Maybe it took the State of The Union address from President Bush to bring the concept of Health Savings Accounts out into the open for all to see. Whatever the case, this is an idea and reality that is long overdue and a great solution to health insurance for many people. Health savings accounts, coupled with a companion low-cost high-deductible health care insurance plan, will take the bite out of monthly health care costs for many consumers, and provide a powerful savings component at the same time. Let’s look at the details.

While Congress passed the legislation creating Health Savings Accounts in 2003, it has taken a while for the word to get out. In a nutshell, the deal is as follows: Health savings accounts are tax-free savings accounts, which are necessarily paired with a high-deductible insurance policy for catastrophic medical expenses. You are able to put as much as $5150 (family) or $2600 (individual) annually into these accounts, which are in turn used to cover normal and customary medical expenses, like doctor’s visits, routine checkups, etc. Some of the neat things about these accounts, besides the tax-free part, are that you may carry over unspent money from year to year, and it does not matter where you work or for whom. They are completely portable. Also in most cases, it’s very possible to realize large savings on your yearly insurance and medical expenditures. When you are in charge of how much you spend and where, the possibilities are eye-opening. Plus, you are not tied to any plan’s particular doctor or medical group: you are free to choose whoever you want. Health savings accounts, when set up properly, can not only save you lots of meony, but also cannot be cancelled except by you.

Another enticing option regarding health savings account is the savings aspect. If you have a traditional IRA or 401(k) you get a deduction for all contribututions made yearly, but after age 65 all distributions are taxed at both the federal and state level, including capital gains. (Roth IRA’s don’t apply) With a Health savings account you get the same benefits as with IRA’s and 401(k)’s, with the major difference being that monies withdrawn for qualified medical expenses are NEVER taxed! Also, with health savings accounts there is no age restriction on when you may withdraw funds like there are with the others. As far as using these funds for retirement purposes, health savings accounts are able to be withdrawn after age 65 for any purpose, without penalty, though in this case you would pay income taxes. This looks even better when you realize that account appreciation on health savings acounts is tax-free, and look even better for those who are self-employed, who may write off 100% of health care premiums. So in effect, you are buying a high- deductible insurance plan, paying the premiums from your business, and savings oodles of cash tax-free in your Health savings account. Of course, should you become sick, you’ll not only have the ability to pay for your care, a major illness won’t be the family-finance disaster it often is these days. More than 1 million Americans each year end up in medical bankruptcy becasue of inadequate coverage. Don’t let this happen to you!

Health Savings Accounts are a train long overdue finally arriving at the station. Make sure to climb onboard!

Keith Thompson is the webmaster at http://health.insurance-plans.info/health-savings-accounts For more information on health savings accounts visit the site today!

It sounds easy enough. Just go online and get the best term life insurance quote from one of those quote providers. We?ve all heard about it. ?Save 80% in 2 minutes!?

The problem is ? with so many choices ? which web site do we trust to give us the best quotes for our life insurance? And, how do we get the best term life insurance quote?

First, you have to understand that the internet has made it so easy to compare quotes that many insurers have lowered their rates in recent years. Also, many of the quote providers? web sites have agreements with the top rated insurers offering the best rates. So, when you go to a respected web site and request a quote ? you?ll get instant side-by-side comparisons from many of the best insurers with the best rates available online.

Where Do I Begin?

There are consumer review sites that mention the top rated quote providers. Some leading quote provider sites include ReliaQuote, AccuQuote, Insure and Term-Life-Online.com.

First, decide why you need the coverage and for how long. Then, determine how much life insurance protection your loved ones need. Use the calculator at http://www.term-life-online.com/term-life-insurance-calculator.html to determine the right amount of coverage.

Select a web site mentioned above and go to their quote page. This should be clearly stated on their web site. You answer one set of questions, one time and they give you easy to understand quotes from top-rated insurers. The quotes shown will be the lowest available from that service based on your information.

Also, the quotes should show the financial rating for the insurers. A.M. best is a financial rating service that reviews and rates the financial strength of insurers. You may want to choose an insurer with an ?A? rating from A.M. Best to be safe.

