How Can Users Benefit From Life Insurance Leads?

Life insurance is one of the important policies of investment for single parents and sole bread winners for sustaining their dependents in the event of a mishap. Life insurance leads are thus important to insurance agents. A lead is a person who is interested to get their life insured, but has not yet taken the policy.

The agents can obtain insurance leads for life in various ways. Door to door inquiries are an old approach to generate a life insurance lead by collecting the postal addresses and contact numbers of the leads. These are a few of the details that you can get to inform people about new insurance policies or offers which would convince them for making a policy.

A lot of insurance agents offer leads potential incentives for attracting new customers and informing them about them. There are also a lot of social networks online that will tell you about where to look for the existing leads. You should follow a proactive approach to get new clients, or even approach insurance companies who can offer you potential leads for it if you request them. This is however a costly approach and the amount can vary depending upon the number of leads you are looking to attain.

Get your Family Involved: In fact, your family members can put up advertisements on your behalf or even ask after their friends or colleagues about possible leads. Get your staff members involved along with other insurance agents. Make it a point to ensure that they are asking for referrals while they speak to a prospective client. This method allows you to approach clients and even offer them policy handouts.

Use Lead Software: This method is based on hits and their search criteria. It allows you to generate the number of future clients and even then if you are not able to get sufficient leads, try cold calling. Picking up the phone and calling up numbers at a random often fails than works, but if it works, it can be a potential way to generate a god lead. Getting a life insurance lead should be done on a constant basis as this is the only way to make the most of your insurance lead.

Generating a lead for life insurance can make your business successful and take it to new heights altogether. As customer data contacts, leads go a long way in ensuring the satisfaction of consumers who have expressed a desire to purchase them. Good quality policies help boost your insurance quotas over the period of a month by offering customer contacts which are targeted towards a particular locality or specialty.

Every life insurance lead should have an applicant who can be insured. They should be delivered to the owner of the business within real time. Most big names use filtering devices for eliminating fake or duplicate applications. Other than determining the costs per lead, owners of businesses need to ask after minimum order requirements and even bulk discounts.

May 2010 - Monthly Insurance Q&A

Q: What is EPLI Insurance?

A: EPLI Insurance or Employment Practices Liability Insurance covers the employer for exposures relating to employment (i.e. discrimination, wrongful termination et al).

Q: What's the difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance?

A: Term insurance is for people who do not want life insurance to be paid when they die of old age. It is normally purchased to cover a 10 or 20 year period, like when someone with young children want coverage in case they die prematurely. The premiums are cheap, but skyrockets at the end of the term, so most people cancel the coverage. It seldom results in a claim, since most people who buy term buy it when they are young and healthy. If there is a term life death claim, it is usually the result of an accident or a premature death due to an unexpected disease.

Whole Life insurance is as the name implies, it covers your entire life. This insurance is for someone who wants coverage for their entire lifetime. Since this has a greater coverage period, it is more expensive. But on a net basis, whole life is cheaper than term life. When you pay your premiums, a small portion goes to the cost of the life insurance and most goes toward an investment. As you pay your premiums after 20 or 30 years, you likely will have double what you paid in premiums in the investment portion of the policy called cash value. You can use the cash by borrowing it, or you can leave the cash alone, and it will likely (depending on the design) pay for your premiums for the rest of your life.

Q: What is the average cost of malpractice insurance?

A: We get this question all the time, and it depends on which state, specialty, the year of the retro date and the doctor's claims. If you want a ballpark, in CA a non invasive specialty, fully mature, with no claims is $10K a year, and an invasive specialty is $45K. If it is NY, multiply those numbers by 3 or 4.

Q: How much is the most basic professional liability insurance for a small business?

A: It's tough to say because it depends on what they do for a living, but a ballpark small business is $5K to $10K a year.

Q: What is Personal Injury Medical Malpractice?

A: This is a new insurance that allows the patient to buy life, and a product similar to AD&D for claims arising from complications related to a recent surgery. Example, if you die from complications of a surgery, then your family will get a death benefit. If you lose your limb(s) or other functions, then you get a benefit. This new insurance may lower the chances of claims against the surgeon. First, if a family or patient suffers a loss and they get paid under this policy they may be less likely to sue the doctor since they received compensation. Also, this may help negate a patient or family's lawsuit claim alleging that the doctor did not provide adequate information regarding the surgical risk, and therefore never obtained informed consent. How would a patient claim that he/she did not know the risks if he/she buys insurance to protect himself/herself from the surgical risk?

Q: FMLA vs workers comp?

A: FMLA is the Family Medical Leave Act. This provides job protected leave for non job related illness or leave to care for an immediate family member. Workers Comp provides benefits for job related injury disability or death.

Q: Are most ASO also stop loss?

A: ASO is administrative service only. These are the services that the employer needs to self-insure its health insurance; the business that performs this is called TPA or third party administrator. ASO includes claims processing, utilization review, case management, PBM-pharmacy benefit manager, and PPO.

Stop Loss is the insurance that the employer buys to cover himself/herself for catastrophic claims that exceed a defined dollar amount (i.e. $50K or $100K). He/she would also purchase Aggregate Stop Loss Insurance. This covers the employer if his/her total annual claims exceed a defined amount of money. So do all ASO plans have stop loss? Not always. There are large employers who have thousands of covered employees that may feel they do not want to purchase stop loss since their risk is very predictable, and when it is not they have the necessary funds to cover bad years.

Q: Why do you have to issue a broker of record to a broker?

