Insurance Companies

I just found out that to insure my family (me, my wife and my son) through my employers healthplan (Aetna – HMO), it would be over $1,000 a month. I always thought a group coverage through your employer is a lot less expensive than getting private insurance, yet I have been quoted by various other companies such as AIG, and Midwest & Megalife for a PPO plan for my whole family for about $250 a month.
There is no deductable (except for a $100 emergency visit), office visits costs, hospitalization coverage is about the same as my employers plan, yet the monthly premiums is so drastically different.
My question is – how the hell can this be?! I am a skeptic by nature – it seems too good to be true! Is there something that I am missing? Please enlighten me!

Yeah… HMOs suck anyway… you’re better off doing a PPO. My guess is that it’s a lot of extra coverage you may not want or need… and yes, $1000 seems very excessive. I’d sit down with both brochures and go over each thing they offer. Compare each thing and decide whether or not you want the coverage they offer or not.

Then do what’s right for you… you are definitely right to be skeptical. But there may also be cheaper plans from Aetna for you, too. That said… I’d still go with the PPO. HMOs are WAY too restrictive.

I want to quit my job in insurance and start a catering company in the midwest. I am creative with food but not in naming this company. Since my husband to be and I plan to run this business I wanted something that demonstrated man/female gendor in the name of the company, an example, HeSaidSheSaidCatering is one we came up with but obviously we aren’t sold on it. Any suggestions you creative people could come up with be greatly appreciated. Also I live in Iowa and would consider adding something to that degree in the name of catering business. And Iowa is a corn state by the way, not to be confused with Idaho, the potato state

I think ‘Red Octopus’ is a cool name, but since you live in Iowa, maybe ‘Blue Corn’?

My friend lost control of his car on an interstate
and when he was able to stop it
He got hit by another vehicle as that person was trying to switch lanes to avoid him

He’s 19 and wasn’t speeding…just put pressure on the brakes while on the ice to slow from 35/40 mph to lower

and the car turned left within the left lane

it was very snowy in the midwest and the interstate was icy
He made a claim to the other driver’s insurance company to pay for the bills and has a court date
Also, he has a ticket for losing control of the car and having the police block two lanes because his car was broken by the other vehicle
and he did have to go to the ER for injuries

He’s never been in court before and thinks he’ll lose his license but I’ve watched Law and Order and I don’t think he would.

What do you think the court will do? What should he expect they will ask him?

It seems to be his failure to control that caused the accident. Even though he made a claim to the other driver’s insurance company, it seems it’s your friend that got ticketed so his own insurance company may well have to pay for both vehicles’ repairs. His court appearance is most likely to resolve the failure to control ticket. I’m not sure about his liability for the costs for the police to block the lanes and clear the accident area. I doubt he would lose his license for this type of accident, but his insurance rates will go up if he’s found at fault. I’d suggest he talk with his insurance agent before court.

My friend lost control of his car on an interstate
and when he was able to stop it
He got hit by another vehicle as that person was trying to switch lanes to avoid him

He’s 19 and wasn’t speeding…just put pressure on the brakes while on the ice to slow from 35/40 mph to lower

and the car turned left within the left lane

it was very snowy in the midwest and the interstate was icy
He made a claim to the other driver’s insurance company to pay for the bills and has a court date
Also, he has a ticket for losing control of the car and having the police block two lanes because his car was broken by the other vehicle
and he did have to go to the ER for injuries

He’s never been in court before and thinks he’ll lose his license but I’ve watched Law and Order and I don’t think he would.

What do you think the court will do? What should he expect they will ask him?

Get some professional legal advise. Go talk to an attorney that handles similar cases. You can get 30 minutes of free time to discuss your case with an attorney. At that point, he/she should be able to tell you what you need to know to handle the situation successfully.

Go to the local courthouse law library and ask the clerk there to help you look up case histories on similar accident cases—its called "discovery." If possible, go to court ahead of time and set through some court hearings just to see how things normally go and what the standard routine is. Doing that will remove any "surprises" which may result in confusion.

Legal aide may be a source of information for you.

Talk to your own health and vehicle insurance people as they should be able to tell you a great deal as to what to expect.

