importance of pet insurance

2009-06-09T01:47:00.000-07:00

A dog owner from Worcester has spoken out about the importance of pet insurance after being presented with a heartbreaking decision.

Amanda Cross needed to take her family's two-year-old terrier, Scruffy, to the vet after he slipped over and hurt his back over the bank holiday weekend.

However, far from being just a slight sprain, the family were told that the dog had seriously injured his spine and will need extensive surgery.

Given that the Cross family are without pet insurance, they have been warned that if they don't find the £2,000 it is estimated the X-Rays and operations will cost, Scruffy may have to be put down.

"The first thing the vet asked was if we had pet insurance," she told the Worcester News.

"If we had insurance it would have cost £75 and he would be back home. I feel so guilty that we didn't get round to buying insurance - it was one of those things you keep meaning to do."

Just this week, Tesco announced that it had cut the price of its pet insurance policies by 35% for its online customers.

Leaving pets alone results in pet insurance claims

2009-06-04T19:53:00.001-07:00

Growing numbers of dogs are developing behavioural problems because they are being left alone for too long - leading to an increase in pet insurance claims.

Sainsbury's Finance stated that more than three-quarters of a million dog owners are leaving their pets at home for eight hours or more during each working day.

Additionally, Sainsbury's estimated that 2.4 million dog owners leave their animals alone for over five hours a day.

An animal's mental wellbeing could be put at risk by being treated in this way, the firm warned.

Joanne Mallon, Sainsbury's Pet Insurance manager, said: "Dogs are highly sociable animals who crave the affection of their owners and can find being home alone distressing.

"Owners struggling to provide sufficient company themselves should consider dog walking and dog-sitting services or call on assistance from family or neighbours."

Figures from the company for 2008 showed that it saw a 28% increase in the number of pet insurance claims linked to behavioural problems.

Should Health Insurance Be Mandatory?

2009-06-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama said this week that he is now open to Congressional proposals that would make every American responsible for getting health care insurance. In a letter to Senators Edward Kennedy and Max Baucus, he wrote that employers would have to share in the cost and that there would have to be a hardship waiver for those who could not afford insurance.

During the campaign last year, he opposed such a broad individual mandate, which Hillary Rodham Clinton supported. At that time, he argued for a more incremental approach, requiring that children be covered first.

Is a broad mandate that Americans have medical insurance a workable way to begin health care reform? Would taking a bolder step be more efficient or more disruptive?

Home insurance 'a must-have' over summer

2009-06-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Homeowners over the age of 50 might want to check their home insurance policy is up to date as a new study has suggested that this age group experiences high levels of burglary during June.

Research from financial services provider Saga Home Insurance suggested that over the last ten years, 6 June has emerged as the day on which the highest number of its customers in this age group report a burglary.

Among the possible reasons for this is the fact that homeowners may be out of the house more during the summer months, as longer daylight hours afford more opportunity for evening activities or as people go away on traditional summer holidays.

"If people are going away for a fortnight or just popping out for the evening, they should always check their property is as safe and secure as possible," Andrew Goodsell from Saga Group advised.

A recent report from Halifax showed that one in seven homeowners in the UK feels "more at risk of burglary" as a result of economic downturn.

No paid leave for new moms

2009-05-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

This Mother’s Day we reflect on the critical but often overlooked issue of maternity leave. Among peer countries with comparable per capita income (i.e., those in the G7), the United States provides the fewest mandated maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and amount of paid time off (see chart).

It wasn’t until 1993 that the United States passed the Family and Medical Leave Act, giving eligible parents 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a new child. But not only is the leave unpaid, it is also only mandated for workplaces of more than 50 employees. The United States is the only country among its peers that does not guarantee some amount of leave with pay.1

Note
1) In 2005, California enacted the California Family Rights Act, a paid leave statute that covers maternity leave.

Look for more comparisons between the United States and its global peers in the upcoming The State of Working America 2008/2009, which will be released this month by the Economic Policy Institute.

Storms seen as highlighting need for flood insurance

2009-05-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

Late last month, Burton Barnes worked on bailing out the sunken living room of his brother-in-law’s home in the Bear Creek subdivision, one of the area’s that flooded in the torrential downpours of April 27 and 28.

Body of driver recovered from culvert, houston,Chronicle, Police found the light SUV and the body of Apolonio Fuentes in a Houston culvert Wednesday morning. Fuentes was driving to work on Tuesday when he was swept into the culvert, a family member said. Video by Jason Witmer. April 29, 2009.Missing driver found in Houston culvert, , On Wednesday, police found the light SUV and the body of a man whose vechicle was swept in a culvert Tuesday. Video by Dale Lezon, edit by Jason Witmer. April 29, 2009. Man in car swept under water, , Houston firefighters say a car with a man in it was swept by floodwater into a drainage ditch Tuesday morning. After searching all day the search was called off Tuesday night and will resume Wednesday morning. Video by Jason Witmer. April 28, 2009.Rains flood Bear Creek, Chronicle,houston,flood, Tuesday morning heavy rains flooded the Bear Creek subdivision in Houston. Officials say one to two hundred houses suffered some sort of water damage.

Video by Jason Witmer. April 28, 2009.Raw video: rains flood Houston, houston,Katy,Chronicle,rain,flood, Overnight thunderstorms caused road clogging flooding Tuesday. A Katy Freeway feeder road at Wilcrest is covered in roughly ten feet of water. Video by Jason Witmer. April 28, 2009.About 2,300 Houston-area homes flooded during downpours April 27 and 28, among the highest totals since Tropical Storm Allison pushed water into 73,000 homes in 2001, officials said Wednesday.

The figure includes about 1,350 residences in Houston, 800 in unincorporated Harris County and the rest in other towns and cities within the county, said Heather Saucier, a spokeswoman for the county flood control district.

More than half of the flooded houses were not in a mapped flood plain, a reminder that every property owner in Houston and Harris County is at risk for flooding and should purchase flood insurance, Saucier said.

Ditches can back up
Flood plain maps show risks only from bayous or streams that overflow their banks, she said. They don’t show the potential for flooding from overloaded ditches or storm sewers.

“Oftentimes, we see streets filling up with water and inundating homes long before nearby tributaries and bayous reach their capacity,” Saucier said.

Residents of neighborhoods where many homes flooded said they’re still waiting for word on whether Gov. Rick Perry would seek a disaster declaration that could free up funds for temporary housing or other assistance.

State and local inspectors were still in the field this week assessing damage, and Perry will make a decision about what assistance is appropriate after that work is complete, spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said.

Melanie Hogue, a teacher in the Spring Branch school district, said the late-April rainstorms flooded her family’s house in northwest Harris County for the second time in seven months. More than 11 inches of rain fell within a few hours in some parts of the Houston area.

‘Twice within a year’
“It is very scary to wake up to a flooding house,” Hogue said in an e-mail message. “It is very sad to finally have our dream house only to be torn apart twice within a year.”

Major local floods since Allison include storms that flooded 2,000 homes in 2002 and 3,370 homes in 2006, Saucier said.

By MIKE SNYDER

Saving A Buck On Insurance

2009-05-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Area insurance agents say they haven't seen a drastic increase or decrease in business. But they do say more motorists are revisiting their auto insurance plans, looking for ways to cut back.

State Farm Agent Larry Ice II says he's not sure how much the economic downturn has effected business because State Farm doesn't track why clients may drop a policy.

But he has noticed more financially strapped customers looking for a discount.

“There’s a lot more focus on saving money,” said Ice.

