All posts in Insurance

The Funniest Insurance Claims Ever Filed

By blogger on

Who says insurance agents don’t have a sense of humor? They’d have to, to sit back and read some of the insurance claims that drivers and homeowners file today without becoming raving lunatics! Here is a collection of the funniest, most ludicrous and most outrageous insurance claims to ever pass across the desk of an insurance claims director, as told by comedian Jasper Carrott, website www.businessballs.com and the Charlotte evening news.

1)A Charlotte lawyer purchased a box of costly cigars and insured them against flood, storm damage and, of all things, fire. Needless to say, his investment went up in (happily inhaled) smoke within a month, after which the lawyer filed a claim with his homeowners insurance company that he was owed compensation because “the cigars were lost in a series of small fires”. The insurer refused to pay, assuming (correctly) that the man had smoked the pack himself. A judge ruled, however, that since the insurer had never stated what was considered to be “unacceptable” fire the company did, in fact, owe him $15,000 to replace his property.
The insurance company paid the claim, but they got their own back in the end. The lawyer was then arrested, sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine for 24 counts of arson and insurance fraud.
2)True story: When asked to describe how he had come to have a one on one with a lamppost the driver stated that he had not been able to see the post because “it was obscured by human beings.”

3)Only in Louisiana could you get away with filing an insurance claim stating, “Windshield broke. Cause unknown. Probably voodoo.”

4)It’s all H2O to me. A judge had to educate a homeowners insurance provider on the fundamentals of chemistry when a washing machine got stuck on boil and steam cleaned an entire kitchen beyond repair. The insurance company tried to claim that steam damage shouldn’t be covered under the homeowners water damage policy.

5)A woman meeting her husband, a Navy crewman who was due into port that day, parked at the end of the slip where the submarine was due in to berth. There was an inexperienced ensign at the helm who overshot his landing and hit the end of the slip, breaking a section away and sending the car plunging into the water. Needless to say, those damages were on Uncle Sam!

6)There may not have been a tornado in town, but a driver unfortunate enough to have picked that day to park his car by the side of the road was treated to a moment in Oz when a house came crashing down off the flatbed of the truck hired to move it, completely destroying his vehicle.

7)Will these pedestrians never learn? A driver stated on his insurance claim form that “I knocked over a man. He admitted it was his fault, as he’d been knocked over before!” Another driver quite practically pointed out, “The pedestrian had no idea which direction to run, so I ran over him.”

8)In a nod to punctuality, a driver was rushing out of his drive on his way to work at seven o’clock in the morning and ran straight into a bus-who was five minutes early.

Pet Insurance Covers Wheelchair for Dogs Recovery

By blogger on

Craig Hitzelberger was uncertain his dear basset hound, Stub, would make it to his eleventh birthday this past summer considering the health problems he had been facing the last few months. When his elderly pooch was diagnosed with disc disease in the spring and faced an invasive surgery, Hitzelberger prepared for the worst.

Hitzelberger was worried that the surgery would be especially difficult on a dog of Stubs age. With such a valid concern in mind, it was no wonder he was reluctant to put Stubs through the procedure. Fortunately, Stub was covered by pet insurance, which provided Hitzelberger a variety of options to help rehabilitate Stub after the procedure.

“The insurance covered the diagnostics, the medications and even Stubs wheelchair,” said Hitzelberger.

Thats right, Stubs even got a wheelchair to aid him in his recovery. Hitzelbergers pet insurer, PetFirst Healthcare, reimbursed 90% of Stubs veterinary expenses after a $50 deductible, and included a custom wheelchair to help Stub re-learn how to support his hind end.

“Stub was reluctant to use the chair initially, but after he tried it three or four times, he was a natural,” said Hitzelberger. “Now he doesnt even need it. Thanks to pet insurance, Stub is happy and healthy and acts like a dog of eight or nine,” Hitzelberger added.

Hitzelberger has been a long-time believer in pet insurance. He has insured all of his basset hounds since the early 1990s.

