Here are some insurance tips for the mothers to be

1. If you do not have health insurance, try and get one before you get pregnant. Get covered through a group plan if you have never had insurance. This new plan may not cover you immediately for pregnancy but you may have to wait for a few months to receive coverage.
2. When you are looking around for coverage, carefully read about what kind of coverage your prospective health plan offers for pregnancy, birth and adoption. If you have health insurance then check your existing policy for what it offers during conditions like pregnancy, adoption and birth.
3. If you are employed ask your employer if the health plan they offer covers maternity. If you are out looking for a job then you may ask the potential employers if they offer health insurance and also if it covers maternity.
4. If you switch jobs during pregnancy, it might be that you may have to wait for a couple of months more to be able to get the coverage. So, it is advisable that you don’t switch jobs when you are pregnant.
5. You may also apply for Medicaid if you do not have a health plan in place. You can simply meet the plan’s low-income needs.
6. You may seek help from your state insurance department to give you more information on how to get coverage for your pregnancy. They can provide you information on the different types of plans that they may offer.
7. If you are switching health plans, you may want to have COBRA benefits.

According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, pregnancy is not a pre-existing condition. Hence, switching plans should not be a problem in this condition. However, you may have to wait a few months before the new plan can set in.

However, there are ways to bring down the cost of auto insurance even after you add your teen driver on your policy. Here are a few tips you may take help from:

• Check assignment of drivers: Keep a check on how your insurance company assigns drivers to the cars. If you have more than 1 teenage driver, they may assign the more expensive to insure to the car that is again most expensive to insure. This will make your rate go very high. If you can, then get your teen driver his/her own car which is not expensive. Another thing you may do is switch insurers. Some insurance companies might allow you to assign drivers to respective cars. However, it is better to keep a teen on your car rather than get him/her a separate policy, but if you do get a separate car then you must do your research properly.
• Keep up the grades: Grade A or B teen students may be offered a 10% to 25% discount by the insurance companies as they are seen as better future risks.
• Driver’s education: Many states today insist that drivers have at least 50 hours of supervised driving. Most high-school courses only offer 6 – 8 hours. By taking the driver’s ed, you can get the teen to curb 5% to 15% of the insurance money.
• Choosing high deductibles: This is a normal practice where opting for high deductibles also reduces the premium that you pay.  Your premiums can get reduced by almost 35%.
• Restrict driving times: Most of the accidents occur during the night time. Restrict night time driving and an added advantage is that there are states where such restrictions are mandatory. Check out if your state is one.
• Zero tolerance: Young drivers who violate rules often lose their driving privileges entirely. They have to start all over again. Consider developing this attitude with your teenage kids.

Insurance companies have different policies and hence it is difficult to get a uniform insurance quote for all restaurants. However, based on the amount of business you do and the amount of investment you are ready to make, you may get the best insurance quote to suit your needs.

Factors that affect restaurant insurance quotes:

• Your working associates: Consider the people you will be working with. Think about if these people need to be protected from unruly customers or under any other circumstance. Look for an insurance that fits this purpose.
• Location of the restaurant: Location is a very important determinant of the quote that you would receive for your restaurant. Whether you are located in the outskirts or the central business area, whether your restaurant is located near the sea, if your restaurant suffers from black outs, all of these may be considered before you are offered any insurance quote. Frequent blackouts may result in spoilt food, being near a water body may cause things in your restaurant to rust faster. Hence, insurance companies will consider all these factors before drawing up an insurance quote.
• Food served: Although you may not like to think of this, but it might so happen that you may have to lose business for a few days due to a food contamination of your customer. You must be on the safe side to be able to protect yourself in a situation like this.
• Kind of customers: the type of people you cater to will also help in determining the quotes you will receive. There may be accidents or harassment that might bring down profit levels. Insurance will cover these.

Based on what you want for your restaurant, your insurance company will provide you a suitable quote. Some of you may even be looking for catering insurance in case you agree to cater for a party. You may like to discuss stuff with your friends and other advisers. Speak with friends and seek their opinion but start with enough coverage.

Like auto insurance this policy is not mandatory. But it is always better to be on the safe side. The best thing to do would be to drive carefully, but like we all know, accidents don’t give out warnings prior to occurring. They just happen. Another thing to remember is that, even if you have auto insurance your bike will need a separate insurance to get protected.

Motorcycle insurance coverage
A typical motorcycle policy would cover

• Damage to your motorcycle from an accident.
• Liability to other vehicle(s) involved in an accident with you.
• Injury caused to another party.
• A number of accessories associated with motorbike riding, like your helmet, saddle bags, backrest, leathers and the like.

