Health insurance premiums rise

(NaturalNews) After being signed into law in 2010, the massive Affordable Care Act has set off massive domino effects. As the law gains speed, affordable health insurance is becoming a myth and higher premiums are the reality. Even as politicians like Obama lift the ACA on a pedestal, there is no denying the simple negative consequences this law is bringing. Health insurance premiums are rising for many people. The average health care premium for a family in 2010, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation was $13,770. After two years of Obamacare implementation, the average health insurance premiums have raised $1,975 to a total of $15,745.

That's why they wrote in the individual mandate

Proponents of the Affordable Care Act say that the benefits of the law won't be realized until full implementation, which Obama himself has delayed. What may hold the law together is the survival of the individual mandate.

The bloated costs of insurance that pay for impractical health care practices and pharmaceutical drugs may only be lowered if the government forces healthy, independent people to pay into the insurance cesspool. With mandates in place, the government can protect the insurance companies by offsetting their costs through forcing people to pay for something they don't want or use.

As the costs of the current healthcare system bloat, it's becoming apparent that government meddling in people's personal health care actually harms people collectively. In 2016 government meddling will force a family of four to pay nearly $2100 in fines, also deemed an "assessment" in the Affordable Care Act playbook.

$2,100 fine will make it harder for families to take care of their own health

For those who take care of their own health, for those who struggle to find organic foods in a country of GMOs, the extra burden of a $2100 fine will cut right into their healthy-eating budget.

So when professionals say the $2,100 fine will be cheaper than buying health insurance, it realistically isn't cheaper at all. Before the law, people who didn't want or need health insurance paid no fine. $2100 is not cheaper than $0. With the fine and the inflating value of the dollar, some will find it even more difficult to eat healthy and afford their own natural medicine.

Being forced to pay into this medical system is absolute tyranny. Those who say paying health insurance premimums is an American responsibility are finely misled and herded into a failed philosophy of health care. Health care actually begins in an individual's mind. It starts at the cellular level. Heavy metals and pesticides that build up in the human cells block nutrient utilization. People remain sick under the current system because allopathic doctors rarely ever talk about detoxification at the cellular level. Modern health care rarely talks about alkalizing the body to prevent cancer and disease. It's almost always based on prescription drugging and medical tests. In fact,expands upon these ideas, doing nothing to speak about nutrition and the power of juicing organic fruits and vegetables to cure practically any disease.

Obamacare's free services are a trap

Instead, the Affordable Care Act mandates everyone pay for "free" procedures - procedures like:
• Free mammograms for women over 40: These mammograms actually subject women to doses of radiation and false positives that make women think they need to remove their breasts to prevent cancer.
• Free annual flu shots for everyone: The concoctions are direct injections of formaldehyde and thimerosal, which contribute to cellular toxicity in the human body, welcoming disease.
• Depression screening: These tests will give pharmaceutical companies direct access to experimentation on people's brains, as psychotic medications are unleashed on a whole new generation of "depressed" people, who are simply just not absorbing the correct nutrients in their diets to maintain healthy brain function.
• Free birth control for women: This is a handy and universal sterilization method, which wreaks havoc on a female's hormones, damaging fertility and natural body functions.

High premiums are not the only consequences

As health insurance premiums rise dramatically, the only thing that may keep them from going through the roof is the individual mandate, but will millions of Americans submit to the mandate or or will people choose their own over the dying system. The real consequence of the Affordable Care Act may not be the economics, but might actually be the acceptance of tyranny, as people are forced to pay for something against their will. Worse yet, this ACA law will be responsible for expanding current practices that are tying people in red tape instead of giving them empowering knowledge to take care of their own health.

Health Benefits

The Atlanta-based package delivery giant said in an internal memo to employees last month that rising costs for coverage of chronic and other health conditions, "combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost."
The change will affect about 15,000 spouses, UPS said—slightly fewer than half of the 33,000 spouses who are covered today under its health plan for nonunionized workers.
It applies to working spouses who can get health-care coverage through their own employers, the company said. The change doesn't apply, however, to spouses who can't get their own coverage, or the spouses of unionized employees, who make up the bulk of the company's workforce.
About 250,000 of UPS's 322,000 U.S. employees belong to unions, the biggest of which is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. That could create an awkward dichotomy inside the company between nonunion employees who no longer have the choice to insure working spouses through the UPS plan, and union members who will continue to have the choice under their union contracts.
A UPS spokesman said the company made the change in an effort to maintain premiums at or below current levels for a significant number of employees, even though the company's health-care costs have nearly doubled in the past eight years.
No UPS employee, dependent or nonworking spouse is losing coverage, he said, and any spouse who won't be eligible for coverage through another employer will still be able to get UPS coverage.
Denying health coverage to working spouses who are eligible for health insurance through their own employers is a rare practice, though it is growing. About 6% of companies with more than 500 workers have excluded spouses who could get coverage elsewhere, up from 3% in 2008, according to a 2012 survey conducted by Mercer, a consulting unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos.
Ozburn-Hessey Logistics LLC, a Brentwood, Tenn., third-party logistics provider, two years ago excluded from its health plans working spouses who are able to get health-care coverage through their own employer, said Hoyt Fitzsimmons, executive vice president of human resources.
Mr. Fitzsimmons said Ozburn-Hessey made the change to save money. He said the company, which has about 6,000 employees, pays roughly 70% of the cost of its employees' health-insurance premiums, both for employees and any dependents.
"People didn't like it," he said. "But it wasn't like you were pushing them out where they had nowhere to go" for insurance.
UPS said in its memo that it expects an 11.25% increase in health-coverage costs in 2014 over 2013, far above its normal 6% to 7% increase in annual costs for coverage for nonunion employees.
That is also far above the 4% increase this year in the cost of a family plan, according to an annual poll of employers conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust, a nonprofit affiliated with the American Hospital Association.
The package-delivery company said that four percentage points of next year's increase is due to the impact of the health law, including fees it must pay to help fund research on effectiveness of medical interventions, as well as the cost of adding employees to its plan who currently opt out.

