Insurance

Do you need 'add-on' car rental or travel insurance? No, says consumer group

Jorgen Wouters Jul 26th 2010 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Consumer Ally

Consumers should be wary of purchasing insurance from sellers of cars, homes, electronics and travel, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said in a consumer alert today.

"Add-on" insurance, the CFA warned, tends to be outrageously overpriced, typically involves kickbacks to sellers and is often unnecessary. For example, collision insurance policies sold by car rental agencies are often many times more expensive than regular policies. Your existing auto insurance policy or credit card probably already covers the risk, the group says.

"In our experience, insurance offered to you in conjunction with the sale of other products is often not needed or, if needed, can be purchased much less expensively from other sources," said J. Robert Hunter, CFA's director of Insurance and former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator, in a statement.

Continue reading Do you need 'add-on' car rental or travel insurance? No, says consumer group

New Recession Rule: Don't get tests while shopping for health insurance

Most people rush to schedule as many medical tests as possible just before their COBRA coverage runs out. But some experts now say that's precisely the wrong thing to do when you're shopping for post-COBRA health insurance. The problem with those medical tests is that they just might find something -- and if that something requires treatment or even the potential for treatment, that can make you undesirable to most insurers.

But are these experts offering life-threatening advice -- time of diagnosis is often a factor in advancing diseases? With that understood, here's what some people are saying:

Continue reading New Recession Rule: Don't get tests while shopping for health insurance

Texas AG demands 'improper' Travelers Insurance TV ad be taken off air

Stella M. Chavez Jul 8th 2010 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Consumer Ally, Insurance - Car Insurance, Insurance - Home Insurance

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has ordered Traveler's Insurance to stop airing what it considers to be a deceptive ad or face legal action.

The AG says the ad is misleading because it gives viewers the impression they should purchase additional car insurance or risk losing their home because they didn't carry adequate automobile liability insurance.

The ad, "Drive Your House," features a man driving his home through the desert when he's distracted trying to answer his home phone. The man loses control of his car, sending him, the vehicle and the contents of his home - including his cat and prized souvenir baseball - flying through the air.

A man is then heard saying, "Without the right auto insurance, a crash might impact more than your car. Make sure you're properly covered, so when you're driving your car, you're not risking your house. Travelers, take the scary out of life."

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10 insurance policies that aren't worth the money

Jean Chatzky Jun 28th 2010 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Insurance

There are types of insurance that Americans don't buy enough - renters insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, flood insurance. Then, there are others that we buy way too frequently and are, for the most part, a waste of money.

Today, I am more worried about the latter -- and there is good reason to be concerned. This morning, the New York Times published an op-ed column by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman who wrote: "We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression." Hammering that point home, more than one million people are expected to lose their unemployment benefits this week.

For most Americans, these are scary times and any extra money we have floating around can certainly be put to better use. So when it comes to that part of your budget earmarked for insurance premiums, here are the policies you should consider avoiding:

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Missouri database offers scores for insurers, good to bad

Alysse Dalessandro Jun 28th 2010 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Consumer Ally

The Missouri Department of Insurance has published a searchable database of more than 11,000 complaints for consumers wanting to shop for coverage. The consumer complaint index report contains filings from Missouri residents about both local and national insurance companies like State Farm and American Family, Missouri Department of Insurance spokesman Travis Ford said in an e-mail to Consumer Ally.

"It takes a few months for our statistics section to put this data together, and we usually release it about this time each year," Ford said.

The scores are compiled by taking the number of company complaints divided by the average company premium. That number is then divided by the number of the industry-wide complaints divided by the industry-wide premium. The result is multiplied by 100. A complaint index of 100 is considered average; higher numbers reflect a worse complaint record. The complaint index is a score, not the number of complaints about the company.

Continue reading Missouri database offers scores for insurers, good to bad

$250 Medicare rebate checks a 'drop in the bucket' compared to rising drug prices

Andy Miller Jun 18th 2010 @ 8:00AM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Health, Insurance - Health Insurance

Sometime in August, Patricia Holland will drop into Medicare's dreaded doughnut hole. She is already bracing for that financial wallop.

Holland, 67, of Centreville, Md., regularly takes seven prescription medications. One of them -- Entocort -- is especially expensive. It prevents severe attacks of her colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.

Right now, with full Medicare drug coverage -- before the doughnut hole -- Holland pays $195 a month for Entocort. That's her co-pay, nowhere near the full price of the medication.

When she enters the doughnut hole, though, her Entocort cost will go up exponentially, consuming, she says, her entire state retirement check.

The doughnut hole is the coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug benefit, called Part D. Seniors get initial coverage until their total drug expenses exceed $2,830. Then Medicare covers nothing until total spending reaches $6,440, when catastrophic coverage starts. The doughnut hole is the $3,610 space between the two amounts, when seniors pay all costs for their drugs.

Continue reading $250 Medicare rebate checks a 'drop in the bucket' compared to rising drug prices

Worst drivers in America by state

Jonathan Berr May 27th 2010 @ 12:00AM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Transportation, Insurance - Car Insurance

Whenever I ride in a taxi in New York City, I marvel at the intestinal fortitude of the drivers who navigate pedestrians, potholes and other drivers who seem to have learned how to drive via a video game. And, according to a recent survey of driver knowledge by GMAC Insurance, it turns out that the awe these drivers inspire is justified.

GMAC's sixth annual survey quizzed more than 5,200 licensed Americans from across the country on their driving knowledge and New York drivers fared the worst for the second year in a row, with an average score of 70 percent. That's more than six percentage points below the national average score of 76.2 percent. New Jersey residents shouldn't laugh too loudly at their neighbor's expense. Garden State drivers finished second to last. Kansas, on the other hand, proved to be the best place to drive with a score of 82.3 percent. Oregon, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska drivers were also among the best performers on the survey.

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MyMoney website: A one-stop bonanza of financial information

Lita Epstein May 21st 2010 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Borrowing, Budgets, Credit, Insurance, Retire

One-stop site for government personal finance information

Ever wish you could find one place to go for basic financial information about anything? If that's your wish, you'll find all that you need at the government's newly launched MyMoney.gov website, which was developed with financial information from 12 Federal agencies, departments and bureaus that make up the Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

"As America recovers from the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, it's critical that we strengthen every aspect of our financial system," Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin said in a press release announcing the launch of the site. "Financial education and access is a priority for this Administration, and we're pleased to provide this critical resource to help Americans find free, reliable and unbiased information that can help inform their daily financial decisions and plan for the future."

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Coverage for autism crucial for families

Andy Miller May 19th 2010 @ 12:00PM EST Filed Under: Insurance, Health, Insurance - Health Insurance

Every weekday, Betsy Langston makes a 90-minute drive with her son to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Then, after about three hours there, she drives the same 90 minutes back home to Florence.

That's $20 a day in gas, not to mention the wear on her station wagon and herself. "It gets really tiring,'' Langston says. But the trip is well worth it, she adds. Pierce, 3, goes to a clinic in Myrtle Beach where he receives intensive therapy for his autism.

Pierce has made big strides for the past year through applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment. "He went from having only two words to now having spontaneous phrases,'' Langston says. "When we go out to eat, we can ask him what he wants.''

His meltdowns have decreased in severity. Before ABA, she says, "I was a prisoner of the house. I would have to wait till my husband came home to go shopping.''

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