A: This is done when you want to hire a new broker to handle your insurance. Perhaps you currently have the best deal on your insurance, but you find another broker who provides more services than your current broker, and you want to change. You simply sign a letter addressed to all your insurers with your policy number which states, "I am appointing broker X as my new broker and please pay him/her the normal commissions that are being paid in relation to my insurance." You should think about why you are changing brokers. Some clients sign this without knowing what it means or they think it is no big deal. It means the person who is handling your insurance now is going to be fired. It is similar to firing an employee. You would not do this for any particular reason. Also, do not do this midway into the policy if it is for group benefits. Inform your current broker, and make the change 30 days prior to renewal. Since the current broker did the work of shopping all your coverages for free, and he/she is paid a monthly commission throughout the year, if you fire him/her midway into his/her policy then that money goes to the new broker for doing nothing. For all other insurance coverages you can make the change anytime after the renewal, since the broker gets paid the entire commission at the time of binding your renewal.

Q: What are reinsurance triggers in healthcare?

A: Not sure, but reinsurance can trigger on a specific basis, meaning a defined deductible amount or it can be a quota share where the reinsurer takes a percentage of risk over a certain dollar amount.

Q: What does D and O insurance mean?

A: Directors and Officers Insurance protects the current and former officers, directors, managers and employees for claims arising from the operations of the company (not professional liability).

Example: an anti-trust claim or misuse of corporate assets or business interference.

Q: What does a statutory limit mean on a works comp policy?

A: Workers Compensation covers all employees for work related injuries at 100% of the medical bills. It has a disability benefit and life insurance. In return for these free benefits the worker cannot sue the employer for more than what the statute says. In CA this is $1 million. The only way to get more than this limit is if the worker can prove gross negligence.

Example: an employer knew he had a faulty machine and let an employee use it and he/she is severely injured or killed. This is why all employers, especially those who can have a big workers comp claim should buy umbrella liability insurance, since this is the coverage that may respond if you have a claim that exceeds the workers compensation statutory limit. General Liability will not respond.

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The Best Whole Life Insurance Advice

Many Insurance Agents tend to make the field of Life Insurance a complicated field both directly and indirectly. This creates a problem for the consumer because with a lack of understanding they tend to stay away from what they do not understand.

Life Insurance or Whole Life Insurance really falls into a class of an essentials like food, clothing or housing. The lack of understanding makes people think that Life Insurance is a luxury. In times like these with the unemployment rates so high and the economy of the world in such a down-turn any-thing thought of as a luxury, most will stay away from.

Due to the lack of understanding people will just not seek out an expert to help them gain understanding. So people will end up going without and suffering the consequences when the times come when they should have had insurance. Many will buy the insurance sold in junk-mail or what is being advertised on TV and end up with very low-grade products.

The old fashion distribution channel for Life Insurance was the agent that sold and represented one company. Experts in their field and put a lot into their trade helping people to understand the various technical terms of Life Insurance. Agents of this caliber today are few and far between but they do exist.

Today you are more likely to run into the insurance broker that represents many companies. So as an insurance consumer understanding the technical terms has become something you must really learn on your own. To help the general public understand the importance of Life Insurance should be taught in the public school system. Classes on the technical terms of insurance should be required to graduate from High School.

Taking the time and effort to learn the various technical terms to gain a good understanding of what is needed is what far too many people will just not do. So if they buy at all it is from banks, stockbrokers and the far too innovative junk-mail and telephone salesmen.

What many people fail to realize that today with the use of the internet it has become much easier to learn the various terms to get a good understanding to the point of securing the right kind of life insurance for their needs? What is still needed is a method of helping the general public understand just how important it is to secure Life Insurance at the youngest age possible.

The best policies with the best benefits and the lowest costs are sold by agents. The problem is that most companies drive their agents with sales quotas and sales techniques for getting more sales rather than being the quality representatives they should be. It is far too difficult for the average person to tell the difference between a high quality Agent and the high pressure salesman making his quota.

Here is where the problem begins, far too many people think that all agents are just high pressure salesmen. This leaves far too many people without the insurance they really must have.

All Agents are licensed by states to sell insurance products and there is a screening process to weed out the bad apples. But like any process it is not fool-proof. This makes it far too important for the average person to learn the important facts about Life Insurance on their own.

Take a Time to Review Your Car Insurance Rate

If you have not reviewed your car insurance policy in the past year, it may be costing you more money than you should be paying. In addition, you might not have enough insurance to meet your needs in the event of an accident. Take time today to review your car insurance rate.

Start by evaluating current insurance needs. According to the place in which province you live in, you may not have enough insurance if you only have the state minimum amount of liability may not be enough to cover the expenses of an accident. Today's automobile costs have far exceeded the provinces minimum liability and even if you drive a clunker, you can be involved in accidents with newer cars that are very expensive. You should make sure that you have enough liability so that you can cover the replacement of a automobile.

Additionally, you may find yourself responsible for medical expenses of the other vehicle's occupants. Again, many provinces have a minimum liability that is much lower than current medical expenses of persons that are presonal injured seriously in an auto accident.

Make sure that you are not paying for too much auto insurance. A vehicle that has depreciated in value below two thousand dollars get different coverage insurance. Drop the coverage and put the difference in premium and rate costs in a savings account. You will have more money in the account than you would have received in a settlement if your vehicle had been totaled. Continue this for a few years and you may have a hefty down payment for your next vehicle.