Under the individual mandate of the health law, most people must obtain health insurance starting in 2014, or pay a fine.
The company's cost of compensation and benefits was $33.1 billion in 2012. The company's revenue last year was $54 billion. UPS provides both pension and postretirement medical benefits to its retirees.
The Treasury Department in July said it would delay for a year penalties that could be charged to employers with 50 or more people for not providing adequate health insurance. UPS, in its explanation to employees, said the delays "do not impact the individual mandate coverage requirements."
UPS said its change "is consistent with the way many large employers are responding to the costs associated with the Health Care Reform legislation." It said that 35% of companies whose health coverage it has analyzed plan also to exclude working spouses who can get coverage from their own employers next year.
"Since the Affordable Care Act became law, health-care costs have been slowing and premiums are increasing by the lowest rates in years," said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Removing spouses from health plans is one obvious solution for companies that are facing higher health-care costs and new requirements under the health law, said Julie Stich, director of research at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a nonprofit research firm that focuses on employee benefits and compensation. "This is something the new health law doesn't require you to provide—coverage to spouses," Ms. Stich said. "Employers are really taking a harder look at costs, and things they may have never considered before, they are now."
Some companies, especially larger ones, have long instituted a surcharge above the cost of a spouse's coverage, typically about $100 a month, for having that spouse covered under an individual's health plan when other options exist.
Some 12% of companies with 500 to 4,999 employees impose a surcharge, according to the Mercer report.
Health insurance represents about 7.8% of the total compensation for a private-sector employee, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But health costs have grown significantly over the past decade.
One difficulty about culling working spouses from employer health plans is verifying who is eligible for coverage elsewhere, and who isn't. UPS said it will ask employees about their spouse's eligibility during annual enrollment. The penalty for providing false information—concealing the spouse's ability to get insurance elsewhere—would be a "violation of UPS's code of ethics," subject to discipline, the loss of health-care coverage and potentially termination of employment, UPS said. "You would be required to repay all claims paid for your wife's medical expenses—at the very least," UPS said.
A former UPS official said the move was part of UPS's efficiency and cost-cutting rather than any response to business conditions. As soon as the law was enacted, the company started an intensive review of what it might mean from an expense standpoint, the official said. "This is classic UPS, in terms of examining every part of every bit of the operations to see how to improve the bottom line," the official said.
UPS has said previously that costs related to the new health law were adding up. In March, Mike Jones, the company's vice president of investor relations, said a health-law provision requiring children to be allowed to remain on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 would add about $60 million in expenses this year.
In its most recent quarterly filing, UPS said its health and welfare costs rose $49 million in the first six months of the company's fiscal 2013, compared with a year earlier, "largely due to higher medical claims and the impact of several provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," according to the filing on Aug. 2.
The change was initially reported by Kaiser Health News and USA Today.

How to Save Money on Car Insurance

There is a very good chance that you are — this very moment — paying too much for your car insurance. There is an even better chance that you could get a better rate, from another insurance company, than you could from your existing insurer.
So why not take an hour or so and review your policy for potential savings? Or, if you're fed up with the high insurance rates from your current insurer, shop around for a new company.
The Internet has created increasing competition between car insurance companies. It is easier than ever for consumers to shop for low insurance rates, to analyze coverage and compare premiums. Still, studies have shown that people don't shop around for insurance in the same way they might shop for a new car. Also, people tend to stay with the same car insurance company for years. Why not prove these studies wrong? Put the power of the Net to work for you and save money in the process.
You can save on auto insurance in five ways:

1. Make sure you get all discounts you qualify for
2. Keep your driver's record clean and up-to-date
3. Adjust your coverage to assume more risk
4. Drive a "low profile" car equipped with certain money-saving safety features
5. Shop around for a good, low cost insurance provider

First, let's look at the discounts you might qualify for. Discounts fall into a number of categories:

• Low-risk occupations
• Professional organizations
• Combined coverage
• Discounts for safety features
• More risk assumed by driver
• Discounts for senior citizens

Low-Risk Occupations

Insurance is a numbers game. Adjustors collect information about what types of people get into accidents. Over the years they see a trend. Drivers that work as engineers tend to get into fewer accidents. Why? It would be fun to speculate about the reasons (pocket protectors — need we say more?) but the insurance companies don't really care about that. All they know is that, in fact, engineers are a low risk. Since there is less chance that they will wrap their cars around the trunk of a horse chestnut tree, they charge engineers less for insurance. Simple.
But you say you are a teacher instead of an engineer? You might still be in luck. There may be discounts for teachers. You never know unless you ask — and unless you shop around. Not all insurance companies are the same.

Professional Organizations and Auto Clubs

Have you ever been about to pay $100 for a hotel room, only to discover that a AAA discount saves you 15 percent? Now you're paying $85 and feeling proud of yourself. It's similar in the insurance business. Affiliation with AAA — and certain other professional organizations — will lower your rates. You should check with your employer to see if there are any group insurance rates. At the same time try checking directly with the insurance company representative when you inquire about the cost of policies.

Combined and Renewal Discounts

A big source of savings is to insure your cars with the same company that insures your house. Make sure you ask if combined coverage is available. This will lower your payments on your car insurance and make your homeowner's policy cheaper too.
It's also important to make sure you are getting a "renewal" discount that many car insurance companies offer. This is a discount given to people who have been with the same insurance company for an extended period of time. If you have carried insurance with a company for several years, and not had an accident, your insurance company likes you. Think about it. You paid them a lot of money and they didn't have to do anything except send you bills and cash your checks. True, they were ready to do something if you got in an accident. But you didn't get into an accident so they're happy and want to continue their relationship with you. A renewal discount is a good incentive to urge you to return. And it's a good reason for you to stay with them.

Discounts for Auto Safety Features

Auto safety features will also lower your payments. Heading the list of money saving safety features is antilock brakes. Certain states — such as Florida, New Jersey and New York — encourage drivers to buy cars with antilock brakes by requiring insurers to give discounts. Check to see if you live in such a state, or if the insurance company you are considering gives a discount for this feature. Automatic seatbelts and airbags are also frequently rewarded with insurance discounts.

