payment at Insurance Online

And now I will tell you about the third kind of dental insurance in more detail…

III. PPO (Professional Provider Organization)

This type of insurance takes a place between the compensatory kind (Indemnity insurance) and HMO (for more information you can explore the post Dental Indemnity Insurance). Group of the dentists, which refers to so called “preferred providers”, render the services with big discounts, allowing you to save on the treatment while you remain in their network of scope. However, as against HMO plan, you can receive some discounts, even if you are out from this network. Many dentists do not encourage this PPO plan since the low payment for the work limits their ability to provide services of the high quality.

Features of the plan:
1) a monthly insurance payment;
2) an annual limit of the amount of compensation;
3) you can choose a dentist from the offered list only, otherwise - a high nonrecoverable pledge;
4) average expenses $20 a month;
5) the companies selling this plan, submit to State Department of insurance.

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

So, let’s consider the second kind of dental insurance in more detail…

II. Direct reimbursement

A new form of services payment which has appeared as alternative of HMO and the traditional kind of insurance (for more information you can explore the post Dental Indemnity Insurance). It is the self-financed plan according to which the employer pays the certain percent from the sum for dental treatment of the worker from the special fund. The insurance company (”middleman”) is actually switched off from the process, that is why the administrative expenses were decreased. The worker visits a dentist, pays for his/her work and receives the receipt for the given services. Then he brings this receipt to the employer, and receives compensation of his expenses from the dental fund of the company. The employer chooses the percent of payments which he can compensate to you, and the annual maximum of the plan.

Features of the plan:
1) there is no preliminary payment, lists, exceptions, monitoring of procedures performance, etc.;
2) low payments (on the average, 30%-75 % is lower, than in other plans);
3) a choice of a dentist at own will;
4) fast assignment of your reception.

There are two kinds of payment: compensatory and payment for the purpose. When the worker choose compensatory payment he settle the account, the check will be sent in the Department Direct Reimbursement (DDR) - the compensatory check will be sent to the worker back - the worker pays services of the dentist or uses indemnification to compensate the previous check.

When we speak about the payment for the purpose we mean that the worker settle the account - the check will be sent in DDR - the compensatory check will be sent to the dentist - the worker pays residual balance only.

The majority of employers choose the compensatory kind of payment. The advantages of this desidion are the following: the average expenses are lower, than in the second kind since only the worker is responsible for the settling the account.

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

Today I would like to continue my previous post and tell you about different types of coverage; it means that we pass to the second question from the list:

Coverage: which of them and how much

We do not have the task to pass on all available coverings in the world of car insurance. There are a lot of sources in the network, books where you can find information, and, not in the last instance, your insurance agents. On the contrary, we shall try to see a problem as a whole, not dividing it into details.

Liability Coverage

We speak about this type of covering when somebody brings an action against us or somebody is going to do it, irrespective of validity of claims and irrespective of result of the court examination. 95 % cases do not reach the court, as the parties reach settlement. The insurance company in this case pays (instead of us) not only damage which we have brought to health or the property of other people, it also pays litigation cost. Sometimes it does it without any payment of indemnification to fight tooth and nail against completely absurd claims and spends thousands of dollars on good lawyers.

The person cannot be judged for the sum, bigger, than all his assets (bank accounts are included), equity in the real estate, shares, and, that is very important for beginners - garnishment of wages (deduction from wages during 10 years forward from all members of family at the rate of 25 %). That means that young family without good private means have not so many assets. But, the husband and the wife can earn together, for example, 160 thousand one year. Therefore it is possible to keep 400 thousand dollars within 10 years back.

The important question:

In what situation the court will take away everything from the initiator of traffic accident?

The answer:

The court will take away everything from the initiator of traffic accident in case of death(s), or in case of physical inability of another person.

The amount of damage also depends on the solvency of the victim. The moral damage\spiritual injury (pain and suffering) of a serious lawyer or a doctor costs much more than the same one of a worker.

It is obvious, that we as drivers cannot supervise how many car we shall damage in case of traffic accident, neither their price, nor quantity of drivers and passengers, neither gravity of traumas received by them, nor cost of their subsequent medical treatment. Therefore, we proceed from the worst for definition of the amount of our insurance responsibility.

We should calculate how much it is possible to take away from us if to take away everything, including 25 % from the salary during the next 10 years? So, it is necessary to insure our liability for this sum in the part which is responsible for damage to health of people (Bodily Injury - first two components of our fraction - for more information see the previous post CAR INSURANCE IN THE USA: WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO BE INSURED).

