Personal Finance Tips

In case you are not familiar with the market of insurance in general and healthcare coverage in particular, it can be quite confusing at first. But do not worry, as it is far simpler than you may think. Here’s a short recap of the most important things to know when shopping for health coverage plans. Of course, it’s not that profound to make an insurance specialist out of you in a single read, but it sure will help you find a decent policy with good coverage and low price.

Your options

Individual health policies – it is the most obvious option for most people, especially when not provided with healthcare coverage through their employers. You can find many insurance companies providing individual health plans. There are different regulations in every state regarding individual health coverage so make sure to learn more about your state before actually getting the policy. The best source for this information is your state’s insurance department.

High risk pools – these specific pools are the best solution in case you have been denied ordinary individual insurance due to a pre-existing condition. Not all states have high risk pools, but if your state allows them you will want to look better into this option. They typically have higher rates if compared to usual individual coverage, but it’s far better than having no healthcare coverage at all.

HIPAA coverage – in case you have recently been canceled of a job-base group plan and all COBRA coverage does not apply to you anymore, there’s a thing called HIPAA coverage that may be useful to you. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) coverage is available in all states and can be of a use for people who can’t get individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions. This way HIPAA coverage is a good option in states where high risk pools do not exist. But even if there are high risk polls in your state you should consider both possibilities. Consult with your insurance agent to see what’s more appropriate in your case.

Whom to address

Insurance agents – an insurance agent is the person that will connect you with the insurance company, so it’s better to ask him or her about your options. But before you ask questions, make sure the agent is licensed for providing health insurance in your state. To do so, you can address your state insurance department and check the status of the agent you’ve been talking too. If the person is licensed, their experience in the domain can help you find good health coverage.

Department of insurance – besides giving information about state regulation and agents’ license, your state insurance department can also be a very valuable source of information on the whole health insurance market in your state. Don’t expect any recommendations to be made, though, as the workers are restricted from making any commercial claims. Use the department as your info source to know what companies are working in your area and then contact them directly.

Websites – there are many websites dedicated to health insurance out there and they can be a very good source of information to use. Many sites also provide free online quotes and state-specific data so you won’t have any problems with finding the right deal from a local provider.

Many people are complaining about their health insurance costs, having a dramatic increase in rates over a short period of time. Some policyholders have noticed that their rates increased by 30% over the last two years and that definitely rings a bell, when a good portion of your income is spent on health insurance. In this time when every spare dollar counts, people are looking for ways to minimize their expenses and insurance, whether health, car or homeowners, is the first thing that comes in mind when cutting costs. Some people choose to drop health coverage altogether, ending up with astronomic bills for any medical service they get. Others are more careful with their decisions and first investigate what other types of health insurance can bring to the table. Here are some things to consider if you want to minimize your insurance costs.

Should I get individual or group health insurance plan?

There are a lot of questions about group and individual health insurance. Of course, group plans are very convenient in the sense that you can insure your entire family and pay out a single premium rather than have multiple separate policies, which only multiply the annoying paperwork. However, group health insurance usually has higher rates as it should guarantee that even high risk customers within the group have adequate coverage. This, of course, makes the healthier group members pay for the risk they share with the less healthy members. Such a situation can be acceptable if there are different health issues among different members. But if your family is healthy in general it would be more cost effective to purchase separate individual policies for each member, because the rates in individual plans are based on your particular health situation and if it’s OK then you will get much lower rates than with a group health insurance plan.

Outline your exact insurance needs and get an appropriate plan

If you are looking for cheap health insurance you first have to determine what your exact insurance needs are. Analyze your conditions, see how often you go to the doctor and what particular services you are using most frequently, and choose a plan that gives you the base rates for your exact needs. With so many different plans out there on the market you should definitely find the one that will give you cheap health insurance and will address all of your needs to the proper extent.

Finding cheap health insurance while self-employed

Those workers who are self-employed often find it hard to get adequate coverage for a low price. The group health insurance benefits that an employer can give their workers don’t apply here, and in most cases self-employed specialists have to go with independent individual health insurance plans that can sometimes be quite expensive. However, if you are leaving a workplace with good group health insurance benefits, you may fall under COBRA regulations in certain circumstances and continue receiving group health benefits while already being self-employed. If your previous employer didn’t have any group health benefits, it would be better to go independently.

A traffic accident is never a think to be happy about. Having even the smallest car accident will surely give you a lot of stress and headache. Not to say that things will be a lot worse if there’s someone injured or the damage to vehicles or property is serious. The best thing to do in such a case is to remain calm and not panic. You will need your cool head for evaluating the extent of damage and injuries before you even contact your insurance company to report the accident. And here are some things to keep in mind if you want to do that right.

Remain cool-headed

The first thing you should do is to calm down. It will certainly be hard especially if you never had accidents before. But this is very important for properly analyzing the situation and helping other people involved if they need help. You have to keep focus on all of the details so you can report them to your insurance agent or the police officer when you will be asked questions.

Call for help first

Prior to evaluating the damage and injuries there’s another thing you have to do. Call 911 and report if there’s anyone injured at the scene. If the accident took place in a location where it is dangerous to remain (heavy traffic, high risk of collision) it is better to move the vehicles to a safer place rather than waiting for the police officer to document the accident. This will save you from additional risk of damage or injury. When you have all of these things done you can take your camera and notepad for documenting the crash.