Assume More Risk

Two powerful ways to bring your coverage down is to assume a higher risk. This is done in two ways. The most dramatic reduction can be realized by dropping your collision insurance on an older car. If the car is worth less than $2,000, you'll probably spend more insuring it than it is worth. The whole idea of driving an older car is to save money, so why not get what is coming to you?
Another way to redesign your policy — and save money in the process — is to ask for a higher deductible. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay before your insurance company begins paying the rest. In other words, you pay for the little dings and bumps and let your insurance company pay for the heavy hits.
For example, a common deductible amount is $500. This means if an accident you're in causes $1,500 worth of damage, you pay $500 and the insurance company pays $1,000. You could, however, set your deductible to $1,000. This still covers you against heavy losses, but it may decrease your monthly premium by as much as 30 percent.
As a final note, if you are being strangled by high insurance costs, keep this in mind when you go car shopping next time. The more expensive and higher-performance the car is, the higher the premium will be. This is particularly true of cars that are frequently stolen, or are expensive to repair. The insurance company keeps this in mind when setting its insurance rates for this vehicle. Shop for a low-profile car and get your kicks in other ways. You'll love the savings you'll see on your auto insurance.

How to Choose the Right Insurance Company

If you've read our "10 Steps to Buying Insurance" article, you should have a pretty good idea of how much car insurance to buy and how to find a low-cost policy. But how do you make sure that the company you sign on with is going to be reliable? When we say "reliable," we're talking about how the insurer treats you, the customer. Most importantly, how will the company deal with you when you file a claim?
To help answer this question, we consulted two insurance experts: Dennis Howard, director of the Insurance Consumer Advocate Network and a retired insurance adjuster, and Doug Heller, a consumer advocate at a California-based consumer advocacy group. Both had several ideas for consumers determined to make sure their car insurance investment is directed toward a trustworthy company, one that will pay on time and in full.
1) Visit your state's department of insurance Web site. Although you may not be familiar with it, your state, and every state, has a department of insurance. Most departments have Web sites, and many publish "consumer complaint ratios" for all of the insurance companies that sell policies in their state. This ratio tells you how many complaints a car insurance company received per 1,000 claims filed.
Both experts recommended that consumers use complaint ratios to screen prospective insurers. "Just because they're a big name doesn't mean that they'll be a 'good neighbor' or that you'll be 'in their hands,'" Heller noted.
If you've done your homework, you should already have a list of car insurance companies with the lowest premium quotes. Now jot down the companies with the lowest (or best) complaint ratios. Then, compare your two lists — the companies that rank best on both lists merit your strongest consideration.
If you can't find complaint ratios for your state, Heller recommends examining the complaint ratios published by other states. Keep in mind that a single insurance company's practices can vary significantly from state to state — a subpar ratio in one state doesn't necessarily mean the situation is the same in your state. But watch for general trends. If an insurer is getting a lot of complaints in several other states, you probably don't want to get involved with this company. The I-CAN Web site provides links and contact information for every state's department of insurance.
Also note that insurance department Web sites often provide basic rate comparison surveys. These can give you a rough idea of which insurers might interest you on a financial basis without the hassle of typing in all your personal information (as you must when you use one of the online quote sites).
2) Find out which insurers body shops recommend. One of the best ways to identify reliable insurers, according to Howard, is to contact local body shops that you trust and ask for their recommendations. Body shop managers have a unique perspective to offer, since they regularly interact with insurance adjusters. They know which companies have the smoothest claim processes, which affects how quickly the work can be completed on a damaged vehicle. And they know which companies are pushing aftermarket parts, in lieu of genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, to cut costs.
3) Check the J.D. Power Ratings. J.D. Power and Associates collects data from individual policyholders nationwide and rates them according to coverage options, price, claims handling, satisfaction with company representatives and the overall experience. A quick visit to the J.D. Power Consumer Center will give you a feel for how the major carriers stack up. J.D. Power also publishes an annual survey of major auto insurers — Amica and Erie have finished at the top for the last three years. These are also companies that Howard recommends: "Erie is sold by independent agents, who are very knowledgeable about the product. I like their claims handling approach. Almost all other companies look at a claim and find a way to not pay it. Erie and Amica will look at it and try to find a way to cover it."
4) Consider insurers' financial strength ratings. As a final check, you can take a look at the A.M. Best  and Standard & Poor's  ratings. Both companies publish financial strength ratings for all insurance companies — these "measure" an insurance company's ability to pay out a claim (they have nothing to do with the way a company treats its customers).
For the general consumer, looking up these ratings is only a formality, since most of the well-known carriers are going to be a safe bet. Moreover, independent agents would be unlikely to recommend a company with dubious financial standing. Still, if you're considering a smaller, unfamiliar insurance carrier, you might consider this research time well spent. Insurance companies often provide this information on their Web sites, but if not, you can run a search at the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's sites.
The A.M. Best rating is expressed as a letter grade from A++ (the highest) to D. Some companies may be assigned ratings of E (indicating regulatory action regarding the company's solvency), F (in liquidation) and S (suspended). In any case, you should only work with companies that have at least a B+ rating.
The Standard & Poor's ratings range from AAA (the highest) to CC. Additionally, some companies receive ratings of R (under regulatory supervision) and NR, which means "not rated." The letter grades might be modified by a plus or minus mark. Consider only those companies that have at least a BBB rating.
5) Still confused? Consider working with an agent. It used to be that everyone purchased auto insurance from an agent, but now, car insurance companies like Esurance, Geico and others allow you to purchase insurance directly — over the phone from a customer service representative or online. Still, many of the major players have preserved their national networks of local agents — even if you use State Farm's or Allstate's Web site, you will still be assigned a local agent.
There are two kinds of agents:

• a) the captive agent, who represents only one insurance company (major carriers like AAA, Allstate and State Farm sell policies through captive agents).
• b) the independent agent, also known as a broker, who represents several insurance companies and therefore does not have a vested interest in selling you a policy from one particular company.

