Online Auto Insurance Purchasing up

Auto insurance purchased online increased 58% in 2006 compared to 2005, according to comScore.

ComScore also noted that the total number of auto insurance quotes submitted online increased 15%

According to the company, price-conscious consumers consider the Internet critical to their research. They submitted more than 70 million auto insurance online rate quotes from 2004 to 2006, the report noted.

This year also shows signs of increasing Internet use. During January and February, the number of auto insurance quotes submitted online increased 29 percent, and the number of policies purchased online increased 45 percent compared to the same period in 2006.

Reasons for not purchasing or researching auto insurance online included preference for speaking with an actual person, and not wanting to submit confidential information over the Internet. The report noted more than percent of consumers said that guaranteed site security would increase their likelihood of purchasing online.

Too Many Children Lack Health Insurance

About 11% of U.S. children lack health insurance as documented in a recent report.

The report measured the progress of each state since 2000 in 10 areas -- infant mortality rates, teenage birth and mortality rates, child mortality rates, rates of low-birthweight infants, and child poverty rates. In addition, the report ranked states in each area, as well as overall.

The report found that Minnesota, New Hampshire and Connecticut ranked the highest overall and that Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi ranked the lowest

According to the report, the national infant mortality rate decreased to 6.8 per 1,000 live births in 2004 from 6.9 per 1,000 in 2000.

The report also found that the national birth rate among teens ages 15 to 19 decreased to 41 per 1,000 in 2004 from 48 per 1,000 in 2000 and that the mortality rate among teens ages 15 to 19 decreased to 66 per 100,000 in 2004 from 67 per 100,000 in 2000.

The Hidden Cost of Bad Credit

It's bad enough that a few credit missteps can force you into higher-interest credit cards and loans. But did you know those dings can raise your auto insurance rates too?

Your FICO score --can have an impact far beyond the account where the trouble started. Even if you don't have any dings, your score might be low enough to affect your auto insurance rates. If you don't use your credit cards, after all, the credit industry won't have a history of good credit to evaluate. You'll end up with a less-than-ideal rating. Insurance companies will see you as a less-than-ideal risk, and price your policies accordingly.

A report issued last week by the Federal Trade Commission describes insurance companies such as MetLife and Allstate looking into using credit history to assess risk as far back as the early 1980s.

The report notes that every single one of the top 15 auto insurance companies uses these scores. Case studies in the report note the particular success of Progressive in using these scores to improve its business.

Children's Health Care

The nation's governors, defying threats of a veto from President Bush, called on Congress Sunday to extend and increase a program to provide health insurance for poor children.

A bipartisan letter drafted and approved at the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association did not specify how much the current program should be expanded, but Democrats said it provided support for them as they battle the president over the issue.

Bush has made the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, the center of his campaign against "excessive" domestic spending. His budget allocates only $5 billion in additional money for the program in the next five years -- a sum that supporters of the program say is too small to cover even the 6.6 million children who are currently receiving help. The program helps families who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot get private insurance on their own.

In recent statements, Bush has objected that some states have provided insurance for children in families making more than three times the poverty level, while other states have used the money to insure adults who have no children.

The Senate bill would restrict insurance to youngsters, but the president has argued that it expands SCHIP in a way that would induce some families to give up private insurance for a government stipend.

Auto Insurance Rates

Auto insurance rates in Ohio aren't falling like North Carolina rates are, but Ohio auto insurance rates are still pretty darn affordable.

A pricing report from insurance.com shows annual auto insurance premiums nationwide have declined 1 percent on average since 2006. Rates decreased in 41 of the 48 surveyed states.

The average national premium in 2007 is $1,896, down from $1,916 in 2006.

Ohio's average premium again ranked as the second-lowest in the nation at $1,342 a year, down 1 percent from $1,358. The only state with lower rates is Wisconsin, whose premiums dropped 1 percent to $1,335.

The states with the highest car insurance premiums are: Louisiana, $2,740; New York, $2,601; and New Jersey, $2,568.

While the decrease in average Ohio premiums is in line with the nationwide trend, North Carolina saw a 16 percent drop from 2006. Rates there are at $1,945, down from $2,261.

The Insurance.com report drew data from the lowest average car insurance rates in the first half of 2007 from about a dozen leading carriers. About 700,000 car insurance consumers participated in the survey.

Consumer Driven Health Insurance

Renewing your health insurance used to be easy.

By now you’ve heard of “consumer-driven” health-care plans. At this time there are two versions showing promise: the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) and Health Savings Account (HSA). They are designed to lower health insurance costs by engaging employees to take vested interests in their own health-care expenses.

There are significant differences between how these plans work.

Employers are the owner of HRAs. The more successful HRA plans allow a portion of the unspent accounts to roll over from year to year as an incentive to the employees not to spend them. There are no requirements for which type of insurance you use with an HRA. The money that is not spent stays with the employers if employees leave.

Employees are the owners of their HSAs. Both the employers and the employees can fund this account. HSA funds can be used to help offset all medically related expenses, including a tremendous number of things that do not count toward the insurance deductible, such as dental and vision costs and even some over-the-counter medications.