But soon $500,000 of the maximal coverage will be not enough. Then we need an additional coverage in form of Umbrella Insurance. The need for insurance coverage varies from time to time. This implies very simple and important …

The Conclusion:

Insurance coverage should be reconsidered periodically, in accordance with growth of the potential responsibility.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) - covers our moral damage and physical injuries in a case, when we have suffered from the not insured (or insufficiently insured) driver. That is, if the initiator of traffic accident has no enough Liability Coverage. Usually we take this covering in the same size as in Liability Coverage and not less. A principle is the following - it is necessary to insure ourselves not worse, than we insure against other people.

Uninsured Motorist Property Damage (UMPD) - covers damage to our automobile in similar circumstances that is if we have suffered from the not insured (or insufficiently insured) driver.

If WE have damaged our car the damage will be covered as Collision (collision with machine, the house, a border etc.) or as Comprehensive (the rest cases - collision with an animal, theft, vandalism, hailstorm, flooding and so forth). You can buy such an insurance with different deductible (the sum paid to you before the insurance company starts to pay).

Choosing the large amount of deductible the person saves on cost of the insurance, but loses in case of accident. The person who drives without accidents for a long time (some years) it will be reasonable to think about high deductible on Collision, for example, $1,000. Comprehensive which costs ridiculously a little, and it is possible to take $250 as there is nothing to save.

Medical Coverage

Medical Coverage is rather curious covering . Some thousands of dollars, usually 2-5 thousand, that were bought in this coverage, are spent without examination (in other words you may be guilty or not). In the case of expensive medical treatment the necessary sum will be charged from the Liability of the guilty person.

To be continued…

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

Do you remember about new interesting topic “CAR INSURANCE IN THE USA”? In my post about it I told that we will be interested in PAINFUL POINTS and I also listed the most important questions. So, today I would like to answer the first one: Why it is necessary to be insured.

First of all it’s important to know that that you must insure your car without fail in most states. Otherwise your friend with 4 wheels will not be registered!

The second thing - insurance is adjusted legislatively at states level, not at federal one. This implies very simple and important …

Conclusion №1

You can trust the information received from the experts in insurance from your state only. Any information from other states can be absolutely inapplicable outside these states.

As I have said almost in all states (there are exceptions) car insurance is obligatory regarding LIABILITY (civil liability). The size of required covering varies from state to state.

For example, in California it makes up to $15,000 bodily injury for one victim and up to $30,000 for more than one victim. Moreover, there is the responsibility for damage of other’s property - $5,000. I’ve made all these accounts for one accident only. It means that aggregate payment will be between 20,000$ and 35,000$.

By the way I’d like to mention that experts in insurance usually use fractional record for amount of covering. Record 15/30/5 corresponds to the covering that has each driver in California according to the law of this state.

Driving without the insurance is a serious crime and is punished strictly!

A piece of advice:

You shouldn’t communicate with people who drive without the insurance or argue that it is possible, or they say why this kind of a crime is “nothing terrible”. These people on a way to the big troubles - it is not necessary to keep them the company.

According to the police statistics in California 28-30 % drivers have no any insurance in general. I can add to this still the same percent of people having minimal covering and you will understand, that it will be very difficult to receive money from others (your will have few chances). This implies very simple and important …

Conclusion №2

It is necessary to have your own car insurance policy!

Moreover, there are two types of the states:

- At Fault (for example, California - the culprit pays the insurance to the victim)

- No Fault (for example, Arizona -your damage is compensated with your insurance irrespective of fault)

The conclusion №3

You should known about the system in state, where you live or are going to live.

If the person is very poor and is going to remain poor practically to the end of his days, in this case driving without the insurance is nothing for him. It must be confessed. In all other cases the sum of insurance should protect the driver from requisitioning of his property and incomes (including the future incomes).

Besides arguing about the whys and wherefores of car insurance, we should know, that are no such occupations in our life which is more dangerous then driving (if you are not a policeman, fireman or something like that). Therefore, it is necessary to answer the following question: “Shall I risk life and health of other people to save ten or more dollars a month?”

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

CI benefits are paid in full on the 31st day after the onset of the illness. If the insured does not survive the illness and dies prior to this day, all payments made are reimbursed to the family (or designated heirs).

Similar to Life Insurance, there exist two types of CI contracts:
- TERM
- PERMANENT.

Term contracts provides coverage up to the age of 75, with growing monthly payments every 10 years.