The main advantage in having your own agent is that this person has a vested interest in keeping you happy. Accordingly, he can become familiar with your situation and guide you toward a suitable policy. Howard favors the use of agents and advised, "Don't rule out direct providers, but my personal preference is to have an agent, preferably an independent agent, write your policy for you.... An independent agent would become aware of less advantageous conditions with one company [and help you move to another]. You can change carriers without changing your agent. I encourage consumers to develop a relationship with their agent."
The prospect of good working relations with an agent may help you to make a decision: When Heller purchased auto insurance for the first time, two insurers gave him similar quotes, but he went for the slightly higher one because the agent had been highly recommended by a friend. "You shouldn't go direct without always checking out other options," he said.
But, he cautioned, "Never feel pressured by a broker or an agent. Take the time to talk with an agent or a broker as well as do your online research. You may not need an agent — you may find a better deal with a company that operates direct."
Independent agents sometimes charge a fee for their services, but you may be able to negotiate that. You should agree upon any fee in writing before making a purchase. Look for agents who are certified by Independent Insurance Agents of America (Big "I") or Professional Insurance Agents (PIA).
Of course, we know you have better things to do with your time than think about car insurance. Realistically, most people won't be able to do everything on this list before choosing an insurance carrier. But if you feel that you've been burned during the claims process in the past, consider at least one or two of these suggestions — you'll thank yourself if you're ever involved in another accident.

To find a service center that knows how to deliver excellent customer service, please visit Edmunds.

Car Insurance for Teenage Drivers

The statistics about teenage drivers aren't good. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 16-year-olds get into accidents almost six times more often than drivers between the age of 30 and 59. No wonder car insurance premiums are so high for this age group.
However, not all car insurance companies take the same dim view of young drivers. And some discounts are available to help you cut costs. Remember, the higher the risk, the higher the cost of insurance premiums. Let this be your guiding principle as you shop for insurance.
Here are 10 suggestions to help lower premiums and keep your teenager's license free of violations:
1. Help your teen learn the laws and follow them to the letter. By far, the best way to lower car insurance costs for teens is for them to keep their driving record clean. Make safe driving a family project. In some states, restrictions apply to new drivers. Parents should know what the laws are and insist that their sons and daughters follow them.
2. Set a good example. Do you break the speed limit and tailgate? Do you yell at other drivers when you're behind the wheel? If you do these things, how can you expect your children to act differently? Start watching your own driving long before they get their license and you'll have a much easier time convincing them to be safe drivers. Remember, actions speak louder than words.
3. Put your teenager on your policy. Rather than setting up an independent policy for your teen driver, put them on your auto insurance policy as an additional driver. In this way, all the discounts applied to your policies will be passed on to them.
4. Pay your teenager to get good grades. Here's a creative tip — find out how much you save if your teenager gets a good grade point average and pass it on to them. Usually, having a 3.0 or higher GPA will reduce your car insurance premium by 10 percent. Figure out exactly how much this saves you and give that money to your teenager. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides a direct reward for academic performance. Secondly, it motivates them to continue getting good grades.
5. Enroll them in driver education courses. Discounts are available for teens who take recognized driving classes. But call your car insurance company to find out which schools are covered before paying big bucks.
6. Steer clear of sports cars. Don't try to live vicariously through your teenager by giving them the hot car you couldn't get in high school. Getting your teenager a safe car to drive, with the latest safety equipment, will lower your premiums. Not only will you save money on car insurance, but fast driving will be less of a temptation.
7. Get their support. Don't assume that your teenager wants to vacuum clean your wallet. Ask them for help cutting costs and point out that you will share in the savings (see rule #4). Tell them how much car insurance costs and show them how this fits into the family budget. If nothing else, you will score points for treating them as adults.
8. Talk to your kids about drugs and alcohol. This is a tough subject to broach with teenagers, who think they have everything under control. But the consequences of saying nothing can be catastrophic. Take the time to lay down some guidelines in this important area.
9. Take traffic school to beat tickets. Once a ticket is on your teen's license, it takes months to get the violation removed. Instead, encourage them to take traffic school if the judge allows it. A day spent thinking about the consequences of unsafe driving can bring rewards for years to come.
10. Ride with your teenager. Your teenager was a safe driver last year when he or she got a license. But what's happened since then? Let your son or daughter take the wheel while you sit back and relax in the passenger seat. If you see them doing something that breaks rules or seems unsafe, point this out in a diplomatic way. If they are doing a good job driving, praise them for their efforts.
If you follow the above suggestions, you will find that you can make it through the teenage years safely — and without paying an arm and a leg for car insurance. It just takes cooperation and understanding from both sides of the generation gap.

Protect Yourself From Auto Insurance Fraud

here are various ways consumers can fall victim to auto insuracne fraud,  including accident scams, insurer tricks and referral fraud. Whether you're buying auto insurance or on the road, it's important to know how to protect yourself. To keep you out of trouble, we've compiled the most important tips from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the North Dakota Department of Insurance, FraudGuides.com and Edmunds.com.
When Buying Auto Insurance

• Be wary of insurance offers from door-to-door salespeople, telephone callers or unsolicited Internet advertisements.
• Be suspicious if the price of insurance seems much lower than the competition's. It could be a scam, or the coverage might be full of exclusions that are only discovered when you need the coverage.
• Contact your state's insurance department to make sure the agent and company are licensed.
• Check the company's rating at the Better Business Bureau.
• Make sure "free services" aren't actually hidden in your insurance bill.
• Ask if the insurance company has purchased or invested in vehicle repair shops; this is a red flag. You are not required to use them, and they will not give you better service or prices — in fact, they could be worse.
• Guard your insurance identification number the same way you would your social security number, because once it's stolen, criminals can use it in a scam.

While Driving

• Be wary if a car pulls in front of you, forcing you to follow dangerously close. You may be set up for a staged accident.
• Trust your instincts. If someone seems to be tailing you or otherwise behaving suspiciously, pull into the nearest gas, fire or police station, or other "safe spot" that you see.
• Carry an accident emergency kit, or at least a disposable camera, in your car.

