Washington Basic

According to the press release found on BasicHealth.com, over 100,000 people are on a waiting list for the state of Washington's Basic Health program. This is causing low-income Washington residents to find affordable health insurance to cover their needs.

To address this urgent matter Washington state is offering the Washington Health Program which is a non-subsidized version of the Basic Health program. Both Washington Health Program and Basic Health are administered by the Washington State Health Care Authority. Washington Basic is looking out for their residents.

Washington governor Chris Gregoire knows that health care reform is coming their way and he believes it will provide millions of Americans to quality health care. Unfortunately, he recognizes that many Washington residents cannot wait until the implementation of reform in 2014. They need coverage immediately and that is why they are taking steps to make it more readily available.

Compare Car Insurance Rates

According to the article "10 Tips To Drive Down Rising Car Insurance Costs" by Victoria Bischoff on the CityWire website, car insurance costs are up but there are ways to help keep costs down for drivers.

The first tip discussed is shopping around to compare car insurance rates. It seems obvious, but many consumers do not take the time to shop around. With many website available to get multiple quotes all at once, it's painless to go this route. If drivers are more comfortable getting a State Farm insurance quote from an agent, then getting another quote from a different company agent, you still will save. It's worth the effort.

There are other tips discussed, but one important one is to downsize your car. This will have an impact on your car insurance premium immediately. Safe, and affordable cars are the cheapest to insure since replacing and repairing them is cheaper. By doing your research and figuring out which car will suit your needs the best, you can save a lot of money. It's recommended in this article to also avoid modifying your car since this can increase rates. Alloy wheels and racing stripes could have the insurance company viewing the driver as higher risk which would in turn increase rates.

Auto Insurance Information

According to the press release "Vehicle Monitoring Systems Raise Serious Privacy Concerns" found on MarketWatch.com, a lawsuit filed by Progressive Insurance, accuses the Massachusetts based Liberty Mutual Group, Inc, of infringing on Progressive's patent which was received in 2000 for a car monitoring system that obtains data such as location, mileage and speed from a customer's automobile.

This type of system has caused a lot of buzz over the past few years while some believe it's intrusive and causes privacy concerns. Tracking devices can infringe on consumer privacy and possibly raise the cost of insurance according to Chris Gay who is the founder and president of MileMeter.

MileMeter is the first and only company in the US which offers pay-per-mile auto insurance. Customers pay for insured miles in advance, and rates are based on age, location and car type. This way of doing insurance not only saves the customer money, but MileMeter's program encourages less frequent driving since the less they drive the more money they save. This helps keep down pollution as well as traffic congestion. It's possible more and more companies will turn to this way of offering auto insurance coverage.