Few homeowners understand the need for flood insurance. There are two reasons for this. The first is that they don’t live in an area that has floods, and the second reason is that they believe their current homeowners policy will cover flood damage. Let’s take a look at both of these thoughts.

My homeowners policy covers flooding:

Although your policy will likely cover water damage from a fire when the flames are put out, this is about as far as it goes. Any type of flooding from a natural disaster is not going to be covered with your policy. There is simply too much risk associated with flooding, so insurance companies will not pay out claims for this type of damage. You can look at your policy carefully, and you will find this to be true. In fact, even if you wanted to add it to your policy, your insurance provider will not do it. You need to buy a separate policy from a company that works with the National Flood Insurance Program. It is the government the runs this program because the private sector insurance companies will not provide it on their own.

I don’t live in a flood area:

Although certain areas of the country are more prone to flooding than others, flooding can occur anywhere. Flooding is unpredictable, and this is the main reason insurance companies will not touch this type of insurance. Deserts have flash flooding, hurricanes produce flooding, and storms can be found everywhere that cause flooding. Never assume that you live in a flood-free zone. It is true that certain areas are less likely to have flooding, and your premiums will reflect this, but you need to have a flood insurance policy. Do not wait to buy insurance. The longer you put it off, the better the odds are that you will regret it. Damage from flooding can be costly, and you may not have the money for cleanup and repairs when it occurs.

Again, it is the government that runs the flood insurance program, but you purchase this insurance through government approved insurance agents. There are several flood insurance orlando fl agents that can provide you with a quote.

Part of being an adult is getting insurance. Many adults have health insurance, life insurance, and car insurance. Insurance is expensive, especially when you’re paying for multiple policies, but homeowners should really consider getting even more.

Homeowners insurance may be required of you if you buy a house (usually unless you pay for the house with cash). This will keep you from being destitute if you house is damaged or destroyed in the most common ways. But this is not the only insurance type that you could benefit from. In fact, there are some forms of insurance which you may notice the benefit of even more than your homeowners insurance policy. Here are three.

Home Warranty – Not often thought of as an insurance type per se, home warranties have all the basic earmarks of insurance: coverage of certain things in your home, specific term limits, and a deductible to be paid every time you use it. Home warranties are often made available to people when they buy their home. The warranty will cover things like appliances. If one breaks, you can just call up the home warranty company, and they’ll send someone over to repair or replace it, usually for a deductible of around $100. If you use your home warranty even once or twice a year, the policy will probably pay for itself. What’s more, you can renew the warranty indefinitely, which is a major boon to people who own aging houses in the long term.

Life Insurance – There’s nothing that makes you feel like an adult more than buying life insurance. The best life insurance companies offer peace of mind for you and security for the people in life that mean the most to you. Life insurance is very handy if there is a mortgage that depends on your income. If you were to unfortunately pass away unexpectedly, then the mortgage might go unpaid and your family might lose the house. If for no other reason, get life insurance because you are a homeowner, but also consider the other many benefits life insurance offers to an individual with loved ones and/or dependents.

Interior and Exterior Line Coverage – If you live in a municipality, chances are you are responsible for the underground water pipes that extend from your home’s exterior to the street. In many cities, these water pipes are old and brittle. Trees roots can go through them. Erosion can expose them. Rust can wear them away. If such a pipe breaks, it can be thousands of dollars to have the thing dug up and replaced. Don’t risk thousands of dollars on a simple catastrophe that is almost certain to happen at some time in the future. At only a few dollars a month, this could save you big down the road. Interior line coverage is also available, but your home warranty may cover this if you have one.

Being a homeowner brings many responsibilities into your life. Consider these three forms of insurance so that you can handle your responsibilities in the best way possible no matter what happens.

According to reports, auto insurance has increased by about 15% in the past year alone. Well, predictions state that it won’t get better and so, it makes sense to try and keep your car insurance costs down.  Here are a few tips on how to make that possible.

Do Your Homework

Most people tend to take the first quote they get, but this is not advisable especially when it comes to purchasing insurance. Prices for the same coverage can vary substantially between insurance companies and so, it’s best to use a price comparison site to find the best deal. Do not assume the insurance company you used for another policy will be cheap due to your loyalty. That rarely happens, and so, it’s best to explore all your options.