After a Two-Car Crash

• Exchange information with the person driving the vehicle, including driver license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance. Take pictures of all damage to both cars.
• Count the number of people in the car. Get a name, address and telephone number for each one, not just the driver.
• Call the police, and if possible, have them come to the scene. Get a police report with the officer's name, even if the damage is minimal. This makes it more difficult for a criminal to damage the car later and try to collect a larger claim. Note that in cities where police are stretched thin, the police may not come to an accident scene unless there are injuries reported.
• Avoid people who suddenly appear at an accident scene and try to direct you to specific doctors or attorneys.
• Avoid people who offer you quick cash to fix your car.
• Be wary of tow truck drivers who recommend a specific auto repair facility without being asked.
• Demand detailed bills for any repairs or medical services. Keep all your receipts related to the accident.
• Make sure you get Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts at the repair shop.
• Be wary of physicians who insist that you file a personal injury claim after an accident, especially if you are not hurt.
• Never sign blank insurance claim forms.

Edmunds.com Editors Shop for Auto Insurance

With money tighter than ever, it was time for us to see if we could do better than our existing auto insurance policy. Our current insurance company (which shall go unnamed) was known for its low premiums. Would it be possible to meet or beat those rates, while possibly improving other aspects of our coverage?
We thought about trying an auto insurance broker who represented several different brands of car insurance, but we wanted to keep our options open to the entire range of companies. Armed with our current policy's declaration page, we set out on a hunt for the best value.
Step 1: Check Customer Satisfaction Scores
Step 3: Know What Coverage You Want
The insured parties would be one man and one woman, 45 and 44 years old, respectively.Before getting our quotes, we made sure of the coverage we wanted:

• Bodily injury: $250K bodily injury per person/$500K per accident
• Property damage: $100K
• Medical payments: $5K
• Uninsured motorist: $250K bodily injury per person/$500K per accident
• Deductibles: $250 for Comprehensive, $500 for Collision
• Uninsured deductible waiver included
• Car rental coverage

Raising the deductibles further would lower our rates, but we wanted to use the current coverage levels of our policy for the comparison.
Step 4: Try To Compare Apples to Apples
We used both the Internet and the telephone to gather our quotes, but didn't identify ourselves as being with Edmunds. Each insurer promoted its advantages, sometimes bullet-pointing them on its Web site.
Amica, for example, waives the deduction for depreciation if your new vehicle is declared a total loss within the first 180 days of ownership. It also waives the deductible for lock replacement (if your keys are lost or stolen) and on glass repair.
ACSC, for its part, offers free identity theft monitoring and an immediate repair program at its many authorized service centers. And the list goes on, making it almost impossible to do a perfect comparison.
Even trying to get coverage limits to line up exactly proved to be a challenge. While ACSC offers split limit coverage in our state (250/500/100), Amica offers only single-limit coverage — a single dollar amount that covers both bodily injury and property damage. To be fair to Amica, we priced out both $300K and $500K per accident to see what happened.
We asked each company about every discount we were entitled to. We received discounts for being good drivers (no history of accidents), insuring several vehicles on one policy, having airbags and anti-theft devices (alarms) in the vehicles, having LoJack on one vehicle and driving 10,000 miles or less in each car per year.
Speaking Our Language: $$$
Although it's not considered a discount, ACSC offered something unique: a cash dividend. The organization "rebates" a dividend of 7-14 percent of your annual premium at the end of the year (depending on how long you've been insured with them), applying it toward the following year's premium. Amica offers a similar dividend — up to 20 percent on parts of the policy coverage, according to the agent we spoke with — but they can't offer it in California, which made a significant difference in our pricing comparison.
Note that no insurance company is allowed to use the promise of a dividend in its marketing efforts because it's considered unfair competition, and those dividends are not guaranteed. Still, when asked, our ACSC agent said his company has paid out an average 9 percent dividend over the last 15 years. So it's crucial that you ask about the possibility of a dividend when you shop for a quote, because the sales agent won't offer that information.
Why can some companies offer a dividend and not others? Because of their corporate structure. According to the Insurance Information Institute, insurance companies are generally either stock-form entities, such as Allstate or MetLife, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), or mutually owned enterprises, like State Farm, which offer dividends on occasion to its owners/policyholders.
The cost difference between ACSC and Amica came down to very little — at least to start. We'd be paying more to ACSC the first year, but the assumed dividend would bring the second year's cost down to $17 less than Amica's. More importantly, that dividend would continue to grow for years to come. ANPAC's quote was so far out of line with the others that we had trouble believing it, but we double-checked it.

	2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid	2004 Chevrolet Astro (Cargo)	2002 Honda Odyssey EX-L	Subtotal	7% Rebate	Estimated Total
Current Policy	$1,452	$1,062	$1,252	$3,766		$3,766
Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC)	$1,520	$1,128	$1,123	$3,771	$264	$3,507
Amica	$1,284	$1,264	$976	$3,524		*$3,524
American National Property & Casualty (ANPAC)	$2,848	$2,548	$1,696	$7,092		$7,092

*Since Amica offers only single-limit coverage, the price above represents $300K of liability coverage. We also priced both ACSC and Amica at $500K for bodily injury. At that increased coverage level, ACSC's quoted price went up about $58 (before rebate) — well worth the increase, whereas Amica's rose $300.
Step 5: Consider More Than Money
So if the money's almost even, what are some of the other factors to consider when choosing an insurance company? We've already mentioned ACSC's immediate repair program, which authorizes a shop to begin repairs on your car as soon as the tow truck arrives with it. But equally important is your personal relationship with the company and/or its agent.
While Amica scores higher than ACSC in the J.D. Power category for Contacting the Insurer, Amica's closest physical office is easily an hour's drive from our office. ANPAC's nearest agent is also a long distance away — and the agent's English was so difficult to understand that, even if the price was right, there was little hope of good communication. If we want to speak with our agent at ACSC, though, we only need to walk a few blocks to the local office. The ACSC agent consistently responded quickly and answered all our questions patiently over the phone and via the Internet, winning our loyalty.
Be aware that combining an auto policy with a home or life insurance policy would change the pricing structure dramatically. But for now, we're satisfied that we were able to lower our auto premiums over the long run, while upgrading to a very highly rated company with a local agent we can relate to. Mission accomplished.

