Student Health Insurance - Tips to Help You Choose the Right Policy


It is summer 2006. Young and not so young people are graduating from school and there are millions of people who are starting to think about student health insurance. Here are some tips for parents and students who are looking for health insurance for a college student, health insurance for a graduating college student or health insurance for an older graduate student. There are a lot of choices. This article is designed to give you an overview of the choices available to students.
Health Insurance For College Students You should explore all of the medical plan options available to you. Your choices may include:
  1. Getting health insurance through the student's employer.
  1. Getting medical insurance through your local Blue Cross Blue Shield or other private health insurance plan.
  1. Getting "college student health insurance" through a plan offered by their college or university.
  1. Getting health insurance as a dependent on the policy of a parent or spouse.
When looking for the non-group health insurance plans that are available in your area, you may want to contact your state's insurance department. You can contact them and find out which companies market individual health insurance in your area. Healthcare choices for the out-of-state student If you live on campus, look into the plans offered in each area. If your parents live in Florida, but you go to school in Texas, you should see what health insurance plans are available to you in both states. A student who has a permanent address of Connecticut and attends Yale in New Haven should only purchase a Connecticut-approved plan. If the same student transfers to UCLA, he or she can also explore plans offered in California. Some plans may even charge differently based on your zip code, so even if your two addresses are in the same state, you may still save money by looking at rates for both areas. Health Insurance For A Graduating College Student You should explore all of the medical plan options available to you. Your choices may include:
  1. Getting health insurance through the former student's employer.
  1. Getting medical insurance through your local Blue Cross Blue Shield or other private health insurance plan.
  1. Purchasing short-term health insurance to cover you until your employer-sponsored plan becomes effective.
  1. Getting health insurance as a dependent on the policy of a parent or spouse.
Medical Insurance Plans to Watch Out For:
  • Discount plans. These are not health insurance plans! These plans can save you money on health care, but only offer discounted services and not true insurance benefits. If you had a major accident or sickness, getting 25% off of a healthcare bill of $50,000 may not give you the benefits you hoped for.
  • Accident only plans. Students get the flu, mono and even cancer. Being covered with an accident only plan can offer substandard coverage when compare to a comprehensive health insurance plan. (By the way, an unplanned pregnancy is not considered an accident either J. :-) )
  • Hospital Only or Basic Plans. These plans tend to offer good coverage in the hospital but little coverage outside of the hospital. These plans can save you from a hospital bill that might otherwise bankrupt you. However, today hospital stays are getting shorter and more and more healthcare is being done in doctors offices. If keeping your premiums low is important, consider a plan that covers you both in the hospital and in the doctors office that has a high deductible.
  • School Sponsored Clinics And Urgent Care Centers. They cover you well for the little things, but not so well for the big things. There may be no coverage for surgery or hospitalization. In contrast to hospital only plans, these plans my not cover you for a hospital stay or for surgeries.
Finding the right student health insurance is important. College students and graduating college students have a lot of choices. Hopefully reading this article will make you aware of the options that you have. This article can be copied and reprinted but only in its entirety. The article was originally published on http://www.1800insurancect.com/articles/student-health-insurance-article.htm. The article starts with the heading "Student Health Insurance - Tips to Help You Choose the Right Policy" and ends with this sentence.

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Do I Need Insurance for My Home Based Business ?

Generally, you do not meet with clients at your home office if you run a home-based business. In a home-based business your bigger concern is protecting the equipment (property insurance), not the customer liability (casualty/liability insurance). Depending on the scope of your home-based business, your homeowner's policy might not be enough to cover the cost of your business equipment. A homeowner's policy usually covers for a small amount, but it is often not enough to cover you business equipment losses. If this is the case, you will have to shop around for more substantial business insurance or increase the coverage of your homeowner's insurance.
Even if you are not meeting clients in your home, you might have liability issues. If, for instance, you are selling food products wholesale or creating a product, your product will still have liability. You should get special product liability insurance based on what type of business you are doing. The pricing of this insurance will depend on the type of product, forecasted sales amount and history of business.
