Keeping Teen Drivers Safe

Car crashes are the #1 killer of our nation's teens. Through education teens can learn how to be safer and prevent devastating accidents.

It's crucial to talk about road safety with your teen as well as establish rules and consequences you can agree on. Discuss when, where, how and with whom your teen is allowed to drive. Limit the number of passengers in the car and enforce a curfew. Insist that all passengers wear seat belts and encourage your teen to call for a ride home if any alcohol or drugs are involved.

Ensure your teen understands the enormous responsibility that comes with having their license. With the proper information and rules, lives may be saved. When it has been determined that your teen is a safe driver and you have to add them to your auto insurance policy, be sure to shop around for the best price.

Auto Insurance Company's Study Finds Under 30s Using iPods While Driving, Increasing Risk

A press release from the Australian auto insurance company NRMA Insurance about a recent research study finds that nearly half of all drivers under 30 use mp3 players, such as iPods, while driving.

The insurer claims that searching for songs or adjusting playlists can make the devices more distracting than a CD player or radio. NRMA recommends creating playlists beforehand, so you're focused on the road instead of on choosing tracks. 

Worst of all, 17% actually wear headphones when they're driving! Doing so makes it extremely likely that they won't hear traffic signals or even emergency sirens. Being distracted for as little as one second can result in a car accident causing bodily injury, death, and/or skyrocketing auto insurance premiums.

Although the research was done in Australia, I would expect these statistics to be similar in the United States and other similar cultures, given the general risk-taking of many young drivers worldwide.

Affordable Health Care Resources for Uninsured

The Orlando Sentinel recently highlighted community health care clinics, which provide health care services to the uninsured. Otherwise, many of these individuals would either go to the emergency room for minor ailments or go without treatment entirely.

Most clinics either treat all comers for free, or charge fees on a sliding scale depending on the patient's income. The clinics are run either by private groups or by state or county governments. They tend to serve a role similar to a family doctor, handling minor illnesses or primary care. Care that requires a specialist (e.g. mental health treatment, vision and dental care) , however, is far harder to come by for the uninsured. And people with chronic, life-threatening conditions such as cancer are in an even worse state, because there is only so much the clinic can do.

Clinics often serve a limited number of patients per day and have long waiting lists for care. If at all possible, finding basic coverage with low health insurance rates is ideal. However, free health clinics are a good resource in the mean time.

MassMutual Offers Free Life Insurance in Vermont

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) has expanded its free LifeBridge program to Vermont residents. It offers $50,000 in life insurance that would be paid into a fund for the education of a person's children if the covered individual passes away.

Eligibility requirements:

• Must be a parent or legal guardian
• Earn under $40,000 per year
• Between the ages of 19 to 42

The life insurance money can be used for a variety of educational expenses, including college tuition, tutoring, pre-school fees, or other related expenses. Signups took place at local YMCA locations.

A total of 10,000 LifeBridge policies have been written throughout the country over the past seven years, and just six have been paid out. Therefore, it doesn't cost MassMutual a lot of money but gives them good press.

Many Working to Save Massachusetts Auto Insurance Appeal Board

Massachusetts' Insurance Commissioner wants to eliminate the state's independent auto insurance appeal board, citing cost and a move towards a more competitive insurance market. This proposal doesn't sit well with many consumers, legislators, and even insurers, according to an article in The Republican. If the board is eliminated, policyholders will instead have to appeal their claims to the insurance companies themselves; consumer groups fear that is unfair and will create bias towards finding the motorist at fault in order to avoid paying accident claims.

However, the insurance commissioner claims that the change will actually benefit consumers, because they will no longer have to pay a fee to appeal and will have state oversight of insurance companies; not to mention the opportunity to shop around for auto insurance quotes from multiple insurers.

On average, the board of appeal has found in favor of the consumer about half of the time, saving drivers thousands of dollars in premium surcharges. The surcharges can appear on their records for up to 6 years!

A bill is currently pending in the state legislature to save the appeal board. As of now it will remain open for several months to deal with its backlog, but no new appeals may be filed after April 1st.

Lost Your Health Insurance? Tips to Deal With It

The Columbus Dispatch has some tips for people who have been laid off and are currently uninsured. These suggestions can save you money on your health care:

• If your health insurance hasn't yet ran out, get any necessary tests done before it does.
• Ask your doctor to prescribe drugs with a generic equavilent, and request them from your pharmacist. Some stores sell some generics for just $4!
• Buy a prescription drug card that gives you discounts on medications.
• Get coverage through a high-deductible health insurance plan, which will protect you in a catastrophe with lower premiums than typical health insurance.
• Find out if the pharmaceutical company/ies that makes your medication(s) has a free drug program, such as PPaRX, for lower income individuals.
• Negotiate with your doctors for lower rates and/or an affordable payment plan for services. Many doctors are surprisingly open to that.
• See if your doctors can give you some free samples of prescription medication, given to them by the drug companies.

Remember to check out health insurance rates in order to become reinsured as soon as possible. Some plans could be more affordable than you think.

16% Of Drivers Will Be Uninsured in 2009, Predicts Insurance Research Council

In Newsday, Tom Incantalupo reported that the Insurance Research Council, and industry group, is predicting an increase in uninsured drivers for 2010. Their projection is that 16.1% of all drivers in the United States will be driving around without auto insurance, an increase from 13.8% in 2007.

The IRC blames this state of events on the economy, because consumers are trying to cut back on expenses. With the unemployment rate rising at a similar clip, it’s somewhat understandable that keeping up with your auto insurance premiums may fall to the wayside. Still, it’s a bad idea to let your policy lapse. For one, when you eventually buy insurance again, your premiums could see a sharp increase. Not only do uninsured drivers risk fines and other legal punishment in most states; they also cause the rates of insured drivers to go up when they’re involved in a crash, Tom says.