Home insurance is not a legal obligation. However, many times it is a great thing to have on your side as the risks are increasing every year for home owners. The coverage of the home insurance policy is very important. This is because you want to know exactly which the risks covered are.

Any home insurance policy has exclusions. You should be aware of this and read it carefully before you sign anything. These exclusions are grouped in 5 big categories. These categories are presented below in this article in order to help you make an informed decision when purchasing such policies:

a) The environmental factors are very important for home insurance companies. For example, if your home has an increased risk of being flooded chances are you will have to pay a high premium or this may be one of the exclusions.

b) If an accident happens because of a domestic animal, chances are you will not be covered. If your property is damaged by a cat or a dog you will have to pay for reparations from your own pocket. Wear and tear factors are also in the exclusions list.

c) The occupancy factor is not known by everybody. If your home is not occupied for more than 30 days in a year, you will not be covered if something happens. A lot of people do not know anything about this policy. This exclusion exists in every company’s policy but some companies accept 60 days a year non occupancy.

d) External influences are exclusions too. This is due to the late happenings in the world. One of these external influences is terrorism. Pollution and war are other aspects that are considered to be external influences and you can’t fill a claim on this basis.

e) Deductibles or excess is another aspect you should definitely be aware of. If you choose high deductibles, you will have to pay small amounts from your own pocket but the cost of your premium will be lowered. If you choose low deductibles, you will have to pay smaller amounts if something happens but the cost of your insurance will be higher.

These exclusions have to be carefully read and fully understood by you prior to signing up with a home insurance company or another. Usually, all of these exclusions are in the offers of these companies but they may differ a little depending on the company’s policy. The terms and conditions of your agreement should also be read because you want to know every aspect of your insurance, not just the price.

In conclusion, knowing these exclusions will help you know exactly what you are covered for.

Ohio requires every driver that operate or park a vehicle on the highway to be covered with insurance. The bodily injury liability insurance limit for per person is $12,500. The limit for all the persons in the bodily injury liability insurance is $12,500. The limit for the property damage liability is $7,500. Ohio follows the tort system when an accident occurs. The tort system requires you to prove that you are at fault otherwise the insurance company won’t offer coverage. The uninsured/underinsured bodily injury motorist coverage is not required by Ohio. Though Ohio did not require you to purchase this coverage, you should buy it. The uninsured/underinsured coverage offers compensation if the other person that is responsible for the accident is not covered.

It is not necessary to buy the car insurance. If you choose to not meet the insurance minimum, you must possess a $30,000 bond which is from an licensed surety company. The $30,000 bond can also be obtained from the insurance carrier. The certificate of proof of financial responsibility can also be used to establish financial responsibility. The certificate must be signed by a licensed insurance agent. The Bureau of Motor Vehicle (BMV) certificate should show that you have a cash deposit of $30,000. The BMV certificate of self insurance can be used as roof of financial responsibility by people that have more than 26 vehicles.

The cost of the car insurance can be expensive for first time driver. If you have a good driving record, you can get discount for the insurance coverage. If you purchase all your insurance from the company, you may get a cheaper premium rate.

Your vehicle will be suspended if you are unable to provide an insurance proof when stopped by the law enforcement officer. After your vehicle is suspended by the BMV, you will receive a letter. The letter request that you submit the insurance policy proof and reinstatement fee to the specified address. Alternatively, you can attend the traffic court and show the car insurance proof. The BMV will randomly select a driver and ask him to show the insurance proof. When you receive the notice, you must show your insurance proof within the allotted time. If you fail to provide insurance proof, your vehicle registration will be suspended. If this is the first time you fail to show proof, your car driving license will be suspended for 90 days.

(WJS) – State regulators are drawing fire from auto insurers as they lay plans to revisit the use of factors such as consumers’ credit scores, occupations and education levels in determining rates paid by individual policy holders.

A committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is hosting a hearing Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., at which insurers are expected to object to a planned request for data aimed at quantifying the impact of these factors in light of high unemployment and mounting home foreclosures.

Insurers say the effort is overkill given multiple past studies concluding credit-related factors, in use for about two decades, allow for more accurate underwriting. Also, they are worried about regulators’ ability to maintain confidentially of any trade secrets divulged, according to testimony that insurers and trade groups have submitted in advance.

The NAIC’s proposed survey is an outgrowth of concerns raised by consumer groups amid the worsening economy that families struggling financially will face higher insurance costs on top of lost jobs and homes. Some consumer groups have advocated a moratorium on the use of credit histories in underwriting car, home and health insurance.