After deciding the amount and type of motor vehicle insurance that is needed, you will want to contact a few companies to get the rates you need for comparison. Tell the agent you speak with what insurance you want and ask for their free quote. If the agent wants a fee before giving a quote, then find another agent to ask for the quote. Most insurance companies offer rates and quotes without fees.

Many consumers find that they get the easiest and best quotes for motor vehicle insurance over the internet. You will need to give some information in a form and submit that form to get the quotes. Some websites offer instant quotes and others offer more than one quote by submitting only one form. Using the internet avoids having to wait for call backs from insurance agents to get the price quotes. Additionally, these rates are easy to print for the comparison you need to do.

You will want to be sure that your new policy is written to become effective at the time the last policy expires. Provinces are cracking down on uninsured motorists and even one day lapse in policy may have severe consequences.

If your car insurance coverage lapses, the insurance company is required by many province laws to make an electronic report to the DMV. You will get a letter that must be responded to proving that you have insurance or your registration and driver's license could be canceled.

Reinsuring The Agent-Owned Captive Insurance Company

The insurance agent has been given very little exposure to and education in the world of reinsurance. Most agents only become aware of reinsurance when an insurance company underwriter tells the agent that they cannot write that risk because our insurance company's treaty reinsurance agreements prevent us from writing that type of business.

Since reinsurers over the years have been the traditional risk-taking company, their influence in determining underwriting philosophy for primary insurers has grown significantly. Many reinsurers today, because they are taking a larger amount of exposure on a particular insurance company's individual risk, now dictate the primary pricing, the amount of the deductible, the amount of the credit or debit. Reinsurers now have to know a great deal more about the primary insurance business.

The agent should consider the purchase of a reinsurance program for its agent-owned captive insurance company. Many of the approaches to buying reinsurance are similar to what a traditional insurance company uses. The agent needs to be familiar with the various types of reinsurance:

1. Quota Share Reinsurance

2. Excess of Loss Reinsurance

3. Catastrophic Reinsurance

4. Aggregate Excess of Loss Reinsurance

5. Stop Loss Reinsurance

6. Finite Risk Reinsurance

Although the capital requirements for starting agent-owned captive insurance companies, particularly those in the offshore domiciles, are comparatively small, careful consideration should be paid to the structure of a comprehensive reinsurance program. Gone are the days when aggregate stop loss reinsurance could be easily ascertained to guarantee underwriting profits for the agent-owned captive.

Bearing this in mind, the net retention of the agent-owned captive should be compared to its financial structure and the agent owner's risk taking philosophy. Most agent-owned captive insurance companies operating today have too great a new retention when contrasted with traditional insurance companies, and also taking into consideration their financial structure.

Whether the agent-owned captive purchases only quota share reinsurance or uses a combination of several types of treaty reinsurance agreements, the reinsurance program must be monitored and consistently evaluated. The degree of difficulty increases dramatically when designing a reinsurance program for a newly formed agent-owned captive insurance company.

Reinsuring the Policy-Issuing Company
with Your Agent-Owned Captive

A policy-issuing arrangement in your agency-whether it be a retail agency, wholesale agency, or managing general agency-is when a policy is issued by a licensed property/casualty insurance company, whether admitted or non-admitted. Then it is reinsured up to 100% by the traditional reinsurance company market that would include the agent-owned captive insurance company. This type of arrangement is sometimes referred to as "fronting" and is almost always used when the agent has formed an agent-owned captive.

The policy-issuing company is paid a "fronting fee," and is reinsured 100%. Some property/casualty insurance companies have had as their franchise model offering their "A" rated carrier as a "frontier," thus transferring underwriting risk for financial risk. Fronting companies must consider state premium takes, residual mods, government schemes and assessments, and that is why the agent needs to be trained in negotiating a fronting fee. Experience with this type of fee shows that the pure profit margin on a fronting fee can vary from 3% to 7.5% depending upon the fronting insurer.

For example: An agent-owned captive insurance company operating in the Florida restaurant insurance marketplace reinsures the first $75,000 of underwriting loss behind the policy-issuing company. In addition, the reinsurer also owned by the same financial group that the policy-issuing belongs to, writes the excess of loss reinsurance above $75,000 up to $500,000, at a rate of 17.5% of GNWPI. The excess of $500,000 up to $1,000,000 of limit for the restaurant program has another rate, as a percentage of gross net written premium income. The reinsurer is a direct writing reinsurer, and negotiates its excess of loss treaty reinsurance agreement directly with the policy-issuing insurance company, since they also have other treaty reinsurance agreements in place with each other, none of which has to do with the agent-owned captive insurance company.

To have a successful agent-owned captive insurance company, the agent has to understand the negotiating process when buying reinsurance either in the direct reinsurance market or through the reinsurance intermediary market. The agent will also get a better understanding why the underwriting cycles exist in the property/casualty insurance industry, and be able to take advantage of these underwriting cycles. When policy-issuing insurance companies take very little underwriting risk, and the actual underwriting risk is transferred to the traditional reinsurance market (as well as the agent-owned captive insurance company), the agent will begin to need to negotiate with reinsurers.

Using Quota Share Reinsurance Provided
Only by the Agent-Owned Captive

Here is another example: The Cayman Island agent-owned captive insurance company originally started to write horse mortality insurance, and was capitalized substantially by a bank, using the collateral of the agency. On the basis of this substantial capitalization, the agent-owned captive was able to write 100% of the quota share reinsurance of the policy-issuing insurance company. Policies originally written in the agency were issued in the policy-issuing insurance company, 100% reinsured to the agent-owned captive, who in turn purchased an outgoing going reinsurance program, consisting of a combination of quota share reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance.