Finally, if you are a professional such as a lawyer or doctor working from your home, you might need to purchase professional liability insurance for your home-based business.
Insurance Solutions for the Home-Based Business
The easiest way to insure a home-based business is to increase the coverage of your homeowner's policy to a suitable amount. With a small premium increase, you can increase your property coverage by thousands of dollars. This increased coverage will cover the cost of your business equipment as well as the personal property in your home.
The homeowner's insurance packages are very limited. If you have expensive equipment, many clients visiting, or you are a potentially risky business, then you will have to purchase a home-business insurance policy. The home-business insurance policy offers you better coverage against business interruption and product and service liability, and provides more protection against customer liability and lawsuits. Some home-business insurance policies allow the home business to have full time employees. Overall, this solution is more comprehensive and more professional; however, be prepared to pay more than you would if you just extended your homeowner's policy. Keep in mind that home-business insurance and homeowner's insurance are two different insurance solutions.
If you have an outside office or storefront, you need regular business insurance. This is usually referred to as a business owner's policy. This type of insurance covers many business risks and can be customized to fit your particular business needs.
What type of business insurance should I get?
Insurance can cover a variety of catastrophes including natural disasters, fire and theft. Providing good health coverage for your employees can help you retain them. However, these are not the only types of insurance available. You may be required to carry life, business interruption, or auto insurance depending on the nature of your business. Other types of insurance cover business liability or damage to your inventory.
Banks, investors, and other lenders may require a business owner to have good insurance coverage before processing a loan; this minimizes their risk of losing their investment. Investors and partners may also require a business to have a "key man" insurance policy-life insurance on the owner or crucial employees-so the business can survive in the event something happens to these people.
Types of Insurance:
Property Insurance covers property loss from fire, smoke, theft, explosion, vandalism, and other disasters.
Liability insurance protects your business in the event that your business activities cause harm to a person.
Crime Insurance protects against burglaries, robberies, and employee theft.
Auto Insurance protects against injury and the cost of repairing your vehicle.
Business Interruption Insurance protects against the loss of projected earnings due to a temporary shutdown of the business.
General Liability Insurance covers legal liabilities from accidents and other injuries dealing with your business, with the exception of a work-related injury.
Health Insurance protects the owner of the business in case of illness by providing payment for medical expenses.
Business Life Insurance covers against the death of a key participant in the business such as the owner or partner.
Disability Insurance covers you in the event you become disabled and cannot work.
Gaizer.com is a resource for starting, operating and financing a small business. The site offers step-by-step guides for forming a company, financing information, Taxes, Insurance, Business Plans and other operational concerns. The site also includes useful resources for entrepreneurs.

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How an Insurance Policy Works ?

Insurance is synonymous to a lot of people sharing risks of losses expected from a supposed accident. Here, the costs of the losses will be borne by all the insurers.
For example, if Mr. Adam buys a new car and wishes to insure the vehicle against any expected accidents. He will buy an insurance policy from an insurance company through an insurance agent or insurance broker by paying a specific amount of money, called premium, to the insurance company.
The moment Mr. Adam pay the premium, the insurer (i.e. the insurance company) issue an insurance policy, or contract paper, to him. In this policy, the insurer analyses how it will pay for all or part of the damages/losses that may occur on Mr. Adam's car.
However, just as Mr. Adam is able to buy an insurance policy and is paying to his insurer, a lot of other people in thousands are also doing the same thing. Any one of these people who are insured by the insurer is referred to as insured. Normally, most of these people will never have any form of accidents and hence there will be no need for the insurer to pay them any form of compensation.
If Mr. Adam and a very few other people has any form of accidents/losses, the insurer will pay them based on their policy.
It should be noted that the entire premiums paid by these thousands of insured is so much more than the compensations to the damages/losses incurred by some few insured. Hence, the huge left-over money (from the premiums collected after paying the compensations) is utilized by the insurer as follows:
1. Some are kept as a cash reservoir.
2. Some are used as investments for more profit.
3. Some are used as operating expenses in form of rent, supplies, salaries, staff welfare etc.
4. Some are lent out to banks as fixed deposits for more profit etc. etc.
Apart from the vehicle insurance taken by Mr. Adam on his new vehicle, he can also decide to insure himself. This one is extremely different because it involves a human life and is thus termed Life Insurance or Assurance.
