Kiplinger has put together a list of ways to reduce costs for auto, home, and life insurance. For auto and homeowners insurance, boosting your deductible from $250 to $1000 can lower your premiums between 15-25%. If you haven’t looked at your life insurance policy in a while, don’t wait any longer to shop around—rates have “dropped significantly” over the past 15 years but are now on the rise. And when calculating homeowners insurance, don’t fall into the market value trap: make sure you’re covering the true cost of replacing only the home and what’s inside, not the value of the land.
insurance
How Would Health Care Reform Affect You?
By 9.25.09
Consumers Union has put together a breakdown of the health care bills in Congress to let you see how they would affect you, based on your age and what kind of insurance you currently have (if any). It’s an interesting tool to see what the various proposed changes are.
344 Now 224 lb Reader Featured On TV, In Newsweek
By 9.25.09
Reader Tyler Weeks, who started a blog to chronicle his journey from 344 pounds to his current weight of 224.6, was recently featured in Newsweek and on his local CBS news station for his weight reduction success story. Nice job! Here’s the video.
Homes With Cats 8 Times More Likely To Contain MRSA
By 9.23.09
You may have thought you could only get MRSA at hospitals and the beach, but apparently researchers have discovered that it can be transmitted via pets and lead to repeat infections, reports the New York Times. One recent case involved a baby elephant and 20 human caretakers at the San Diego Zoo last year, but at the domestic level it looks like cats (and dogs, but not to the same degree) somehow contribute to cycle of infection at home.
Is Cheap Food To Blame For Our Expensive Health Care?
By 9.14.09
Michael Pollan thinks so. He’s got an op-ed in the NYT where he examines the relationship between or expensive health care and our cheap fast food.
Get On A Plane, Go To Your Surgery
By 9.11.09
We’re not sure if this is the start of a trend or just some very creative cost-cutting by a few companies, but Business Insurance notes that some self-insured firms are now sending their employees to other states to save money on medical procedures.
Renters With Cool Stuff, You Can't Afford Not To Have Renters Insurance
By 9.3.09
Kimberly Palmer, author of U.S. News & World Report’s Alpha Consumerist blog, makes a convincing case that renters really should insure their stuff.
Atheists Sell Pet Care Service To Christians Anticipating The Rapture
By 9.2.09
An atheist in New Hampshire is hiring out pet care services to Christians who believe that there will be a rapture and they will leave behind their pets. He won’t tell Mainstreet whether the business is very successful—he says his clients number “more than one and less than 175,” but it’s certainly an interesting way to bring two traditionally opposing groups together under a common (profit-making) cause.
Four Stimulus Benefits That Will Expire Soon
By 8.31.09
Kiplinger lists four ways you can still get some cash back from the government, although you’d better get a move on if you want to qualify. Included are a first-time home buyer’s credit that goes away November 30th, a new car tax credit, a COBRA premium subsidy for people laid off, and a slight unemployment payment benefit.
FDIC Low On Funds After Record Bank Failures In 2009
By 8.29.09
Given how many banks have failed and been taken over by the FDIC this year (84, including three yesterday), it’s not one bit surprising that the FDIC isn’t doing too well, funds-wise. It’s down to $22 billion, the lowest the failed bank fund has been since the savings and loan crisis of the early ’90s, when it needed to borrow money from the Treasury Department to keep going.
How To File A Complaint Against Your Insurer
By 8.28.09
After our post yesterday ended up crashing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ consumer information website, we received an email from them. They said they wanted to explain how the site works to address some reader questions, as well as point out that you too can contribute to the rankings by filing complaints when your insurer does something objectionable.
WSJ Discovers EECB, It Works On Insurance
By 8.27.09
The venerable Wall Street Journal recently discovered the classic “EECB” technique we’ve been telling you about for years. This time, it’s health insurance companies, an industry so predicated on denial-of-care-for-profit that a few years ago a class action lawsuit based on RICO statute, invented to prosecute Mafia families for racketeering, was able to make significant headway. Lucky for you, email is much faster than the wheels of justice…
"This American Life" On Health Insurance's Fine Print
By 8.12.09
A recent episode of This American Life-the fine, fine public radio show-has an excellent piece on the health insurance industry’s use of “rescission.” This is when people with individual insurance policies come down with an illness (or get pregnant) and the insurance company denies coverage by claiming it was a preexisting condition.
AIG No Longer Hemorrhaging Money, Actually Makes Profit
By 8.7.09
Big news! AIG, poster child of the economic meltdown, has reported a profit. The company says it had a net income for the second quarter of $1.8 billion, which is much better than in 2008 when it lost $5.8 billion. So, how much did we-the-people get for our investment? $1.5 billion.
By 8.6.09
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Your Insurance Company Is Prejudiced Against Your Dog Your dog may be the darling of your household, but in the eyes of your homeowners insurance company, your cuddly critter could be a potential liability. Insurers are increasingly limiting liability coverage for certain dog breeds. [Consumer Reports]
Forget Co-Pays, Your Bill Is Due Now
By 8.6.09
$10 copays are history in some doctor’s offices these days, as some clinics are requiring the entire out-of -pocket cost up front. But what if you get overcharged?
Watch Out For Best Buy's Extended Warranties
By 7.30.09
HD Guru took a deeper look at the extended warranties and service plans Best Buy pushes on customers who buy expensive electronics like hi-def TVs. You probably won’t be surprised to find out that the fine print negates a lot of what the person or pamphlet on the sales floor will try to promise you—but you might be surprised at just how useless these plans can be when you get right down to it.
Cut Down On Medical Costs With These Tips
By 7.16.09
One way to cut down on all your medical costs is to go exclusively to Dr. Mario, an impersonator of whom is pictured.