The accumulation of profits in the Cayman Island agent-owned captive insurance company was used to purchase a "shell" property/casualty insurance company which went on to be an "A" rated specialty niche program insurance company after several stock offerings.

Conclusion

The owner of a retail insurance agency (i.e., program administrator) the owner of a wholesale, excess and surplus lines insurance agency, and/or the owner of a managing general agency need to explore the feasibility of implementing an agent-owned captive insurance company. Recapturing investment income and underwriting profits gives the agent-owner significant returns on investment.

Affordable Auto Insurance - How to Slash Your Monthly Auto Insurance Rates Big Time

We are in very bad economic times, and it is very common to see people shopping around and looking for the best deals possible whether its a car or clothing. These are the times of bargain shopping. It is also now very common for people to look for the best deal possible for car insurance. It is very frustrating to call up every broker in auto insurance company in town and just get the run around for an hour from some pushy sales person who thinks they can manipulate us into signing up for a policy through them. The problem here is that they operate under the pressure of making a sale to meet their quota so they can keep their job. That is fine and dandy for them, but it doesn't help you get an affordable auto insurance quote.

You are thinking that there must be an easier way to bypass these sales people and get a good discount on a decent auto insurance policy? I am writing this article to show you that there are websites online that specialize in delivering you car insurance quotes at a discount of up to 40% off your current rates. Most people are shocked and have a hard time believing that you can save that much because of their experiences talking to these companies, but I am here to tell you that it is possible and That I have done it all ready myself. They are called car insurance comparison websites, and they have special deals with the large auto insurance companies where they can show their quotes along side the quotes of their competitors. This way it becomes a competition for your business, plus the fact that you are buying your car insurance policy from them online helps to save them a lot of money by eliminating their need to hire a sales person. They will then pass on those savings to you, and most people have been able to save up to 40% off their current rates.

All you have to do is visit an auto insurance comparison site, fill out a short 1 page form and click send, and within minutes you will have 5 of the best discounted car insurance rates in the nation delivered to you without the hassles of negotiating a good deal with a pushy sales man.

Insurance CE - A Look at the History of Insurance

Insurance is first of all a cooperative enterprise which has been defined to be a social system created to minimize the risk of financial loss from specific unforeseen future events for the insured and beneficiary(s) (if applicable). When a person acquires insurance they enter into a private contract to become a member of a group, and by doing so, they collectively assist each other to minimize the specific risk. Immediately, an ethical question arises in respect to the fairness of discriminating for some and against others who wish to join the group. A good example would be where a group of healthy people join together to (for instance) insure their lives. Their cost of this protection would be much cheaper if they could exclude those with unhealthy conditions, histories and/or lifestyles. Is it ethical for such a group to be exclusionary? If an unhealthy person, with worse health than those in the group, wishes to apply to join the group, what would be a fair price for their joining? Based on these facts, there is already an ethical and moral difficulty, starting whether such person should even be allowed to join the group as; obviously, joining the group would be at the expense of those in the group. What justification could be provided to counter the negative influence of the person and his effect on the entire group? These reasons address the fundamental ethical concepts.

Life insurance is rather unique when compared to property and casualty insurance, as life insurance is designed principally to provide support for dependents, whereas property and casualty insurance minimizes the risk to the insured, rather than survivors. Life insurance in its basic concept benefits others than the insured. Or as McGill's, Life insurance, puts it, it is "other regarding."

Life insurance has evolved into a financial instrument that has taken on the atmosphere of investment, a viatical tool, or source of long-term care, but originally it required the ignoring of self-interest for the sake of others-the very essence of unselfish behavior. The antithesis of selfishness is ethical behavior; therefore an insurance agent becomes a promoter of that type of altruistic behavior.

Simply put, the original purposes of insurance is simple-the joining together of a group of people for the purpose of pooling their resources to protect themselves and/or their property from risk-the products and the distribution of such products have become quite complex over time.

There have been examples of unethical behavior in respect to marketing these products with resulting adverse publicity for the entire insurance industry-the general public has a difficult time in separating types of insurance and has a tendency to place all insurance companies in the "same basket." These situations seem to focus on the misrepresentation of the values of certain products, or on the unnecessary replacement of policies to further for the benefit of the agent (as opposed to the benefit for the policyowner) with the overall purpose of meeting quotas so as to increase the profits of the insurance company.

This is only one type of unethical behavior in life insurance, as other problems involve the ethics of underwriting in respect to the demands of the insurer and the demands of the client; and some issues stem from the greed of the agent, and yet other situations place an agent in a no-win situation.

An Insider's Guide to Finding Cheap Auto Insurance Rates

Securing insurance for your car is an essential, given the financial benefits it provides. The problem is, some insurance policies end up taking more from your monthly income rather than doing anything substantial. As a car owner, you should secure cheap auto insurance, so you're protected from road mishaps, financially, without over straining your budget. Finding one is easy. With some sleuthing skills and an Internet connection, you can fish out more than a few good deals.

The On line Advantage

The highly-touted e-revolution is slowly dominating a lot of industries, including insurance. Many insurance companies offer insurance quotes on their websites, much to the convenience of Internet users. You can Google up the term "cheap auto insurance" or "auto insurance quote" and you'll find a multitude of sites offering all sorts of insurance deals. Just compare the rates as well as the coverage premiums offered. Ideally, coverage is prioritized over costs, so better apply proper financial management, before settling for any deal.