Personal Factors That Affect Insurance Rates

A reporter recently asked Edmunds about the kinds of personal information that can affect the cost of car insurance. She also wanted to know whether people could do anything to address personal factors that were keeping their car insurance rates high.
They're good questions, and Edmunds was happy to help answer them. During the research it became clear that when it comes to car insurance, there's hardly anything that isn't personal. Here are five all-about-you factors that can affect your car insurance premium:
1) Your driving profile. Such factors as the number of miles you drive annually and your accident and ticket history are major elements in setting your insurance rate. The less you drive, the less risk of an accident and a claim. Safer driving — meaning a history free of accidents and moving violations — also points to someone who's less likely to file a claim.
2) The car you drive. Car insurance premiums are based in part on the car's sticker price, the cost to repair it, its overall safety record and the likelihood of theft, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The cost of fixing a brand-new $225,000 is going to be a lot more than the repair costs for a used $17,000. The premium will reflect this.
3) Your essential personal information, including your age, occupation and where you live. Each of these things factors into the process of setting your insurance rate because insurance companies base their premiums on actuarial information about drivers. They look for patterns of claims activity among people like you. A teenage boy is likely to have a higher insurance rate than a middle-aged driver, because statistically, teenage boys have more accidents than do 40-year-olds.
Your occupation can play a role if it affects how much driving you do. Work that involves lots of miles on the road, such as an outside sales job, can affect rates. From the insurance company's point of view, the more miles you drive means more risk of an accident.
Insurance companies also look at where you live. They track local trends of accidents, car thefts, lawsuits and the cost of medical care and car repair, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
4) The coverage you choose. The more coverage you elect and the lower the deductible you set, the more you'll pay.
5) Your credit score. Some insurance companies use credit scores as a factor in setting rates. This practice is coming under attack, however, with  in 2010 passing regulations regarding the use of credit information in insurance. In 2011, several other state legislatures to regulate the practice.
Actuarial studies show that how a person manages his or her financial affairs is an accurate predictor of the number and size of insurance claims he or she might file, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
If you want to lower your insurance costs, you can't change your age, or easily change your job or hometown. But there are some personal changes you can make:
1) Consider  It's a paradox, but the more personal you get, the better your rates might be. Pay-as-you-drive programs offer better rates because they're tailored to how you personally drive — as opposed to the people who are similar to you in terms of age or other unchangeable factors.
This means that a teenager who is an excellent driver — who doesn't speed, doesn't drive at night and doesn't drive many miles — can get a better rate than the average teenager, whose actuarial profile pegs him as a greater risk, based on the accident history for people his age.
Pay-as-you-drive plans have different configurations, depending on the insurance company and state. Some require that you install a telematics device that transmits information about your actual driving (such as speed, mileage and braking patterns) to the insurance company. Others, such as plans permitted in California, only are based on the number of miles you drive, not how you drive.
2) Be a calmer, more careful driver. If you've had speeding tickets in the past, resolve to change from being a speedy, aggressive driver to a calm one. A side benefit is that you'll save money on gasoline. Edmunds testing has also shown that a calm driving style gets you 35 percent better fuel economy.
3) Choose a car with a lower cost of ownership. Edmunds has a True Cost to Own ^® (TCO) tool that lets you size up cars when you're shopping. It takes into account eight components — depreciation, interest on financing, taxes and fees, insurance premiums, fuel, maintenance, repairs and any federal tax credit that may be available — and tells you what your cost would be over five years. It's a way to get a preview of what your insurance premiums might be. Also, talk to your insurance company when you're car shopping to get a quote on how your choice will affect your insurance. If you wait until the deal is done, you've lost a chance to manage your costs.
4) Change your coverage. Don't go for every bell and whistle in an auto insurance policy. If you're willing to pay a slightly higher deductible, you can wind up saving big on your rates. Going from a $250 to a $1,000 deductible could save you 25-40 percent on your policy. Set aside a portion of these funds to cover your costs in the event of a claim.
If you have an older car with comprehensive and collision coverage, you might find yourself paying more in insurance than the car is worth. One tip: Take your comprehensive and collision premiums and add those up. Multiply by 10. If your car is worth less than that amount, don't buy the coverage. If you're worried about being left overexposed, consider this: The typical policyholder makes a claim only once every 11 years, and reports a total loss only once every 50 years.
5) Explore discounts for which you might be qualified. The options available include discounts for low-mileage drivers, for seniors and for cars with anti-theft devices and certain safety devices. It's a lengthy list — just ask your insurer about any discounts, and go from there.
6) Clean up your credit. Keep it in good shape by paying bills on time and by regularly checking that there are no items on your history that do not belong to you. You can get free annual credit report checks here.  .
Is there personal information that doesn't matter? Gender, one expert told us. Insurance companies don't care if you're female or male as long as you're a safe driver. And it's a myth that red cars have higher insurance rates than those sporting more sedate shades, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Ultimately, insurance companies care about how likely it is that a particular driver would end up making or causing a pricey claim against them. Green is the only color that matters.

