In court, the three members of the family now claim for their losses. The parents claim for the loss of value in the property and the failed marriage. Their daughter claims for personal injuries. Midway through, the builder’s insurance company agrees to pay out on the loss in value of the house caused by the defective workmanship. In the end, the parent’s claim for failed marriage is dismissed because it was caused by the poor construction of their home and that claim was settled. The first moral to this story is that you can only make two claims when they are independent of each other. If one claims flows naturally from another, settling one means losing the other. But the daughter can claim because she was not a party to any of the contracts. Her remedy is in negligence for personal injuries. The builder and insurers are therefore looking at third party liability and that falls within the scope of the home insurance policy.

Unintentionally, the court has done the right thing. It has protected the interests of a baby whose life was wrecked by defective workmanship. It has approved the payment to the parents for the loss in value when the property became uninhabitable. But dismissed their claim because the marriage collapsed. These things happen and, unless in exceptional circumstances, they are not covered by homeowners insurance policies. The only problem is that, in arriving at this result, the parents are liable to pay the builder’s and the insurers’ costs. In effect, therefore, they get nothing out of all the stress of events and their legal consequences. Supposedly, they will be wiser for this experience.

There is a sad fact of life when it comes to dealing with insurance companies. You should read all the small print before you buy a policy and, if you are surprised at how the insurer decides to interpret the policy when you make a claim, you must be ready with an attorney. Telling it as it is: insurance companies like to make a profit. If they have to pay out too many big claims, their profit starts getting small. That gives them an incentive to keep finding new ways to avoid paying out. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, home owners discovered their policies covered storm damage, but limited or excluded claims arising from flooding. The cause of much of the damage was a storm surge where the wind drove the water to higher than usual levels. The issue for the courts was whether the resulting damage was covered as storm damage or excluded as flood damage. The practical reality was that, for the people whose homes were damaged, the precise cause and effect mattered little. They had lost their homes. For the insurance companies, the courts were deciding claims worth billions of dollars. Needless to say, the courts at state and federal levels gave often wildly different interpretations and produced very different results. That is what happens when vast numbers of people line up to sue multiple defendants. Some win. Some lose.

One of the more interesting outcomes of the litigation was the decision of some insurance companies to stop selling policies in the Gulf states. They gave as their reason the increasingly uncertain legal environment. The companies that still write home insurance coverage now have different language. Policyholders hope the law will be on their side. The attorneys acting the the insurance industry remain confident they now have their clients protected.

Over the last few weeks, we have been watching a new slow-motion threat emerge in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon rig operated by BP exploded and, with the pipe broken on the sea bed, crude oil is now pumping out into the water. Oil has already started to come ashore in Louisiana. Residents in the other states are taking out their policies to see what the small print says. So let’s say the average home owner with a property on the coast has a standard home insurance policy, federal flood insurance, hurricane and windstorm coverage, sinkhole coverage, and so on. What will happen when the oil comes? Well, there will be terms allowing claims in the event of an explosion. Unfortunately, the destruction of the rig happened too far away for it to count directly. A court would have to find the explosion was the main cause of the oil coming onshore. Winds and tides play their part in this process. So then we come to the terms allowing claims if the property is damaged by “pollutants”. Crude oil is a natural substance and not a pollutant as defined by insurers. But it is possible that, if it did damage the structure of your property, you would have a claim. Except, most properties are built on the land, not on stilts over the sea. Very few homeowners insurance policies cover damage to the land on which the house stands. The result? Win or lose, a lot of attorneys are going to get rich suing BP.

One of the most important lessons of the last two years is that having regulators in place does not mean having consumer safety. Wherever you look from the failure of the SEC to police the banking industry, to the failure of the FDA to keep food and drugs safe, to the failure of the Minerals Management Service to prevent the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s clear the regulators have been asleep at the wheel of a Toyota car speeding out of control thanks to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It does not matter who you want to blame: the politicians who take the money of business and industry to pay for their expensive election campaigns, the leaders of business and industry who want the maximum profit with no accountability, or the regulators who sit in the middle and hope no one will notice they do nothing. The result has been a catastrophic series of failures. And who gets to pick up the bill? Why taxpayers and consumers, of course. Tax revenues are used to bail out the companies too big to be allowed to fail, and everyone who buys goods and services gets to pay a little more every year in prices to keep the wheels well greased.