Haggle Your Way to a Good Deal

The art of dealing has propelled entrepreneurs like Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki into financial bigwigs. In your case, you can use the power of negotiations to force your preferred insurance company to lower its rates and to offer you added coverage at affordable costs. Just follow this procedure:

1. Secure several insurance quotes online, preferably those with outrageously low rates.
2. Proceed to the office of one of your preferred insurance firms, where you will inquire about insurance packages. An insurance agent will inform you about the company's offerings.
3. Don't show much interest in the packages, even if they're very tempting. Remember, your mission is to make an attractive deal even sweeter.
4. Upon hearing the agent's offer, show him or her the insurance quotes you gathered online.
5. Tell the agent, "As an insurance provider, you guys are my initial choice; in fact, I went here in the hope of securing the best insurance deal. But with these quotations available, I'm having a pretty hard decision." Don't budge if the agent does not lower the costs of the premiums.
6. Once a conflicted expression forms on the agent's face, rejoice. You're about to secure a good deal.

This method has a greater success rate for aggressive agents, since some of them are striving to reach their daily quotas. Execute the plan gracefully and you'll probably go home with an insurance policy, which is better than the ones secured by most of the company's customers.

Reduce Your Premiums

Some insurance companies offer policies with decent costs and extensive coverage. If you remove some of the premiums for a particular policy, you'll get an ideal package, bearing a balance of cost and coverage. Scratch off the premiums that are not applicable to your driving style, road behavior, and your car maintenance habits, then reevaluate the insurance quotations you offered online.

Knowledge and the Information Superhighway

Getting financial coverage for your automobile is always a good decision, especially if you know how to secure a cheap yet advantageous deal. Remember, your wits and the Internet are your greatest allies for securing cheap policies in the world of auto insurance.

March 2010 - Monthly Health Insurance Q&A

Q1 When filing a worker's comp claim in California, when will the employer stop health coverage for an employee?
If the employee will not be actively at work or working full time, 30 hrs a week in general (please check your health insurance plan document), then the employer should put the employee on COBRA. Be aware that some workers comp insurers will advise you to keep the employee on health insurance for an indeterminate length of time. They advise this as a way to not anger the employee. This is very bad advice. If your health insurance states, which many plan descriptions do, that to be eligible for health insurance you have to be working a certain number of hours a week on a full time basis, it means it. Just because you choose to keep them on the plan and pay their premium does not mean they are covered.

Example: An employer kept an employee on the plan while an employee was out for 6 months due to a work related back injury. The employee had a heart attack, while on his WC leave, and needed open heart surgery. In the physician's notes, the patient told him he had been on WC leave. The health insurer denied the claim, since the employee was not eligible for health insurance. The employee sued the employer for the $150,000 hospital bill.

Q2 What is HMO reinsurance?
It is insurance that an HMO would purchase from an insurance company who agrees to share in a defined part of risk for a defined premium. One of the most common types of HMO reinsurance is stop loss reinsurance. An HMO might feel that it can pay all claims for the first $200,000 of medical expenses for any one member, but it does not want to absorb expenses beyond this level. The HMO agrees to pay an outside reinsurer who will reinsure the HMO, reimburse it for claims above $200,000. The HMO will pay that reinsurer a per member, per month premium (pmpm). The pm pm pricing is the basis for the premium. The other typical reinsurance option is quota share reinsurance.

Q3 What coverage do I need for my medical malpractice?
In California the norm for medical malpractice insurance is $1 million per occurrence and $3 million per policy aggregate. Other states have higher or lower limits depending on the rules and regulations within the state. If a doctor has privileges, his/her hospital will dictate the limits, and the hospital will know of any laws relating to these limits. If you do not have hospital privileges, ask your medical malpractice broker what is typical. There are 2 kinds of medical malpractice claims made: medical malpractice insurance and occurrence medical malpractice. Most doctors purchase claims made since it is more affordable.

Q4 Employee benefits rescinding broker of record, who gets commission?
Commissions are paid monthly by the insurance company as you pay your premiums. If you fire agent A on 2/28 and hire agent B, and 2 days later on 3/2, you rescind the broker of record on Agent B and rehire Agent A, odds are Agent A will not lose any money and Agent B gets paid nothing. The norm is that the insurer will give the current broker, in our example Agent A, 10 days to receive rescindment of the broker of record. After 10 days the commission for March will be paid to Agent B. After 10 days if you fire Agent B and rehire Agent A, then Agent B will have 10 days to rescind the broker of record.

Q5 How can public entities save money?
Competition is the key to saving money on insurance. You want a few insurance brokers working on your insurance. It is a lot of work, but the best way is to get multiple bids from 2 or 3 brokers including the incumbent. But you need to be available to give the non incumbent brokers the information they need to quote. Many public entity purchasing departments favor the incumbent broker since he/she has all the loss run information and applications necessary to shop the insurance. The outside broker has little chance of competing unless you have a very diligent purchasing department at the public entity, who gets you the necessary information and answers the questions in a timely fashion. There are very good purchasing departments and many who are unresponsive so the insurance stays with the same broker forever since you cannot get the necessary information to give a competitive quote and the public entity is then left paying more. Other ideas include hiring an insurance consultant to review your RFP to make sure that every item necessary to shop the insurance is included. This includes typical Q & A's, and have the brokers provide their #1 through #3 favorite insurers for your risk along with the premium that they have with those insurers. If more than one broker picks the same #1 insurance company, allow the broker with the most premium to have the #1 choice. The more premiums that a broker has with the insurance company, the better their relationship.

