Roughly 9 million Americans lost their health insurance as a result of the economic downturn, according to a new report*. In all, 52 million Americans are currently without health insurance.

The number of uninsured Americans rose by 4.3 million in 2009, mainly due to job losses. Most Americans receive health insurance benefits through their employer, and rising unemployment left many without coverage.

It’s no surprise that those with the lowest incomes are most likely to be uninsured. Over 75 percent of the uninsured are members of the working-class.

Contrary to popular belief, losing a job doesn’t necessarily mean losing health insurance, too.

A more affordable alternative is individual health insurance.

Read more…

When shopping for life insurance policy, it is best if you do it with a clear mind, after all this is going to be a lifetime security blanket that you can provide for your family. Many people do not know just how important and useful life insurance policy is. People think of it as an additional expense rather than what it really is: a sure investment. Although the sad part of this insurance policy is that you are investing for something that’s not really for you but your family. But if you think about it, who else is there to protect your loved ones if not for you? If you have dependents, you have small children and a partner who depends on you financially, what do you think would happen to them if for some unexpected reason you were suddenly hit by misfortunate event? W Read more…

If you are a professional then you need liability insurance. Do you know why you need liability insurance? One of the reasons why you need professional liability cover is because it will take the risk off of you and your business and place it on the insurance company in case there is ever a claim due to liabilities.

Being a professional means that you specialize in something, sometimes that will be accounting, nursing, finances, law and pretty much anything that requires a special service of some kind. As you can imagine, there are millions of professionals out there and without professional liability insurance coverage they will all be left exposed in some way or another. Read more…

You may already know what you want to be “when you’re older”, and you might be lucky enough to have already started your dream career.

However, if you haven’t you may want to consider becoming a taxi driver and following Paris Hilton about wherever she travels.

The famous heiress to the chain of Hilton hotels was recently seen in Paris giving her taxi driver a rather large amount of money for dropping her of at the shops.

It was $100 (about £60) to be precise, and she didn’t wait to get given the change back either…not that it would have been very easy to do since she didn’t bother converting her cash into Euros for that particular trip.

It seems as though, if you give Paris Hilton a lift enough times you may be able to afford to buy a fancier car, or perhaps even employ a chauffeur.

Read more…

Insurance can be difficult and complicated, especially if you have never purchased a policy before. Life insurance is not something that many people enjoy thinking about because they are preparing for after they pass away. However, life insurance is imperative, especially if you have a spouse or children that rely on you for financial support. When the main, or sole, provider of the household passes away, life insurance policies pay out benefits to the surviving members of the family.

While sometimes complex, life insurance is actually the simplest form of life planning in terms of your family’s security. Like the other various types of insurance such as home, car and auto, you have many options in terms of policies when purchasing a life insurance plan. H

Read more…

Health insurer Australian Unity is providing more home care for patients who have been in hospital in a bid to slow rises in claims and health insurance premiums.

Australian Unity’s head of healthcare, Amanda Hagan, says providing post-hospital home care for patients suffering diseases such as diabetes or patients requiring rehabilitation after knee and hip replacements is cheaper than keeping them in hospital for extended periods.

She says home care is not provided without doctors consenting to patients leaving the hospital.

“When we’ve looked at what’s going on among our members, the conditions that they’re suffering now and the growth in the claims, we decided to provide services to our members in their homes rather than in hospital,” Ms Hagan told AAP during a media briefing.

“We only do it where it’s clinically appropriate.”

Patients needing rehabilitation, for example, were given the option of treatment at home.

Australian Unity would arrange a visiting physiotherapist, meals and cleaning.

“It’s a win for our whole membership, because we can provide it at a fraction of the cost into the home compared to what it costs to have it done in hospital,” Ms Hagan said.

Australian Unity was now providing such services to 22 health funds which would otherwise have contracts with hospitals to have services provided to their members in hospital.

It was also delivering home care rehabilitation services in Victoria and in Adelaide and was about to launch the service in NSW.

Ms Hagan said Australian Unity provides early-discharge services nationwide, where a patient gets out of hospital a few days early at the patient’s request and doctor’s consent.

Ms Hagan said the program had received a positive reaction from surgeons and medical specialists and from Australian Unity members.

Australian Unity had also started a bone health program, aimed at reducing the hospitalisation of patients suffering osteoporosis.

Ms Hagan said the treatment of brittle bones cost more than $1.9 billion.

The bone health program provides participants with advice, education and motivation to improve their bone health.

So far, benefits paid out to participants in the bone health program had been cut by 34 per cent, compared to a group not in the program.

Ms Hagan said one of the goals of the all the programs was to reduce health insurance premiums.

“It’s not going to reverse premiums, but it will reduce inflation,” she said.

Benefits paid out to patients were rising at a rate of nine per cent per annum, which was more than the rise in premiums.

“We need to take some of that inflation out, or else it becomes unsustainable.”