Brits cutting travel and other insurance cover

Five million Britons will reduce spending this year by cutting back on their insurance cover, it was learned in a recent LV= survey. Of that number, 2.2 million, or nearly 45 per cent, said that they would be reducing or cancelling their home insurance cover, in order to reduce their overall spending. The next most likely to be cut is flood risk insurance, with 29 per cent of the respondents in the study indicating that it would be the first aspect of their policy to go. This result was somewhat surprising, given the significant increase in flood damage claims in the past few years, with amounts averaging £17,000 per claim.

John O’Roarke, who is the managing director of LV= general insurance, commented: “Home contents insurance is not legally required but anyone who has suffered a flood or break in will know how important it is to have cover in place.” Motorists who are feeling the impact of the credit crunch are saying that they plan to cancel their comprehensive cover to say on spending. Over the last year, there was a 10 per cent increase in motorists choosing third party fire and theft insurance as opposed to comprehensive cover when they renewed their policies.

According to the findings of the LV= study, this figure will likely increase, as 37 per cent of the respondents stated they planned to cut back on car insurance costs in 2009. Twenty-two per cent have indicated that they will reduce or eliminate travel insurance cover as well. Thanks to www.financemarkets.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

news source : http://news.carrentals.co.uk/

Fire Department May Receive An Increase In Health Insurance Premiums

CORPUS CHRISTI - Emotions ran high at Tuesday's city council meeting, as union representatives from the police and fire departments argued against city staff's recommendation to increase the fire department's health insurance premiums by 18 percent. Firefighters and some of the council members had questions about how the proposed hike was being justified.

While many police officers learned for the first time Tuesday that their health care premiums wouldn't be increasing, Corpus Christi firefighters learned they could be facing an 18 percent increase. Currently, the city's policy increases premiums based on claims cost, including doctor visits, hospitalization and pharmaceuticals.

"There is equity every time you pay for what you use and you're not dependent on another group to subsidize your increases," Assistant City Manager Oscar Martinez said. "The city still has close to 18 million dollars in reserves, and they can absorb this increase that they wanted, to give to the firefighters of 18 percent," CCFFA President Carlos Torres said.

City staff said firefighters had an 18 percent increase in claims for the last fiscal year in the dollar amount of $450,000. They said the only way to make up that money was to increase premiums by 18 percent for the next five months of the fiscal year to pump it back into the city's reserve fund. City staff added that without doing that, the burden of paying those and future claims would depend on the taxpayers.

news source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Shopping around can bring travel insurance savings

Holidaymakers worried about budgets can make their cash go further taking time to find the best deal on travel insurance. That is according to the Glasgow Daily Record, which suggests that comparison sites can be used to help holidaymakers find the best deals on their single-trip or annual travel insurance policies. "Some deals will include travel insurance but often it pays to take out annual cover for the whole family," it suggested.

The newspaper also recommended that people preparing to fly away for a much-needed break think about going for an all-inclusive package deal and booking a hire car in advance for savings, if they think they will be driving. Travelling during off-peak times (during school term-time), booking last-minute flights and staying outside of city centres can also help to make the costs of a holiday more manageable. Earlier this month, the Irish Independent claimed that single-trip holiday insurance can often be more appropriate for people only planning to travel for two weeks in search of summer sun than an annual deal.

news source : http://www.world-first.co.uk/

CSA Travel Protection Celebrates Mardi Gras With Fun Facts

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The celebration known as "Mardi Gras Carnival Season" kicks off Friday, ending when the last reveler heads home on Fat Tuesday, February 24. CSA Travel Protection (CSA), a company dedicated to providing value-driven travel insurance and emergency assistance services, provides the following list of fun facts about Mardi Gras.

1. Mardi Gras is the direct French translation of "Fat Tuesday." It refers to the last day before the season of Lent begins.

2. The first American Mardi Gras was celebrated near modern-day New Orleans on March
3, 1699.

3. The official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold (representing justice, faith and power).

4. In New Orleans, private social groups called "Krewes" put on parades during the season's festivities.

5. Fat Tuesday is a legal holiday in Louisiana.

6. More than 60 parades and hundreds of private parties, dances and masked balls are scheduled annually in the New Orleans metropolitan area during Mardi Gras.

7. The Zulu Parade, put on by the oldest and most prestigious, predominantly African American Carnival club in New Orleans, will celebrate its 100th year in 2009.

8. The term "Throws" refers to plastic beads and cheap trinkets thrown by masked krewe members from floats as they pass by parade goers.

9. Mardi Gras, the day, is actually the last day of a long celebration of parades and merriment that begins 12 days prior to Fat Tuesday.

10. In 2005, more than one million revelers attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Travelers heading to New Orleans or other Mardi Gras and Carnival destinations are reminded to protect themselves from unforeseen circumstances that could potentially postpone or cut-short their trip. While travel insurance can't stop the unexpected from happening, it can protect and support travelers when mishaps occur, such as flight delays and missed connections.

CSA offers its customers convenient protection when traveling, with additional benefits like No Out-of-Pocket Medical Expense. If a traveler develops an acute illness while on their covered trip, a one-time medical expense will be paid for treatment under $1,000*. Travelers can call their travel agent to purchase, or request more information on, this CSA Travel Protection exclusive.

About CSA Travel Protection

CSA Travel Protection is dedicated to providing affordable travel insurance and emergency assistance services to protect travelers' valuable investments and provide the peace of mind one deserves while traveling. Since its inception in 1991, CSA has developed a reputation for standing behind its customers and evolving products and services to meet their needs. Through superior customer service, extensive experience and industry-leading innovation, CSA is with its clients every step of the way whenever and wherever they are needed.