Next, make sure your quotes are for the coverage you need. The most common type of term life insurance is Level Term Life Insurance. An example would be a $100,000 policy for 20 Year Level Term Life Insurance. This means you pay the same premium each year for 20 years. If you die before the term ends, your beneficiary receives the death benefit of $100,000. If you outlive the term, your policy expires. If you need coverage at that time, you will need to purchase another policy ? usually at higher rates based on your age at that time. However, you may or may not qualify for coverage if you are in poor health.

Helpful Tips

Next Higher Coverage Limit ? If you need $178,000 of coverage, compare quotes for $200,000 as well. You may find the higher limit of protection doesn?t cost that much more.

Your Current Age ? One factor that affects your rates is your age. Buy coverage more than 6 months before your next birthday if possible. Some insurers set rates based on the age you are nearest. That means your rates may be lower at 25 years and 4 months than they are with the same insurer when you are 25 years and 7 months old.

Premium Payment Plan ? If you can afford it, choose to pay your premium on an annual basis ? if they charge you more when paying on a quarterly or monthly basis. This may save you some extra money on your life insurance premiums.

Buy Early ? The sooner you buy coverage, the cheaper it will be. Your age is a factor in determining your rates. The older you are, the closer you are to your life expectancy ? so, the higher your life insurance premiums. Younger people are not expected to die soon, so their premiums are lower. Also, your health may change and you may not be able to qualify for life insurance coverage in the future. Or, the premiums may not be affordable.

Important Note: Always make sure you get guaranteed rates. Level term insurance offers you guaranteed rates for 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. So you know your rates will not increase during the policy period. Also, you may want to get a guaranteed death benefit that will remain the same for the entire term of the policy.

Finally, when comparing quotes to get the best term life insurance quote available, make sure you get the amount of protection your family needs at a price that you can afford.

If you have any questions you can call or email the quote provider or insurance company and ask for a reply in writing to any/all questions you have. Make sure you understand your policy before you buy. I hope that helps, and best of luck!

http://www.Term-Life-Online.com offers a web site dedicated to term life insurance information, tips, articles, guides, resources and reviews of quote providers.

I was an Insurance Agent for over 20 years before retiring, and I am going to teach you how to win at the game of insurance. You CAN beat the insurance company at their game!

First let me tell you the biggest mistake most insurance consumers make. They look for the best deal they can find (and this is good), but when their policy arrives they throw it in a draw and forget about it until they need to file a claim. And I have to tell you insurance companies love it. Why? Because as along as you forget about it they will be making more money than they need to, even if you are happy that you found a cheaper price.

There is a better way. A way to have better coverage for even less cost. Interested? Keep reading. You can win!

The name of the game is not only having an insurance policy; it is managing your risks with the policy you have. If you will take the time to learn how to manage your risks, you can have better coverage at claim time without paying more in premiums and without seeing your money flying out of your pockets to cover the cost of your high deductibles.

Managing Homeowners Risk

Let me show you how to do this with an example. Let?s assume the replacement cost of a home is $396,000, and that we have it insured for that amount. Using the rates for the state of Texas where I live, the premium for this policy is $1,825 per year. The deductibles chosen were 1%, or in this case $3,960 (most chose 1% now because it keeps the premium down, but this is painful at claim time). Further, let?s assume that we live in a hurricane prone area and hurricane season is just around the corner.

How can we get better coverage for less cost, or better, for no additional cost? Is it possible? Yes!

Here?s the game plan. On June 1st we call our insurance agent and instruct him/her to lower our windstorm deductible from 1% down to $500 or even $100 if it is available. He/she informs us that the cost will be a $600 increase in annual premium. Don?t worry about it because we know something the agent doesn?t. We don?t want it for one whole year. We just need it for the next four months. Why? Because the hurricane season will be over then and on September 30th we will be calling back to adjust the deductible up again. And when we do the premium will go down $400 if we go back to our 1% deductible (but we will not and I?ll show you why in a minute), but if we do our pro-rated bill will be only $200. In just a minute we will eliminate this $200 also. Stay with me, and I?ll explain later.

For now let?s ask ourselves what are the two things that can happen during the upcoming hurricane season? We will either have damage or no damage. Of course we would prefer the latter; but if the former is the case, guess what? We are better covered with our $500 or $100 deductible. Let?s see how much better.

