Insurance World

1. Buy from the internet.Most companies offer a discount for online applications as this is automated process and costs them a lot less to process your application, you can usually see discounts of 5%-10%.Click here to get a instant online insurance quote

2. Shop around.All insurance companies use different formulas to calculate your insurance premium by adding or detracting money after each question the ask you.By shopping around you could find big savings on your insurance premium.

3. Buy extra products.Most insurance companies also do other insurance products ie”Building’s and content’s insurance”.Most insurance companies will give extra discounts for purchasing more than one product,by doing this you could save a fair amount on all your insurance premiums.

4. Pay your insurance premium in one go.By paying your insurance premium in full you can avoid paying costly interest charges that would be added if you paid your insurance premium by instalments.Some insurance companies may charge as much as 15% APR on instalments.You may even receive a discount for paying in full.If you can not afford to pay in full check out what rate a small loan would be you may still save some money.Fill out a online loan application.

5. Increase your voluntary excess.Your excess is the amount paid by you in the event of a claim,by increasing this your insurance company should reduce your premium.

6. Lower your annual mileage.Lowering your annual mileage can reduce your premium,most insurance companies will quote you for around 12,000 miles a year.Try and work out how many mile’s you will do if it’s likely to be less you may get a discount.Be honest about this as your insurance company may ask to see old MOT’S and service history to verify your mileage in the event of a accident.

7. Have a Alarm,Immobiliser or Tracker fitted.Theft of and from your vehicle play a major role in the calculation of your insurance premium.Having a alarm or immobiliser fitted will give you a small discount to your premium and having a tracker fitted could make you quite a saving.

8. Take the advanced driving test.Passing your advanced driving test will show your insurance company that you have extra skill when driving and are less likely to be involved in a accident.

9. Don’t inflate the value of your car.Adding extra value to your car when you apply for your insurance quote will do nothing for you apart from increase you premium.In the event your car is stolen or written off you will only be paid the market value of your car at the time of your accident.

10.Look after your credit rating.Insurance companies are now looking at your credit score as part of the calculation for your insurance premium.Maintaining a good credit rating could avoid unnecessary additions to your premium.

11. Insure your car Third Party Only.Third party only is the minimum cover you are required to have by law it’s also the cheapest.If your vehicle is of a low value then you could consider this type of cover.You need to remember that with this type of cover if you was to have a accident that any damage to your vehicle would not be covered for repair.

12. Keep a clean licenceInsurance companies take driving convictions very seriously and can dramatically increase your car insurance premium,by maintaining a clean licence proves to the insurance you are a safe and careful driver.

13. Remove any unnecessary drivers.If you have a young driver on your insurance policy that no longer use’s the vehicle you should remove them as this will reduce your premium.

14. Young driver’s add a older driver.Some insurance companies will reduce young drivers premiums if they have a older named driver on the insurance.

15. Build up your no-claims discountOne of the biggest factors affecting your car insurance premium is the number of years no-claim’s discount.You could receive up to 75% discount for around 5 years of no claims.The more years you can stay claim free the safer driver your insurance company will see you as.

16. Protect your no-claims discount.Although this will increase your insurance premium if you have a lot of years of no-claims you may want to protect this as a small claim may increase your premium by up to 75%.

17. Buy a lower insurance group car.A very important factor to your insurance premium is what car you drive.Most insurance companies adopt the Association Of British Insurance Group Rating.This rates vehicle’s from 1 - 20 generally speaking the higher the group the higher the premium.By buying a car with a lower group rating can lower your premium especially for young or inexperienced drivers.

18. Join a car club.If your vehicle is a classic or specialist consider joining a club related to your car most clubs offer insurance schemes which have very good premium rates.

19. Put your spouse as a named driver.Some insurance companies offer discounts when you add a spouse as a named driver as opposed to unmarried couples,they see marriage as a sign of stability and associate stability with safe driving and there for give you a discount.

20. Take pass plus.If you are a new driver consider taking your pass plus.some insurance companies could give you as much as a 25% discount and when you have just passed your test and have no no-claims this could make a considerable saving.

As Health Savings Accounts grow in popularity, there is growing fear among those who want to nationalize healthcare that they will not be able to put the cat back in the bag. There are already over 3 million HSA owners, and by 2010, the Treasury Department estimates as many as 45 million Americans will be covered by HSA plans. They will have billions of dollars invested to cover future medical expenses, and by then it will be politically impossible to take that benefit away.

If you currently have a high-deductible health insurance plan, you can invest tax-free money in a Health Savings Account. You get to choose the type of investment – anything from savings accounts or money market funds, to a full brokerage house. If you invest wisely, you could have well over $500,000 in the account when you retire. You will be able to use that money to pay for your healthcare in whatever way you please, tax free. You can go to the best surgeons, or the least expensive doc-in-a-box. If you decide to treat a condition with acupuncture, homeopathy, or psychic healers, you can do that too. Whoever offers you the service you want with the best combination of quality and price should get your business. And since you are the one paying, it will be completely your choice. You have healthcare freedom.