“Even when my veterinarian ho-hummed about whether or not pet insurance was a good value for pet owners, I carried it on my dogs,” Hitzelberger said. “Id much rather pay $30 or $40 per month to have the peace of mind knowing I wont have to put my dogs down for financial reasons.”

Is Paid Credit Card Payment Protection Only For Those That Don’t Need It

By blogger on

It’s the quandary that people in debt face every day: How do I spend as little as possible on debt and still manage my risk? Lenders might offer a person taking out a credit card extended credit card payment protection for a small monthly fee, but people may feel they don’t have the spare cash to spend on securing a balance. In their mind’s, paid credit card protection is for those people who are rich enough not to need it, because they can afford the additional cost of carrying it. However, this type of thinking is exactly the opposite of what should be going through someone’s mind when they’re offered payment protection. Instead, they should be weighing the risk of defaulting on debt more than the cost of the small monthly payment used to make sure they can continue making payments if they get ill or are made redundant in their jobs.

How the rich might weigh the risk of not carrying payment protection

First, rich people would figure out how much of a balance they typically carry and whether they have enough savings to cover the balance should they suddenly lose their business or get seriously ill. If they are already carry disability or life insurance, this might help in the case where they were suddenly diagnosed with an illness or suffered a major accident. It would not help them if they lost their business and the associated income. For that they would need to rely on their savings or investment accounts to help repay outstanding debts.

Or, rich people with huge outstanding balances may decide that claiming bankruptcy would be the better option if their hope of repaying their debt in a few years is miniscule when compared to the size of the debt. For those that don’t have the option of a large bank account or business investments to cover an outstanding credit balance, the paid credit card payment protection can offer some peace of mind when they lose a job or get sick or injured. This is much truer for someone who is depending on an employer and a healthy economy to keep from being made redundant. Business owners might decide that claiming bankruptcy makes more sense.

When bankruptcy is not an option

If your livelihood depends on being able to work in your profession, it may be a very bad idea to file bankruptcy to get rid of credit card debt – even if your business fails. Bankruptcy in the UK can bar certain professions from practicing if that individual is declared bankrupt by the courts. In such cases, a payment protection plan can offer some peace of mind that debt payments will be made and creditors will not force that individual into bankruptcy through non-payment. This will give them time to work out an individual voluntary arrangement to resolve all the debt without a bankruptcy declaration. This can not only save their credit for a time, but also save their potential earning power for the future when thing might be a whole lot better.

Other risks that demand that you take out credit card payment protection

Other types of risks that can help you decide whether you should pay the monthly fee for extra credit card protection is whether your loss will affect more than yourself. It may be one thing to lose a credit rating, but quite another if the loss of a job or an unexpected illness also puts your family at risk. If you can cover a mortgage with unemployment benefits for a period of time, but not the additional credit card payments, then you might want to consider taking out extra credit card payment protection. If you happen to be made redundant through no fault of your own, the benefits can mean that you will be able to keep your family fed and housed, even while maintaining a good credit history. This will undoubtedly help you if it takes a bit of time to find a new job or if a job offer is dependent on a good credit history. It can also save you from having to dip into retirement or investment accounts to make up the difference. When the risk of non-payment affects more than just you because you are the primary bread-winner, it makes sense to add extra protection to your accounts to keep you solvent even when things don’t go exactly as you had planned.

How 24 Hour Clinics Accept A Wide Array Of Insurance Plans

By blogger on

Many people, to their disadvantage, do not understand that there really is a great difference between a 24 hour clinic in Houston and the emergency rooms in Houston. Many have seen advertisements, perhaps on television, for a 24 hour clinic in Houston, and wondered in what ways a 24 hour emergency clinic is different than emergency rooms in Houston. The great news is that, even though there are several differences, there are also a great many similarities between the two forms of health care. It should also be noted that most to all emergency clinics accept a wide array of insurance plans.

One major difference between a 24 hour clinic in Houston and the hospital emergency room is that the hospital is trained to handle both emergencies and non-emergencies. A 24 hour emergency clinic is normally only able to handle emergency situations. It is worth noting, however, that even though a 24 hour clinic in Houston only handles emergencies, they are not equipped to handle life-threatening emergencies that include the risks of complications.