Why are we thinking about this right now? Well, every US state has a department or office of insurance run by a Commissioner who is supposed to protect our interests. In some states where the political wind blows more to the left, the Commissioners can be crusaders who protect our interests. But in states where the political wind blows to the right, the lawmakers pass weak regulations and fail to back-up the regulators who might want to “do something”. A classic example of the problem can be seen in Texas where the Commissioner has been fighting a losing battle with the insurance industry in general and State Farm in particular.

State Farm submitted rate plans announcing its intention to raise premium rates by 13%. The reality has proved rather different with some ZIP codes seeing hikes of up to 39%. Not surprisingly, the Commissioner is angry and has posted a lot of the correspondence on the state website. It seems State Farm thought the 13% increase was justified because of rising costs in the building industry for both materials and labor. It was also concerned this year might see more hurricanes, tornadoes and hailstorms. The Commissioner is also telling State Farm policy holders where to find cheaper coverage. He is fighting what he terms the insurer’s deceptions and misstatements. Even the lawmakers have become concerned as Texas now has the second highest average rates in the US for home insurance cover. They are actually talking about giving the Commissioner the power to refuse premium increases!

Let’s be clear. There is nothing wrong with an insurance company increasing its rates to cover rising costs. If it believes there will be more losses in the next year, it can raise rates. But State Farm has crossed a line in Texas and even a GOP state can fight back when the electorate starts to complain. As it stands, if you live in Texas, you should check out the Commissioner’s website at Texas Department of Insurance for the latest information on the State Farm situation. You should also get the maximum possible number of home insurance quotes to find cheaper alternatives to the State Farm policies.

Tip 1 – Bundle up insurance policies

There are two senses in this tip. At first, if you have more than one car in your family, having separate auto insurance for each vehicle is not a way to get cheap auto insurance. Discuss with your agent the possibility of getting a single insurance policy on all your cars with all the family members included. This will save you a lot of money and will give you some discounts, depending on the company.

In another sense of bundling up, those who have different types of insurance such as home, car or health insurance, should get these services from the same provider. Most insurance companies offer attractive discounts to those who buy different types of insurance from them. Even if you have better rates with another company that provides only a single type of insurance, the discounts you will be offered will allow you to save a lot of money in overall.

Tip 2 – Comparison shopping is a must

Hasty decisions can have negative results, especially when it comes to insurance. Some people don’t waste their time on shopping around for insurance, get the first policy they are offered with right at the dealer’s and later complain that their insurance is too expensive. Smart shoppers never do things like that. Take your time to see what different companies have to offer and you will be surprised to learn that different companies have different rates for the very same car. That is because every company has different methods of evaluating their risks and different claims statistics to base their rates on. Use it to your advantage and you will see that cheap auto insurance is not that hard to get. Compare insurance quotes online, talk with your agent or contact different companies directly – no matter how you do it, shopping around is the most effective way of getting cheap auto insurance and saving your money in a tough economy.

The other system is a traditional for-profit model. In America, insurers are allowed to add their profit margin on to every amount they have to pay. In Europe, insurers are allowed to make a profit on the basic car insurance element in an auto policy, but cannot make a profit on paying medical costs. European health insurance companies make a profit when they sell health plans. The insurer’s right to add a margin is strictly controlled.

All this should tell you the American insurance model is pro business and against the consumers’ interests. You are entitled to see only good. This is how capitalism is supposed to work. We should all pity the poor Europeans who live under these socialist governments. They only pay profits to the insurance industry on the core elements of each policy. We should be thankful our premium rates increase to add a new profit margin every time repair shops, tow companies, car rental firms, hospitals and drug companies increase their prices. For those of you in search of cheap car insurance, get multiple quotes through this site and look through them all carefully to identify where additional discounts and savings may be found. It is up to you to protect your own interests. If this means buying insurance through an internet-only company rather than supporting companies with the maximum number of employees, this is your right. You do not care whether you are supporting the employment of your fellow Americans. All you want is cheap car insurance.