He says foot traffic is increasing at his small business, as consumers become more financially conscience.

“And I think that overall that goes from health insurance, auto, home every type of insurance,” said Ice.

Ice says he’s seeing a new and surprising trend; more clients are purchasing health insurance policies.

“People are a lot more concerned about what might happen if my husband losses his job, or if I loss my job, I might not be able to continue that health insurance coverage,” said Ice.

But the financial concern isn’t limited to auto and health insurance.

Indiana’s NewsCenter spoke with several area auto repair shops that say customers are waiting longer to get an oil change.

But what's most concerning, auto experts say more motorists are waiting until the last minute to repair their breaks.

Auto experts warn that the metal on metal grind could become dangerous not only for the driver but also other motorists.

Ice says his company recognizes the financial strains on families and is taking steps to speak with clients about ways they can reduce their rates without lowering their coverage.

Private sector jobs data adds to economic hopes

2009-05-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The pace of private-sector U.S. job losses slowed dramatically last month, while future planned layoffs also declined, and the hard-hit housing sector showed signs of improvement last week.

Wednesday's reports are the latest indications that the U.S. economy is pulling out of freefall and may even be preparing to stop its descent, adding to hopes that have fueled a stock market rally over the last two months.

In housing, the original epicenter of the economic crisis, U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, even as interest rates jumped to their highest levels since mid-March.

The total number of U.S. private-sector job losses were much less than expected in April, hitting its lowest level since November last year, according to a report by ADP Employer Services.

Meanwhile, planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell for a third consecutive month in April, hitting their lowest level since last October, a report by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc said.

"The mentality of economic improvement is taking hold," said John Spinello, chief fixed income technical strategist at Jefferies & Co in New York.

The data came ahead of Friday's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report by the government.

Economists expect Friday's payrolls report to show the economy shed 620,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate jumped to 8.9 percent from 8.5 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks were mixed after initially jumping nearly 1 percent, while U.S. Treasuries bounced off lows.

LESS BAD

ADP said private employers cut 491,000 jobs in April versus a revised 708,000 lost in March, originally reported as a loss of 742,000 jobs.

Economists expected 650,000 private-sector job cuts in April, according to a Reuters poll.

Though the report bolstered hopes the worst is over for the recession-bound U.S. economy, many analysts advised caution in interpreting the figures.

"One month's number does not a trend make," Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, told a teleconference for journalists.

However, Prakken, whose firm jointly developed the ADP Employer Services report, said the coming months' data on job losses should resemble April's improved figures rather than the steeper cuts seen in recent months.

"Maybe improving gradually, but still fairly significant negative numbers, and I don't expect to see employment start rising really until sometime toward the end of the year," said Prakken.

He added that he expected modest but below-trend economic growth in the second half of the year.

Planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers totaled 132,590 in April, a 12 percent drop from 150,411 layoffs recorded the previous month, according to the Challenger report.

This was the lowest monthly total since 112,884 cuts were announced last October, but still up 47 percent from the 90,015 job cuts announced in the same month of 2008.

Insurance won't cover collapsing home

2009-04-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

EAST AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) - It may be too late to save a home on Tonawanda Creek Road in Amherst.

It remains on the brink of collapse Thursday night. Adding to the nightmare for the homeowners, is word that insurance won't cover a penny of their losses.

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Insurers eye new regulator

2009-04-24T01:12:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Large insurers are lobbying Congress to free them from a web of state rules by adding a new federal insurance regulator and letting the companies choose which rules to obey.

The proposal is viewed with horror by consumer advocates who say it will weaken protections and raise costs. But the insurance industry, which has been pushing unsuccessfully for the change for years, argues it's more urgent than ever in the wake of the meltdown that brought financial firms, including the insurance giant American International Group Inc., to their knees.

As lawmakers and the Obama administration race to plug holes in financial laws to prevent another catastrophe, key officials including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are expressing a new willingness to consider the shift.

Industry estimates suggest the rather obscure change in federal law could be worth billions of dollars annually to insurers. And lobbyists see the drive to overhaul financial rules as their best chance in a long time to achieve it.

If the companies get their way, the financial crackdown that President Barack Obama and Congress have promised as a way to prevent another Wall Street crisis will come with a substantial easing up on insurance companies. Known as an "optional federal charter," the system let large insurers, which now can be subject to as many as 51 different sets of rules and overseers in the states where they operate, escape a regulatory maze they say stifles their business and leaves the federal government blind to potential industrywide problems.

It would function much like the system now used to regulate banks, allowing insurance companies to decide whether to be chartered and overseen by the federal government or by individual states.

Major insurers, including Allstate, State Farm and Zurich, plus the big financial trade associations argue that the change would create a much-needed federal overseer for a gargantuan sector that currently has no national authority looking over its shoulder.

Debate on sweeping new financial laws has "created an opportunity," said Leigh Ann Pusey, top lobbyist at the American Insurance Association, which represents large property and casualty insurers. "You can't really look at these concepts and ideas that are out there without looking at having a federal regulator for the insurance industry."

Consumer advocates argue that such a system would let insurance companies shop around for the weakest rules and lead to the same kinds of abuses and reckless risk-taking that brought other financial services firms to their knees.

Doug Heller of California-based Consumer Watchdog said it would be "impossible" for the federal government to properly regulate the industry, adding, "The idea that they would contemplate giving big financial corporations a choice of who regulates them after we saw how that worked for the banks is just legislative insanity."

Far from strengthening oversight, consumer advocates call it a push for deregulation that would harm consumers and fly in the face of Obama's promise not to let financial companies "cherry pick" regulators in a bid to escape tough rules.

"It'll be a question of who can impress the insurance companies the most with their regulations, and that means, 'Who will let us do whatever we want without regard to what protects consumers?'" Heller said. "You will have the federal government and state regulators in a race to the regulatory bottom."

Public scrutiny of AIG has helped create momentum for the idea of national rules for the industry. That's despite the fact that the company's troubles were mostly caused by its exotic investments rather than its insurance practices.

"This environment allows the best chance yet to deal with this issue," said Brian Conklin, top lobbyist for USAA, which insures military personnel. He said the current state-by-state patchwork creates yet "another hindrance" for USAA's customers, many of whom are forced to move each year and often can't take their insurance with them.

Together with their trade groups, the companies have dumped tens of millions of dollars into lobbying for the change in recent months.

They've also given freely to politicians in positions to help them achieve it. Obama is among the top recipients of insurance industry campaign money, taking in $2.2 million in the run-up to the last election, according to the campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. Other top recipients include Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who chairs the House subcommittee that handles insurance, and Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., who's pushing legislation to accomplish the switch.

Bean argues her measure will lead to tougher rules and "best-in-class" consumer safeguards for the insurance industry.

"In the wake of the historic failure of our state regulatory system to prevent the collapse of AIG, we drafted this bill to create a national regulator that could better protect consumers and the economy," she told the AP in a statement.

The idea is not without controversy inside the insurance industry, where smaller players that long have been rivals of their larger brethren fear their business would be hurt and their very existence threatened by a new set of federal rules.

"You could create a very unlevel playing field," said Jimi Grande of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which now holds a monopoly on insurance regulation, has lobbied intensely against the change.

"What we have now is duplication, overlap, multiple eyes on a problem and checks and balances, so when one regulator makes a mistake, there's another one waiting in the wings to correct it," said Therese M. Vaughan, NAIC's president. "If you want to add another layer of eyes, that's fine with us. Just don't take our eyes off."