Permanent contracts provide fixed payments up to a certain age, e.g. 100 (T-100), 75 (T-75), or 65 (T-65).

After the time when insured person reaches specified age (100, or 75, 65) this contract expires.
With a more expensive CI program, all the payments made by the insured will be reimbursed when the person reaches the specified age without developing an illness.

Some programs allow the insured to terminate the contract and withdraw the money invested after 10 years or every 15 years. Naturally, more expensive programs offer greater flexibility.

You can easily obtain an estimate of your temporary Critical Illness insurance. There are a lot of different on-line calculators, some of them allows you to determine the monthly payment amount for an insurance contract with limited coverage (cancer, heart attack, stroke), other shows monthly payments for full coverage contracts.

Now some companies can also offer the insurance, called Guaranteed Issue Critical Illness Insurance, for people, who already developed some critical illness. The pre-existent illness is excluded from the list, but all the rest illnesses are covered. An insurance contract has fixed monthly payments, which do not depend on the age of insured. Maximum coverage is 30,000. Contract expires, when insured becomes 65 years old (in Canada).

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

—
According to www.totrov.com

The company “Electric Insurance Company” is one of the first that entered into the Internet-insurance market. The basic direction of company’s activity is auto insurance and property insurance . The company is the best in on-line-insurance market in the nomination “Convenient use”. The rating agency “Standard & Poor” has awarded it as company with the most advanced stage of liquidity.

The site of the company contains four basic sections: in the first you will find the general information on the company, in the second - about insurance products of the company, the third contains various advices on insurance. And, at last, the fourth is intended for clients of the company where it is possible to see different personal, for example, information about payment (if you have the password).
There are also auxiliary sections - a web-round, the form of a feedback, and etc.

Some words about this company from its site (http://www.electricinsurance.com):

“Electric Insurance Company is a national writer of personal insurance products including auto, homeowners, renters, condo and umbrella. We were established in 1966 to serve the needs of General Electric employees and have since expanded our offerings to the general public.

Given our roots, it’s not surprising that we look at the insurance business a little bit differently. GE employees quickly spread word about us to family and friends and today, more than half our policyholders have no formal ties to GE.

Electric Insurance is a financially strong company and in 2006 we received an “A-/Excellent” from AM Best and a “A/Strong” from Standard & Poors, two of the top industry raters. Electric Insurance has the solid foundation required to offer our policyholders high quality products, competitive rates, and world-class customer service now and in the future.”

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

“American International Group” (further AIG) is the leading international insurance company, offers services in 130 countries, and, in particular, in Russia. It has the highest rating of credit status (AAA) according to the estimations of the leading international rating agencies. You can familiarize both with the general information of the company, and with its basic annual financial report if you visit sites of the corporation AIG. The company has as well a Russian-speaking site where you can find the brief information on its activity in Russia.

For the Internet-sales to physical persons and small business there is a special site where the company offers various kinds of insurance:
- car insurance,
- insurance property,
- life insurance,
- insurance against accidents,
- tourist insurance.
There is a special section of a site for each kind of insurance; here you will find the description of service and information about the kinds of payment. The answers to popular questions, insurance dictionary, etc. will be given in each section for your convenience.

“The insurance calculator” is a very useful thing, you can use it to calculate the sum of the insurance premium if you know your parameters of insurance, type of payment, the interest rate of charge, tax gathering and so forth

The process of purchasing of your policy is divided into 5-7 stages. It is necessary to fill 4-5 questionnaires (the information about kind of insurances, the subject of insurance, kind the payments). After that the insurance policy will be sent you by mail.

Some words about this company from its site (http://www.aig.com):

“American International Group, Inc. (AIG), world leaders in insurance and financial services, is the leading international insurance organization with operations in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer. In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of retirement services, financial services and asset management around the world. AIG’s common stock is listed in the U.S. on the New York Stock Exchange as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, Switzerland and Tokyo.”