Get a copy of any medical records that your friend has at the ER that is related to the incident. Take a copy of the records to court with you when you go. Also, get an official copy of the police report and take with you too. If there were witnesses, contact them and make sure they are in court at the appropriate time.

If for any reason that, while in court, you can’t meet a condition or demand of the court, do not be afraid to ask the judge for a "continuation" of the hearing to a new date so that you will have the time necessary to meet the courts requirements, such as concerning contacting a witness or submitting evidence.

He should have one or more character witnesses at the hearing.

If it’s his first offense and the weather conditions was the principle factor in causing the accident, your friend should be alright. However, you just can’t tell how these things will go.

I hope this helps some.

Good luck

I graduated in December with a degree in marketing. I don’t want to personally sell anything. My idea was to work with other people designing advertising campaigns for companies. However, I didn’t think it through. I live in Kokomo, Indiana. Not exactly a town with many job opportunities like that. The only people that want me are insurance companies and places that pretty much want telemarketers. I don’t like talking to people I don’t know or to people over the phone. I can’t take rejection well, so personal sales are not my thing. Now, I’m having a hard time finding a job. I’ve even applied for jobs that only require a high school diploma, and I’m getting told that they found people with qualifications that more closely match their needs. I don’t understand. I work as head bookkeeper in the cash office of a major retailer in the Midwest. Am I doomed to be working in retail forever? Why am I not getting jobs that I’m obviously overqualified for?

Research the fields of product management, product marketing.
There’s the Product Development and Management Association, for a start.

"Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the product planning or product marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
Product Management is also a collective term used to describe the broad sum of diverse activities performed in the interest of delivering a particular product to market.
From a practical perspective, product management is an occupational domain which hold two professional disciplines: product planning and product marketing. This is because the product’s functionality is created for the user via product planning efforts, and product value is presented to the buyer via product marketing activities."

If you don’t like sales, and selling avoid them like the plague. Marketing is tremendously different and your rewards / job security / personal identity are not tied to some big wig’s "targets".

Ok, I am a 19 year old sophomore in college. I have never owned a vehicle before but had questions regarding owning a vehicle.

I want to buy a used car, but I don’t know how to go about this. Do I have to get insurance first, or can I buy the car than get insurance?

I don’t have my drivers license yet, I do have my permit, and I was told that if you are 18+ in Oklahoma, than I won’t need to go through the written test again, and I might not have to go through the driving test if I’ve held my permit for long enough with driving experience. Is this true?

Where would I go to get tags and plates for a vehicle if I live in Midwest City, OK? Where is the closest place?

Which car insurance company should I go for, being 19 years old, single, and a first time driver? How does car insurance payments work? If a vehicle is old, does the price of car insurance go down or up? If I buy a used car, will car insurance be cheaper for the vehicle or will it still be the same? Does car insurance vary between standard or automatic transmission?

Pretty much, these are all the questions I have regarding owning my own vehicle. If anyone can answer these, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced.

Go visit a lot and pick about 3 cars that you like. Go to your insurance agent and ask for quotes based on those 3 cars. Then go back to the dealership. If you are financing the vehicle, most (if not all!) finance companies will require that you have proof of insurance before you drive off the lot. You can call your insurance agent over the phone and have them add the vehicle to your policy, then fax over an insurance binder to the dealership. They do this all the time.

Part of the fees you pay when you buy a car from a dealership (new or used) are TT&L…tax, title, and license. You are paying the sales tax on the purchase price of the vehicle, paying for the title and registration and plates. The dealership should take care of all this for you.

If you are purchasing a car from a private seller, to register it, you will need the title to the vehicle (signed over to you by the previous owner). You take this to your local tax office or DMV, pay your sales tax, registration fee and title fee, and have the title changed into your name and your registration and plates will be issue to you. Most states allow you 20-30 days to get all of this taken care of when you buy a new vehicle.

As for insurance, it really all depends on what your budget is. You can go to a smaller independant agent, and it will probably be cheaper, but if the time ever comes when you have to make a claim, you may have more difficulty. Larger, franchised agents (e.g. State Farm, Farmers, Progressive) are more reliable.

Good Luck!