Insiders acknowledge that the switch could be a tough political sell at a time when the public is skeptical of financial firms, and lawmakers could be reluctant to give any company a choice of regulators. Some top lobbyists at work on the issue say the measure could be put off until later, or restricted to certain products such as life insurance, which functions more like a financial product.

Still, the idea has sparked some high-profile interest. Geithner and Bernanke both testified recently that they are open to it.

Bean is a confidante of Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee chairman who has a lead role in drafting the financial overhaul.

During a hearing last month, Frank said the issue is "very much on the agenda" of his panel.

More job-seekers consider career in insurance

2009-04-22T00:35:00.000-07:00

MORE job-seekers are willing to consider a career in the insurance sector now that banks are busy battling the financial crisis, said executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.

And those with risk management skills could find themselves in particularly high demand as companies try to shield themselves from the fallout.

Drawn to investment banking and other glamourous fields in the past few years, many did not see the insurance industry as their top career destination, said Roderick Haire, the Asian head of Korn/Ferry's insurance practice.

But the tide is turning as the crisis forces financial institutions to trim their headcounts or to freeze hiring. 'With the significant slowdown in banking, some of that talent are now much more ready to talk,' he said.

'They are much more open to hear the story (of a career in insurance).'

Insurance firms and related companies have also grown in attractiveness because they are paying better, Mr Haire noted. There has been strong demand for people in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region including Singapore, and specialised talent such as actuaries and underwriters would have seen even higher pay increases, he said.

It helps that salaries in investment banking are likely to moderate, the global head of Korn/Ferry's insurance practice Brooks Chamberlin added. 'The disparity now between banking and insurance in terms of compensation has closed considerably.'

While recruitment for the insurance sector in Asia-Pacific has inevitably slowed because of the downturn, companies are still hiring, especially for risk management positions, said Mr Haire.

Clients were keen to hire for distribution units six to nine months ago, but 'the whole area of financial management, risk management, without any doubt, is at the top of everybody's radar' now, he observed.

As companies grow and become more complex, they also need more executives for accounting, audit and compliance roles, said Mr Chamberlin.

The challenge is in working with clients to anticipate the types of talent they need when recovery comes, Mr Haire shared. 'What we are seeing is companies wanting to have conversations now about hiring, about gearing up and getting ready.'

By EMILYN YAP

As Pills Treat Cancer, Insurance Lags Behind

2009-04-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

Chuck Stauffer’s insurance covered the surgery to remove his brain tumor. It covered his brain scans. And it would have paid fully for tens of thousands of dollars of intravenous chemotherapy at a doctor’s office or hospital.

But his insurance covered hardly any of the cost of the cancer pills the doctor prescribed for him to take at home. Mr. Stauffer, a 62-year-old Oregon farmer, had to pay $5,500 for the first 42-day supply of the drug, Temodar, and $1,700 a month after that.

“Because it was a pill,” he said, “I had to pay — not the insurance.”

Pills and capsules are the new wave in cancer treatment, expected to account for 25 percent of all cancer medicines in a few years, up from less than 10 percent now.

The oral drugs can free patients from frequent trips to a clinic to be hooked to an intravenous line for hours. Fewer visits might save the health system money as well as time. And the pills are a step toward making cancer a manageable chronic condition, like diabetes.

But for many patients, exchanging an I.V. bag for a pill is a lopsided trade because the economics and practice of cancer medicine have not caught up with the convenience of oral drugs.

Start with the double ledger of drug insurance. Drugs that are infused at a clinic are typically paid for as a medical benefit, like surgery. Pills, though, are usually covered by prescription drug plans, which are typically much less generous; for expensive cancer pills, patients might face huge co-payments or quickly exceed an annual coverage limit. Sometimes, as in Mr. Stauffer’s case, a single insurer is involved.

Many times, though, a separate company — a so-called pharmacy benefit manager — provides the prescription drug coverage.

The growing use of cancer pills is also thrusting patients and doctors into new roles they have not yet fully mastered. Without a physician’s direct supervision, side effects can be missed. Some patients do not take all their medicine, raising the risk their cancer will worsen. Others take too many pills, risking toxic reactions.

For doctors, the new drugs also pose financial challenges. Physicians can profit from infusing drugs in their offices but not from writing prescriptions that are filled at a pharmacy.

With oral cancer drugs, “the technology has outstripped the ability of society to integrate it into the mainstream in a smooth fashion,” said Carlton Sedberry, a pharmacy expert at Medical Marketing Economics, a consulting firm.

Oregon, partly in response to Mr. Stauffer’s case, has passed a law requiring insurance companies to provide equivalent coverage of oral and intravenous cancer drugs. Some other states are now considering similar measures.

So far the health reform debate in Washington has not drilled into specifics like cancer pill coverage.

Infused drugs, of course, can also be frightfully expensive and under some insurance plans — including Medicare — can carry big co-payments. But it is the oral drugs that seem to be causing a disproportionate number of financial problems for cancer patients. The Patient Advocate Foundation, an organization that helps people make insurance co-payments for cancer drugs, says oral medicines accounted for 56 percent of the cases in which it helped Medicare patients last year, even though far more cancer patients were on intravenous drugs.

One oncology practice in central Pennsylvania has a nurse assigned full time to dealing with patients on oral drugs and arranging insurance or charity payments for the pills. “Trying to obtain this drug for the patient — that’s my struggle, every single day,” said the nurse, Jane Flenner.

Although drug makers are developing oral versions of some infused cancer medications, most of the new pills and capsules have no intravenous equivalent.

The oral exemplar is Gleevec from Novartis, which since its approval in 2001 has helped turn chronic myeloid leukemia as well as gastrointestinal stromal tumors into manageable diseases for many patients.

Douglas Jenson, 75, of Canby, Ore., has taken Gleevec for 10 years for leukemia. He goes for a blood test once every three months and sees his oncologist every six months, but is healthy enough to go whitewater rafting.

Making it even easier, Mr. Jenson gets his Gleevec free because he participated in an early clinical trial of the drug. Otherwise it would cost more than $40,000 a year.

While Mr. Jenson has been diligent about taking his five capsules every day at lunchtime, research indicates that many patients on the oral drugs do not consistently take the proper dose. One study, for example, found that Gleevec patients, on average, were taking only 75 percent of their prescribed doses.

Some cancer patients skip pills or stop taking them completely — whether because of costs, forgetfulness, side effects, complicated regimens or other factors.

“When I first started looking into this, I thought, ‘People with cancer have too much to lose, how can they not take their drugs?’ ” said Dr. Ann Partridge, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Some other cancer patients, meanwhile, end up taking too many pills. For many patients, though, the main challenge is not taking their pills, but paying for them. Under Medicare, most oral cancer drugs are covered by the Part D prescription drug program, which has a 25 percent co-payment. It also has the annual “doughnut hole” — reached when a patient’s total drug costs hit $2,700, after which the patient must shoulder the next $3,000 or so before coverage resumes.

Drug companies say they provide free drugs for some patients and give money to charities for co-payment assistance. And Lee Newcomer, senior vice president for oncology at UnitedHealthcare, the big insurer, said many commercial policies capped total annual out-of-pocket expenditures, so patients should not have huge co-payments month after month.

But nurses and patient advocates say that many patients still have trouble paying for the drugs.

Wedding Insurance: Not Just for Runaway Brides

2009-04-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

Saying "I Do" can be stressful enough, but if your caterer goes out of business, you could end up on the phone ordering Chinese takeout for 150 guests. Yikes. People want their wedding day to be perfect, but let's face it, odds are something could go wrong.