How To Get Affordable Car Insurance

If you lose your job, take a pay cut or encounter another kind of financial hardship, affordable auto insurance quickly turns from nice to necessity. While it's easy enough to find companies offering cut-rate car insurance, is that the best way to go?
Not really, according to consumer watchdogs and insurance experts. To find the lowest possible rates from an insurer that'll be there when you need it, learn what type of coverage you must carry, research the reputations of insurance companies and take advantage of every possible discount for which you're eligible, experts say. They also recommend checking out pay-as-you-drive policies that peg premiums to how many miles you put on your car each year. Finally, if you're eligible, look into low-cost auto insurance programs that such states as California, Hawaii and New Jersey offer to people with very low incomes.
When it comes to buying affordable car insurance, you're your own best advocate. At the same time, it's not always easy to take on that role, says J. Robert Hunter, a former Texas insurance commissioner and insurance director at the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America in Washington. Don't settle for the first insurance company or agent you find, Hunter says. Shop around. "That's how big buyers of insurance do it," he says. "They put it out for competitive bids. That's what you should do, too."
Here's a step-by-step guide to finding the lowest rates without getting ripped off:
1. Start with the car. What you pay for comprehensive and collision coverage depends on the year, make and model of the car you drive. Generally speaking, the newer, more expensive the vehicle, the higher the premium. Rates for comprehensive and collision coverage don't vary much, so if you can't afford to pay a lot for insurance and you're in the market for a car, buy one that's inexpensive.
2. Know your limits. Most states have set minimums for liability insurance coverage, both for bodily injury and property damage. Look up coverage minimums here or on your state insurance commission's Web site. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners lists insurance commissions in all 50 states and U.S. territories. If you're taking out a loan to purchase a new or used car, the lender will likely require you to carry a certain level of comprehensive and collision coverage, according to the NAIC.
3. Take the highest possible deductible. Want an easy way to lower your premium? Take a high deductible. By opting for an annual deductible of $1,000 instead of $250, you'll pay less up front, but should you be responsible for an accident, you'll foot more of the bill before insurance payments kick in.
4. Check your credit score. Some states allow insurers to take your credit history into account when compiling what's called an insurance credit score, which they use to calculate your premium. Bad credit because of overdue bills or a personal bankruptcy means you could end up paying more for auto coverage. To improve your insurance credit score, pay your bills on time, monitor your credit report and do anything you can to fix problems that could be lowering your score.
5. Narrow the field. Use the process of elimination to come up with three or four reputable insurance companies or agents to approach for quotes. Start at your state insurance commission's Web site, which usually lists several dozen of the area's top insurers. Choose the half dozen or so companies with the lowest prices for coverage that's closest to what you need. Next, check the reputations of insurers by going to the NAIC's Consumer Information Source Web site to find the "complaint ratios" for each. Complaint ratios show the number of complaints that consumers filed against a company in a given year and then compare this to the company's share of all premiums for a specific type of auto policy during that period. The national median is 1.0, and highly rated companies can score well below that.
Here's exactly how to see where your candidate companies stand. In the search box on the right side of the Consumer Information Source page, type in the name of the insurance company you want to research, your state and "Property/Casualty" for the statement type. From the results page, click on "Closed Complaints." To see complaint ratios for the company's auto insurance policies, choose "Closed Complaint Ratio Report" and "Private Passenger."
If a company's ratio is substantially higher than the median, go back to your state insurance commission's Web site to see if regulators have taken action against them. With that information, whittle your list down to the three or four insurers with the lowest complaints. Then contact them directly. Consumers who are really financially strapped — to the extent of not having Web access at home for this research — can ask a friend or relative with Internet access for help, or use free Internet service at a public library.
6. Find an agent. If the insurance companies you've identified as possibilities sell directly to customers, you can plug information into a form on their Web sites, get a quote and have someone contact you. If the companies sell through an agent network, ask friends or family who they use, or go back to your state insurance commissioner's Web site to look up agents in your area. Give anyone you contact specific details about the coverage you want and let them know you're comparison shopping. "Say, 'I've talked to this company and got a quote for $480. Can you beat it?'" says Hunter, with the Consumer Federation of America. "Then you've put them to the test."
7. Grab those discounts. Insurers offer a multitude of discounts, including lower rates for drivers with short commutes, retirees, students with good grades or vehicles with safety devices such as car alarms or motorized seatbelts. If you're over 55, you could lower your premium by 10 percent by passing a defensive driving course, according to the Insurance Information Institute. When you're talking to agents, don't forget to inquire about the group discounts that some insurers offer to members of professional organizations or other groups. Companies including State Farm, Auto Club of Southern California and Progressive have begun offering pay-as-you-drive discounts, with premiums tied to your annual mileage, with a cap at approximately 19,000 miles. In many of these programs, you report your mileage online or to your agent when your policy's up for renewal.
8. Consider opting out of some — but not all — coverage. If you drive an older car and own it outright, consider dropping comprehensive and collision coverage. If the vehicle is really old, you could be paying more in insurance than what it's worth. But hold onto that liability insurance. It's illegal in most states to drive without it, and insurers in some states charge significantly higher premiums if you let coverage lapse, even if you haven't been driving.
9. Investigate state-run low-cost insurance programs. If you live in California, and if your household income is close to or less than the poverty level, you may qualify for state-run low-cost or no-cost insurance programs. Policies under the for example, cost less than $400 a year and cover about 12,000 low-income drivers at any given time, according to Doug Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog,  an advocacy group in Santa Monica, California. He expects more people to sign up as a new state law takes effect that lets agents sell the program online for the first time. "That's important not just for people who can get online from their homes, but for agencies that provide resources for low-income families," Heller says. Lawmakers in Nevada and Michigan recently proposed or approved pilots for similar programs.
10. Assess insurance needs and premium costs annually. Life isn't static, and your auto insurance premiums shouldn't be either. Review your policy once a year, especially if you've moved or switched to a job that has you driving more or less. A review is also a good time to check on whether you're eligible for additional discounts.