Life insurance (or assurance) is the insurance against against certainty or something that is certain to happen such as death, rather than something that might happen such as loss of or damage to property.
The issue of life insurance is a paramount one because it concerns the security of human life and business. Life insurance offers real protection for your business and it also provides some sot of motivation for any skilled employees who decides to to join your organization.
Life insurance insures the life of the policy holder and pays a benefit to the beneficiary. This beneficiary can be your business in the case of a key employee, partner, or co-owner. In some cases, the beneficiary may be one's next of kin or a near or distant relation. The beneficiary is not limited to one person; it depends on the policy holder.
Life insurance policies exist in three forms:
• Whole life insurance
• Term Insurance
• Endowment insurance
• Whole Life Insurance
In Whole Life Insurance (or Whole Assurance), the insurance company pays an agreed sum of money (i.e. sum assured) upon the death of the person whose life is insured. As against the logic of term life insurance, Whole Life Insurance is valid and it continues in existence as long as the premiums of the policy holders are paid.
When a person express his wish in taking a Whole Life Insurance, the insurer will look at the person's current age and health status and use this data to reviews longevity charts which predict the person's life duration/life-span. The insurer then present a monthly/quarterly/bi-annual/annual level premium. This premium to be paid depends on a person's present age: the younger the person the higher the premium and the older the person the lower the premium. However, the extreme high premium being paid by a younger person will reduce gradually relatively with age over the course of many years.
In case you are planning a life insurance, the insurer is in the best position to advise you on the type you should take. Whole life insurance exists in three varieties, as follow: variable life, universal life, and variable-universal life; and these are very good options for your employees to consider or in your personal financial plan.
Term Insurance
In Term Insurance, the life of the policy-holder is insured for a specific period of time and if the person dies within the period the insurance company pays the beneficiary. Otherwise, if the policy-holder lives longer than the period of time stated in the policy, the policy is no longer valid. In a simple word, if death does not occur within stipulated period, the policy-holder receives nothing.
For example, Mr. Adam takes a life policy for a period of not later than the age of 60. If Mr. Adam dies within the age of less than 60 years, the insurance company will pay the sum assured. If Mr. Adam's death does not occur within the stated period in the life policy (i.e. Mr. Adam lives up to 61 years and above), the insurance company pays nothing no matter the premiums paid over the term of the policy.
Term assurance will pay the policy holder only if death occurs during the "term" of the policy, which can be up to 30 years. Beyond the "term", the policy is null and void (i.e. worthless). Term life insurance policies are basically of two types:
o Level term: In this one, the death benefit remains constant throughout the duration of the policy.
o Decreasing term: Here, the death benefit decreases as the course of the policy's term progresses.
It should be note that Term Life Insurance can be used in a debtor-creditor scenario. A creditor may decide to insure the life of his debtor for a period over which the debt repayment is expected to be completed, so that if the debtor dies within this period, the creditor (being the policy-holder) gets paid by the insurance company for the sum assured).
Endowment Life Insurance
In Endowment Life Insurance, the life of the policy holder is insured for a specific period of time (say, 30 years) and if the person insured is still alive after the policy has timed out, the insurance company pays the policy-holder the sum assured. However, if the person assured dies within the "time specified" the insurance company pays the beneficiary.
For example, Mr. Adam took an Endowment Life Insurance for 35 years when he was 25 years of age. If Mr. Adam is lucky to attain the age of 60 (i.e. 25 + 35), the insurance company will pay the policy-holder (i.e. whoever is paying the premium, probably Mr. Adam if he is the one paying the premium) the sum assured. However, if Mr. Adam dies at the age of 59 years before completing the assured time of 35 years, his sum assured will be paid to his beneficiary (i.e. policy-holder). In case of death, the sum assured is paid at the age which Mr. Adam dies.