For policy holders, it is too early to determine whether any change in industry practice will result from the proposed survey. Michael McRaith, director of insurance in Illinois and head of the committee running the hearing, said the goal is “to collect information so that policy makers are aware of the impact of any one factor. We need to move past the polarized rhetoric of whether [the use of credit-related factors] is a social issue or a predictive, actuarial issue” to learn “what is the actual practical impact on consumers.” Insurers maintain the effort is largely unnecessary.

“We believe it is simply too expansive, costly and misguided to justify,” the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, a trade group, summarizes in its comments posted on the NAIC website. Credit-based insurance scoring “must be the most studied and regulated tool currently utilized by insurers,” with multiple industry, government and academic studies over the years.

Credit-related scores used by insurance companies are variations of those used by banks and other lenders. Many insurers have proprietary versions that use selected elements from credit histories.

The studies have indicated that credit-based insurance scores are predictive of the number of claims consumers file and the cost of those claims. Among other explanations, insurance executives and regulators say consumers with better scores tend to be able to absorb some minor claims out of their own pockets. Critics of credit-based pricing methodologies raise fairness issues, saying families stuck in low-wage jobs may be more inclined to run into occasional credit problems, while higher-income families have more flexibility to avoid them.

Some insurers also said in written testimony that their customers’ credit-related scores have been holding steady overall. “Some consumers are seeing their scores improve, others are seeing their scores worsen, which is normal,” a lawyer for Allstate Corp. says. “We have not seen evidence that overall insurance scores are getting worse.” One reason: While delinquencies may be more frequent, balances and total debt burdens are decreasing.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, another trade group, said “an overriding concern” is whether the planned survey would reveal companies’ business model to rivals, “by disclosing what underwriting and rating factors they use and to what degree they use them.”

The draft material states that responses “will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by state law,” while “aggregate data may be made public.”

Michigan requires the residents who own car to buy the no fault insurance. There are several types of no fault car insurance including personal injury protection (PIP), property protection insurance (PPI), and residual liability insurance.

The personal injury protection (PIP) will pay for the medical cost of the policy holder. If you are not injured, it will pay the maximum compensation including your lost salary for 3 years. In the event that you die in the accident, the insurance company will disburse a monthly allowance to your beneficiaries for up to 3 tears. The monthly allowance is based on the earnings. Each policy holder is entitled to receive compensation of $20 for replacement service. The replacement service compensation is used to pay services such as yard work, maid, which you are not able to pay by yourself because you are not fit to work. The PIP coverage can be coordinated with the majority of the health policies. However, you cannot coordinate the PIP coverage with the government insurance bodies such as Medicaid, and Medicare. If you coordinate the PIP coverage with the health policy, the health policy is the main payer while the auto policy will pay for the balance medical expenses. The coverage for the remaining medical cost is called excess medical loss.

The property protection insurance (PPI) offers compensation for the damages your car done to the property that belonged to other people. For example, PPI insurance will pay for the damages if your car accidentally collides into the buildings or fence. If your car collided into a parked vehicle, the PPI insurance will also pay for the damages. The PPI insurance covers up to $1 million dollar.

The residual liability insurance covers the lawyer fee if you are sued by a third party due to a car accident. The residual liability insurance is also called bodily injury and property damage (BI/PD). It will pay for the lawsuit fee if you are sued for causing someone to die in an accident or involved in another state. In addition, you are entitled for the compensation if the third party is a non resident. It also covers up to $5000 for the damages you have incurred on another car during an accident. The coverage will only apply if you are the one that is responsible for causing the damages.  The no fault policy will compensate for the limit amounts in the event that a third party sue you for causing damages to him in the accident.

(PRNewswire-USNewswire) – Excessive billings by medical mills, fraudulent companies that provide few if any real health care services to the public, are a key factor in driving New York State’s no-fault automobile insurance fraud crisis. New data shows the problem with medical mills’ excessive treatment is growing, according to the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF).

During the first six months of 2010, questionable liability insurance claims involving excessive medical treatment in New York surged 42 percent, up from 304 to 431, over the same period one year ago.

NYAAIF observed that many of these questionable liability claims referred by insurance companies to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) for investigation involved no-fault auto insurance claims submitted by medical mills.  

These corrupt medical clinics submit fraudulent no-fault auto insurance claims for treatment that was either excessive or not necessary. In some instances, the treatments are never even performed, but bills for these bogus services are nonetheless sent to auto insurers.

The New York-based Insurance Information Institute reports that fraud in the New York no-fault system accounts for roughly 20 percent of every no-fault claim paid—or about $1,561 per claim. Spread across the state, that amounted to nearly $230 million in “fraud taxes” in 2009.

Medical mills are criminal enterprises consisting of dishonest medical professionals that often conspire with unscrupulous lawyers, hospital employees, and patients.  