Note: Insurance on accessories is limited, so if you have an expensive accessory, you may cover it separately.

Motorcycle insurance would not cover

• Any damage to your motorcycle caused by weather. However, if it is stored correctly and still is damaged by weather, only then the insurance company will cover.
• Damage to custom work on your motorcycle. Again, there is an exception to this. If you have informed your insurer about the custom work and have provided photographic evidence, your insurance company would cover it.
• Damage caused by an uninsured motorist unless you buy an uninsured motorist policy.

How much you pay on motorcycle insurance will depend on your record and the experience you have had with your machine. It also depends on the type of bike you would like to insure and the amount of coverage that you are looking for. Motorcycle insurance may differ from one state to another. So when you are buying a policy, check with your state laws.

Your money is invested in a separate account when you buy variable annuity. This account is made up of equity and/or fixed income funds and the value of the annuity that is finally received depends on how the fund performed. What type of fund you choose will depend on the amount of risk you are willing to take and the return you are looking for in return.

Reasons why the variable annuity attracts as a retirement program

Investing in variable annuity seems striking for the following features:

• You can transfer money among funds free of tax if your objective for insurance happens to change.
• You will have experienced money managers manage a wide range of variable as well as fixed funds.
• Your money will be tax deferred unless you withdraw it from the fund.
• You may choose between a lump sum and a monthly payment when selecting a payout choice upon retirement.
• There is a guaranteed death benefit offered by the insurance company. This means that any beneficiary will receive at least the original purchase price and not less than that.

Phases in Variable annuity

There are typically 2 phases in variable annuity:

1. Accumulation phase – This phase continues until the maturity of the contract.

2. Payout phase – This phase begins upon maturity of the contract. As an annuitant you will receive monthly payments that may be fixed for your lifetime. You will also be given a choice of payment options which means you may receive any one of the following –

• Fixed payments every month
• Variable payments every month
• A combination of both payments

The pay out phase continues only till the annuitant lives or until the end of a specified time period. This depends on the payment option that you have selected.

Since profits from these annuities vary upon their performance every month, you may not receive a fixed amount each month. Such annuities may be subject to various fees and charges. Before entering into such a contract, read through the documents and understand the contract thoroughly before signing.

What are the important features of the insurance guide?
The important features of the guide are as listed below:

• It provides a user friendly mode to help assess your insurance needs.
• It is a do-it-yourself process wherein you can do your own assessment.
• It tells you when you need and when you don’t need an insurance policy to protect you.
• It is segregated in to different sections depending upon the type insurance you choose.
• Helps identify your needs clearly.

Why use the insurance guide?
An insurance guide like this is anytime a great help. Not everyone assists people with their needs unless it is an agent who is trying hard to sell a policy. But you don’t always need an insurance agent to tell you when you need insurance. You can use this online insurance guide to find out what you are required to do.

The final decision to buy or not to buy an insurance policy is definitely yours. But many of you may not know it is actually possible to insure your precious marriage ring for what it is worth. Many of you may be not know in which condition you need to get disability insurance. This guide will help you as your initial advisor. You can then ask an insurance agent from an insurance company that you choose to come and explain the policy to you.

You may browse through the different sections of the guide and choose any of the types of insurance to find out what your needs are. Use this insurance guide to your advantage and make wise insurance decisions.

Relation between credit score and insurance
Insurers say there is a clear and distinct relation between your credit score and insurance. Those of you who have a low score are the ones who are likely to make more insurance claims than those who have a good score. Having a good score means you are a responsible debtor. This in return makes you a responsible person altogether and hence that means you are going to be responsible with your car and other properties. This is why you can be considered as a safe customer.

Critics’ point of view

Now everything has a critic’s point of view. Critics think that it would be unfair on the young and minorities if insurance premiums were based on credit scores. They are not likely to have good credit and hence such a practice would not allow them to buy insurance either. However, the credit score that the insurance companies use is not the ones typically used by banks. They use a score that is specific to the insurance industry.

FRCA and Insurance

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), if your insurance company gives you high quotes based on what your credit score looks like, they are supposed to notify you of the fact. They need to cite the reason why your premium has been quoted high. You will also be entitled to a free copy of your credit report. If you find that the information in your report was wrong, you may dispute the credit report with the credit bureaus and then request a new insurance quote from the company. Make sure you attach the dispute letter.