Get Rid of the Extras

According to Money Expert, many insurance providers will try and convince you to add all kinds of extras to your policy. They are not free, but they are not mandatory. Additional features like breakdown cover, windscreen cover, legal services and courtesy car provision all sound handy, but they only make your policy expensive. If you don’t need them, cut them out.

Think About How Regularly You Drive

How much you drive and the way you use your car can significantly affect the cost of your coverage. If you only drive a few thousand miles per year, you can save some money by putting a lower mileage cap on your insurance policy. If you do not drive to work, then remove the commuting option. All this brings the insurance costs down.

Think About Your Named Drivers

Adding other drivers to your policy is a double-edged sword. It can work for or against you in keeping the car insurance costs down. Young and less experienced drivers, along with those who have motoring convictions will bring up the premiums. If they do not drive your car regularly, consider adding them temporarily instead of paying to keep them on your auto insurance policy. Adding a more experienced driver, on the other hand, can reduce your premiums.

Increase your Excess

Increasing the voluntary excess is a relatively quick and straightforward way to reduce your premium. However, do keep in mind that if you make a claim, you have to be able to cover the cost of the increased excess.

Consider Your Profession

Some professions are considered to be higher risk than others and tend to be charged more. You should not lie about your line of work, but be a little creative in the job description part. It can make a significant difference when it comes to premiums.

Install a Blackbox

Telematics has become quite popular in the insurance world. They are especially helpful for young drivers who are looking to lower their cost of insurance. Tracking when and how you drive gives the insurance company better access to your risk, and they will be able to tailor your costs. Most insurance providers will give a discount for merely subscribing to a telematics policy. Also, if you drive safely, you can expect a reward of lowering the premium costs.

Pay Upfront

Most insurance providers will allow you to pay on a monthly basis, but if you pay upfront, you can expect to be charged a lower sum. If possible, get rid of the painful part by paying a large sum, and you could save up to 10% on premiums.

Your livestock is a major investment upon which you rely for income. You cannot afford to lose even a single animal without taking a hit to your bottom line.

Because you cannot predict if or when disaster will strike your farm or ranch, you must always be ready to protect your livestock against unforeseen losses. You can start by investing in security fencing, equine and livestock insurance policies, guard dogs, and other protections today.

Quotes for a Policy

The amount of insurance you buy for your agricultural venture may depend on how many animals you need to protect against loss. If you have several hundred or thousand head of cattle, for example, you may need a bigger policy than if you were insuring a single bull or a couple of horses.

Rather than pay out too much each month in premiums, you can get the right amount of coverage by first getting a quote for the new policy. The website is set up so you can get a quote that will estimate how much protection you can get and how much it will cost you on a monthly basis. You can then decide to insure all, some, or just a few of your animals based on that price.

Policy Specifics

After you get a price for the policy, you may then want to delve into what it will cover and in what circumstances you can make a claim. For example, if you live in one of the Plains states, you may want to know if it will pay you if one of your bulls is struck by lightning. Likewise, you may wonder if you can get compensation from the policy if a tornado wipes out your herd.

You also may want to discover how long you must have the policy before you can make a claim. Some insurers require that you pay into an asset protection policy for at least a year before you make a substantial claim and recover monetary or property losses. This information and more is available to you on the website.

Your cattle, horses, and other livestock are vital to how much income you bring in each year. You can protect your earnings and the animals you raise for your livelihood by going online and buying a policy that will compensate you for substantial losses due to unforeseen natural disasters and theft.

After eight long years of undergoing the legal processes, Penn Treaty Network Insurance and American Network Insurance Co. have been designated to be liquidated. This decision was made by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Both of these providers offered long-term care insurance policies to citizens in the state of Pennsylvania and various other states.

The liquidation order was in response to a long effort of looking into other possible solutions. Due to the Government changes in long-term insurance requirements, the industry has been dealing with much uncertainty for the past few years. The original policy pricing structures are becoming insufficient to cover the claims each company receives. In simple terms, insurance providers are receiving low to no return on their investments.

The Big Problems Facing Insurance Providers

Many insurance providers did not correctly plan for the following:

1.)The number of policyholders that would drop their coverage.
2.)The number of policyholders that would utilize the benefits their policy offered.
3.)The actual cost of the services covered under the policy greatly exceeded the estimated costs made by insurance providers.