In this case, one may wonder just how well a 24 hour clinic in Houston might replace the average hospital’s emergency room. For one thing, many of the people who frequent an emergency room do so with non-life threatening illnesses or complaints. These are the types of cases that are best handled by a 24 hour clinic in Houston. Also, the average 24 hour clinic in Houston accepts a wide array of medical insurance plans, whereas most hospitals are limited to accepting only the insurance with which they are affiliated.

If one has no insurance, or a very minimal coverage plan, then it is also cost-beneficial to contemplate a 24 hour clinic in Houston, as it is much cheaper to visit an emergency clinic than it is to visit the hospital emergency room. As an example, if an individual were to enter a 24 hour clinic in Houston with a cut finger that needs stitches, the charges would only be for the actual treatment of the wounded finger. At a hospital emergency room, in many cases, hundreds of dollars can be added on to one’s bill simply for the “convenience” of the emergency room visit. At a 24 hour clinic in Houston, there are no charges other than those directly related to the treatment for which one came into the 24 hour clinic in Houston.

The 5 W’s of Marketplace Health Insurance

By blogger on

Knowledge based on the 5W’s of marketplace health insurance should serve as a reliable foundation for understanding and choosing coverage which meets the qualifications of the Obama health plan. The 5W’s stand for what, why, who, when and where.

What is marketplace health insurance?

Marketplace health insurance is coverage obtained through one of the governmental health insurance exchanges which provides a minimum standard of benefits known as the essential health benefits as specified by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, referred to by many as ObamaCare. The plans are sold by private insurance companies and generally are HMO and PPO plans. Each plan has a metal designation of bronze, silver, gold, or platinum, depending upon services covered and the actuarial value of the plan. Marketplace health insurance plans cannot deny coverage or charge a higher premium for pre-existing illnesses. They cover some preventive care services.

Why purchase marketplace insurance?

The answer to this question rests in Affordable-Care-Act subsidies, also known as premium tax credits, and whether or not you qualify. Eligibility for Affordable-Care-Act subsidies is based on annual household income provided that income is at least 133% but less than 400% of the federal poverty level beginning in 2014. The premium tax credit calculation is based on a provision of the Affordable Care Act that no American should spend more than 9.5% of household income on medical insurance premiums. Given that provision, Obama-health-plan insurance could be purchased outside of the marketplace from a broker or insurance company. The dollar amount of the annual premium in excess of that allowed under the Affordable Care Act for a given income level could then be claimed as an end-of-the-year deduction during income tax filing. If the coverage is obtained through a health insurance marketplace however, the credit can be applied to the monthly premium of any Obama-healthcare-plan selected, resulting in a lowering of the monthly premium of the plan.

Who is eligible to purchase marketplace insurance?

Marketplace health insurance through the federal or one of the state insurance exchanges is for individuals and families less than 65 years of age or small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Eligibility includes United States citizenship and/or legal residence. Additionally, one must not be incarcerated.

When does having medical insurance become mandatory, when can I enroll, and when does the penalty for not having insurance take effect?

January 1, 2014 is the date that most United States citizens and legal residents must have medical insurance coverage or suffer a tax penalty of $95 per adult, $47 per child, or 1% of the annual household income (whichever is greater) if one is uninsured as of January 1, 2014 and coverage has not been obtained by February 15, 2014. Open enrollment will extend until the end of March 2014. If you have a qualifying life-changing event however, such as marriage, relocation to another state, loss of job-based insurance or expiration of COBRA coverage, marketplace insurance can be obtained as an exception at times after the closure of the open-enrollment season in March 2014 and in subsequent years.

Where can I purchase marketplace insurance?

If you reside in a state whose health exchanges operated by the federal government you will need to purchase through that exchange. Alternatively, marketplace health insurance can be purchased through a private health insurance exchange if it has contractual authority granted by the federal government to enroll Obama health plan applicants. As of December 1, 2013, residents of the District of Columbia and states with state operated insurance exchanges must obtain marketplace medical insurance through the state exchanges. Those states are Those states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.