Q6 What is excess workers comp
This is for large to medium sized employers who want to self insure their workers compensation. They can purchase excess or stop loss reinsurance. This protects the employer from large claims.

Example: The employer has very predictable experience, but he/she wants to buy excess workers compensation insurance with a $100K deductible. So claims below $100K, the employer pays. Any claims that exceed $100,000, he/she submits for reimbursement to the excess workers comp carrier with whom he/she purchased the excess reinsurance policy.

Types of Travel Insurance Policies

Whether traveling for pleasure or business, it is important to consider what you would do if you suddenly found yourself in a situation where you were seriously injured or became very ill. You do not want end up in a situation where you could find yourself with an enormous medical bill or you are stranded in a foreign country with no money to get home. The perfect solution to protecting yourself and your loved ones is to purchase Travel Insurance.

Travel Insurance was created to protect people when they are traveling abroad or within their own country. It is insurance that is used to cover a number of situations such as medical expenses and financial and other losses that one may incur while traveling. Travel insurance offers coverage for a variety of different types of travelers such as cruise voyages, student treks, business travel, vacations, international travel, and much more.

The following is a list of different types of travel insurance policies available:

Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance: This type of insurance provides coverage if an unexpected event causes you to cancel or interrupt your trip. It is designed to provide coverage for such circumstances as a sudden illness, injury, or death of the insured, or a member of the insured's family.

Medical Insurance: This includes coverage for such events as emergency medical evacuation, transportation to a hospital, treatment and medication costs, hospital stay, transportation home, etc. Compensation will go to the insurer or beneficiary in case of accidental death, loss of sight, or loss of a limb.

Comprehensive Travel Medical Insurance: This type of insurance is designed for individuals who have left their jobs and lost their insurance coverage, or for people residing and working in another country other than their own place of citizenship for an extended period of time.

Baggage Loss/Delay Insurance: This coverage protects you in the event that your luggage is lost, delayed, or stolen. This may include compensation if your bags are delayed for more than 12 hours after you arrive at your destination.

Ski Travel Insurance: This type of coverage protects you when you are on a ski vacation. It can include trip delay/cancellation, medical expenses, baggage loss, equipment theft...etc.

Flight Delay or Cancellation Insurance: This coverage provides coverage for accommodations, meals, and new travel arrangements if you are delayed for a certain amount of time, or if your flight is cancelled.

Emergency Travel Medical Insurance: This insurance covers emergency services while traveling abroad. It covers a wide range of medical problems.

Travel Document Protection: This insurance will help replace lost or stolen travel documents. It is designed to help you replace a passport or other travel documents when they are lost or stolen.

Some travel agencies and travel suppliers offer travel insurance as an option along with their travel services. You can also travel insurance from specialists in the insurance field. This includes travel insurance companies.

Acquiring travel insurance for your next vacation will make your trip more relaxing and enjoyable because you will know that you are protected.

Affordable Car Insurance - What is the Best Way to Get the Most Affordable Auto Insurance Quote

If you have a car of your own or drive a family members car then you need to be protected by auto insurance. It's true that there are different laws in each state that apply to you but one law that is common in every state in our country is that it is the law that you should have car insurance, but how do you go about finding cheap coverage.The first thing you should do if you want to get a more affordable car insurance quote is to not get a sports car. Fancy sports cars are a bulls-eye for highway patrol officers and auto insurance companies take full notice of this when determining the price of your policy. This is one of many practical tips that you can use to lower your monthly rates. There are other ways to find affordable auto insurance even if you do drive a sports car.

Just as in any market it is all about supply and demand. When you are looking through the yellow pages and newspapers for an affordable car insurance quote from a well known company and you call them up, they will usually send you to a pushy sales person who has a quota to meet, which means he cares less about giving you a great deal on your policy then just making a quick sale to meet his monthly quota. This is very detrimental towards finding a good deal. The best answer here is to find a company or place that offers you affordable car insurance quotes from many different companies in an arena where you do not need to interact with sales people who don't really value you as a customer, and the best place for this is by going online to one of the few well known online car insurance comparison sites.

These websites really have no quota to fill and therefore won't pressure you into buying any policy at all, but instead they will present you with 5 of the most affordable auto insurance quotes that you can find any where from the top companies in America. Their job is to basically get you matched up with these companies in a very indirect way so that you can view these 5 quotes side by side and decide for yourself which policy is the best priced for you. No pressures, no stress and no hassles from a pushy salesman that will not let you off the phone without making a sale. These online middle men sites have grown in such popularity that they have surpassed land based brokers in sales because of the nature of their platform. Convenience, ease of use and no verbal sales tactics are a win-win situation for everyone. The online middle men sites bring traffic to the big auto insurance companies, They get leads and you get the opportunity to get the most affordable car insurance prices in the nation. What else can you ask for?

What's So Great About Becoming an Insurance Agent?

Insurance agents are people who sell insurance policies. They are also the ones responsible for providing real estate planning services. In some states, insurance agents are required to obtain a license. Aside from that, many agents complete an associate or bachelors degree in economics, finance or business. There are a few things that individuals need to take into consideration prior to choosing a career in the insurance industry.

What are the steps to becoming an insurance agent?

1. Aspiring insurance brokers need to be familiar with the ins and outs of the insurance field. Product knowledge is very important because the job entails selling insurance policies. Customers often ask for additional information about insurance products, and this is something that agents should be capable of providing.