What Most Providers Are Doing To Financially Recover

As we are sure you have noticed over the past couple of years, many providers are drastically increasing their premium amounts. With much of the nation forced to seek insurance to avoid harsh financial penalties, higher insurance prices are a hot topic of debate. The Commonwealth Court estimated that in order for both of these companies to recover financially they would need to increase premium rates in excess of 300 percent. State regulators deemed that an increase in this amount would be harmful to the policyholders and instead decided on the only other alternative, liquidation.

What Does This Mean For Current Policyholders

It is estimated that these insurance companies have over 76,000 policyholders, with about 9,000 residing in Pennsylvania. All of these policyholders will be covered by their individual State’s Guaranty Association System. This system was established in each state of the U.S. as a way to protect policyholders in the event that a company goes insolvent. This system is funded by the insurance providers in each state. Each insurance provider is expected to pay in their mandatory two percent annual surcharge.

Each policyholder will remain to have the same policy that they signed up for. They should continue to file for their benefits as they usually would. Policyholders must also continue to pay their premiums in order to retain coverage. The State Guaranty Association System will pay for the benefits of the policyholders up to a capped amount of $300,000.

Any claims that are submitted above this level will be assessed by the liquidator and the court. They will deem if the liquidated assets of the companies will be able to cover the remaining claim amount. There is no guarantee that policyholders will receive benefits over what the State Guaranty Association System will offer them. It’s estimated that about 50 percent of policyholders will file for additional benefits over the $300,000 cap.

Looking Into The Future

Due to the 76,000 consumer increase in the State Guaranty Association Systems across the nation, it’s very likely that many states may file for higher premium rates in the future. This is a process that will take some time for approval as it involves altering the premium limits stated in the state laws.

A group, health insurance policy, refers to health insurance provided by an employer to its employees. Nowadays, almost all companies offer group health insurance. Two major reasons are behind it:

• Changing work environment, which is more demanding and often leads to health complications.
• Increasing healthcare costs. No employer would like their employee to go bankrupt trying to stay healthy.

Group health insurance is a key employee benefit that may provide health cover to the employee and his/her family members. Though companies are not mandated to provide corporate insurance, it is viewed as a necessary perk and adds to the prestige of the enterprise.

Though, pretty much necessary, and standard, group policies do offer certain unique benefits which can be useful for the employees.

Why Offer Group Health to Employees?

You may be wondering why companies take the trouble to provide group cover to their staff it is, after all, an expense to them. Well, there are many reasons:

• Firstly, employees’ wellbeing is the responsibility of the employer
• Secondly, it helps them to create a competitive value proposition for prospective employees
• It also enables them to retain talent, and boost the performance of employees
• Lastly, companies get tax breaks for offering health insurance policies

A good group health policy can go a long way in creating a loyal workforce. There are times when employees accept better health benefits instead of higher remuneration. Moreover, a group cover makes employees feel taken care of.

The Hidden Benefits of Group Health Policy

• Group Health Insurance Is Cheaper

A group health insurance plan is cheaper than individual health plans, usually by about 30 per cent. Premiums are lower about the sum assured, compared to individual health insurance policies. Therefore, even if you are sharing the premium with your employer, it’s still less than your individual health cover.

• Low Premiums Does Not Mean Fewer Benefits

Most group health plans offer cover for childbirth and maternity for the employees and spouses, a benefit not usually available with individual health insurance plans. More than that, treatments of certain critical illnesses (again not usually covered by individual health plans) is available under group health insurance.

• Group Health Covers Pre-Existing Conditions

A group health insurance policy is, by and large, easily available to the employees of a company. In most cases, employees need not go for medical check-ups, and the policy kicks in from the day you join the company. The best thing about group health cover is that it in many cases, it covers pre-existing medical conditions of the employees. In most cases, employees are not denied health coverage based on their age or past medical history.

• No Co-Pay

The best group health insurance policies do not apply co-payment clause. Meaning employees are eligible for free treatment up to the cover limit of the policy. However, this may increase the premium a little, but if you seek to offer the best to your workforce, this is not at all expensive.

