Ohio Auto Insurance

Ohio is forecasting modest increases in Ohio auto insurance rates through the end of 2008 and even larger increases in homeowners premiums.

State insurance director Mary Jo Hudson revealed the prediction Monday while announcing that average insurance rates charged by Ohio's top ten auto insurance companies fell 2.6% in 2007. Rates for homeowners insurance went up an average 1.5%.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says Ohio's car insurance rates were the 13th lowest in the country last year and the state ranked 6th among those with the least expensive homeowners policies.

Arizona Health Insurance

The state of Arizona has eliminated the short term health insurance program to save about $8.35 million as AZ tries to reduce a $2 billion budget deficit.

The program, which ended July 15, provided short term health coverage for Arizona residents who are ineligible for Medicare because they must wait two years after receiving a disability determination before enrolling in Medicare.

About 1,300 people in Arizona with disabilities had no health coverage because of the rule, so the program was created two years ago to allow them to pay a premium to gain coverage through AHCCCS until they were eligible for Medicare.

Florida Homeowners Insurance Rate Hike

State Farm, Florida's second-biggest property insurance company, said that it will need to raise homeowner insurance rates for Florida residents by almost 70% in some parts of Palm Beach County, and an overall average increase of 47% across the entire state of Florida. State Farm did not mention plans to raise their Florida auto insurance rates

Big Brother Progressive

Progressive gets to monitor your driving.Starting next month, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. will let New Jersey drivers lop as much as 60% off the nation's highest car insurance bills...If you let them monitor your driving.

The Program is called MyRate, Progressive's Pay-as-you-drive system.

The system is simple. The company gives a driver a small device that plugs into the data port built into all cars made since 1996.

That device tracks all the parameters of travel, including speed, time, mileage and distance, as well as how frequently the brakes are used and how quickly the car stops.

The device then wirelessly transmits the data back to the company, which adjusts your auto insurance rates based on how you drive.

While the company said some drivers could see auto insurance rates increase by 9%, Progressive said most drivers would expect to see 10 - 15% savings. There is no penalty for not participating in the program.

Georgia Auto Insurance Rates

GMAC Insurance announced it is reducing its
auto insurance rates in Georgia,effective immediately.
Drivers in Georgia will save an average of 7% when
purchasing GMAC Auto Insurance coverage.

The GMAC auto insurance rate reduction is a statewide
average that will affect individual customers differently. 
Overall premium changes for individual motorists will vary
depending on factors such as the coverages they carry, the
discounts for which they qualify, where they live, the kind of vehicle
insured, who drives it and how much it is driven.

Ohio Health Care

Americans pay far more for health care than any other advanced nation in the world. Are we getting our money's worth? Plenty of evidence says no.

Americans have shorter life spans and die at faster rates because of major diseases than the averages for 30 democracies that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The mortality rate for infants is especially chilling: The United States came in third worst, ahead of only Mexico and Turkey.

But that dismal showing by the nation doesn't necessarily say anything about the cost and quality of health care in Ohio.

How does Ohio measure up to its Canadian Neighbors?

Not very well:

• At birth, the difference in life expectancy is greater for Ontario residents — 76 years for Ohioans, compared to nearly 81 years in Ontario.

• In Ohio, nearly eight of 1,000 newborns die each year In Ontario, the infant mortality rate is 5.5

• Ontario also has lower mortality rates for each of the top six causes of death: heart disease, cancer, stroke, emphysema and other chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes and accidents.

Overall, the gap in these key health-care yardsticks was wider between Ohio and Ontario than between the two nations as a whole in all but two categories: strokes and accidents.

That difference was striking because the state and the province are so similar demographically.

Hawaii Auto Insurance Rates

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the No. 2 auto insurance company in Hawaii, said it had lowered rates in Hawaii for the sixth time in seven years.

The average premium was reduced 5.4% on July 14

The lower auto insurance premiums were driven by a decrease in personal injury protection coverage, while collision coverage also declined. Individual premium changes will vary depending on drivers, cars and miles driven.