December 29, 2008
ONLINE TEMPORARY MEDICAL INSURANCE TO HELP A FRIEND
I do most things online. I find that you can get a lot of good information online and it is all pretty easy to access. Many people don't use their internet connection for everything as I do, and I find that limits their ability to find out a lot about what is going on in the world and what is truly available to them. I do my banking online, pay all my bills online and even bought online car insurance. Car insurance is a great thing to get online, because it is the quickest way to compare rates and find the company and policy that best suits your needs. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without my internet connection.
The last time I was online I was researching COBRA for a friend who had become unemployed. He was panicking because he really didn't know how he was going to pay his premiums for his family, but didn't want them to be without insurance. I didn't know what information was out there, but I did know that with my trusty internet connection, I could access all kinds of information so I told him that I would look into it for him. Now when I first went online I came across something called temporary medical insurance and so I began to research what it was, and it was an option offered by certain insurance companies for the purpose of covering lapses of insurance due to loss of employment or other issues. I knew that this would be helpful information to my friend, but I also didn't know how much they wanted to continue him on COBRA, I just know that he said it was going to be too expensive, so I gave him a call and told him that I had found a great company called UniCare Texas and that they offered what seemed to be very good rates on all of their insurance policies, especially on those plans for temporary medical insurance, but that he would have to check it out with his information and see if it was a good deal for his family. I suggested that he go online and look at it, but I think that he was unsure about doing it, so I told him I could stop by and show him after work.
I did just that, and to his surprise the cost of this policy was about 1/2 of what his company was going to charge for COBRA. He was able to sign up online and get his insurance taken care of. Now he has an affordable insurance plan for his family and has one less worry during this difficult time.
Posted by juliusp at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2008
Affordable Texas health insurance
So many people struggle with their health insurance and need to find more affordable health insurance to meet their family's needs. There are many ways of doing this, for instance did you realize that there are insurance sites available by state listing good insurance plans at reasonable rates. For instance if you were to go onto google and type in Pennsylvania health insurance or Texas health insurance you can find out more of what insurance packages are available through your state? So let's say that you live in Florida, just as an example you go online and type in Florida health insurance, and there are many companies that will come up that offer insurance just to the residents in your state, and some of the sites you will find are even the state run ones. It is helpful to know to look by state when shopping around for health insurance. Some of these companies offer really good deals, and it is a good thing to try instead of just trying the insurance companies that you already are aware of like State Farm and Allstate, they count on the name recognition, but do not always offer the best deals to regular people. Also, if you are shopping around for health insurance, keep in mind what your needs are for coverage, sometimes things like a higher deductible can save you some money and you may be one of those people who never really go to the doctor and just want insurance coverage for emergencies. In this case, a higher deductible may be just what you are looking for. Some insurance companies charge your insurance based on the number of people in your family, but some don't. So if you have a larger than normal family it may be more affordable to find a company that charges a flat family rate. Sometimes by doing this you can save a lot of money and only pay the same premium for a family of 6 that a family of 4 is paying, so this is another thought to keep in mind. Also, many states are offering some affordable insurance programs for people in the working class who are not offered insurance benefits from their employers. This is another thing to think about when you are looking into health insurance in your state.
If you shop around, you can get reasonable health insurance so it is definitely worth your while to look around until you find a policy that you can afford.
Posted by juliusp at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2008
insurance quotes
I recently heard an advertisement on television telling people to update their insurance every few months to check and make sure they are getting the best rate available. Well, honestly I have been with the same insurance company since I started driving and never really thought about calling around and getting insurance quotes. You would think that it seems obvious, however, I just didn't really think about it. This morning I sat down on the computer and looked up a few of the well known insurance companies that I could think of. I had a copy of my policy, so I knew what insurance coverage I was currently paying for, and I was amazed at the cheap insurance quotes I got. I always thought that my insurance rates were just the going rate, and I thought I was getting the most insurance for my money. Well, I was wrong. There were lots of insurance policies that were going to charge me less, so I contacted my insurance company to tell them that I was going to switch companies because I could save over $500.00 per year. I really thought that they were going to at least try to match the rate I was getting, but they didn't even bother. What a disappointment! I guess my business wasn't really that important to them, so I will be switching insurance companies as of tonight. Now, in the short term I will have to pay the new insurance company and then wait for a refund check from the old insurance company, but still, I didn't want to wait until the term of my policy was over. After all, why keep paying too much for my insurance now that I knew that I didn't have to.
As for that advertisement I saw on television, I am really grateful for the suggestion that I check into lower rates for my insurance. I never knew that it would be so simply to check into other rates and make the switch. Saving $500.00 per year is a huge savings and I have decided that to reward myself I am going to put that savings aside for a rainy day. After all, it is money that I could have been paying for car insurance, and now it is back in my pocket...FREE MONEY!