Gather evidence

Try to get as many pictures and notes from the scene while it is still as-is before the police start moving the vehicles. Then write down how the accident happened step by step as you remember it. If there’s someone who saw it happen around the scene, get their names and contacts, and ask for their version of the accident. It’s not wise to start arguing with them if you don’t agree with them. Just document as many evidences as you can to have plenty of information that can be presented to your auto insurance company or the police.

Help the authorities

When the police arrive to the scene you should cooperate and do everything they say. Report everything you are asked about and ask for an additional copy of the report when it’s compiled. It can be a bit stressful to deal with so much documents but it will make it easier for your auto insurance claim to be processed faster.

Here are some things you have to pay utmost attention when documenting the aftermath of the crash:

1. Compile a list of any personal items that are missing after the accident.

2. Document the physical condition of all the people involved in the crash, even if it’s a light headache. Sometimes a light pain in the arm can turn out to be a fracture a few days later.

3. Take pictures of all the damage resulted from the accident. Take close up pictures of the damaged car parts and any infrastructure that has been affected by the crash.

4. Don’t sign any documents or agreements if you aren’t aware of their content. Contact your lawyer or your cheap auto insurance company to learn what you should do in such a situation.

Most car owners are probably well aware of the fact that their insurance rates are strongly influenced by their current credit score. The majority of insurance companies make a direct link between a person’s credit record and risk grade, because statistically those who have bad credit ratings are usually filing more insurance claims and represent a high risk to insurance providers. And those, who have good credit score, are typically the less risky drivers that tend to have the smallest numbers of insurance claims and traffic violations.

Of course other factors besides credit rating are also taken into account as insurance providers will base the rates you will get on your driving record, type of car you drive, your sex, age, and area of residence. But if you don’t have an established credit history yet, the companies working with the credit score may not be the best option to look into as you can have higher premiums and lack of special discounts for a good credit score.

Some of you may question the legal right of insurance providers to use your credit history for their purpose. However, it’s perfectly legal and allowed by state authorities for insurers to look into their clients’ credit scores. So don’t be surprised when your insurance company uses your credit information for setting up your rates. Still, only a small number of providers use the exact current credit score of their customer. Most companies have a special “insurance credit score” that is mathematically and statistically derived from the current record and helps the insurers determine your risk grade and how likely you are to file a claim in the future. And if you feel that your credit score does not reflect the actual situation you should tell the insurance company to review their calculations.

Besides the actual credit rating the insurance companies also use the following factors in order to determine a customer’s insurance credit score:

• Records on bankruptcy, charge-offs, and other public notices
• History of payments and due bills
• Duration of credit history
• Number of open credits and credit applications
• Types of credit lines used

The insurance credit score will be different with every insurance company as each provider uses a whole different set and weight of factors when determining the score. So when you get car insurance quotes and worry about the effects of your credit score on the rates you will get, keep in mind that they will be different from one provider to another.

If you feel that your credit score is not that good and may result in high rates you have two possibilities. The first is clearing your credit record of all due bills and unused credit lines in order to improve the score in general. Get a free copy of your credit report at a national bureau and see what can be improved. The second possibility is shop around using free car insurance quotes and seeing what companies offer the most competitive rates with your current rating. The best would be combining these two methods, of course, as this will surely result in better rates.

Depending on the breed of your dog, you may either not qualify to receive insurance from certain companies or you may face a significantly higher home insurance premium. Many insurers believe certain types of dog to be dangerous and therefore high-risk. So although dog owners consider their pet to be as much as family-member as anybody else, they must also be considered expensive assets in terms of homeowner insurance.

There is a debate raging between dog owners, organizations and home insurance companies around the topic of breed discrimination. As the temperament of dogs can vary greatly even within a breed, it is controversial to consider any one breed more high-risk than another. Never-the-less, dog owners should be aware of whether their particular breed is deemed dangerous by their insurer so they can estimate their liability coverage and the price of their quotes.

The factors and criteria by which homeowner insurance companies determine how dangerous different canine breeds are can vary between companies. Dog owners should be well aware of how dangerous their pet is deemed to be before taking out or renewing their cover.

Because of the varying criteria used by different companies to determine the risk-level of each breed, dog owners should research and compare home insurance extensively before settling for a policy. They should also speak to an agent for guidance but shouldn’t be surprised if the agent refuses to offer any cover at all or if he/she does, it is at a high rate.

The size of the dog is a key factor in how dogs are evaluated for home insurance. Small dogs are less likely to be a problem as they might be less likely to bite. Larger dogs, however, will always be evaluated by how violent they are, could be or the harm they are capable of inflicting.

The bite is another key factor is determining the risk level. Breeds with a history of inflicting frequent bites to humans are inevitably going to cost more to insure than those without. Unfortunately, the dog owner has to pay the price, fairly or unfairly, for the history of the breed of his dog. However, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 4.5 million Americans suffer dog bites every year so it is an important factor that must be carefully considered.

Reputation of the breed is also a key factor. Insurance companies collect reports involving dogs made by authorities such as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and use them to judge the risk level of the breed and how dangerous it is to its owner.

Highest risk Canine Breeds according to Homeowner insurers

The following breeds are considered as the most high-risk and those homeowners should avoid:

• Akita
• Alaskan Malamute
• Chow Chow
• Doberman Pinscher
• German Shepherd
• Pit Bull
• Presa Canario
• Rottweiler
• Siberian Husky
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Wolf hybrid

Dog owners with any of the above breeds can expect to pay a high homeowners insurance premium. In some cases, dog owners can consider themselves lucky even to find a homeowners insurance provider willing to insure them and their beloved pet.