The temptation to enjoy more funds from the carriers may even cause policy holders to get involved in more complicated frauds. They might find a number of ways involving careless driving, torching their cars or pushing it down a hill to cause damages to their cars and then claim the money from the insurer. These acts would often leave them with opportunities to evade their loan repayments. Another risky way of committing insurance frauds is to collide with a vehicle in such a way that it appears to be the other party’s fault. This is a serious offense since it may cause people to lose their lives.

It’s a common practice for such con artists to leave their vehicles unlocked for hours. They will never forget to put the keys inside the car and leave the car at any eye-catching place. This gives them an opportunity to claim for compensation once their cars get stolen. This is also a serious fraud when these drivers will plan such thefts in a group.

With an increase in number of insurance frauds, the carriers have become more stringent towards developing their insurance packages and carrying on their investigations prior to a claim settlement. They have resorted to a number of techniques like installing the lie-detector to analyze the different pieces of data and highlight the irregularities. Once proven guilty of fraud, the con artists may need to pay hefty fines to the carrier or may even get their policies canceled. They may get blacklisted with all insurance carriers or may even land up in jail.

You may study a few simple points in order to protect yourself under circumstances when you become a fraud victim-

• The different types of insurance fraud
• Penalties for exaggerating your damages
• The case studies associated with lawsuits and trials

There are a number of websites depicting such fraud cases and the ways to protect yourself from becoming the next fraud victim.

]]> http://www.ampminsure.org/blog/auto-insurance-frauds/feed/ http://www.ampminsure.org/blog/disability-fraud/ http://www.ampminsure.org/blog/disability-fraud/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:39:08 +0000 Sil http://www.ampminsure.org/blog/disability-insurance-fraud-%e2%80%93-on-the-rise/ Insurance fraud occurs when either an insurance holder consciously tries to obtain benefits or advantages to which they are not have the right or when an insurance provider knowingly denies any due benefit to a policyholder or the beneficiary. It has been a known fact that auto insurance and health insurance are the two fields where most of the fraud cases occur. However, another section that is soon catching up is disability insurance. Either the insurance companies are denying benefits or delaying them when needed or individuals are making false disability claims.

Many insurance companies, when trying to sell policies make their insurance sound by promising a lot of benefits. The best proof if a company being authentic is when they give all that has been promised during sign up. This is when you can know if a company is really good or not. Although it may prove to be quite taxing to wait for such times, there is little that you can do besides doing your research on a company properly. If you are a victim of disability insurance fraud by a company you may end up with costly legal fees. Here are a few tips on how you can avoid disability insurance fraud. Take a look:

How to avoid disability fraud?

• Be informed about the company you are doing business with. Check out if there are any complaints against this insurance company. Seek help from family and friends.
• When dealing with a company study their terms before signing any documents. See how they have defined disability, how soon can your benefits kick in after filing a claim, what will be the waiting period and what percentage of your salary will they pay you.
• Read through the documents properly and understand the policy. If you can have a lawyer or a professional read through the documents along with you it would be best.
• Check with the rating companies to see how they have rated your insurance provider.
• Do not accept any verbal promises. Get everything in writing. If it is not on the document, there’s no use believing it. Whatever your agent tells you must be there in writing with you.

High Prices

The cost of health insurance is way too high and it continues to rise amidst the global downturn. Policies that lack the necessary features to guard all major health care challenges are forcing different segments of the population to pick the wrong coverage. This in turn has caused sudden price hikes following an increase in avoidable claims.

The number of uninsured people

Millions of U.S. citizens are uninsured. Most of them are not able to afford the rising health insurance costs. Inconsistent decision-making on the part of the market leaders as well as the huge bulk of unethical claims have caused sudden price hikes to slacken the market growth. This has certainly affected the volume of sales for a majority of health policies and left a greater part of our population unattended.

Loss of coverage

US citizens are often scared of losing their health insurance coverage. One of the primary reasons for this problem is probably our frequent job cuts. The unforeseen price hikes have also led to a volume of coverage losses.

Pre-existing Conditions

People who bear any pre-existing health condition find it hard to get covered. The cost of insurance is too high considering the risk they pose towards insurers. Any attempt to mislead or hide facts concerning someone’s health history can be detrimental. Such attempts may cause a policy holder to lose in terms of settlement benefits or may even cause problems during policy renewal.

Bad Services

Health care services have deteriorated substantially over the last decade irrespective of the advancement of medical sciences and technologies. Insurance carriers have often failed to live up to their promises, either due to lack of expertise or due to their inability to track core health care challenges.

There has to be a comprehensive plan to fix the above mentioned problems and establish a better health care system for one and all. This in turn will reduce the burden of health care expenses and ensure a steady growth of our health insurance industry.