In fact, there are numerous insurance companies that you can buy insurance from, and their rates differ just as the prices on autos at different dealers. It all boils down to shopping around and defining your insurance needs. There are companies that will offer low rate services, but their customer support will be weak and they won’t process your claims rapidly. Other companies will have great 24/7 services but their rates will bite your wallet hard. In the end, looking for the cheapest offer might be not the best idea and you will have to take other important elements in consideration besides the price. Here are some things to think about when choosing insurance for your vehicle:

The rates you get from the insurance company are based on your age, gender and driving record. If your driving record is clean of accidents and traffic violations then you are very likely to get lower rates than your peers with accidents behind them. That is because insurance companies tend to charge less those drivers who do not pose a great risk to the and have a low probability of filing a claim. And the longer you keep your record clean the lower your rates will be over time.

For some drivers switching between companies on a regular basis is nothing extraordinary. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, as you simply don’t have a better way to find cheap auto insurance solutions, there are certain downfalls to that. Most auto insurance companies tend to reward their customers for long term relations and offer substantial discounts to those who stay with a single company for a longer period of time. So it sometimes pays to have higher rates and good services initially and then opt for a discount after you have stayed with the company long enough (usually 3-5 years).

Those who have more than one car should insure them all with the same providers. Insurance companies tend to offer good discounts for multiple car owners, especially when they get other types of insurance from them too (homeowners, health, life, etc.)

Improve the safety of your car if possible. Installing additional anti-theft and safety features and telling your insurance company about them is a sure way to get cheap auto insurance. However, make sure to ask your insurance agent about the measures that are identifiable by the insurance company in order to avoid buying devices that the insurer won’t regard as an acceptable safety feature.

The Department of Insurance believed there were a hard core of the poor who felt guilty about driving without California auto insurance so, in 2007, it persuaded the private insurance industry to offer a low-cost liability program for about $400 per year. This is not subsidised by the taxpayers. To qualify, you have to go through a means test, i.e. you must:

• be at least 19 years old;
• have held a valid driving licence for at least three years;
• have no recent claims involving injury or death;
• own a vehicle worth less than $20,000; and
• earn less than $55,125 for a family of four or $27,075 as a single person.

The premium buys you auto insurance for personal injuries up to $10,000, with $20,000 total injury claims from any one accident, and $3,000 for property damage. This is really basic coverage, but it’s a lot cheaper than the fine for not carrying insurance and avoids your vehicle being impounded. So look at the conditions. If you qualify, look at the renewal notice from your current insurer and check out what the online insurers are offering. Now decide whether you are prepared to accept this cheap car insurance to stay legal on the road. There is a clear explanation of the program on the Department of Insurance’s website at California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program. This may be the time when some car insurance is better than no car insurance.

Now the credit crunch has settled in as your permanent house guest, it’s a good idea to start doing a real set of accounts to keep track of your family’s spending. Why bother, you ask? The number of foreclosed property up and down your streets, the number of business shuttered on Main Street, should give you a clue. People who hope for the best when trying to live beyond their means usually come unstuck. Now’s the time to count the dollars and cents. When you are employed, you know exactly how much money you have coming in every month. When you are self-employed, your income is likely to go up and down, making it more difficult to budget. The best you can do is average the monthly income over the last twelve months. Now let’s list the main headings.

Go through all your check stubs and bank statements. Make a list of all the regular payments on utilities, mortgage, insurance premiums, credit and store cards, and so on. If there are regular payments you could cut, make a separate list. For example, everyone has to eat, but do you really want to eat out once a week? It’s often surprising to see how much you could save if you cut down on discretionary payments and leave only the necessary payments. These are lifestyle choices. When the times were good, you could afford all these “luxuries”. Now times are hard, you have decisions to make. When you have finished, you should have a number showing how much you can afford to spend on a health plan and leave a little over in case of emergencies. Never plan to spend more than you earn and hope you can juggle the numbers every month. Live within your means. Now pause for a moment. Are you going to accept a policy with a deductible? Can you estimate how much the co-payments might be if you have to get treatment. The deductible must be available as a cash sum to cover the claim. Co-payments must be made out of your pocket as you go along. What can you afford out of your budget? Do you have savings or a margin unused on your credit cards to fill in the gap?