Let?s assume we had roof damage to the tune of $15,000. Without risk management our settlement would have been $15,000 minus our 1% deductible of $3,960 or $11,040. However, by managing our risks our settlement is $15,000 minus either $500 or $100 whichever deductible we could get so that we will get either $14,500, or $14,900. And this means that we will have an extra $3,860 dollars for our vacation! (See? – $14,900 minus $11,040 is $3,860 dollars)—but what about our poor roofer? Well he?ll just have to get his vacation money elsewhere.

Now let?s deal with scenario number two. We did not experience any hurricane problems this year yet we have paid $600 to lower our deductible. Are we stuck with this increased cost? Absolutely not! It?s September 30th, hurricane season is over and we?ve called our agent to raise our wind-related deductibles. Now let?s NOT raise them back to 1% because this would generate only a $400 credit leaving us with that $200 pro-rated bill I mentioned earlier. Let?s raise them as high as we can go (as much as five percent if possible). Why? Because the risk of wind-related damages are over for at least the next nine months so why pay for even the 1% deductible? The agent re-calculates our premium and informs us that we NOW have a $600 credit. This eliminates the $600 charge we incurred by lowering our deductibles before the storm season began back on June 1st. And, thus we have managed our risks and obtained better coverage at no additional cost ultimately. Now you are a winner in the home insurance game.

Two words of caution are needed. Number one: don?t forget to call your agent back every June 1st to lower your deductibles back to $500 or $100 in anticipation of the upcoming storm season or you will be stuck with a 5% deductible ($19,800) next hurricane season. Number two: do not wait until a hurricane is too close to striking your area because agents lose their binding authority when a storm crosses certain latitudes and longitudes and this means they cannot change or sell any policies. So do it on June 1st as a matter of priority.

Managing Auto Risks

To manage our auto risks, one simply has to be aware of the fact that driving away from home in unfamiliar territory is more dangerous. And therefore when we are going on a trip it is time to think: RISK MANAGEMENT! How can we manage our risks to have better coverage for less cost, or even no cost?

Again, we will use Texas rates on our assumption. Let?s assume that we have two autos insured at state minimum limits of 20/40/15 for our liability and uninsured motorist coverage, $2,500 personal injury protection coverage, and $500 deductible on collision and theft. The cost for our six-month policy is $516. Next week we are going to go on a fourteen-day vacation. As good risk managers, we call our agent and tell him/her to increase our coverage?s as follows: liability and uninsured motorists to 100/300/50, personal injury protection to $10,000, and to lower our deductibles to $100. Again, there is no need to discuss why we are doing this, just ask them to do it). They will tell us that our premium increase will be an additional $220 per six months. Don?t be alarmed by this amount, remember we know that we will only need this higher coverage for fourteen days, because when we return from vacation we will be calling back to re-adjust our coverage?s back to where they were before or trip. Therefore, dividing the $220 by six months (180 days) we find that the cost will be about $1.23 per day, time?s fourteen days, for a total of about $17.

Now, let?s consider the following possible scenario on your vacation: you are involved in a major accident, there is $3,500 damage to your car. You and your wife sustained bodily injury that cost $8,000. The car you hit, valued at $50,000 was totaled out and the family in that car sustained injuries costing $260,000.

If we had not managed our risks and raised our coverages for the $17 that it cost us, here is where we would be: we would owe $6,500 on our personal medical bills and $500 on our car. We would owe the family we hit $220,000 for their bodily injuries and $35,000 on their car (the difference between our original 20/40/15 policy and our 100/300/50 policy we acquired for our trip)- a total of $262,000. However, we managed our risks, raised our coverages, and now our out of pocket costs is only $117. And then of course we could recover this $117 also by increasing our deductibles even higher when we get back, say to $1000 or $1250 for about 30 to 45 days before re-adjusting to our original $500 deductibles.

And so you see it is easy to beat Insurance Companies at their game if we know and apply the principles of risk management.

Good luck and enjoy your savings and peace of mind!

About the Author

John R. Miller

John owned and operated a successful insurance agency consulting with customers on Auto, Life, Homeowners and Health Insurance for over 20 years. He is now retired and consults with consumers on insurance polices and insurance questions. He is also a consulting writer for FlashPaw Online Insurance Quotes and News. You may contact John Miller anytime at JRMiller@FlashPaw.com.