Consumer Insurance Blog

Tomorrow is the American Cancer Society's 35th Annual Great American Smokeout, a good day to quit smoking if you haven't already, or to support the smokers that you know in kicking their habit. Quitting smoking is not only a good decision with respect to your physical health, it can also be quite a boon to your financial health. Even beyond the cost of cigarettes themselves, smoking carries other high costs. Most life insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance and even auto insurance policies carry higher premiums for smokers. It stands to reason: the price of insurance is based on the odds of having to make payment on a claim. Smokers are an overall riskier bet than nonsmokers. For life and heath insurance, the risks are obvious and well-documented: on average, smokers have significantly more health problems and die younger.

Property insurance is also more costly for smokers due to a higher risk of smoking-related accidents. Households with smokers have an increased risk of fires. According to the US Fire Administration, "... an estimated 9,000 smoking-related fires in residential buildings occur annually in the United States, resulting in an estimated average of 450 deaths, 1,025 injuries, and $303 million in property loss ...they are the leading cause of fire deaths, accounting for 17 percent of fire deaths in residential buildings." Smoking is also considered to be one of the major "distracted driving" culprits leading to an increase in auto accidents. And with any property, residual damage from smoke can decrease the property value and make resale more difficult. There may be other costs too: last year, it was revealed that Apple voided computer warranties due to second-hand smoke.

Save your health and save money in the process - that's a win-win all around!

Stop smoking resources
American Cancer Society: Great American Smokeout Guide to Quitting Smoking
American Cancer Society: Great American Smokeout Resources and Tools
American Cancer Society: Helping a smoker quite: do's and don'ts
American Lung Association - Help resources for quitting smoking
Centers for Disease Control: Smoking & tobacco tools and resources
Mayo Clinic 10 ways to help teens stay smoke-free
Teen's Health: How can I quit smoking?

Shopping for health insurance coverage now that health reform has passed? Buyer beware of health insurance scams. That's the message from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which is alerting consumers that scammers and shady operators have been surfacing since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (PPACA). Some insurance regulators on the state level are reporting that they are receiving complaints about scam artists going door-to-door or setting up toll-free phone lines to sell bogus “ObamaCare” insurance policies.

Here are some NAIC red flags to alert you to potential fraud:

• Time-limited offers or policies with limited enrollment periods. Reputable health insurance concerns will not ask you to make a quick decision!
• A claim that the coverage is required by law. There are no coverage requirements until 2014.
• The salesperson doesn’t explain the coverages included in the policy or does not provide a full list of the coverages.
• The salesperson claims the coverage will be "grandfathered" or exempted from changes required by the health care reform law. The only policies that would be "grandfathered" are those which were in already in force before the law was signed.

Your state insurance authority is your most important resource to check insurance company and insurance agency licensing information. If you have any suspicious sales calls - either by phone or in person - trust your instincts and take the time to check things out.

If you suspect fraud or have a complaint, NAIC offers a resource to file a report.

The election is only about a week away. To help you with your last minute decision making, we've compiled various comparison tools summarizing and contrasting the candidates' positions on health insurance and health care reform.

2008 Presidential Candidates Heath Care Proposals is a PDF side-by-side summary and comparison prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc. and is based on information appearing on the candidates’ websites as supplemented by information from candidate speeches, the campaign debates and news reports. The sources of information are identified for each candidate’s summary (with links to the Internet).

Web MD's Stance at a Glance offers a comparison chart of the candidates and where they stand on key health issues.

Compare the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Care Plans - compiled by the The American Academy of Family Physicians

Election 2008: Health Care - compiled by the American Association of Health Care Journalists, based
on what candidates reveal in debates, speeches and statements. The tip sheet is updated with information on where candidates stand on access to health care and other issues, including stem cell research, abortion and more.

More resources
Election 2008 from The New England Journal of Medicine - various articles covering health care and health policy issues at stake in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
Mental Health: The Candidates & Party Platforms
Positions on Disability-related Issues
The Democratic Party Platform
The Republican Party Platform

Some people marry for love, some people marry for money, and some people marry for health insurance benefits. The New York Times reports on a Kaiser Foundation poll which found that seven percent of adults said someone in their household had married in the past year to gain access to health insurance. For many people, health insurance is available through their employers. If your employer does not make insurance available, talk to your independent agent about options before taking a trip down the aisle just to get insurance benefits.