David Mog is the owner of the blog http://insurancefarmland.blogspot.com/ and he is giving you as a reader the right to use this writeup as you deem fit in your research work on the basis that the blog link and the contents will not be tampered with but will remain as it is without being edited.
I am a Mathematician by profession. I studied in Ontario, Canada. For the past 15 years, I've been almost all over the globe in my consultancy jobs.
I specialize in Research & Development that deals with the design of computer programs in solving a specific problems.
Specifically, I was one-time an Insurance Salesman before I went for my college education. So, all the pros and cons of Insurance world are well known to me like the lines on my palms.
I've been to Japan, South Korea, Australia, England, Netherlands, South Africa, Egypt, just to mention a few.
Right now, I have a current project I'm handling in Ghana, where I am presently staying.
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What Does Commercial Insurance Cover?

Majority of small businesses and some big corporations in the current economic conditions are struggling with tight cash flows. They are cutting back on expenses wherever possible. Unfortunately, some businesses down-grade their commercial insurance. Many new businesses think that insurance is something that is luxury and only a few big and thriving companies can afford to purchase it. This kind of wrong assumptions can damage their business in a significant manner.
Operating a business without an insurance is not a good practice and is like keeping 'a lighted candle in the wind'. An uninsured business is not protected against thefts, lawsuits, damage from disasters etc. Any business, which operates without insurance will be at risk of losing money and property in the event of unfortunate circumstances.
Importance of commercial insurance
Commercial insurance is an insurance for a business and is considered as one of the most important investments by smart business owners. Commercial insurance can provide valuable protection to a business from potential loss caused by unforeseen and unfortunate events.
When two planes crashed into World Trade Center (WTC) towers on 11th Sept '01, almost all offices in the twin towers were destroyed. Many financial firms nearby were badly damaged and much of their property got destroyed in the attack. Many companies' data servers and computing infrastructure were destroyed or damaged. However, they did not loose any critical data. Though they lost a huge amount of physical IT infrastructure in the attack, they recovered quickly. This was possible, as after the 1993 terrorist bombing on the WTC, they were some of the best prepared offices from data recovery point of view. Similarly, insurance gives protection to businesses from certain kinds of risks.
Moreover, the mortgage payment, college education of the kids, medical expenses etc., all depend on the survival of your business. So, protecting your business cannot be taken lightly.
Now that you understood how important insurance is to your business, you need to determine different types of insurance and how much insurance you need for your business.
Types of commercial insurance
Generally speaking, the commercial insurance covers businesses and the most common types are property, liability and workers' compensation insurance. Property insurance provides coverage to your business property damages; liability insurance covers damages to third parties or someone else's property; and workers' compensation insurance covers your employees who get injured at the job. Here, we will know what these insurance policies cover and how they benefit your business.
Property Insurance
Property insurance covers losses and damages to your business property. There are different types of policies under property insurance, which you can purchase to cover your business property. Right from the construction of the commercial property to removing the debris after any accident, commercial insurance covers your businesses at various levels. Let us take a look at some of the common instances where a commercial insurance can protect your business.
We all know that buildings are prone to different risks. Property insurance is designed to provide coverage for buildings. Property insurance protects your business from accidental breakdown of expensive machinery or equipment of your business. It also protects your property in transit and covers the losses to goods that occur in your premises.
Every company, regardless of its size and business is a potential target for crime. A comprehensive crime insurance policy is an absolute necessity for business owners concerned of protecting their company's assets. Crime insurance can provide coverage for employee theft, burglary, forgery, computer fraud, counterfeiting, investigation costs etc.
Liability Insurance
Liability insurance covers your business from any inadvertent mistakes by you or your employees that cause injuries to a third party. A general liability insurance policy will cover your business for common risks, including customer injuries in your business premises.
Malpractice insurance covers the businesses in the event of causing damage or injury to a third party as a result of negligently performing a professional duty. It is generally taken by doctors, dentists, accountants, real estate agents, architects etc. Commercial automobile insurance policy covers all the vehicles used in your business such as cars, vans, trucks and trailers. This policy will reimburse, if your driver injures a third party.