2. A bachelor's degree in business or economics is also preferred. Insurance companies tend to hire individuals with an academic background in math, accounting, economics and business.


3. Insurance companies are also up to date with the latest technology. This is why it is an advantage if aspiring insurance agents have sufficient knowledge of computer software.


4. People can also gain relevant work experience as an insurance broker even while studying. There are insurance agencies that offer training programs for students. It is a good idea to ask your school guidance counselor about training programs.


5. Employers require insurance agents to meet the state's licensing requirements. There are pre-licensing schools that offer classes for the exam. It is important to obtain certification before searching for jobs as a licensed agent.


6. Even when employed, it is necessary for insurance agents to take continuing education. Some states require people in the insurance industry to do this on a regular basis.


7. It is also possible for insurance agents to advance to higher positions. Obtaining additional certifications or taking intensive courses can help people obtain great positions.

Reasons to Become an Insurance Agent

• Support from the Parent Company

Some companies offer training for agents to help them become successful in the insurance industry. The company also advertises their products so people will get to know them. As a result, agents get new customers. If agents encounter problems, all they need to do is get in touch with the corporate headquarters for assistance.

• Full Control of Life and Schedule

Some employers do not require agents to follow standard office hours because they need to be in the field most of the time. This is why agents gain more control over their schedule and income. They can work as hard as they want to increase their paycheck, and they can also take a day off whenever necessary. There really is no schedule as long as they reach their quota.

• Unlimited Income

Agents who are doing a good job in the insurance industry can earn as much as they are able to. Some jobs in the insurance industry are commission-based while there are also those that provide a monthly salary plus commission.

• Satisfaction of Providing Help for Other People

Aside from the monetary benefits that agents receive, they also gain satisfaction from helping others. The products that insurance agents are selling are vitally important. They can help people improve their lives with better insurance policies.

Working with an Insurance Company

Insurance company promise aspiring agents better rewards and attractive compensation when they go the extra mile. However, it is important for insurance agents to be aware of several things. The idea of selling insurance policies to friends and family members can really be tempting. However, this is not a good idea because it can create a huge problems especially when a family member fails to pay the insurance premium.

Agents who already have a company they would like to work for in mind need to see to it that they check the state insurance commissioner's website. The site allows aspiring insurance brokers and customers to find out whether there are complaints about the company. People who wish to apply for work in the insurance industry should only go for jobs at more established companies.

Most Common Variables Considered When Calculating Home Insurance Rates

Home insurance provides coverage for homeowners against the risk of loss that may occur from damage, fire or theft. Home insurance rates look at the probability that a loss will occur based on the claims experience of the insured, who is the homeowner.

Home insurance uses individual underwriting standards to assess risk. Risk is the potential for a reduction in value that may occur. When a number of these occurrences happen for a particular insured, the insurance company either raises the rate or drops coverage. It is the hope of the insurance company to not have to pay claims and employ assessment factors to understand better the likelihood that a homeowner is exposed to loss and rates it accordingly.

Certain factors beyond the individual homeowners claim experience include zip code ratings, type of home owned, whether any commercial activity takes place in the home, and the home's overall value in comparison to similar homes within the area. These factors give the insurer the information needed to calculate the probability off loss and adjust rates accordingly.

Hazards are factors that can lead to a loss. There are three hazards, physical or tangible hazard, moral which is character and morale or indifference. For example homeowner A who buys home insurance for a home that is rented out to tenants will pay a higher rate than homeowner B buying home insurance on a similar home in which she resides. That is because homeowner A has a higher morale and physical hazard present in the home than homeowner B does. The tenants are not the owner and may not hold the same regard for the home as the homeowner does. This could lead to physical damage, deterioration or even theft.

A census or zip code assessment looks at the instances of crime and vandalism that occurs in a given area. Homeowners purchasing home insurance in high crime areas face higher premiums than homeowners who live in outlying suburbs. There is some controversy over this type of practice and was the basis of a group action lawsuit in Milwaukee in the late 1980s against American Family Insurance Company. The results of the suit led to changes in the underwriting practices in certain minority communities in the City of Milwaukee.

The likelihood that a loss occurs and the probability associated with it results in the rating factor. The rating factor may be set based on community experience or standards and may be reduced over time where individual claims experience results in better a rating.

All insurance provides an indemnity benefit to reimburse an individual for the value of their loss. An insured who believes that the purpose of insurance is to profit or get more than the fair market value of their property do not have the appropriate understanding of what insurance is for. Insurance is not for making a person rich but rather to keep them from becoming poor. To provide piece of mind risk ratings reflect experience, probability and the presence of other measurable variables that can be statistically tested.

A History Marketing Lesson to Insurance Agents

Insurance agents all over the U.S. right now are under fire because Insurance marketing is not working and most insurance agents blame the economy.

The insurance agent struggles to get new insurance leads and their home office is not letting up on the quotas for production. And the biggest challenge of all is the combination of a perceived down economy, the lack of ways to get new insurance leads and the pressure of the agents home office all equates to less money for the agent.

Traditional ways of getting new insurance leads and growing an insurance agency just do not work. And it is futile to get into the we have got the lowest price wars because this is what pigeon holes agents into believing they provide a commodity and confirms the inaccurate perception to the public that the insurance services provided by the agents is a commodity.

So what should smart agents do in an economic environment like today? And is insurance marketing a 'dead man walking?'

The answer is a resounding 'No', but at the same time insurance marketing must break from the clutter of all the marketing messages bombarding prospects and if the agent wants to get something different in terms of better results in today's economy, then the agent must do some things different.

