More Tips
This is a particularly good time for everyone to review their insurance coverage. The entire insurance business has gone through tremendous changes over the past few years, and many of the buying strategies that worked in the past have already become outdated. For example:
■ Despite the doomsday headlines about soaring health insurance costs, many people can get surprisingly good deals if they know how to make the most of their employers’ options or shop around for a policy on their own. In addition, new tax benefits can help you cut your health insurance costs-and build a huge stash of money for future expenses.
■ Most retirees were inundated with confusing choices when the new Medicare prescription drug plan was introduced. If you know about a few essential tools and shopping strategies, however, you can minimize the confusion and find a surprisingly affordable policy that lowers your drug costs significantly. Furthermore, if you made mistakes when initially selecting your policy, you still have plenty of time to make adjustments.
■ After several tough years financially, most homeowners insurance companies have been raising rates at a double-digit pace and dropping customers who make just a few small claims. Now that insurers share information about you in a semisecret database, it’s no longer safe to submit all claims that you can qualify for or switch insurers frequently to lower your premiums. Meanwhile, most people have way too little homeowners insurance and giant gaps in their coverage. After Hurricane Katrina, many people who had not updated their policies ended up with tens of thousands of dollars in expenses their insurance didn’t cover.
■ Life insurance rates have plummeted over the past decade, and almost everyone can lower their premiums now, or lock in the same rate for a longer time period, just by knowing how to shop around. Many people with medical conditions can finally get coverage even if they have been rejected in the past.