<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra

For statistical purposes, many governments divide crimes into offenses against people, against property, against public order or public morality. Crimes against people (or private wrong) include assault, kidnapping, murder, and sexual attacks. Such crimes usually bring severe punishment. Crimes against property include arson, motor vehicle theft, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny and vandalism (usually the list of such crimes is used by your underwriters while drawing up your policy of insurance). In most cases, these crimes bring lighter penalties, than do crimes against people. Crimes against public order or morality include disorderly conduct, gambling, prostitution, public drunkenness, and vagrancy. These offences generally involve lighter penalties than do crimes against people or property.
There are three criminal activities that are directed against the existence of the state itself: treason, sedition and rebellion. Treason is the crime of betraying a nation by acts considered dangerous to its security. Sedition refers generally to the offense of organizing or encouraging opposition to the government, especially in speeches or writing. In wartime seditious acts may often be classified as treason. Rebellion is an attempt to overthrow the government. it is reasonable that such crimes you will not find in insurance policy.
Some activities, such as gambling or prostitution, are often called victimless crimes because both the buyer and the seller take part in them willingly – this fact doesn’t sound insurance too, but I think that it’s a good conclusion.
Also I’d like to tell you about an interesting term “white-collar crime”. It refers to violations of law by persons who use their jobs to engage in illegal activities. The term covers such acts as cheating in the payment of taxes, embezzlement, and fraud. It may apply to petty thefts by employees, as well as to million-dollar stock market swindles.
Computer crime is a way to commit crime, not a type of crime. Computer crimes are difficult to detect but easy to accomplish. A lot of companies use such a «novelty» in services of insurance enterprises to  insure themselves against hacking.
Organized crime is one of the largest business enterprises in the advanced industrial societies. Gambling, drug trafficking, loan sharking, prostitution, racketeering have long been controlled by various organized crime factions.
Sometimes different crimes, such as robbery, can be foiled. In this case the robbers do not get what they came for, and they may flee empty-handed: they get away, but with no loot.
It is generally agreed that the essential elements of crime are voluntary actions or failure to act and a certain state of mind. Failing to act includes not doing something an individual is required to do by law, such as get a driver’s license before driving an automobile. The mental element in a crime is that the person committing it usually acts purposely, knowingly, or negligently.
In order to prevent crimes many criminologists stress the need for improving the performance of criminal justice agencies. One more way to reduce crime is to reform habitual criminals. There are many other ways to reduce crime. People can be educated or persuaded to take greater precautions against crime. They can be taught, for example, how to protect their homes from burglary. Better lighting and strict gun-licensing laws would greatly reduce crime, but the most effective method to secure yourself against crime is insurance!

I’m sure that you want to work. But, unfortunately, there are situations when people can’t find a proper vacation or any job at all. In this case we can speak about unemployment and insurance against it.

Unemployment is the state of a person who is out of work and actively looking for a job. The term does not refer to people who are not seeking work because of age, illness, or a mental or physical disability. Nor does it refer to people who are attending school or keeping house. Such people are classified as out of labor force.

Unemployment may involve serious problems for both the individual and society as a whole. For the individual, it means loss of income and, in cases of prolonged unemployment, may result in a loss of self-respect. For society, it results in lost production and, in some cases, criminal or other antisocial behavior.

The unemployment rate varies greatly among different groups. It tends to be several times as high for teenagers as for older people. Unskilled people experience about three times as much unemployment as do white-collar workers. The unemployment rate among blacks is typically at least twice that among whites.

Some economists classify unemployment into three categories. These categories are normal, structural and deficient demand.

NORMAL OR FRICTIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT exists in efficiently operating labor markets, even when jobs are plentiful. Such unemployment includes workers who have quit their jobs or have been fired, and are not immediately aware of available jobs. Another kind of normal unemployment, called seasonal unemployment, occurs in industries that lay off workers during certain seasons each year. These industries include agriculture, construction and shipping.

STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT exists when individuals seeking work have the wrong skills for the available jobs. Structural unemployment also includes people in the wrong location to fill available jobs or technological unemployment, which results from the development of new products, machinery or manufacturing methods. Such developments produce rapid changes in the demand for various skills. Also such unemployment allows you to use your insurance policy to get money.

DEFICIENT DEMAND UNEMPLOYMENT OR CYCLICAL UNEMPLOYMENT results from a general lack of demand for workers when the nation’s total spending is too little. As goods and services remain unsold, many industries reduce production and lay off employees. Deficient demand unemployment is called cyclical unemployment if it occurs in periods of decreased business activity. But it also can occur in times of increasing activity if the number of workers grows faster than the number of jobs.

To combat normal unemployment, the government must establish public employment agencies that inform unemployed workers of suitable job openings. To attack structural unemployment training of workers in skills required for available jobs must take place. The fight against deficient unemployment presents especially serious problems. The government may have to choose between the evils of unemployment and those of inflation.

Many economists believe that unemployment rates as low as 3 to 4 per cent should no longer be expected.

Unemployment insurance is means of protecting workers who are out of work and looking for employment. These unemployed workers receive cash payments, usually each week for a limited period.