• Convert Group Plan to Individual Plan

Some insurers offer the feature where, after leaving the company the employee can continue the plan as an individual cover by switching his/her health cover to individual policy. However, this may increase the premium cost, it is still better than going out in the rain without the medical insurance umbrella, especially if you have family members covered under the same policy.

There can be many other things you should know about the health policy you can offer to your employees. For instance, did you know that corporate cover is a master plan provided by companies and it includes all employees in the organization under the same umbrella? You can include dependent parents of the employees under the policy as well (if your workforce values this benefit).

In the end, corporate health insurance is an excellent provision to offer to your staff. However, you’ll need to balance between the benefits and premium payable to make it sustainable over a longer period.

How Can the Employer Select the Best for The Employees?

There are more than 20 insurance companies that specialize in providing corporate health policies. It may not always be possible for the organizations to compare and research about all of them and figure out the best. Online corporate insurance advisors such as SecureNow fill this gap very efficiently. They can help companies in analysing their needs, decide the right cover amount and manage the policies after buying.

Business insurance is­ a must for every typ­e of business. When y­ou are looking for pe­rfect business insura­nce, you need to cons­ider few important fa­ctors and reviewing y­our current insurance­ coverage. Business ­insurance will vary f­rom one business to a­nother. For example, ­a company that produc­es physical goods wil­l need a different ty­pe of insurance than ­a company that offers­ services. In either ­case, it is recommend­ed to consider the fo­llowing types of insu­rances.

Workers’ Compensation­ Insurance – For empl­oyees

As per the state laws­, it is a must for ev­ery business. It will­ provide coverage for­ medical costs and a ­portion of lost wages­ for an employee beca­use of certain injury­ or illness at work. ­This insurance will c­over only injuries or­ illness that occurs ­on the job site. The ­laws for every state are different, so you­ must work with an in­surance professional ­to make sure that you­ are getting the righ­t coverage and accord­ing to the requiremen­ts of your business.

General liability ins­urance

This insurance is des­igned to protect your­ business from a vari­ety of claims includi­ng accidents, injurie­s or claims of neglig­ence. It will pay for­ property damage, med­ical expenses, libel,­ slander, legal costs­, and faulty products­. No one wants to get­ sued, but it’s still­ a possibility. Your ­business should not b­e open to such situat­ions so it’s better t­o have a broader prot­ection.

Professional liabilit­y insurance – ‘Errors­ and omissions’ cover­age.

Professional liabilit­y insurance is also t­ermed as ‘Errors and ­omissions’ insurance,­ or ‘Malpractice insu­rance’. This will pro­tect you from lawsuit­s that allege neglige­nce in providing prof­essional services, pr­oviding shoddy work, ­or making mistakes or­ omissions. If you h­ave a service based b­usiness, then this is­ the right insurance.­

Property Insurance ­

It is important to ca­rry adequate commerci­al property insurance­. Small businesses wi­ll find it very diffi­cult to replace their­ equipment if there i­s any kind of unfores­een damage or destruc­tion. Under this type­ of insurance, buildi­ngs, computers, inven­tory, supplies and eq­uipments will get cov­ered. This insurance ­is of two types. ‘All­-risk’ policies will ­cover just almost eve­rything. This will av­oid duplication or ov­erlap of coverage, as­ well as gaps in tryi­ng to cover your liab­ilities. “Peril-spec­ific” policies will a­pply to specific peri­ls named in the polic­y. They are usually n­eeded when there is a­ high risk in a parti­cular area.

Life insurance – prot­ection and benefit.

When you are looking ­for high quality empl­oyees, life insurance­ is a must. These emp­loyees will be benefi­cial to the running a­nd success of the bus­iness. A business can­ also offer special ‘­Key Person’ policies ­for employees without­ whom the business co­uld not function. The­ business pays the pr­emium, and the insura­nce is considered a b­usiness asset.

All these basic cover­ages can be combined ­as a package policy, ­often referred to as ­a Business Owner’s po­licy. This will save ­your business lots of­ money, as long as yo­u make sure you get t­he proper type of cov­erage.

It is advisable to re­view all your coverag­e on an annual basis ­to make sure that it ­is providing everythi­ng to your business t­hat it needs. Additio­nally be sure to work­ with a reputable, li­censed insurance comp­any like Radius Insurance who has knowledge re­garding business like­ yours.