To establish HSAs, employees must be covered exclusively by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). The federal government has placed guidelines for deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for these plans to be qualified. Since these plans have higher deductibles than most co-pay plans, there is usually a significant premium savings.

The concept is to place the premium savings in the tax-deductible HSA and use these dollars to pay your smaller expenses at the insurance company’s negotiated PPO discount while maintaining the insurance plan for major expenses. There are now many examples of the premium savings being large enough to cover most or all of the HDHP deductible.

HSAs can be opened through insurance companies, banks and credit unions. You can deposit up to $2,850 for an individual or $5,650 for a family into an HSA for 2007. Account balances roll over year to year.

HSAs are the only products that offer triple tax advantages; tax-deductible deposits, tax-deferred interest earned and tax-free withdrawals as long as they are spent on qualified medical expenses. Since the employees own their HSAs, there is a significant difference in how this money is spent. Imagine your employees all having vested interests in not spending their health-care dollars. This is why self-funded plans tend to benefit most.

Competitive auto insurance in MA

The last time Massachusetts tried to introduce competitive rating into personal auto insurance, a Democrat, Michael Dukakis, was governor. The experiment lasted about seven months before being abandoned due to political pressures when rates rose, particularly for urban and young drivers. The Bay State returned to being the sole state where the regulator sets rates for all auto insurers.

Now, 30 years later, Deval Patrick, is in the governor's chair, and it is this Democratic administration that is taking the political risk of changing the system.

Auto Insurers will be able to propose rates and rating criteria, subject to some parameters Burnes said she would unveil later. Insurers would be free to use the rates and criteria unless the department disapproves them.

Insurers will be allowed to file auto insurance rates based on what Burnes termed their "true" costs. In a letter accompanying her decision, she vowed that the department will retain a "strong yet supple regulatory oversight" to ensure that good drivers enjoy the benefits of managed competition, regardless of where they garage their cars.

But insurers will not be handed the keys to price completely on their own. She made it clear she will impose some limits on the rating factors insurers will be permitted to use in pricing.

The way Massachusetts law is written, the commissioner must move to competitive rating unless she finds that the marketplace could not support fair and competitive pricing or that it would impair insurers' financial condition. For the past 30 years, her predecessors as commissioner have all sided with those who cited legal or market obstacles they believed meant competition could not work.

One of the reasons the 1977 experiment failed was because consumers lacked useful information to shop for the best coverage and price, according to findings at the time. Burnes said the Internet should now make it easier for consumers to obtain the information they need.

Employer Sponsored Health Insurance Drops

Job-based health insurance continues to drop despite a strong economy.

The State of Health Insurance in California: Findings from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey found that the reduction in employer-offered insurance coverage from 2001 to 2005 affected 678,000 Californians. The report also found in 2005:

• 80 percent of uninsured, employed Californians don't have access to affordable health insurance through their employer
  
• 55 percent of uninsured, employed Californians worked for employers not offering health insurance;
• 20 percent of uninsured, employed Californians were not eligible for their employers' health benefits;
• 84 percent of uninsured Californians are people with jobs and their families;
• 4.2 million uninsured Californians are full-time employees and their families.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was at UCLA when the report was released, calling for healthcare reform.

The Senate Health Committee on Wednesday held a hearing on Assembly Bill 8, bipartisan healthcare reform.

Universal Health Insurance Massachusetts

The nation's first law requiring people to maintain health insurance faces its biggest test: Will the remaining 375,000 or so uninsured residents of Massachusetts buy health insurance policies?

Signs of the state's push for people to buy health insurance coverage are everywhere.

The pressure is on because the number of uninsured who sign up is key to the law's success: If large numbers of people flout the law, premiums could rise faster in future years, and the goal of cutting the number of uninsured to near zero would be lost.

Sunday marked a largely symbolic but important deadline — the date when nearly everyone in Massachusetts was required to have health insurance coverage, whether through their jobs, on their own (individual health insurance) or through a new program offering subsidized health coverage to low-income residents.

Requirements that residents buy health insurance are being proposed elsewhere: Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promoted it as part of his health insurance plan, as has Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards. Another presidential contender, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has said parents should be required to carry health insurance for their kids. Republican Mitt Romney, also running for the presidential nomination, helped get Massachusetts' mandate passed in April 2006, when he was the state's governor.

Insurance.com CEO named NEO Entrepreneur of the year

Press Release

Dave Roush, CEO of Insurance.com, the largest online auto insurance agency in the United States, has won Ernst & Young’s 2007 Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur Of The Year award, in the Emerging Business category.

Entrepreneurs include both founders of companies and those who organize, manage and assume the risks of a business or enterprise early in the company’s life or development, and are still active in the leadership of the company.

Entrepreneurs are judged based on each company’s recent financial performance, strategic direction, product or service innovation, as well as an assessment of the company’s leadership – including personal integrity, values and key employee initiatives, and community involvement.

All regional winners will be inducted into the Entrepreneur Of The Year Hall of Fame, and are eligible to participate in the national Entrepreneur Of The Year awards, which take place in Palm Springs, Calif., Nov. 15-18.