If someone is told to leave his job, especially if the employer says he has done something wrong, he is dismissed (fired or sacked or given a sack). If someone feels that they have lost job unfairly they may take their case to a tribunal and sue or make a claim against the formal employer for unfair dismissal.

If an organization gets rid of employees because they are no longer needed it lays them off. Companies doing this sometimes talk about downsizing, rightsizing or letting employees go. They may say that they are overstaffed. When employees have no choice, the redundancies are compulsory, but when employees can choose to leave, redundancies are voluntary. When a lot of redundancies are involved, journalists talk about jobs being cut or massive layoffs.

People who are laid off may receive compensation in the form of redundancy payment. Unemployment benefit is also called the dole. People receiving it are on the dole. If you lose your job you join the dole queue.

To protect their rights employees may turn to industrial action. If you stop working normally in order to demand better pay, benefits or working conditions you take industrial action. In a strike workers stop working for a time. Workers are organized in unions. A union may call a strike. When a strike causes a lot of disruption, it paralyses the things it affects, such as services, factories, stopping normal activity and bringing things to a standstill. If government and organizations say they will not give in to striker’s demands, the strikers may respond by intensifying their industrial action. When a union calls off the strike, workers return to work.

With some exceptions, such as Medicare, health insurance in the United States is a private, voluntary matter. The demand for insurance, like the demand for any product or service, depends on consumers’ ability and willingness to pay for it. Some of the uninsured cannot afford health insurance: others are unwilling to acquire it. In all, the uninsured can be grouped into six categories.
The poor
The largest group of uninsured consists of individuals and families whose low income makes it infeasible for them to acquire insurance, either on their own or as a condition of employment. About 20 percent of these have no connection with the work force, but nearly 80 percent are employed or are dependents of employed persons. In different researches of the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) we can see that about one third of the working uninsured earned less than $ I 0.000, another estimate puts the figure at 63 percent. In any case, it is clear that the great majority of uninsured workers cannot afford to give up a substantial fraction of their wages to obtain health insurance.
Most uninsured workers are employed in small firms, but the frequently heard explanation, «Small employers can’t afford health insurance,» is as misleading as the phrase «employer-provided health insurance.» Employers do not bear the cost of health insurance; workers do, in the form of lower wages or forgone nonhealth benefits. A more accurate description of the problem would be, «Many workers in small firms can’t afford health insurance.» Note that lawyers, accountants, computer consultants, and other highly paid professionals organized in small firms usually have health insurance, although they often face extra costs, as discussed below.
The sick and disabled
Many men and women who aкe not poor are still unable to afford health insurance because they have special health problems and therefore face very high premiums or are excluded from coverage entirely.
The «difficult»
Some individuals are neither poor nor sick but have difficulty obtaining insurance at average premiums. They may be self-employed, work in small firms, or be out of the labor force entirely. To insure such individuals, insurance companies incur abnormally high sales and administrative costs. They also encounter the problem of adverse selection:
ü      if an insurance company offers a policy to individuals or small groups at an average premium, those who expect to use a great deal of medical care are likely to buy, and those who do not will refrain from buying.
The low users
Some people do not expect to use much medical care. They may be in particularly good health; they may dislike going to physicians; or, like Christian Scientists, they may not believe in the efficacy of medical care. For them, health insurance is a «bad buy» unless they can acquire it at a below-average premium.
The gamblers
Most people buy health insurance in part because they are risk-averse. They would rather pay a fixed, known premium (even above the actuarial level) than risk a huge expense in the event of serious illness. But not everyone is risk-averse about health expenditures, or risk-averse to the same degree. People in this category prefer to take their chances with continued good health and save the premium payment.
The free riders
The final category consists of individuals who remain uninsured because they believe that in the event of serious illness they will get care anyway, and others will pick up the bill. They save the cost of insurance and «ride free» on the coattails of those who pay into the health-care system. There may be elements of free riding in the behavior of the low users and the gamblers as well; it is often difficult to distinguish among the three categories of individuals who are able to pay for insurance but are unwilling to do so.
 From an analytical perspective, it is not difficult to achieve a national health insurance system; all it requires is subsidizing those who are unable to afford insurance and requiring purchase by those who are unwilling to acquire it voluntarily. No nation achieves universal coverage without subsidization and compulsion. Thus far, Americans have resisted both.

according to the article «National Health insurance» by Victor R. Fuchs (the journal «THE SENIOR ECONOMIST») Read the rest of this entry »