If being stuck with the bill for fortune cookies isn’t your cup of tea, here is an idea that takes (and saves) the cake: wedding insurance.

“Wedding insurance can provide peace of mind for a couple that their money will be recovered if a vendor or venue falls through at the last minute,” said Better Business Bureau president Kathy Barrett in a recent statement. “Soon-to-be newlyweds have a significant amount of money on the line and a vendor’s ‘Going out of Business’ sign can be fate worse than rain on their wedding day.”

What is wedding insurance?
According to the Insurance Information Institute, wedding and special event insurance will pay you for the cancellation of your event due to the death, injury or illness of people involved in the wedding such as your parents, your spouse’s parents or the person performing the ceremony. Moreover, you can also buy additional coverage that deal with calls to military service, the bankruptcy of a vendor, destruction of your gifts and cancellation or postponement of the wedding

While policies differ from company to company, a basic policy from insurers such as Travelers (Stock Quote: TVR) will cover the loss of photos or deposits on the venue. Other companies focus on special event insurance, such as Wedsafe or the Toluca Lake, Calif.-based R.V. Nuccio & Associates, Inc., which offers policies that cover professional counseling and host liquor liability.

Their stories have evolved, for better and for worse

2009-02-22T02:54:00.000-08:00

By Brian Eckhouse

Sun, Feb 22, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Last year, as the recession worsened, we introduced you to struggling Nevadans. They were the faces of the growing economic calamity. Among them: a financial adviser, a carpet cleaner, a hotel receptionist, a mechanic and his wife.

Here’s an update on their lives.

• • •

We met Jack Safar, the mechanic, in October, trying to peddle 10 DVDs for cash at a pawnshop.

His wife, Elizabeth, had lost her part-time job as a car insurance saleswoman, couldn’t get another job and didn’t qualify for unemployment benefits. They had $30 in savings, a $93 gas bill and $620 in monthly car payments that weren’t being paid.

To save money, they were prepared to put Pongo, their 3-year-old Dalmatian, up for adoption.

Sun readers offered to take in Pongo. One man bought the Safars two big bags of dog food, for Pongo and 7-year-old Yorkshire Pebbles.

Some readers questioned why the Safars weren’t giving up their $40-a-month DirecTV package.

After their story was published, Wendy Marcisofsky, who manages a collection agency, said she wanted to talk to Elizabeth — not about a payment plan, but to interview her for a possible job.

Marcisofsky, manager of Progressive Management Systems’ local office, saw in Elizabeth someone with a background in customer service needing an opportunity. Four days later, Elizabeth was hired — as a collection representative, of all things.

“I put myself in their shoes,” says Elizabeth, 38, of the empathy she extends people who are delinquent in their payments. “What I’m going through, they’re going through.”

The Safars are still behind on their car payments — Elizabeth is making $11 an hour — but their vehicles are no longer in danger of being repossessed.

And they kept Pongo.

• • •

In the past eight years, Wally Grogitsky got cancer, lost his mother, beat cancer, discovered that his then-business partner had been embezzling money from their carpet cleaning company and divorced his wife (whom he’s since remarried).

His life hasn’t always been so trying. His Certified Carpet Cleaning made $250,000 in 2000.

But in October, the 49-year-old was earning $1,000 a month net and had just let his one employee go. Carpet cleaning wasn’t a priority for homeowners. Expecting little government help, Grogitsky told us at the time: “I’m going to have to be my own light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Grogitskys’ situation has worsened.

Business has slowed even more, and expenses outweigh earnings.

The Grogitskys are five months behind on a home mortgage that is far more than what the house is now worth. If they can get $249,000 for it, they’re still $122,000 short of what they paid. They’ve moved out to make selling the house easier and are now renting a house.

Lisa Grogitsky, a 46-year-old nurse, has drained much of the 401(k). Wally sometimes cashes checks after completing a job just to gas up his truck, and one of their children, a college student in Reno, called recently to say her tires were bald.

Wally worries that financial woes are straining his marriage. Money problems partly prompted their divorce.

“We’re worried the light at the end of the tunnel is a train that’s gonna run us over,” he says.

• • •

Jeff Ballek, 48, expected to weather the economic storm. A financial adviser who says he foresaw the collapse, Ballek and his family moved here in 2005 from St. Paul, Minn., with a four-year savings reserve.

When a promised job didn’t pan out, he started his own financial company, knowing it would take three years to make it viable. Because of the economy, he’s a year behind schedule — and says he’s got only a year left in savings.

He and his wife make a combined $75,000, much of which is put back into his business. He still needs bridge loans to keep his business afloat.

Ballek can’t escape his tumult, not when he’s advising clients gripped by similar fears.

“If I’m not thinking about something with us — which is maybe 25 percent of the time — then I’m looking at someone else’s situation, which could happen to us,” he says. “It’s a vicious cycle.”

• • •

When the original MGM Grand opened in 1973, Maria Chenes was 18 years old and working as a front-desk clerk.

For most of the next 35 years, Chenes worked at hotels, including an 18-year stint at Harrah’s Entertainment. Harrah’s laid her off last summer. Her union notified her three times of jobs, but nothing panned out, she told us in October.

In December, Chenes decided to leave casinos, take her $1,000-a-month union pension and find something new. The 54-year-old was going through a divorce (and still is) and had no savings.

News of Chenes’ story reached the mother of one of her son’s former soccer teammates, who offered her a job as an office manager at a nonprofit agency. The salary is just pennies less than the $15 an hour Chenes earned at Harrah’s and the work is socially significant: Her employer helps low-income people and seniors with emergency home repairs.

I'll mend my broken heart

2009-02-14T23:55:00.000-08:00

By Sam Strangeways

Single father Cecil Burgess has one simple reason to celebrate Valentine's Day — his heart is hopefully on the mend after a devastating diagnosis late last year threatened to leave his sick seven-year-old son an orphan.

The 33-year-old from Pembroke was told he had congestive heart failure in October and spent New Year's Eve in hospital breathing with the help of an oxygen machine, his long-time best friend Kandee Souza at his side.

Doctors were unsure whether he would recover from the sickness — rare in a man of his age — which left him unable to walk and with his body full of blood clots, including two in his heart and one in his lungs.

But after treatment at the Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts, the former barman and DJ is now determined to win back his health so he can care for his son Shi-Shun.

The little boy, who himself has neurofibroma, a serious disease of the nervous system, lost his mom to cancer when he was aged just two months. Shi-Shun was operated on recently for a painful birth defect which was making him bow-legged.

The youngster was living with Mr. Burgess' mom but she was diagnosed with first-stage Alzheimer's Disease and he is now staying with his maternal grandmother in Somerset until his dad is well again.

Problems with his health insurance mean Mr. Burgess is unsure how he is going to pay the $80,000 to $150,000 he already owes for his own medical treatment or find the money for Shi-Shun's ongoing health care.

Despite all of this, Ms Souza, 28, says Cecil — "my teddy bear" — remains as uncomplaining as ever, never asking for help for himself and always looking out for others.

Shi-Shun, meanwhile, is described by his dad as "such a comical little boy". "This was the first Christmas I wasn't with him and I wasn't impressed with that," Mr. Burgess told The Royal Gazette.

"I had a stomach virus so I wasn't able to see him. He's so in tune with other people's feelings that he will ask me: 'Daddy, why are you sick?'. I can't give him the answer. It was a rough Christmas for me."