Workers Compensation Insurance
Whether you employ one person or thousands of them, you will require workers' compensation insurance. It covers your business from the claims of employees injured during the course of employment. You can receive immunity from civil lawsuits filed by your employees over workplace accidents.
Business can be unpredictable and mistakes or unforeseen events are common. Therefore, it is very important to have some sort of a plan if things go wrong. Remember, commercial insurance is not the same as personal insurance and it does not mean that you need to spend more on this insurance.
In order to protect your business, you should first carefully do a risk assessment i.e., identify the kind of events you would like to be protected against. It is always better to evaluate the different commercial insurance policies and the amount of insurance you need. Then, do a cost-benefit analysis to identify the insurance policy and insurer that best suits your business.
Keystone Insurance Group is Ireland's premier supplier of public liability insurance and business insurance solutions to Irish industry. We offer a broad range of builders insurance, construction insurance, and business liability insurance products. Our public liability insurance Ireland and business insurance Ireland products offer great value to contractors and general business customers. Our experienced and professional team quickly arranges quotes for all classes of business insurance.


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Life Insurance Policies Explained

Six Basic Kinds of Life Insurance
Regardless of how fancy the policy title or sales presentation might appear, all life insurance policies contain benefits derived from one or more of the three basic kinds shown below. Some policies due combine more than one kind of life insurance and can be confusing.
Term Life Insurance
Endowment Life Insurance
Whole Life Insurance
Variable Life Insurance
Universal Life Insurance
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is death protection for a term of one or more years. Some companies are offering policies with terms up to thirty years. Premiums on term insurance remain level during the life of the policy. Term Life Insurance has no cash value account. Death benefits will be paid only if you die within that term of years. Term insurance generally provides the largest immediate death protection for your premium dollar.
Some term life insurance policies are renewable for one or more additional terms even if your health has changed. Each time you renew the policy for a new term, premiums will be higher. You should check the premiums at older ages and the length of time the policy can be continued.
Some term insurance policies are also convertible. This means that before the end of the conversion period, you may trade the term policy for a whole life or endowment insurance policy even if you are not in good health. Premiums for the new policy will be higher than you have been paying for the term insurance.
Life Insurance "Endowment"
An endowment insurance policy pays a sum or income to you, the policyholder, if you live to a certain age. If you were to die before then, the death benefit would be paid to your beneficiary. Premiums and cash values for endowment insurance are higher than for the same amount of whole life insurance. Thus endowment insurance gives you the least amount of death protection for your premium dollar.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance gives death protection for as long as you live. The most common type is called straight life or ordinary life insurance, for which you pay the same premiums for as long as you live. These premiums can be several times higher than you would pay initially for the same amount of term insurance. But they are smaller than the premiums you would eventually pay if you were to keep renewing a term insurance policy until your later years.
Some whole life policies let you pay premiums for a shorter period such as 20 years, or until age 65. Premiums for these policies are higher than for ordinary life insurance since the premium payments are squeezed into a shorter period.
Although you pay higher premiums, to begin with, for whole life insurance than for term insurance, whole life insurance policies develop cash values which you may have if you stop paying premiums. You can generally either take the cash, or use it to buy some continuing insurance protection. Technically speaking, these values are called nonforfeiture benefits. This refers to benefits you do not lose or forfeit when you stop paying premiums. The amount of these benefits depends on the kind of policy you have, its size, and how long you have owned it.
A policy with cash values may also be used as collateral for a loan. If you borrow from the life insurance company, the rate of interest is shown in your policy. Any money which you owe on a policy loan would be deducted from the benefits if you were to die, or from the cash value if you were to stop paying premiums.