How Car Insurance Companies Handle Car Accident Claims

When Apple programmer Kit Cutler's 2012 Ford Focus was slammed from behind by a silver Lexus, the hit was so hard that it shoved his car into the Honda Accord in front of him. Although no one was hurt in the accident, the driver of the silver Lexus drove off without providing insurance information to anyone. Cutler and the Accord's driver exchanged insurance information, filed reports with the police and went home. The accident was only slightly more confusing to Cutler than the insurance claims process that came after.
That car insurance claims process baffles nearly everyone. "Most people only file a claim every eight to 10 years," says Jeanne Salvatore, vice president for public affairs and consumer spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute,  an industry-supported, non-lobbying group dedicated to improving public understanding of insurance.
Cutler filed his claim by phone. "In that initial interview, the agent told me very quickly that I wasn't at fault," he says. Then she asked him questions about the accident and typed his answers into an online form. Cutler checked and verified the information.
"They go through it all very quickly, so you have to pay attention," he says. "I hadn't been in an accident before, and I didn't know what was going on."
This article explains what insurance companies are doing behind the scenes in the wake of an automotive mishap or collision. It also discusses what happens if you're hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver.
Immediately After the Accident
If you're involved in an accident, "The first thing to do is let your insurance company know you were in an accident and provide all the specifics of it," Salvatore says. "From the second of the accident, keep good records." Use your smartphone (or keep a notebook in your glovebox) and write down the time, date, plate number, make and model of their car, their registration information, license number, name, insurance company and contact information.
If the police are on the scene, Salvatore says, take their names and badge numbers. Get the names of any witnesses and note whether emergency medical personnel were called. "Photos are helpful. Take pictures of the car and the license plate," she says. "If the claim is straightforward, you may not need any of it, but if a problem occurs, you need all the information possible." Again, with the prevalence of smartphones these days, this is all quite easy to do.
From filing the claim to resolving it, every insurance company's methods are different. However, the essentials of the process are fairly standard. You'll only see part of the process, though. All negotiations between insurance companies about payments and reimbursements will be carried on behind the scenes.
Filing Your Claim
As with Cutler's case, it's standard for your insurance carrier to call soon after you report an accident. During that call, "We'll match the person to their policy, determine what happened in the accident, find out about any injuries, the extent of damage to both vehicles and get some demographic information," says Mike Flato, a process business leader for Progressive Insurance. "We'll make sure everyone is OK; if not, what happened and then who'll handle the medical claims."
After a claim is filed, your insurance company assigns you a claims adjustor, who is your contact from then on. Adjustors coordinate teams that look at medical reports, investigate the accident, speak with witnesses, view the scene, examine the vehicle damage, manage all the repairs and any medical treatments, check all coverages (how much your policy pays for medical injuries and property damages) and ultimately determine fault.
"The claims process is the business of the insurance company," says Salvatore. "Every situation is different, and the better organized you are, the easier the claims process is."
While adjustors work, medical treatment and auto repairs start immediately, with each insurance company covering its own driver's injuries and property damages. This process of "making you whole" is known as indemnification. Your insurance company indemnifies you, not the other way around. Later, after the insurance companies assess fault, they will negotiate to determine which one will reimburse the other for claims paid.
Who's at Fault?
Fault assessment is not necessarily a simple matter. "Liability laws don't govern how you assess fault," says John Murphy, service center business leader for Progressive Insurance. "They dictate how much you can collect and who is eligible." Therefore, fault determination is up to the insurance companies.
"There may be an allocation of fault, such as 60/40," says Scott Spriggs, a member of the Insurance Council of Texas. "In that case, payments may be apportioned by percent of fault." That is, the insurance company of the driver who is 60 percent at fault pays for 60 percent of the claims and the other company pays for the rest.
"Sometimes, if one party is allocated more than 50 percent of fault, that driver's insurance company pays for everything," Spriggs says. "In no-fault states, each driver's insurance company pays for its own customer's claims."
If one driver is wholly at fault, it's much simpler. "In at-fault states, at-fault drivers try to collect from their own insurance, whereas the person who is not at fault collects from the at-fault driver's insurance company," Salvatore says.
When an Uninsured or Underinsured Driver Hits You
It may come as a surprise, but the process doesn't change much when uninsured or underinsured drivers are involved.
"Each state has its own rules about what qualifies as uninsured and underinsured," says Murphy. If an uninsured driver hits you, and you suffer injuries, "your insurance company will pay you," he says. However, you must have collision insurance or coverage for uninsured or underinsured drivers in order for your carrier to pay for your car's damages. After any payments to you, your carrier "will try to find the uninsured driver and get reimbursement for its payments," he says.
Fortunately, Cutler got a photo of the Lexus' license from the Accord's driver. The photo meant Cutler's insurance company could find the hit-and-run driver and demand reimbursement for the $11,000 it paid to repair Cutler's car. Because of the photo, Cutler says, his insurance company waived his deductible.
Every state but New Hampshire and Virginia requires auto liability insurance. New Hampshire requires that drivers set aside funds for accidents, but Virginia doesn't, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Despite this, the institute says your chances of encountering an uninsured driver in the United States are about one in seven.
When a driver is underinsured, "your insurance company will work with the other driver's company to cover your claim," Spriggs says. For example, suppose the underinsured driver's policy covers up to $5,000 of property damage, but your vehicle sustained $10,000 in damage. In that case, the underinsured driver's insurance company will pay $5,000 and your insurance company will pay the other $5,000. Your insurance company will then go directly to the underinsured driver and seek reimbursement for its payment to you.
Although claims adjustors determine fault, "subrogation units" use those determinations to decide which insurance company pays and how much it pays.
"Subrogation is the substitution of one creditor for another," Spriggs says. "If I am hit by someone else, my insurance company will cover that damage." In other words, you substitute one creditor — your insurance company — for another creditor (the other driver's insurance company). That is subrogation. Then, of course, your insurance company seeks reimbursement from the other insurance company or the driver.
In Cutler's case, neither he nor the Accord driver were at fault. Therefore, each driver's insurance company paid its own customer's claim. No subrogation was involved.
How Carriers Resolve Payment Disputes
When each driver's carrier completes its claim investigations, "one insurance company will send a demand [for payment] to the other," Murphy says. "That will be countered. The carriers will then work out liability and who pays what. Most of the time, we make the appropriate payments. The faster we can do that, the faster we can pay out."
If companies can't agree on payment, they can request judgment from Arbitration Forums,  an industry-funded nonprofit set up to handle insurance carrier disputes.
"For arbitration, the two companies apply and present all their information," Murphy says. "The arbitration panel makes a decision." Those decisions are final and binding, and there is no appeal.
What You Need To Know
Even the most minor car accident can shake you up. But it's important to know the steps to take so that everything will go smoothly in the claims process.
If you need to file an auto insurance claim, know what kind of coverage you have, be prepared with as much information about the accident as possible, stay in touch with your claims adjustor and know your state's laws regarding liability.