Retail manager Ms Souza said West End Primary School student Shi-Shun was "compassionate, caring, inquisitive". "He's had so many knocks, from his operation, to finally understanding 'how come my mom died', to changing schools, to daddy being sick.

"I told Shi: 'You're my heartbeat because I can't live without you. Your daddy is my lungs because I can't breathe without him'."

Medics don't know why Mr. Burgess contracted congestive heart failure — a reversible condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs — at such a young age and have told him he may need a pacemaker fitted at some stage. Meanwhile, he is waiting to see if the medication he is on does its job and allows him to return to work.

Ms Souza is trying to resolve the insurance issues with BF&M — thought to be caused in part because Mr. Burgess was a seasonal worker and fell ill when unemployed — to ensure he and Shi-Shun get the help they need.

"Basically, I was told that my best friend was going to die," she said. "I cried in my car when I was by myself. I said: 'What do I have to do?' I said: 'I can give you a $100 a month. You can have my car'."

Mr. Burgess said: "I have got a good bunch of friends. I have this bad habit of hiding my sickness from people. But from now on, if I feel a little pain in my toe, I'll tell you!"

He added: "Kandee has done more than I could ever have dreamt. How can you put into words our relationship?"

Ms Souza recently held a fundraising evening at Level nightclub for the family and proceeds from a Valentine's Day party tonight at the Wine Cellar at Fairmont Southampton will go to Mr. Burgess.

Radio DJ Miss Thang — aka Kristy Burgess — and her Phenomenal Women's Association — organised this evening's party.

She said: "My heart nearly melted when I heard the anguish in Kandee's voice, as she explained how she is trying to support herself, Cecil, and provide for his child because he has to be flown in and out of the Island so often."

• Tickets for tonight's party are available from Secrets. Donations to help Mr. Burgess can be made via the Phenomenal Women's Association's charity account at the Bank of Bermuda: 010-758-381-012.

• If you can help Mr. Burgess, please e-mail kandee.kane@hotmail.com or join the Facebook group for Cecil Burgess on the Bermuda network.

Comptroller Chick Slams City’s Take-Home Car Program

2009-01-24T06:43:00.000-08:00

by Damien Newton on January 23, 2009

In a city government who's transportation thoughts are directed in writing love sonnets to the private automobile, it should come as no surprise that the city's "Take-Home Car Program" is little more than an entitlement program for our urban rulers. However, following a scathing report by Controller Laura Chick, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made some moderate moves to control this out-of-control city program.

Chick blasted the city for not requiring city officials with take-home cars to have the proper insurance, not having a check on officials use of credit cards to purchase gasoline, that city officials are issued cars without meeting the city's written specifications and the boom of take-home vehicles to the LAPD, which has grown by 40% in the last five years.

You may remember that last year Mayor Villaraigosa brought up the possibility of cutting the car fleet and the City Council reacted as though he were proposing to slash pensions for elected officials and foreclosing on their mortgages.

Nevertheless, perhaps Chick's report will bring about some long-term changes in a city program that does more to promote car usage among city employees than any other. The city owns 1,131 vehicles in its take-home fleet, over three quarters of which are owned by the LAPD. While Chick's reccomendations are a great starting point, don't expect her office to go much farther. Last year she defended the City Council's program of rewarding employees with take-home cars as a "perk" that staffers have grown to expect.

Nevertheless, here are Chick's proposals:

Cancel the credit cards. If employees need to buy gas in an emergency, they can submit their receipt for reimbursement.
If City employees can’t produce proof that they have the required insurance, then take the car away. If not, then re-visit the insurance requirements and liability risks to see what makes sense.
Do a cost-benefit analysis of take-home cars vs. pool-cars vs. mileage reimbursement (using existing consultant dollars in the office of the City Administrative Office).
Set clearly-defined criteria as to why a vehicle is assigned to a department and/or an individual
Mayor Villaraigosa lept to work, installing the bare minimum of safeguards on the program and ordering further studies. However, any check on an uncontrolled car program was enough for the Daily News to declare that the Mayor was "putting the brakes" on auto use.

He put a freeze on issuing take-home cars and he suspended purchases of most new city vehicles.

He also ordered officials to verify that those who drive city vehicles have the proper insurance and halted the use of city credit cards to buy fuel at noncity facilities.

While these steps are laudable, what is really needed is a complete overhaul of the city's fleet policies. One proposal, which has been mentioned previousley in Streetsblog, would be for the city to basically end it's take-home program and instead support a car-sharing program that would be available to city employees when needed and the rest of the city residents as well. Already a hit in Philadelphia, the program wouldn't just save the city millions of dollars every year and reduce car dependency of city employees; it would also bring car-sharing back to Los Angeles in a signifigant way, a state goal of Council Woman, and Comptroller candidate, Wendy Greuel.

Last year, during a similar debate on the city's vehicle fleet, Soap Box LA had an alternate proposal: the city should begin hiring local:

The City of Los Angeles could reduce congestion as well as its travel expenses simply by hiring local and encouraging city employees to walk, ride or use transit.

How is it that the Mayor’s first rep to Hollywood lived in Palmdale and commuted to Hollywood in order to represent the Mayor. Are there no people living in Hollywood qualified to work for the Mayor? (No word yet on the new rep)

Hollywood is on the Red Line. If the Mayor sends out the signal, his reps can jump on the Metro and be at City Hall faster than those traveling by single occupant vehicle. (SOV)

Take it all the way through the departments! A City Council motion to requiring the General Managers of City Departments to live in the city has been floating for years with no success. Not even GM’s are required to live in the city?

At one point, LADOT had a GM who commuted from home in San Jose to work in Los Angeles.

How great would it be if City Staff actually walked the same streets, used the same bus stops, shopped at the same stores and could actually relate to the issues of our unique communities from the inside, not just from workshops and discussions and hearings.

Whether the city decides to hire local, promote car sharing, or push some other means, if it is serious about controlling this out of control program, that it could provide alternate transportation for city officials used to this "perk." If Villaraigosa's steps yesterday are the end of the story, we can file the Chick report away as another missed opportunity for the Car Culture Capital of America to join 21st Century transportation policy.

Photo: Dugm2/Flickr

One woman dead as 100mph gusts and heavy rain lash Britain

2009-01-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:09 PM on 17th January 2009

A woman has been killed and a surfer caught in near-hurricane conditions as gusts of up to 100mph battered Britain.
Exposed parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales saw the worst of the weather which deteriorated into the evening.

Winds of up to 106mph cut electricity supplies to around 100,000 homes across Ireland, north and south, as fallen trees and debris damaged power lines and blocked roads.
A woman in her 30s was killed when a falling tree struck her car on the Strangford Road, Downpatrick, Co Down, at around 4pm.

Up to 70,000 homes were without electricity in parts of the Republic, while 24,000 households in Northern Ireland were left without power as winds caused damage.
In Scotland a 22-year-old surfer was rescued after drifting a mile out to sea in treacherous conditions.
Clyde coastguard said the man had become separated from another surfer in stormy weather off the Kintyre coast at Machrihanish.
A search and rescue helicopter crew from Prestwick rescued the man in fading light just before 5pm.
The surfer was taken to hospital with suspected mild hypothermia.
A coastguard spokesman said the wind had whipped up to force 11, one grade below hurricane conditions.

Grandmother assists daughter, grandchildren despite her budget

2008-12-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

By DAVID ELLISON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The Christmas lights that decorate the outside of Doris Morris' La Porte home were compliments of St. Mary Catholic Church. Inside, a well-trimmed artificial tree, something she's owned for four years, immediately evokes that yuletide spirit.