If proponents of a single-payer system were to ever have their way, you would be at the mercy of a government bureaucrat when it comes to your healthcare. To see what this may look like, all one has to do is look at the state of health care in Canada, England, New Zealand, and the parts of Europe that have not yet abandoned single-payer systems.

Proponents of a single-payer system tend to point to Canada or England as countries that cover all their citizens with quality healthcare, while spending less money per person than the U.S. But if we look a little more closely, we see that these publicly financed health insurance systems are breaking down, the quality is low, and the costs can be quite high. Here’s what Canadians have to deal with if they need medical care:

•
Long waits. Hundreds of Canadians go to Detroit and other U.S. cities every year for procedures like CAT scans, which they can obtain treatment in a matter of days. In Canada, the wait is typically six months. Currently 876,000 Canadians are on waiting lists for medical procedures.

•
Difficulty in getting life-enhancing procedures done. If a Canadian is having a heart attack, they will be treated right then. But if the surgery is considered “elective” (meaning that possible death is not eminent), the wait could be months or years. Average wait for cataract removal is 18 months. Average wait for a knee replacement is one year.

•
Increased risk of dieing. The average Canadian waits eight weeks to see a specialist, and another nine weeks before getting treated. This is even the case with conditions that are likely to get much worse if there is any delay in treatment. For example, the median time for a mastectomy is 14 weeks, enough time for the cancer to spread to other parts of the body. In fact, 28% of those diagnosed with breast cancer in Canada die from it, while the mortality ratio in the U.S. is only 25%.

Things don’t look any better across the ocean. Each year the British National Health Service cancels 410,000 surgeries because of resource shortages. According to the London Sunday Times, there are currently over 1 million Brits awaiting elective surgery. Thomas Cook, a British travel agency, is even considering offering “sun-and-surgery” packaged trips to Indian hospitals for British citizens fed up with low standards and long waiting times for surgery.

The British and Canadian governments have the power to make healthcare “free”, but they are unable to control its costs. So the costs become longer (and potentially fatal) delays, and fewer innovations.

Its not surprising when you think about what is happening. Universal health insurance systems always encourage over-consumption by patients, and such over-consumption always leads to financial crises. The result is inevitably broken promises about universal access and quality care. Because there are always limited resources, single-payer systems tend to overspend on primary care for the healthy, while denying more expensive specialist care to those with serious medical problems. This is because most people (voters) are healthy most of the time, and the sick and dieing are less likely to be able to organize into a political force.

What makes the United States such a great country is the “freedoms” we enjoy. Though our freedoms seem to be constantly under attack, there is still no nation in the world that has the freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, or the free markets that we have in the United States. As anyone who understands even a smidgen of economics knows, free markets encourage competition and innovation, which lead to lower prices and better quality.

Though the U.S. system of health care can not really be considered a “free-market”, it is certainly much more free than any single payer system. Some of the benefits we see as a result of our current healthcare system include:

•
U.S. medicine produces the best outcomes for virtually every patient, from premature babies to elderly cancer patients.
•
American companies are the chief source worldwide of new treatments and procedures which each year are used to save millions of lives.
•
U.S. medical training and research facilities are the best in the world.

Though Canadians might have to wait a year or two for hip replacement surgery, they can get the same operation done on their dog in less than a week. This is because veterinarians are competing for that business, finding innovative ways to deliver service more quickly and less expensively. Another example is laser eye surgery, a procedure that is rarely covered by insurance, so laser eye surgeons must compete on the basis of cost and quality. While costs for most medical procedures have been going up every year, the cost for this procedure has dropped by 80% over the past decade.

Unfortunately, U.S. healthcare policies still tend to limit competition, restrict consumer’s freedom to choose, and discourage consumers from shopping for value. Thus, there are too few choices and there has been little attention paid to price and quality of service. The answer is clearly not more government intervention, but instead letting competition and the power of the marketplace drive down prices and increase quality and access to care.

Health Savings Accounts are the Solution

There is increasing recognition that third-party health insurance payers are actually a major cause of escalating medical costs and the decline in the quality of service. The increasing adoption of HSA plans has already begun to cause greater transparency and competition in the medical marketplace. There are now physicians available by phone, medical kiosks setting up in malls, doctors that accept only cash (and who charge significantly less), and others competing directly for the consumer’s healthcare dollar.

Don’t be fooled by the politicians who advocate a single-payer system, claiming their only concern is the uninsured. If a single body (such as a government bureaucracy) controls healthcare, they control one seventh of the national economy. And everywhere in the world that central control of the economy has been tried, it has been a colossal failure.

As public policy reforms centered on individual choice continue to gain wider footholds, the result will be greater prosperity, greater choice, and a better value for all. The culture of dependence and entitlement will begin to fade, as millions of individuals demand further policy reforms that will reinstate the values of freedom and personal responsibility that helped establish this great nation.

As more consumers turn to health savings accounts, the market will respond. Innovative providers will begin to compete more on price and quality of service, and those that provide the best value will get wealthy doing so. And all consumers will benefit.