Welcome note

Welcome to the Insurance World.
Let us make ourselves knowledgeable with the stats and facts of insurance through this diary.

Everyone in this living world needs insurance. Living without insurance, oh! would be some horrified experience. Have you ever thought why do you need insurance? May be no, may be yes. If the answer is yes, that is also not so focused. I have an article to guide you better.

Read this.....

Why Do you need insurance?

An Insurance policy is a promise to protect you against the perils like illness, accident, natural disasters and/or other unforeseen events that may cause financial losses.

For the insurance you have to pay an amount of money called premium. The promise is renewed on an annual basis in general.

The more family responsibility a person has the greater is the chance to have an impact if he dies or becomes physically disabled. By having insurance you can alleviate the concern about the possibility of suffering a loss of property or a disabling accident.

Odds in life may come in all shapes, sizes and colors such as Health problems, Premature deaths, Floods, Lawsuits, Fires, Hurricanes. You cannot prevent these from occurring as the future is unpredictable. But you can always take the constructive actions to protect the lives as well as the financial belongings against the damage and harms caused by the perils. Because even a minor health treatment or replacing a spare part of the car could cause a significant depletion of the savings account.

Insurance do probably need for the persons of the following categories:

• If the married persons are supporting their young children for their education then they will need the insurance.

• The older parents aged above 50s to support the education for their young children.

• The single persons with dependents. Insurance is needed to support the dependents if the premature death or disability occurs.

• Two-income couple with dependents will need insurance to ensure the lifestyle if the income of one is lost due to some reason or other.

• For the retired persons the partner’s will need sufficient money to maintain her lifestyle after the death of the spouse.

• For the wealthy people who want their heirs should continue the living standards and the estate taxes without using the money you have left for them.

• If you are a graduate and just finished your college, and don’t want your parent should continue your education debts.

Health Care and Insurance Regulation:

States play a major role in the delivery and financing of health care and public health in the United States. Insurance regulation, Medicaid policy and financing of public health services, and many reproductive health policies are under state jurisdiction. States operate their own Medicaid programs within broad federal guidelines, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for low-income children, and in some cases also offer additional health care programs such as discount drug programs for seniors.

In recent years, states have been facing major budget shortfalls. These fiscal constraints have broad implications for many aspects of the health care financing and delivery system. Recent reductions to Medicaid coverage and benefit packages have been a reversal from the programs expansions of the late 1990s when states experienced unprecedented budget surpluses. State legislatures are also playing an increasingly important role in health policy, enacting legislation on issues that have been controversial and slow-moving at the national level, such as patients’ rights and reproductive health.

The Foundation’s work in state health policy cuts across nearly all of the Foundation’s policy priority areas. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured analyzes state Medicaid and SCHIP programs, and tracks changes states are making to their Medicaid programs as a result of their deteriorating fiscal conditions. The California Health Policy Program provides information and analysis about health policy issues and key trends in the nation's largest and most diverse state. Nearly all of the Foundation’s priority areas collect and conduct analyses on state-based policies. Much of this information is presented in State Health Facts Online, a web-based interactive database, including demographic information, health insurance coverage rates, Medicaid and Medicare enrollment, spending and policies, private insurance mandates, health care financing and delivery information, as well as disease and mortality statistics.

Courtsey: www.kff.org

Know your state's Status: No-fault or Tort

When it is the turn to auto insurance most of the states fall under the following three categories.

1. No-fault

2. Tort and

3. Add on state.

Well there exists a variations on no-fault.

It is necessary to be knowledgeable about the state's status for an individual having a car, as it will provide some convenient way to file a claim. Now we shall explain the above terms in short. Also lists are being supplied to have the state's status:

Many states have "no-fault" laws. Some times it becomes difficult to determine who caused "the accident". In that case the auto policy must pay for the bodily injury and property damages no matter as who is "at-fault". Also each party in an accident is responsible for their own medical expenses and other injury-related costs that are incurred in an accident. Under pure no-fault system neither party would allow to sue the other.

We can discuss about partial no-fault state in this regard. The no-fault provision is applicable to bodily injury. That means, each party in an accident is responsible for their own medical bills and other injury-related costs that may incurred in an accident. Your right to sue the other party for your personal injuries is limited. You can have your own medical coverage.

In "tort" states there are no restrictions on lawsuits. That is you can or can be sued by the other driver's or by the passengers for the pain and sufferings. Also the lawsuits in tort states cover expenses for medical costs out of the "at- fault" driver's pocket.

For the add-on states, drivers receive compensation from their own insurance company as they do in no-fault states, but there are no restrictions on lawsuits. The term “add-on” is used because; first-party benefits have been added on to the traditional tort liability system. In add-on states, first-party coverage may not be mandatory and the benefits may be lower than what is in true no-fault states.

I have got some very interesting stats regarding the costs of insurance fraud and the catastrophe losses.

In 2005 more than 97,000 people lost their lives due to natural catastrophes or man-made disasters. The Swiss Re sigma statistics for 2005 counted almost 400 catastrophes, which caused damage totaling more than $230 billion. About one third, or $83 billion, was covered by insurance. In the previous year, insured catastrophe losses had amounted to $48 billion. 2005 turned out to be the costliest year ever for property insurers.

Between January and December 2005, Consumer Sentinel, the complaint database developed and maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, received over 685,000 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints. Consumers reported losses from fraud of more than $680 million.

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that property/casualty insurance fraud cost insurers about $30 billion in 2004.
Courtsey: iii.org


Medical malpractice insurance covers doctors and other professionals in the medical field for liability claims arising from their treatment of patients.

The cost of medical malpractice insurance began to rise at the beginning of this decade, after a period of essentially flat prices. Rate increases were precipitated in part by the growing size of claims, particularly in urban areas. Among the other factors driving up prices was a reduced supply of available coverage as several major insurers exited the medical malpractice business because of the difficulty of making a profit.

New research suggests that premium increases may be moderating but for any turnaround to take root significant reforms in the delivery of medical care and in the liability system need to occur, industry observers say.
Courtsey: iii.org