* When using CSA's designated provider network of 30,000 physicians and 850,000 service providers worldwide.

news source : http://sev.prnewswire.com/

The Crafty Traveller: A cheaper way to cover your tracks

Doing without travel insurance or buying the cheapest policy on offer is a temptation if you're trying to cut back on the cost of your holidays this year. But either approach is a false economy. If you have an accident abroad and are uninsured, you could be liable for medical and repatriation costs running into tens of thousands of pounds.

Buy a policy on price alone and you may find that it has stingy levels of cover, punitively high excesses that make it pointless to claim for, say, a doctor's bill, and endless exclusions that severely reduce the chances of any payouts anyway. Yet decent policies are available at very reasonable rates to most travellers, and there are ways to save on travel insurance without skimping on the cover.

BOOK IT DIRECT

The websites of airlines such as easy-Jet, Flybe and Ryanair automatically add travel insurance to bookings. If you don't want the cover, you have to deselect it. By doing so and taking your custom elsewhere, you'll save money. A week's insurance for a family of four travelling to Europe with online provider Travel Insurance Web (www.travelinsurance web.com) - recommended as a 'best buy' by the consumer organisation Which? - costs £16 to £20 depending on the age of the parents but £47.96 on Flybe's website.

It's a similar story for long-haul travel, with insurance for an individual going to the United States costing half as much with Travel Insurance Web as it does with online agents such as Lastminute.com and Expedia. You are also likely to pay heavily over the odds if you book your insurance through a conventional travel agent or tour operator rather than direct with a travel insurer.

news source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Weak sterling could inhibit overseas holidays

The number of families buying annual travel insurance and flying abroad could drop off this year, as less people are likely to invest in overseas holiday homes, it has been suggested. According to Nubricks.com, the weak performance of the sterling will make it much harder for Brits to buy abroad in 2009, particularly in countries such as Morocco and Dubai, as well as those in the eurozone.

Adam Samuel, director of the overseas property website, suggested that UK investors in foreign property "will be very few and far between" until the pound is able to rally. "UK investors at the moment are struggling to find anything that stacks up that isn't in sterling," he added, noting that Britain's new "investor population" will be small in the coming months.

With the value of the pound falling against the euro, the relative cost of emergency medical treatment abroad and repatriation will have become even more expensive, making travel insurance that much more necessary. Recently, Foreign Currency Direct reported that overseas property is 47 per cent less likely to appeal to Brits this year than last.

news source : http://www.world-first.co.uk

Committee passes bill giving income tax deduction to offset health care costs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Legislation that offers a tax break to offset the cost of health care has been approved by a state House committee. The measure by Rep. Jason Nelson would grant Oklahomans an income tax deduction equal to the amount paid by an individual for health insurance coverage. If approved, the credit would be available starting in 2010.

The measure passed out of the House Revenue and Taxation Subcommittee Thursday. The Oklahoma City Republican says the cost of insurance is so high that many people feel they cannot afford it. He says his bill will help offset that expense and hopefully reduce Oklahoma's estimated 600,000 uninsured residents. An estimated 1.18 million Oklahoma families and individuals would be able to deduct about $2.23 billion in health insurance premiums if the bill becomes law.

news soruce : http://www.kfsm.com/news/

Medical travel insurance patients require better solutions

The industry needs to present customers with better options when it comes to travel insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions. That is according to the British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba), the UK's largest insurance trade association. It told the Daily Mail that a solution to the difficulties patients face when taking out holiday insurance is long overdue.

Graeme Trudgill, a spokesman for the association, suggested that it wants insurers to recruit and train staff that are more compassionate to the needs of people suffering from conditions such as cancer or heart disease. "We're also working with the government on an Equality Bill aimed at ensuring a fair system of risk-based pricing which reflects an individual's likelihood of needing treatment abroad," he added to the newspaper.

Research from cancer charity Macmillan suggests that two in five (39 per cent) people affected by cancer receive higher quotes from their travel insurance providers, while many say that they have been refused for cover altogether.

news source : http://www.world-first.co.uk/

Domestic travellers must still think about insurance

Brits take more than 50 million domestic holidays a year, even though many of them do not take out adequate travel insurance, Sainsbury's Finance has warned. According to the holiday insurance provider, nearly seven million people (15 per cent of adults) have never holidayed abroad, while £10.9 billion is spent on British tourism every year.

However, travel insurance appears to make up a small proportion of holiday spending money for Brits staying within the UK, even though they are at risk from many of the same things as overseas holidaymakers. Sainsbury's explained that domestic travellers would receive NHS cover anywhere in the country but would be forced to pay for their own repatriation if holidaying without cover.

They would also be unable to claim for accommodation cancellations due to illness, internal flight delays or lost or stolen luggage. Meanwhile, people taking long-haul trips to faraway lands have been encouraged by ABTA, the Travel Association, to ensure they are fully vaccinated against common local diseases before travelling.

news source : http://www.world-first.co.uk

Travel Insurance - Brits skip travel insurance to beat the crunch

As the credit crunch hits Britain harder it has been revealed that nearly a quarter of British travellers are no longer keen on taking out travel insurance before heading off abroad. According to the study from American Express many of the travellers, who try to escape the tough times in the country by going on holiday, only search for last minute holiday deals.

The insurance firm reminded that by not having a valid travel cover with them while abroad, such travellers are putting themselves at risk. It also explained that medical issues, flight cancellation or the loss of or damage to luggage could suddenly occur and be followed by huge costs, which may have to be paid for from the travellers’ own pocket if they are not covered. Head of American Express Insurance Services, Chris Rolland said people who have adequate insurance cover stand to enjoy their holidays, home or abroad, as they are rest assured that they are fully protected in the event of any eventuality.

news source : http://www.onlyfinance.com/