There are several types of medical mill scams. The most common involve:

• Inflated Billing – The most common scam used by medical mills involves a health care provider purposely miscoding diagnoses and inflating bills to get more money from the insurer.
• Fraudulent Physician – In this type of crime, everything is fabricated … from the doctor who fakes his or her credentials, to the bills, to the office itself. Since patients with bogus injuries are often recruited, these offices contain little or no medical supplies and actual treatment is rarely prescribed let alone performed.
• Double-Dipping Doctor – While this type of medical mill provides medical services, treatment methods are frequently excessive, redundant or unnecessary. Patients are occasionally overcharged for services or billed for services never rendered. Bogus claims for treatment are then submitted to insurers for payment.

Scams typically start with third-party middlemen recruiters, called runners, signing up insurance fraud perpetrators and befriending legitimate accident victims. These recruiters send individuals to medical mills with promises of big money payoffs.  

These accident victims can subsequently become patients who exaggerate an actual injury or fake the injury in the first place, often claiming soft-tissue sprains and strains that are hard to disprove and do not appear on x-rays. These patients also will commonly fake slip-and-fall accidents and other injuries.

If you suspect fraud on the part of a health care provider contact your insurance company or anonymously report the suspected fraud to the New York Insurance Department fraud hotline 1-888-FRAUD NY.

The New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud is a cooperative effort by insurance companies in New York to educate consumers about the costs of insurance fraud, the many forms it can take and what they can do to fight back. Visit fraudny.com for more information on NYAAIF and what you can do to fight insurance fraud.

(IFAwebnews) – The Obama Administration’s attempt to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions appears to be garnering a less than enthusiastic response.

About 3,600 people have applied for coverage through the federal program, and about 1,200 people have been approved for state high-risk health insurance pools, according to a report by Kaiser Health News, citing state and federal data.

“It’s early,” Michael Keough, executive director of the North Carolina Health Insurance Risk Pool, told Kaiser Health News. “ But thus far interest in the program is lower than we expected.

The North Carolina program, which began taking applications July 1, had 314 applicants, of which 158 had been approved to participate, according to the report.

The high-risk health insurance pools are among the first steps in the federal overhaul of health reform in the U.S. In 2014, individuals will be able to compare and buy health insurance from state health exchanges. The reform of health insurance in the U.S. was approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in March.

Not all states have their coverage for people suffering from pre-existing in place yet so officials told Kaiser Family News that it’s too early to provide a complete picture of its effect on the overall health insurance marketplace.

Exactly 22 states declined the offer of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funds for the high-risk pools, citing fear that they will have to pony their own money to continue the program. Those states’ residents seeking coverage for a pre-existing condition may enroll through the federal Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan program.

Obtaining great auto insurance deals is possible if you follow several tips. The first thing you need to do is to maintain your driving record by not incurring traffic violations. The second thing is to learn about existing auto insurance discounts. Thirdly, research about the factors that affect your auto insurance premiums. People who research well enough can enjoy bigger savings.

Your driving history is a crucial factor for the providers to determine how much your auto insurance premium is. A bad driving record will increase the cost of the policy. Those who have a good record will be able to save a lot. Try not to get moving violations and speeding tickets to keep your auto insurance rates low. The insurance company will look at these things to find out how much of a risk you will be to them. Those with an unclean driving history should expect to pay a higher auto insurance premium. This is a signal to the insurer that accidents might happen in the future. But the good news is that minor and initial violations are often ignored by insurance providers.

No matter how your driving history looks, you can still try to find auto insurance discounts. There are plenty being given and the best thing to do is to have your agent look at your record and see if there is a discount you qualify for.

One of the popular discounts around is the multi-policy discount. This means that you deal with the same insurance company for your home and life insurance policies. This is the easiest way to get auto insurance discounts because your agent will probably be selling different types from the same company.

Take time to study the criteria used by insurance companies to determine whether you are eligible for auto insurance or not. This way, you can try to get the best rate for yourself. As mentioned, providers will look at your driving history but they will also review your credit history. They will study your daily mileage, the area you live in, and the kind of vehicle you drive. The truth is that auto insurance rates have varying factors to be considered.

Your responsibility as a consumer is to present yourself to be as less of a risk as possible. Let common sense guide you and you will learn if you are a high risk or a low one for auto insurance companies. Evaluate yourself honestly; it might be difficult but this is necessary.

All drivers are required to have auto insurance. There are many things to consider when you are looking for one. States require that drivers have the basic coverage. Find out what it is in your state and get the sufficient policy so that you do not suffer the consequences of going against the law.

There are plenty of states which require you to present insurance proof before you can buy a car. This document will have to be kept inside the vehicle at all times just in case you get stopped for something. Your basic auto insurance coverage needs provision for bodily harm and property damage.