But there is something obviously lacking to complete the festive, holiday feel — gifts for Morris' two grandchildren, Chelsea Butler, 14, and Javon Jones, 6.

She doesn't have the money in her tight budget to get presents for the kids, whom she is raising because their mother, Angelina Jones, 38, is suffering from Huntington's disease.

"With a fixed income, and trying to help my daughter and take care of her two kids, we just didn't think things were going to fall like this here," Morris said.

In addition to not being able to buy gifts, Morris said she is behind on all bills, including the mortgage payments.

Morris is buying clothes and food to feed her grandchildren and their mother, who has genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells that causes uncontrolled movements, loss of intellectual faculties and emotional disturbance.

"I do a lot for her and her kids," she said. "I wash, cook and take the kids back and forth to school because they don't have any father in their lives."

New Orleans evacuee
This holiday season, Morris has asked for help from Goodfellows. Funded by contributions from the public and businesses, the Houston Chronicle program uses all money collected to buy toys for needy children 2 through 10. The Chronicle pays other costs.

The New Orleans native's troubles started in 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. But before the hurricane struck, her mother, Eugenia Barlow, died that May and her husband, Amos Morris, died in June.

After the storm, the family evacuated to La Porte to live with her husband's relatives. With the insurance money she got from her New Orleans home, Morris bought the modest house in La Porte.

But it's difficult to make ends meet without her husband's help or assistance from the children's fathers.

Grandkids pitch in
She is thankful for the help she gets from her grandchildren. Chelsea helps care for her mother and both children clean the house.

"I would be so blessed and so proud if the mother could see her kids receiving things and smiling," Morris said. "You know, it makes her happy. And that's what I'm trying to do — is make my daughter happy, too."

Recent contributors include:

Arlessa, Verdia, Gerry, Delores, Pam at the Villa, $125; Becky Shinn, $100; Brad Smith, $100; Caroline Callery, $100; David & Rosemary Carson, $100; David Kapner & Vivian Strimple, $500; Denise Bonniwell, $200; Donald & Jane Lehto, $100; Donna Handel, $100; Doug Longtin, $200; Duane Pierson, $100; Edward Gunn, $250; Edwin B. Walker, $250.

Elmo Meroney, $100; Esequiel & Jeanie Rodriguez, $100; Evan Lington, $200; George & Nancy Barnett, $200; George Kratzer, $200; Harriet & Whitney Leavell, $100; Ho-Chi Lin Lu, $300; Hui Pan, $200; In honor of our daughter, Linda A. Johnson, $100; In Memory of Bill Breish, $100; In Memory of Dad — Our Original Santa Claus, $500; In Memory of Dennis Ross, $100.

In Memory of Gregg Goldstein, $100; In Memory of Jenniffer Price, $500; In Memory of Jose A. Caballero, $100; In Memory of June Prevett, $150; In Memory of Martha Thomas, $150; In Memory of Marty & Jim Cabeceiras, $100; In Memory of Mary Christine (Christy) Binig, $100; Irena & Edward Johnson, $200; John & Darlene DiNardo, $100.

John E. Williams Jr. & Sheridan Williams, $200,000; Kathy & John Long, $100; Mak's Ice House, $150; Margaret Weaver, $100; Mary Brandt, $100; Michael L. King, $200; Mike & Marianne Keller, $100; Millard & Frances Skaggs, $200; Mr. V. E. James, $500; Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Sullivan, $100; Mr. & Mrs. Hale E. Cullom, $500; Mr. & Mrs. John R. Wagner, $100; Mr. & Mrs. Roland W. Miller, $100.

Nancy Hall, $200; Norman & Sylvia Flack, $100; P.J. & L.M. Breen, $100; Patricia Martinez, $200; Rick Motley, $100; Roy E. Gamble, $150; Royce & Ora Nell Jones, $100; Ryan & Chelsea Nelson, $100; Sally O'Mally, $300; Sherry Barker, $100; Sidney & Elizabeth Stephens, $250.

Stephen & Martha York, $200; Stephen Kudrle, $100; Steve McCain, $120; the Everett Family, $250; the Strake Foundation, $1,000; Vance Burks, $100; Virginia Spitzenberger, $100; W. L. Skinner, $250; William Hoffman, $300.

Because of limitations of space, only recent contributions of $100 or more appear in Chronicle printed editions. A list of all recently processed contributions appears on www.chron.com/goodfellows. Contributions appear in the paper and on the Web site as they are processed.

david.ellison@chron.com

Now, ‘Key2SafeDribving’ to keep teen drivers from using cell phones

2008-12-14T00:24:00.000-08:00

Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Sun, 12/14/2008 - 06:24.

Washington, December 14 : Engineers at the University of Utah engineers say that they have created a wireless car key that can prevent teen drivers from using their cell phones while driving.

The researchers have named their innovation `Key2SafeDribving technology'.

They say that each driver of a car would have a separate key device, which sends signal to his/her phone, putting it in "driving mode" so that it cannot be used to talk or send texts.

According to them, the phone will display a stop sign while in driving mode.

The university has obtained provisional patents, and licensed the technology to a private company that hopes to see it on the market within six months at a cost of less than
50 dollars per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee.

"The key to safe driving is to avoid distraction. We want to provide a simple, cost-effective solution to improve driving safety," says Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who co-invented the system with Wally Curry, a University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine in Hays, Kan.

Zhou says that "at any given time, about 6 percent of travelers on the road are talking on a cell phone while driving. Also at any given time, 10 percent of teenagers who are driving are talking or texting."

Ronn Hartman, managing partner of Accendo LC, says that if things go as planned, the Key2SafeDriving system will be licensed to cell phone service providers to include in their service plans, instead of directly selling it to customers.

Hartman hopes that automobile and insurance industry will back their technology. (ANI)

2009 budget envisages deficit of 1.5% of GDP

2008-12-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

Source: Tanjug

Serbian Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic last Saturday stated that the government has adopted the budget law for 2009, which envisages revenues of RSD 698.7 billion and expenditures of RSD 748.3 billion.
At a press conference following the government session, Dragutinovic said that the budget deficit will be RSD 49.6 billion i.e. 1.5% of the GDP.

According to her the budget is based on the implementation of the Transitional Trade Agreement with the EU, reduction of taxes on vehicles and the government's participation in the joint company with Fiat with approximately €200 million.

She said that the 10% raise in pensions is still valid, but it will probably not occur if the global financial crisis continues.

The Minister specified that the budget envisages more non-tax than tax revenues, saying that the government will increase the excise duty on oil, tobacco, beer and coffee, as well as the payout of state owned companies' dividends in order to compensate for losses.

Dragutinovic also said the 2009 budget does not envisage the expansion of a collective agreement.

The government today adopted financial plans for all social insurance organisations and a Memorandum on Budget, Economic and Fiscal Policy for 2009, which includes projections for 2010 and 2011 as well.

She added that the law on the use of official vehicles was also adopted.

The government expects that the GDP growth rate will reduce by 3% to 3.5% and therefore the number of unemployed will reach 1 million, warned Dragutinovic.

As for Corridor 10, she said that RSD 10 million will be distributed to three ministries and Serbia also expects funds from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank.

According to her, approximately RSD 12 billion will be earmarked from the National Investment Plan in this respect.

Thieves net jewels worth $30000

2008-12-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

Tanya Smiley has little left to smile about this Christmas.

