Here is a perfect example of how government should be serving the people.  It has taken six years, but Birmingham fire Chief E.J. Lindbolm has met a significant goal of reducing the department’s insurance rating!

For the past three to four years, members of the department have worked on getting everything in order to have the rating lowered from a nine, which has been the rating since the department was established about 35 years ago.

This means Birmingham Alabama homeowners will start seeing rate reductions on their renewals after Feb 1st, 2010 – which is when the new rating of six goes into effect.

Bill Cochran, a Nationwide Insurance agent in Florence, said going from a rating of nine to six could mean a 30-40 percent savings on their individual premiums.

Now wouldn’t it be nice if all of our public agencies had the communities in mind. I think about how legislatures everywhere are adding more and more taxes and expenditures to the balance sheets, and a fire chief in Birminham Alabama has got it right!  – added – after further research this now makes complete sense – this is an all volunteer fire department!

Thank you for remembering who pays the bills in for the public sector in Birmingham Alabama!

Orginal Story

A legislative initiative submitted by a group called “Fair Affordable Insurance Rates” was approved on Monday by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. This means it’s up to the supporters now to collect at least 304K valid voter signatures. I guess this means they will not be utilizing ACORN to gather the signatures necessary in order to clear other procedural hurdles necessary to get the measure placed on the November 2010 ballot.

The thing that scares me about this process – is the liberal thinking about how they can legislate “lower rates”. This will do nothing more than force insurers to leave the state of Michigan. The end result will end up being higher rates for Michigan residents. Or maybe – Michigan can come up with a “public option” to compete with the auto insurance providers in the state of Michigan.

Just more of the same – I would think Michigan voters would start figuring out that the Democrats do not have their best interst in mind

Read the relase here

As you know, Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote on her 2,000 page healthcare bill for tomorrow. There are conflicting reports on whether or not she has the numbers to get the bill passed. But if she’s scheduled a vote then you can be sure that she thinks she has the numbers or that she thinks she will have the numbers by the time of the vote.

Folks – wether you agree or not, this is the United States Government taking a long term approach at controlling 1/6th of the United States Economy.  The reason America has done so well when compared with other countries has to do with our ability to innovate outside of government mandates.

Because of all the government mandates listed in this bill, there is no possible way we will reduce the cost of health care.  This is evident by looking at health insurance rates from several states around America.

• New York – Higest in mandates, highest in rates
• California – One of the highest in mandates, one of the highest in rates
• New Jersey – Another state high in mandates, and again one of the highes in rates

There is just no possible way this will save our country money.

NEW YORK (Reuters)—Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Friday said third-quarter net income tripled, as rising stock markets boosted its investment holdings and a quiet hurricane season contributed to higher insurance profit.

Results were announced three days after Mr. Buffett revealed the biggest acquisition in his 44 years running Berkshire, a $26 billion takeover of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Berkshire had already owned 23% of the nation’s second-largest railroad operator.

Third-quarter net income for Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire rose to $3.24 billion, or $2,087 per Class A share, from $1.06 billion, or $682, a year earlier.

Excluding investments, operating profit fell less than 1% to $2.06 billion, or $1,325 per share, from $2.07 billion, or $1,335. On that basis, analysts expected profit of $1,308.25 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 7% to $29.9 billion.

Berkshire benefited as rising stock markets boosted the value of its investments in companies such as Coca-Cola Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

Results included $1.13 billion of derivatives gains, mainly from contracts related to junk bond credit quality and to a lesser extent from the performance of four stock market indexes in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Rising stocks helped boost Berkshire’s book value to $126.07 billion, or $81,247 per share, up 10% from three months earlier and 15% from year-end.

Mr. Buffett often touts book value, which reflects assets minus liabilities, as a good gauge of Berkshire’s health.

Insurance, which typically generates half of Berkshire’s results, benefited from the quietest Atlantic hurricane season in more than a decade. Only a single named storm, Claudette, made U.S. landfall.

Class A shares of Berkshire closed on Friday up $500 at $102,400, while Class B shares rose $30 to $3,425. Both are about one-third below their record highs set in Dec. 2007.

There are several things the consumer needs to be aware of when purchasing any type of health care or health insurance policy.  I have listed several of the typical “scams” consumers run into on a regular basis:

Dreaded Disease Policies – Cancer, Critical Illness or Heart Attack and Stroke
The Promise: Insurance provider claims to offer coverage for medical expenses related directly to a so-called dreaded disease like cancer, heart attacks, strokes or just an unfortunate accident. When the bills are due, the sham company is long gone with your premiums in its pocket

Due Diligince: With the right health insurance, you don’t need these policies. If you don’t have insurance and want to take a flier, make sure both agent and insurer are licensed in your state. Check with your state’s insurance department.  However, these policies can still provide value to the consumer by assiting with other out of pocket expenses that occur when someone is out of work for treatment.  Make sure you purchse these types of programs through a reputable agent / carrier.  These types of policies are often offered by employers in order to supplement the group health insurance.

Discount Cards
The Promise:  The promise of 15% off doctors’ visits and hospital stays may sound like a bargain, but more often than not, these offers aren’t real.

Due Diligence: Vet the list of providers and find out if those doctors indeed honor discounts. Double-check the prices. Also check with your state’s insurance department to see if there have been any past complaints with regard to those discounts.  Also, if you already have a PPO health insurnace product there is no reason to join a discount plan.  You are protected by the insurance contract betweent the insurer and the physician, because a contracted physician or facility can not charge more than the negotiated rate.