Our homeowners insurance doubled this year. The cost is really impacting our ability to pay the premium. Every company we have talked to insist that we insure to replacement cost which of course drives the premium through the roof. They say that replacement cost of our home would be over 350,000. We live in a home that is 140 years old and I agree that there isn’t enough money to replace the character of this home. We live in the Midwest. We are not in a flood plain and have never turned in a claim in the 16 years we have lived on this property. My question is this. Can we legally insure this home for just the amount that we owe on it? Are there any companies out there that will do this?
I don’t mind paying a fair premium but I do mind paying for disasters across this country in which I had no control over.
engineer..I agree with you but right now we are forced to watch every expense since my husband’s job was outsourced. We are just trying to find a way to keep our property until he is employed again, short of putting it up for sale.

Many people experience what you’re experiencing.

Yes, there are companies out there that will insure your house for market value, or "flat rate". Can you do it legally? You’ll have to check your mortgage documents, to see if they require you to insure for full replacement cost.

Keep in mind, a "market value" policy is much more expensive than a replacement value policy, and at the time of the claim, you get "it works" not "what it used to be like". That means you get peel & stick vinyl instead of tile or linolium, no wood trim, paint instead of paper, drywall instead of plaster, and NO MATCHING.

For a flat policy, the rate is through the roof. When you have a partial loss, they’ll pay up to the policy face value. (Most losses are partial losses – heck, most losses are under $60,000, so that first $60,000 of coverage costs the most.)You have to get this coverage through someplace like Lloyds of London – and again, you don’t get valued on REPLACEMENT, but IT WORKS.

For pricing examples: OK the market value of your house might be $200,000. Replacement cost is $350,000, and your mortgage balance $100,000.

Your replacement value policy probably runs around $1300. A market value policy would cost you about $2700, and a flat policy for $100,000 maybe $4,000. Oh, and the flat policy isn’t going to cover as many causes of loss, either.

A state farm, allstate, or farmers agent is NOT going to be able to give you the "alternative" policy types. You’ll have to go to an independent agent.

When someone comes to me, asking for quotes for something like this, I charge them $100 brokers fee, to be applied against the cost of the policy if they end up buying it from me. This covers the time it takes me to do the quotes. Because it’s NEVER cheaper, and it’s NEVER even close to the same premium, the coverage is worse, it’s not in their best interest to switch to a company NOT regulated by the state insurance department, and when people talk about wanting to lower their insurance limit, what they REALLY mean, is they want to lower their insurance COST. I’ve never sold one of the "alternative" policies I’ve quoted, except when no company was willing to give a replacement cost policy.

So, if you really want to lower your insurance cost . .. take a $5,000 deductible on your homeowners policy. It should give you a credit of about 35%, if you’ve currently got a $250 deductible.

I recently got a letter from my mortgage company, offering me an additional insurance policy that will pay my mortgage payment if my home is damaged by a disaster for up to 24 months. And for each month that we can’t live in our home, it pays $1000 to us. If the house is condemned, they will pay off the mortgage. If we ever make a claim on our regular homeowner’s policy and have a deductible we need to pay, this policy would reimburse that amount, up to twice a year.

It’s pretty cheap coverage…less than $30 a month. I’m trying to figure out if this is something we need. We live in the Midwest, and our area does not have huge weather events, but it does have occasional tornadoes.