The amounts that have to be covered by your auto insurance policy are very specific. Bodily injury, per accident, is at $25,000. Property damage, to both public and private, is at $15,000. Total injury expense per accident is at $50,000. These amounts are mandatory and they should be covered no matter what kind of auto insurance you get.

Some states are tort states. This means that the driver at fault for an accident is liable for the other party’s medical expenses. The damage can also include loss of income and provision for suffering and pain. The auto insurance company will be the one to settle this.

If you are visiting a state and looking to rent a car, make sure that it is covered by the state’s minimum liability policy. The terms of your credit card should be sufficient to cover this. Most auto insurance policies extend to rented cars. See if yours and your credit card provider has provisions about this. There are also rental car companies that give you the option to having a day-rate auto coverage.

Some states also require under-insured or uninsured motorist coverage for your auto insurance plan. This is your protection in case the other person involved in the accident is not adequately insured or has no insurance at all.

Remember that auto insurance requirements vary per state. The important thing is to comply with the laws in yours. It is better to have a higher coverage than just the minimum liability. This allows you to be at peace knowing that all your potential costs are covered.

Keep in mind that the insurance business is risk-based. While you cannot change certain things about you that make you more or less risky, one thing you can do is to opt for auto insurance discounts.

There are expenses that can be categorized as a need and a want, and car insurance these days fall under need.  For you to be given a legal right to drive, you must have car insurance.  You might be thinking that this can cost you a lot of money and will just be an additional expense, but in case you don’t know, there are ways in which you can get this type of insurance at a lower rate.

The first step that you need to take is to make a comparison between the rates of several auto insurance companies.  This may look easy, but you may need to exert a lot of effort in determining which among the quotes that you were able to gather is the best.  You have to look deeply into the rates, terms and coverage of the car insurance as well as its additional features like accident forgiveness and road assistance service. 

You may get car insurance from the company where you have availed your life, health and home insurance and you will get a discount for sure.  As time passes, you car will depreciate and you cannot prevent this from happening.  So, it would be a nice idea to change your comprehensive insurance into car insurance with limited coverage.  This way, you will cut down a big percentage of your premium.  You will, likewise, save a lot if you pay your premiums in an annual mode.  

Having a good rating in your driving record can also earn you a discount.  In case you never met an accident and receive a ticket for the past three years, there’s a great chance that you will be paying lesser premiums.  However, if you have teens living in your home, they will not be covered by the car insurance unless you get them a separate policy.  This is because teens are aggressive drivers and they are more prone to accidents. 

The rate of your insurance depends greatly on the kind of car that you have.  Expensive or luxury cars have higher premiums for they are hot in the eyes of bandits that is why it would be a good idea to first ask insurance agents how much will it cost you for the car that you intend to purchase. 

You can get yourself a great deal on car insurance if you exactly know how to do it.  All the things mentioned above are sure ways of helping you pay lower insurance premiums.

Choosing the best car insurance provider is not a complicated task. To find a good car insurance provider, you just need to take a few steps. Some of the factors that you need to take into consideration when choosing a car insurance provider are ratings of insurers, getting quote from different companies and hiring an agent.

Before applying for a car insurance, you should check the ratings of the car insurance companies. You can find out the ratings of the car insurance companies by referencing the ratings performed by A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s companies. These two companies rate the car insurance companies based on their financial strength. By researching the financial strength of the insurance companies, you will know whether they have the ability to pay out compensation when you file a claim for an accident. A.M. Best rate the insurers by using a letter grade grading system that ranges from A++ to D. Standard & Poor’s ratings uses a letter grade rating system that ranges from AAA to C.

You should get quotes from different car insurance companies. If you surf the internet, you will find that many major car insurance companies allow customers to get quotes online. The process of getting car insurance quotes is simple. Most car insurers will require you to answer a set of questions. When answering the questions, you must be honest so that you can get an accurate quote. Besides considering the price, you should also take into account the benefits and features of the car insurance. The car insurance which you apply should contain all the benefits and features that you need. After you have obtained an estimate quote, you can call the representative to get more information about the features and benefits of the insurance. If you are satisfied with the insurance coverage, you can finalize the deal.

If you are having problem selecting car insurance, you can buy the insurance premium from an agent. In the past, many people used to purchase the car insurance from the direct agents of the car insurance companies. There are two types of agents including captive agent and independent agent. Captive agents sell the insurance of one major insurer while independent agents sell the insurance from different insurance companies. The agent is able to help you to find the right car insurance policy because he is familiar with the industry. When hiring an agent, make sure you inform him about your current situation so that he can guide you to an insurance policy that suit you.

Installing safety features in your hybrid cars will also enable you to be qualified for cheaper premium. The automatic seatbelt is a common safety feature that insurance company approves. To find out a list of safety features that is approved by the company, you can make a phone call to the representative and ask them about it.