The owner of Beerwah’s Smiley’s Jewellers had her shop broken into in the early hours of yesterday morning.

“We are still trying to assess the loss,” Ms Smiley said.

“It looks like $25,000 to $30,000 worth was lost.”

It’s a heartbreak for Ms Smiley, because not only has she no chance of sufficiently re-stocking for the Christmas season – she is unlikely to get an insurance settlement before the new year.

“It has been a tough year already,” she said.

“For the insurance claim, I will have to find every single invoice from over 1000 suppliers.

“And I won’t be able to get new stock in time for Christmas.”

As Ms Smiley and her staff cleaned up the mess yesterday, she said she believed the break-in was “a specific hit”.

“They cased the place but it’s right in front of Woolworths and their staff keep an eye on the shop.”

Ms Smiley said there was Woolworths staff on all night.

“The night manager said (the situation) was so weird.

“(The burglars) must have known staff were there.”

She said the thieves had taken all the “bread and butter” items, leaving more unusual and easily identifiable pieces.

“They targeted certain things, and they were clever about it.

“They knew alarms were going off.

“People came out of Woolworths shortly after (but) it had all happened by then.”

Ms Smiley said a hire car was spotted in the vicinity which may have been associated with the crime.

But all she cared about was that no-one was hurt in the robbery.

“Material stuff can be replaced,” she said.

Anyone with information that could assist police should contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

Owners keep pet groomed despite economic woes

2008-11-29T02:37:00.000-08:00

BY AMY SACKS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Cindy Knoll is willing to sacrifice her own needs before scrimping on luxury items for her Shih Tzu, Titus.

"My dog would be the last thing I cut back on," said Knoll, 30, an interior designer from Manhattan.

She's hardly alone. Despite the bleak economy, the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association estimates Americans will spend $43.4 billion this year on their pets.

Still, many consumers are rethinking expenses, choosing quality and function over luxury and style on everything from treats and dog beds, to vet care and training.

"They're still spending, but they're spending differently," said APPMA President Bob Vetere of the estimated 71 million U.S. pet owners.

Pet food is one area where few will compromise. Last year's massive pet food recall caused concerned consumers to switch to higher-quality foods - and few are switching back.

Buying in bulk is the best way to save on pet food, says George Zimmerman, who runs Pet Health on the upper West Side. "The cost per pound of whatever you're buying is absolutely less expensive," he said.

Randy Doran, who works in publishing, won't skimp on good quality food for Cooper, her four-month-old Boston terrier. In order to cut costs, she buys heartworm prevention and prescription drugs through Petshed.com, an online retailer, which charges less than her local vet.

Cutting her pup's nails and washing him in the sink saves on grooming costs. And she hopes networking with other Boston terrier owners will help save on future doggie day care.

It's no surprise that services such as grooming and day care are also feeling a tightening of the leash.

At Kiki's Spa Boutique in Fort Greene and Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, owner Saron Nurse is offering creative incentives to lure back wary customers. The "Economic Bailout" promotion offers a 25% discount on a full grooming package, which start at $40.

Home grooming is one alternative. Those with tiny bathrooms and big dogs, however, can head to the Dog Wash, on MacDougal St., where the cost to scrub your own pooch is $19, including shampoo and supplies. Visit the store's Web Site at www.dogwashnyc.com.

Services such as pet insurance and vet care are also seeing a shift in spending.

Laura Bennett, who runs Embrace Pet Insurance, says an economic downturn is when buying pet insurance makes sense to plan for a catastrophe, but fewer people are making the commitment.

Veterinarian Philip Raclyn of Riverside Animal Hospital says that while routine appointments are steady, more people are putting off elective surgery. He recommends trying to catch problems early, instead of waiting for them to become big problems.

Consider the following cost-saving tips:

Compare prices using online resources, such as shopzilla.com, pricegrabber.com or googlebase.com.
Buy pet food in bulk. If you don't have a car, find a store that offers a delivery service, to avoid buying from the closest store out of convenience.
Shop around for pet insurance. Many policies will discount if you pay in full for a year. If you don't want to invest in a plan, consider PetAssure, which offers a 25% discount on all care from participating veterinarians.
Use low-cost spay/neuter services at the Humane Society of New York (www.humanesocietyny.org), which charges $75, or the ASPCA's free spay/neuter mobile van, available to eligible participants (aspca.org).
Don't be shy: Ask around for discounts and specials. For example, Biscuits and Bath's offers free Monday night playgroups for small and large dogs (www.biscuitsandbath.com).
Adopt, don't buy a pet from a breeder or pet store. This weekend, Animal Haven Shelter is offering $25 off adoption fees. Visit www.animalhavenshelter.org.
amy.sacks1@gmail.com

Car was in traffic stop before deadly trip to Lake Ballinger

2008-11-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

By Christine Clarridge

Seattle Times staff reporter

Edmonds police pulled over a car containing17-year-old Britney Galindez and five others shortly before the group drove to a South Snohomish County lake where the girl was killed, according to charging papers filed Friday.

During the traffic stop, Galindez became ill and vomited in the lap of Robert Langendoerfer, 21, the charging papers say.

Snohomish County prosecutors allege it was anger over the stop, as well as the vomiting, that prompted him to kill Galindez at Lake Ballinger in Mountlake Terrace.

Langendoerfer, of Edmonds, was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Galindez, whose body was recovered from the lake Oct. 21, several days after her death.

The charging papers contain information police obtained during later interviews with several of the car's occupants.

They told police the car was stopped by Edmonds police just after midnight Oct. 14 and that Galindez vomited while the officer was back at the patrol car. The driver received a ticket for driving without insurance.

However, the night the car was stopped, police did not attempt to detain or question the passengers.

An Edmonds police administrator said he would not comment on the ongoing investigation but said that because of Washington state Supreme Court rulings, police are no longer allowed to ask to see IDs or contact passengers in a vehicle unless there is evidence that they are participants in a crime.

The driver later told Mountlake Terrace detectives that everybody in the car, except for him, had been drinking and smoking marijuana.

After police allowed them to drive off, five of the car's occupants were angry, screaming or crying about the ticket and "the puke," according to several of the young men in the car.

Galindez "was crying and saying she would take the blame for the ticket," prosecutors wrote in charging documents.

A short time later, according to charging documents, the group pulled into the parking lot of the Silver Dollar Casino in Mill Creek, where security officers asked if there was a problem.

Look Behind the Legends: All Jokes 'Til Gametime

2008-11-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

By now, you know their names. You know how they played, how they coached and how they helped shape the game that we know today.

They've helped make lacrosse for us. But what made lacrosse for them?

In the November issue hitting mailboxes this week, Lacrosse Magazine presents our profiles of the National Hall of Fame's Class of 2008. The honorees will take their place alongside the game's greatest figures in the annual induction celebration, presented by Bollinger Insurance, on Nov. 8 in Hunt Valley, Md.

Join US Lacrosse today to start your monthly subscription to LM.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Daniel Malloy, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

The most striking thing was the outfit. How couldn't it be? She sported a mask, chest protector, oversized leg pads and high socks.

Roberta Brennan in goal was an odd sight for foes in 1957, when the U.S. women's national team tore through Great Britain and Ireland on an undefeated tour. She was outfitted more like a modern field hockey goalie, and the international opposition didn't quite know what to make of her, teammates from that year said.

But the wacky getup couldn't hide Brennan's skill. Her stocky frame belied her agility, and Brennan was whip-quick with her stick, the only part of her gear that wasn't oversized. Even with the standard stick -- not much of a pocket in those days, either -- she could sling clears out past midfield, and even notched a few assists in the scorebook that way.