$30 per month is $360 per year. Your homeowners insurance would pay for most disasters (NOT flood) less your deductible, there is also loss of use on the policy that would pay for the difference in your costs if you have to live elsewhere when your home is being repaired & you can’t live there. Homeowners insurance covers tornadoes. If you buy this insurance, there is a clause in your homeowners policy about other collectible insurance & if there are 2 policies covering the same thing, they will only pay a portion of the loss compared to the coverage of each policy. Say this disaster policy covers $100,000 – your mortgage amount – your homeowners policy covers $200,000 – cost to rebuild (for sake of easy numbers), your homeowners policy will only pay up to 2/3 of the loss & your disaster policy may only pay 1/3. If your disaster policy pays first, your homeowners policy will probably only pick up the rest – say there is a $150,000 loss & your disaster policy pays $100,000, your homeowners will only pay $50,000.
You will not be able to collect twice for a loss. Insurance is to put you back to where you were before the loss, NOT better. You will not be able to have your mortgage paid off AND get a new house without a mortgage. Sorry, won’t happen.
If this disaster policy includes flood coverage, you may want to consider it, just because it may be cheaper than a flood policy with NFIP. But, read the fine print of this policy before you purchase it, it may just be duplicate coverage & really quite worthless. If you are looking to get reimbursed for your deductible, figure out how many claims you will put on your homeowners (if you put in 2 claims per year, I guarantee you will be nonrenewed within 2 yrs & have a hard time finding homeowners insurance again) over the life of your mortgage (the last statistic I heard is the average homeowner has one claim every 11 yrs, most have none, some have more). Is it worth $360 per year to get your deductible back once every 5-10 yrs? Put the $360 in a bank account, collect interest on it & you will have your deductible saved & then some in no time.

I recently got a letter from my mortgage company, offering me an additional insurance policy that will pay my mortgage payment if my home is damaged by a disaster for up to 24 months. And for each month that we can’t live in our home, it pays $1000 to us. If the house is condemned, they will pay off the mortgage. If we ever make a claim on our regular homeowner’s policy and have a deductible we need to pay, this policy would reimburse that amount, up to twice a year.

It’s pretty cheap coverage…less than $30 a month. I’m trying to figure out if this is something we need. We live in the Midwest, and our area does not have huge weather events, but it does have occasional tornadoes.

$30 per month is $360 per year. Your homeowners insurance would pay for most disasters (NOT flood) less your deductible, there is also loss of use on the policy that would pay for the difference in your costs if you have to live elsewhere when your home is being repaired & you can’t live there. Homeowners insurance covers tornadoes. If you buy this insurance, there is a clause in your homeowners policy about other collectible insurance & if there are 2 policies covering the same thing, they will only pay a portion of the loss compared to the coverage of each policy. Say this disaster policy covers $100,000 – your mortgage amount – your homeowners policy covers $200,000 – cost to rebuild (for sake of easy numbers), your homeowners policy will only pay up to 2/3 of the loss & your disaster policy may only pay 1/3. If your disaster policy pays first, your homeowners policy will probably only pick up the rest – say there is a $150,000 loss & your disaster policy pays $100,000, your homeowners will only pay $50,000.
You will not be able to collect twice for a loss. Insurance is to put you back to where you were before the loss, NOT better. You will not be able to have your mortgage paid off AND get a new house without a mortgage. Sorry, won’t happen.
If this disaster policy includes flood coverage, you may want to consider it, just because it may be cheaper than a flood policy with NFIP. But, read the fine print of this policy before you purchase it, it may just be duplicate coverage & really quite worthless. If you are looking to get reimbursed for your deductible, figure out how many claims you will put on your homeowners (if you put in 2 claims per year, I guarantee you will be nonrenewed within 2 yrs & have a hard time finding homeowners insurance again) over the life of your mortgage (the last statistic I heard is the average homeowner has one claim every 11 yrs, most have none, some have more). Is it worth $360 per year to get your deductible back once every 5-10 yrs? Put the $360 in a bank account, collect interest on it & you will have your deductible saved & then some in no time.

He’s back! Selling insurance. Must be quite a company who would hire this guy. Is the Religious Right likely to fade into a non entity that will either fade away or will they continue to brand the GOP as a party made up of ‘crazies’?
Are these types what they call ‘the lunatic fringe’??

(more…He was *preaching* from a pulpit today in the midwest!!)

The man who confessed to being a "a deceiver and a liar" is asking for another hearing, finding encouragement from a loyal circle of supporters, skepticism from those evangelical leaders who think it’s premature and complex emotions at the Colorado Springs church he betrayed.

Haggard, 52, resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from New Life Church amid allegations that he paid a male prostitute for sex and used methamphetamine.

Haggard said in 2006 he bought the drugs but never used them, confessed to "sexual immorality" and described struggling with a "dark and repulsive" side. He had risen from preaching in his basement to taking part in White House conference calls — and fallen so far that he became a late-night punch line.

No. I will not. ><