Variable Life Insurance
Variable life insurance, provides permanent protection for you and death benefits to your beneficiary upon your death. The value of the death benefits may fluctuate up or down depending on the performance of the investment portion of the policy. Most variable life insurance policies guarantee that the death benefit will not fall below a specified minimum, however, a minimum cash value is seldom guaranteed. Variable is a form of whole life insurance and because of investment risks it is also considered a securities contract and is regulated as securities under the Federal Securities Laws and must be sold with a prospectus.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal Life insurance is a variation of Whole Life. The insurance part of the policy is separated from the investment portion of the policy. The investment portion is invested in bonds and mortgages, the investment portion of Universal Life is invested in money market funds. The cash value portion of the policy is set up as an accumulation fund. Investment income is credited to the accumulation fund. The death benefit portion is paid for out of the accumulation fund. Unlike Whole Life Insurance, the cash value of Universal Life Insurance grows at a variable rate. Normally, there is a guaranteed minimum interest rate applied to the policy. No matter how badly the investments go by the insurance company, you are guaranteed a certain minimal return on the cash portion. If the insurance company does well with its investments, the interest return on the cash portion will increase.
Variable-Universal Life
Variable universal life insurance pays your beneficiary a death benefit. The amount of the benefit is dependent on the success of your investments. If the investments fail, there is a guaranteed minimum death benefit paid to your beneficiary upon your death. Variable universal gives you more control of the cash value account portion of your policy than any other insurance type. A form of whole life insurance, it has elements of both life insurance and a securities contract. Because the policy owner assumes investment risks, variable universal products are regulated as securities under the Federal Securities Laws and must be sold with a prospectus.
Rates and coverage vary form state to state. Shop around on your own and talk to an independent insurance agent to make sure you get a plan that's right for you. It's amazing how much rates may vary from company to company for the same coverage.
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The Importance of Voice Overs

Everyone has heard a voiceover at one time or another. From the voice of Mickey Mouse, to the voice that sells you shampoo or insurance on the radio, voiceovers provide an effective way to evoke emotion or get important information across to an audience. In fact, without voiceover, media wouldn't have the same impact and the entertainment industry would be at a great loss. The importance of voiceover can be seen every day in a variety of techniques.
What is Voiceover?
Voiceover is a production technique where a voice that is not part of the production is used to speak a particular part. Voiceovers are common in radio, television, film and even theatre. Often, voice actors are hired specifically to perform voiceovers and have no other role in the production.
Techniques
Character Voices
One of the more popular uses for voiceover is to give a voice or a personality to an animated character. Think about Shrek or any other popular Disney Movie. Each character is actually someone behind the scenes with a microphone making the voice come alive. As animated movies are growing in popularity, well known celebrities are looking for voiceover roles, hoping to add a bit of variety to their acting portfolio.
Movie Narration
Another popular use for voiceover is providing narration to a movie. This type of voiceover is so common in movies, you probably don't even realize it's happening. Generally, the narrator in a movie has intimate details about the characters on the screen and provides insight for the audience as to their thoughts or emotions. In this sense, voiceover is a critical part of many movies and is necessary for keeping the audience informed. Blockbuster hit movies like Fight Club and Shawshank Redemption use voiceover to provide context.
News Reporting and Non-Fiction Television
Often voiceover is used to report the news. In fact, most television news broadcasts use voiceover as much as live anchors to report news that was taped earlier or segments that were edited beforehand. Other non fiction television that relies on voiceover includes media like the History Channel or the Discovery Channel. Particularly where the focus is educational, voiceover provides a guide for viewers to understand what they are seeing. In addition, game shows have been using voiceover for decades to announce contestants and prizes. Almost everyone is familiar with the popular voiceover from the 1970's who exclaimed "come on down, you're the next contestant on the Price is Right!".
Commercial Advertising
Advertising is another very common use for voiceover. In fact, radio is completely voiceover and actors are never seen. In fact, voiceover is so useful for radio advertisement that certain product manufacturers have signed long term contracts with voiceover actors to "brand" their products. When consumers hear the same, familiar voice representing a product, it builds instant trust and credibility. Even on television, where actors can be seen, it is more likely that a product is featured with voiceover and without an actor. Besides, a strong voiceover highlights the sale instead of the actor seen with the product.
Voiceover is an important part of our movie and television experience. In many cases, voiceover represents more than just information, but has become part of a product, building trust and credibility with consumers.
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