Employee-Leasing-Firm Insurance
The Promise: A third-party payroll and taxes processor also peddles insurance, but the coverage isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. By the time they get caught, the fraudsters have been closed by the feds.

Due Diligence:  A slew of these types of companies have been shut down by the feds.  They are known as Primary Employer Organizations (PEO).  While some of these companies are very legit – others are mismanaged and go out of business quickly.

Hospital Indemnity Policies
The Promise: Insurers will offer to pay a set amount of dollars for the days you are in the hospital. These arrangements are also called hospital-income or supplemental policies.

Due Diligence:  The problem with these types of policies is that they are sold as “fully insured” products.  These policies have limitations built in and rarely cover the full cost of a catestrophic event.  It is always good to stay with the name brand carriers like; Anthem Blue Cross, CIGNA, Aetna or United Healthcare – there are many others, just make sure your policy does not place artifical low limits on treatments provided.

It is still your job as the consumer to do your due diligence and remember – if it sounds to good to be true – then it probably isn’t true.  It is always good to use an independent broker or agent to assist you in the selection of your insurance program.  Do your research and verify the agent or broker is properly liscensed in your state.

until next time!

According to InsuranceRates.com, the median six-month car insurance rate in the state of New York has decreased to $970.25. This is a reduction of more than 20%!

Demographic Group Median Six-Month Rate

• Men Only $1018.25
• Women Only $ 912.00
• Age Group: Less than or equal to 19 $1484.13
• Age Group: 20 to 24 $1336.00
• Age Group: 25 to 29 $1129.75
• Age Group: 30 to 39 $1078.88
• Age Group: 40 to 49 $1002.88
• Age Group: 50 to 59 $ 844.50
• Age Group: 60 to 74 $ 738.38
• Age Group: Greater than or equal to 75 $ 771.50

Other Auto Insurance demographics

• Men in New York pay a median auto insurance rate almost 12 percent
  higher than women.
• Drivers in New York 19 years of age or younger pay a median auto
  insurance rate that is over 100 percent higher than drivers age 60 to 74.
• New York auto insurance rates declined just over two percentage points more than the national median, which declined 18.1 percent over the same period.
• A New York driver who pays the six-month median rate of $970.25 and earns the New York median annual income of $42,414 pays approximately 4.58 percent of his or her gross income for auto insurance. By this “affordability factor,” New York is the 5th most expensive state to insure a vehicle. Currently, Massachusetts is the most affordable with a factor of 1.96 percent, while Louisiana is the most expensive with a factor of 6.70 percent.

As the waters rise in Georgia, so does the number of homeowners with water damage and no insurance protection.

The relentless rain has overwhelmed sewers, forced evacuations, closed school systems and swamped cars. It also forces many homeowners to wonder whether they can recover the value of flood-caused losses. For many, the answer will be no.

“The bad news is that your home policy basically covers wind and fire,” said John Oxendine, state insurance commissioner. “Flooding is not on the list.”

That basic coverage will be enough if water comes through the roof, through a leak or a hole caused by wind or a falling tree, he said, but not “if the water touched the ground before it came in your home.”

In a flood plain, flood insurance is required by law. But typically, one-quarter or more of flood-damage claims are for homes where insurance is optional.

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A fugitive who claimed to be Mexican but was betrayed by his Cuban accent — which led to his arrest in Spain — was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment Monday in Miami federal court on U.S. Medicare fraud charges.

Alcides Garcia, 44, of Pembroke Pines, asked the judge for “forgiveness” after his lawyer challenged the total amount of fraud — $10.7 million in false claims, according to prosecutors. Garcia’s Hialeah medical equipment business collected $2.2 million for supplies never provided to patients.

U.S. District Judge Marica Cooke ordered Garcia to pay it all back. But if he is like hundreds of other Medicare fraud prosecutions, the taxpayer-funded program for the elderly won’t likely recover much money.

Garcia, who pleaded guilty to one count of defrauding Medicare, listed himself and others as the owner of A&Y Medical Supply from 2002 to 2004, billing Medicare for power air mattresses, feeder pumps and other equipment.

Full Story Click Here

The This American Life crew, once again proving that they can cover any topic they want better than anyone else in the media,* has a segment in this weekend’s episode on rescission of health insurance policies insurers established practice of looking for ways to invalidate policies once it turns out that the insured actually needs significant medical care. (The segment is around the 30-minute mark; audio should be available on that page sometime on Monday.) The story describes a couple of particularly egregious cases, such as a woman who was denied breast cancer surgery because she had been treated for acne in the past, and a person whose policy was rescinded because his insurance agent had incorrectly entered his weight on the application form

Read more at: http://baselinescenario.com/2009/07/27/health-insurance-innovation/

Although cast as a tax on gold-plated insurance policies for the well-heeled, it has prompted anxiety among the middle class.

The idea, proposed last Wednesday by Senator Max Baucus, is to help raise money for the nation’s health care overhaul by placing a new excise tax on the most expensive health insurance policies, like the ones offered to partners at Goldman Sachs and other affluent professionals.

The tax is meant to raise more than a quarter of the $774 billion needed to pay for the Baucus plan. But just as much, the tax is intended to discourage the overly generous coverage that many experts say has helped propel the country’s reckless spending on medical care.

As it turns out, though, many smaller fish would get caught in Mr. Baucus’s tax net. The supposedly Cadillac insurance policies include ones that cover many of the nation’s firefighters and coal miners, older employees at small businesses — a whole gamut that runs from union shops to Main Street entrepreneurs

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