Posted by juliusp at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2008
Car insurance
You know, I think that I believe that if some people were not so litigious by nature and not trying to get something for nothing, our insurance rates would not be so outrageous. The average person these days picks up the phone and makes that dreaded call for the auto insurance quotes. Then the average person has to go and find a bathroom quickly. I personally think next time I have to call for auto insurance quotes, I will just place the call from an appropriate sitting position on the toilet. The representatives of the auto insurance carriers are always (or most of the time) very helpful and empathetic because they have to buy car insurance too. I wonder what happens if the attorneys that come on television enticing you to call them if you have been injured in an accident and it won't cost you one penny unless they can recover a bundle for you, realize and/or take any responsibility for their actions. Ultimately, car insurance keeps going up because they continue to find people out there whose neck starts to hurt the minute the commercial comes on even if it was six months ago that they were in a teeny, tiny little fender bender. Perhaps, the attorneys that are really the ones that are prospering from those lawsuits should be required to pay more for their auto insurance. Maybe if you have ever filed a claim for anything other than your medical bills and your car repairs, you should have to pay more for your insurance. Shouldn't there be categories that if you have filed one claim against any car insurance carrier, you should be in the one claim category and if you have filed two or more claims against the auto insurance carriers, you should get placed in another category and each time you file a claim, your insurance goes up proportionately according to how much money you personally received from the claim and how much your attorney received, especially when we know they all go into these situations knowing how much the auto insurance industry is willing to pay for specific injuries and the like. And how about those little hot shot young men and women out there that should have failed driving school and believe that their sex appeal is based on their daredevil antics on the road. I know it costs a fortune to purchase car insurance if you are under a certain age, and that alone penalizes the young drivers who drive as if their parents are sitting in the back seat.
Posted by juliusp at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Insurance Costs are Insane
It is common knowledge that health insurance is one of the great problems in today’s world. Companies have stopped providing insurance for their employees. Some will still pay a portion of the premiums; others have completely turned the problem over to their employees. The bottom line is that we have more Americans without health insurance today than ever before. This is a disgraceful situation which our politicians have been ignoring. They talk about it regularly but never seem to arrive at any solutions. This is just one more area in which the government has failed the people.
Many people are going without health insurance and praying that they do not get ill. This is a very sad situation and people are not addressing the health symptoms they may be having because they know they cannot afford the tests necessary for an accurate diagnosis. It’s hard to believe that our country cannot resolve this situation in a satisfactory manner but, to date, they have not. The only area we have succeeded in resolving to some extent is health insurance for children. I live in Virginia and we do have a plan to cover children without health insurance. This is a wonderful thing but, unfortunately, it still leaves the parents with out any availability to health care.
One of the options available to people today is a high deductible policy. These policies are reasonably priced so they become more affordable than lower deductible policies. I recently carried a policy that had at $6,500 deductible. This will not work for everyone. I did not want to have this type of policy but there were very few alternatives when I was applying for health insurance. My husband and I were in relatively good health but the insurance companies did not want to offer us a health insurance policy at a reasonable rate. The only option available to us was this high deductible policy. The one advantage to this policy was that the premium was somewhat reasonable and it made us eligible for a Medical Savings Account which today is known as a Health Savings Account.
More banks are offering Health Savings Accounts today than ever before. The government created very stringent rules for this type of account and they are often subject to audits. The Health Savings Accounts available today offer a variety of options. To begin with these accounts allow you to deposit a specific amount of money, tax free, into your account each year. The amount allowed is a percentage of your annual deductible and you cannot exceed that amount. Since this money is tax-free, you are able to save considerably more than you could in an after-tax account. Unlike Flexible Savings Accounts, you do not have to use this money in a calendar year or risk forfeiting it. No such rules apply to a Health Savings Account so you are able to accumulate funds over a period of years and use them in your retirement years. This money can be used in retirement to pay Part B of Medicare, drug expenses, doctor co-pays, etc. Even today, all medical expenses, including over the counter drug purchases, are deductible from this account. Most accounts provide a debit card and, if requested, will furnish checks for payment of bills. There are some charges associated with the accounts but they are generally minimal.
I have recently signed up for an account that pays interest on my savings but does not offer other options. Some of the accounts available at this time are investment accounts which give account holders the choice of investing their funds in the stock market, bonds, or mutual funds if they so desire. If not, they can continue to maintain a savings account earning an interest rate that is comparable to others being offered at this time.
Some financial advisers are against investment accounts as they are not secure and this is money set aside for medical expenses. The flip side of this argument is that you can earn a larger return on your investment which will, eventually, give you additional funds towards your medical costs.
In 2006 the government passed the Pension Protection Act which included a change to Health Savings Accounts. This new law contained a provision giving Health Savings Account holders the right to a one-time transfer of IRA funds directly into their Health Savings Account. This transfer can only amount to a one-year deposit equivalent and can only occur once in a lifetime. This is an additional advantage given to people who are trying to balance their income and their health insurance needs. I have recently taken advantage of this new law and hope that it will help me meet unexpected health expenses in the future.
Posted by juliusp at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)