In the net, Brennan was nigh impenetrable, registering countless shutouts in a national team career that spanned from 1953 to `68, and more than two decades playing club ball in the Boston Women's Lacrosse Association. Her sturdiness in goal will be honored Nov. 8, when Brennan is inducted into the National Hall of Fame.

"There wasn't anybody who could come close to her in goal," said Millie Barnes, a Hall of Famer herself who played with Brennan on national and club teams.

The woman behind the mask had a vivacious personality, too, old friends and teammates recalled.

"She was a piece of work," said Lee Burling, who played with Brennan on the national team and would drive in and bunk with her on weekends when they played club lacrosse in Boston. "She was very funny and had a great ability to laugh at herself. She was the first one to poke fun at herself."

The laughs came easily the time Brennan stepped in animal waste while playing croquet with a British host family or when Burling found mice nesting in the backseat of an old car Brennan had just bought, but she was serious when it came to lacrosse.

Brennan's playing career extended into her 40s, while she was teaching and coaching at Boston-area schools. She also did her best to promote the game and help with national team fundraising efforts to pay for travels -- making jewelry to sell, for example. Later, she was a nationally rated umpire for 20 years.

"She was always going in 5 million different directions," Burling said. "I don't know how she found time to sleep."

If so, Brennan probably wasn't the only one losing sleep. Scheming a way to fling a ball past the mask, pads and speedy stick of Bobbie Brennan would no doubt keep opponents up long into the night.

Horror Film Festival enough to make your skin crawl

2008-10-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

By Michael Janusonis

Journal Arts Writer

You can get a head start on Halloween over the next four days as the ninth annual Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival unspools its collection of ghouls and ghosts on movie screens from Providence to Narragansett. And the best thing is, you’ll still have time to make your trick-or-treat costume, decorate the house with spider webs and flickering lights, and fill the bowls with miniature candies.

Between the Horror Film Festival’s parade of scary movies, its walking tour that will take participants back to the 1920s world of Providence horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and a reading by the author of a new suspense novel, you will be well prepared for anything Halloween itself can dish out.

Be forewarned, however. These are not classic horror films. Adam Short, producing director of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, which has presented the event for the past eight years, said the collection of feature films and shorts being shown were submitted by independent filmmakers. These are films that have not played many places theatrically and are mostly unknown quantities. Then again, it would be hard to resist films with the titles Eel Girl, Trailer Park of Terror or Christian Vampires from Suburbia.

A handful of the films were screened previously during the more broad-based RIIFF festivities in August. That includes tonight’s very good documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, about the Hollywood producer of low-budget horror films in the ’50s and ’60s, movies that became moneymakers as much for Castle’s showmanship as for their ability to scare the daylights out of viewers. His audience-grabbing gimmicks included vibrators under seats that made people jump at scary moments in The Tingler. For Macabre, a film where audience members were offered $1,000 insurance policies should they die of fright, Castle had nurses stationed in theater lobbies if anyone needed to be carried out. Then there was the glow-in-the-dark plastic skeleton that sailed over audiences on a wire at scary points in The House on Haunted Hill. Spine Tingler! will be shown starting at 7:30 tonight at the Columbus Theatre, along with three spooky short films.

The festival actually starts at 4 p.m. today at the Providence Public Library’s theater with a collection of five short films. Among them are Death in Charge, in which the Grim Reaper is mistaken for a baby sitter, and A Hood in the Woods, a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story with a twist.

Shades of William Castle showmanship: stage will meet screen at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Columbus with a performance of Malice Aforethought. This collection of vignettes from horror films culled by RIIFF executive director George Marshall — from such silent classics as 1922’s eerie vampire movie Nosferatu to films that were shown in previous Horror Film Festivals — will be shown via rear projection on the Columbus screen. Meanwhile, at stage front, musical selections from Tales of Hoffmann, Hansel and Gretel and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas will be performed by local singers brought together by Kara Lund, the program’s creative director. Soprano Lund, who has performed nationally and with Opera Providence and the Rhode Island Philharmonic, will sing, along with Lorna Jane Norris, Ethan Bremner and Vaughn Bryner. Matthew Larson, music director of University of Connecticut Opera and staff pianist for Boston University, will accompany on piano. Malice Aforethought will be repeated at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Columbus.

Other screenings will take place at sites ranging from the Bell Street Chapel to the Cable Car Cinema to the Narragansett Theater, which has Trailer Park of Terror at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Nightlife, a documentary about real-life vampires and vampire hunters, at 8 p.m. Saturday (A complete schedule of Horror Festival events is at RIFilmFest.org.)

It’s not only movies that are bound to scare. Author K. Patrick Malone will discuss his latest book, Inside a Haunted Mind, at noon Saturdayat the Providence Public Library. Malone’s debut suspense novel revolves around a relentless evil force that’s closing in on a small town police chief and the World Trade Center survivor he rescued from drowning. This event is free and open to the public.

Also Saturday you can step off at 1 p.m. from the Van Wickle Gates at Brown University (College Street at Prospect Street) for a walking tour of the haunts of Providence fantasy-horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Conducted by C. Morgan Grefe of the Rhode Island Historical Society, the tour will see sites mentioned in Lovecraft’s books, including Prospect Terrace, the First Baptist Church and Benefit Street. Walkers will also see the site of Lovecraft’s former home as well as locales mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Haunter of the Dark, The Shunned House and The Call of Cthulu.

Following the 90-minute tour, participants will have a special screening at the Columbus of films inspired by Lovecraft’s stories, including Pickman’s Model and The Call of Cthulu. The latter film has shots of Providence that have been digitally altered to capture the look of the city in the 1920s, when Lovecraft was writing.

General admission tickets for screenings in the Horror Film Festival are $10; $8 for students and seniors. Tickets to the Malice Aforethought performance are $25; senior and student discounts are $18. Tickets for the Lovecraft Walking Tour are $15. To reserve tickets, call (401) 861-4445 or visit RIFilmFest.org. Tickets for the movies will also be available at the door.

mjanuson@projo.com

Deer-vehicle collisions increase in Washington state

2008-10-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

By KING5.com Staff
SEATTLE - Deer and vehicle collisions in Washington state have increased 15 percent in the last five years, according to State Farm Insurance.

The Insurance Highway Institute for Highway Safety says there are about 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions each year in America, causing more than 150 fatalities. Collisions are most frequent in October, November and December.

State Farm estimates the chances of a car colliding with a deer in Washington state in the next year are 1 in 516. The estimate comes from deer claims data from the last half of 2007 and first half of 2008, as well as motor vehicle registration counts by the state Federal Highway Administration.

West Virginia is the state where deer-vehicle collisions are most common, with the probability of a vehicle hitting a deer in the next year at 1 in 45, according to State Farm.

Deer-vehicle collisions are least likely in Hawaii.

The agency offers tips on reducing the chance of a deer-vehicle collision:

-Be aware of posted deer crossing signs. These are placed in active deer crossing areas.

-Remember that deer are most active between 6 and 9 p.m.

-Use high beam headlamps as much as possible at night to illuminate the areas from which deer will enter roadways.

-Keep in mind that deer generally travel in herds - if you see one, there is a strong possibility others are nearby.

-Do not rely on car-mounted deer whistles. They don't work.

-If a deer collision seems inevitable, attempting to swerve out of the way could cause you

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_100808WAB_deer_vehicle_collisions_KS.f29a39a3.html