Now get the health insurance quotes through this site. Look not just at the monthly amount you pay, but at how much you have to pay before the plan starts to pay out. If the health insurance quotes are unclear, get on the telephone and talk to a human being for clarification. Do not accept a plan unless you know you can afford to pay the deductible and co-payments on visits with your doctor, needed drugs, and so on. Even more important, check whether there is an upper limit on the amount the plan will pay out in a year. If there is a limit, do you want to take the risk? If you have an existing condition, how long must you wait before cover kicks in? Can you afford treatment while you wait? These are hard questions but, to protect yourself, you should ask them.

You cannot change who you are so, if you are young, you have to take responsibility for your own driving. Prove to the insurance company you are safe. Most companies offer a discount if you have a good GPA – good students make better drivers. Go on one or more approved driving courses. The better your early training, the more likely it is you will avoid an accident. Do you best to avoid picking up a ticket and, if you are involved in a minor fender bender, it’s probably better not to make a claim. Keep your record clean. The longer you are insured without a claim, the better your premium rate. You earn the right to pay less. So, when getting auto insurance quotes through this site, always look carefully at the questions about who you are. The right answers here can save you a lot of money over the next few years. If in doubt, do not treat the auto insurance quotes as conclusive. Run the searches again with different answers or call the insurers to discuss what discounts might be available to you.

1. Assure all American citizens with access to comprehensive and affordable health coverage

The main features of this part are:

• New Public National Health Plan, which will be very close to the current health coverage provided to federal employees. The main difference is that the new plans will be available to all US citizens for a reasonable price no matter of their financial situation. Deductibles and co-payments will be reduced to minimum, while low-income persons will have the possibility to use additional subsidies.
• National Health Insurance Exchange, which will allow US citizens to look for private health plans. It will set regulations on private insurance providers in order to make sure that private plans are not too different form public ones.
• New business mandate requiring national enterprises to pay for the Public National Health Plan.
• Individual mandate aimed specifically at children.
• More support provided to existing programs like Medicaid and SCHIP.

2. Improve the quality of healthcare services and lower their costs

This initiative presumes federal financial assistance for improving the quality of the services and lowering the costs, with additional assistance to enterprises that cover high-risk employees.

To President’s belief the following actions may also contribute to lowering cost and improving services:

• Special disease management programs for improving chronic care.
• Improving transparency in what concerns quality and costs of healthcare offered by providers.
• Lowering the rates of medical errors.
• Introducing financial incentives to stimulate substantial improvements.
• Providing support for researching new and alternative healthcare technologies.
• Eliminating ethnic disparities in access and quality of healthcare services.
• Popularizing health IT.
• Stronger regulation of insurance and drug markets in order to lower medication costs and allow cheap health insurance.
• Preventing Medicare private plan participants from overpaying.

3. Wellness and healthy lifestyle promotion

This initiative is to be supported through the following actions:

• Special wellness programs at working places.
• Eliminating child obesity with school activities.
• Better education for present and future healthcare workers.
• Promotion of healthy lifestyle in communities.

Saving possibilities with the new initiatives

President Obama estimates that in average a typical American family will be able to save about $2,500 on an early basis after the plan will be implemented. These are the possible sources for such savings:

• Health IT introduction and implementation.
• Improved quality of services.
• Limitations on health insurance provider profits.
• Federal funding of catastrophic coverage that will lead to cheap health insurance.
• Universal coverage availability.

As you can see the Plan requires significant federal funding and that is one of the major points of those who are against it. Other arguments include direct implication to health insurance market, which of course is not quite welcome by the insurance companies. But is the idea of cheap health insurance for everyone that bad?