The easiest place to start to differentiate yourself from the insurance agent struggling to survive is to look at what you have been doing....and STOP! I know that sounds simple, but to continue to do what used to work even though it no longer works is wasted money.

But also, don't be like the agents who are no longer in the business. They were not smart enough to look at the marketing lessons from the past and discover that it is wisdom to stop doing the marketing that does not work, BUT you NEVER stop marketing. Because when you stop marketing you have started the bugle playing Taps.

What type of marketing should you do?

The answer is marketing that is emotional, compelling, riveting, and engaging, and yes you can do that with any product or service and especially in the insurance market.

One easy way to be engaging is to tell stories or triumph and tragedy and paint the prospect into the story so that they can experience the emotion of the story without having to go through the challenge of the story. And in fact, insurance agents often can simply share some of the stories about claims that happen in their agency and explain how insurance either did or could have helped.

Another key is to make sure that you are contacting your prospects in ways other than just a sales motion. You can provide value by doing things that makes their life more convenient. And this could be as simple as sending out voice-broadcasts when you hear about a great deal on pizza from a local business or letting them know where the lowest gas prices are located. You can discover this information by simply taking 10 minutes searching online.

The insurance clients love this type of service because you are providing a way to make their life more convenient. Remember Small things really do make big differences.

So ask yourself this question on a daily basis What else might you be able to provide to add convenience to your clients, but you can get for free?

Insurance agents who want to get more insurance leads and retain their clients will love the results of starting these simple, easy, but extremely effective systems.

I hope these tips have been helpful for you and inspire you to continue and grow your agency.

Discover Your Pot of Gold With Insurance E-Newsletters

At a time when businesses are being charmed by the shiny novelty of social media marketing and online video, they may be snubbing one of the most powerful online marketing channels around: e-newsletters.

E- newsletters are a cost-effective and measurable solution for sagging sales figures. A quality newsletter can help your business:

1. Build customer loyalty. E-newsletters are an inexpensive way to provide value to existing clients. Establish a multi-touch experience by introducing practical, helpful information such as:

• Loss prevention tips
• New insurance products or services
• Industry trends and statistics

Whether they use the information or not, clients notice and appreciate your efforts. And by frequently and consistently communicating with your target audience, you help position your business as an industry expert.

2. Create top-of-mind awareness with prospects. E-mail newsletters are a low-cost drip marketing approach, keeping your services in front of prospective accounts so they think of you when they're ready to buy.

3. Encourage sales force development. By communicating with your distribution network to promote sales ideas, product knowledge and underwriting requirements, you'll motivate your sales team, earn respect and inspire sales persistence.

Surprisingly, businesses don't know enough about the true power of the e-newsletter. According to 2009 statistics provided by Jim Dickie at CSO Insights, companies need all the help they can get.

• 67 percent - The percentage of companies that froze or reduced lead generation budgets.
• Under 25 percent - The percentage of companies that invested in sales tools.
• 59 percent - The percentage of salespeople who exceeded quota.
• 86 percent - The percentage of companies that raised their quotas.

No matter the business type, a newsletter is a good first step in helping companies turn prospects into lifelong customers. By maintaining year-round client communication, building top-of-mind awareness, providing relevant information and offering quality solutions, you'll find your pot of gold and position yourself to enjoy the good fortune of long-lasting business success.

P.S. On another note, e-blasts (similar to e-mailed ads) are effective marketing tools in the B2B arena. If you need to reach businesses or insurance brokers, e-blasts offer tremendous ROI because they're simple to produce and you don't have to pay for postage. By offering a free report or analysis in your e-blast, you can drive clients to your Web site or landing page and entice them into your sales cycle.

Get the Best Quotes from Top Rated Life Insurance Companies

Life insurance protects your family in case of your death, providing a death benefit that can pay off the house, cover college tuition, pay medical and funeral costs, and help the family stay solvent. Because life insurance is so important, you want to make sure you get the best quote from a top rated life insurance company.

Get the Best Quote

To get the best quote on your life insurance, follow these tips:

* Decide what kind of life insurance you want. The two main types of life insurance are term and whole life. Term is less expensive because it's life coverage only - when the insured dies the beneficiary receives the face amount of the policy. Whole life insurance combines life insurance with an investment component. Part of your premium pays for the insurance, while the rest is invested.

* Buy insurance when you're young and in good health, especially if you want term life insurance. As you get older your premium increases.

* Don't use tobacco. If you do use tobacco, quit.

* If the insurance company requires a medical exam, schedule it for morning. Your blood pressure, cholesterol, and stress levels will be better then.

* If possible, apply for your insurance toward the end of a quarter or year, when insurance companies are trying to reach sales quotas.

* Comparison shop. Rates for the same life insurance coverage can vary greatly, so check several companies. The best way to comparison shop is to visit an insurance comparison website where you can get quotes from multiple companies. On the best of these sites, you can chat with insurance professionals online who will answer your questions (see link below).

Choose a top-rated company

Once you have rate quotes from several companies, you want to research the companies so you can choose a top-rated company. The Internet is a great source for investigating the ratings of insurance companies. Two of the better sites to check a company's rating are:

A.M. Best (ambest.com)

A.M. Best rates insurance companies based on their ability to pay claims, their credit rating, and their ability to pay it's debtors and stockholders.

Your State's Department of Insurance

All States have a Department of Insurance website and most list complaints filed against insurance companies. If your state doesn't list complaints, you can go to the California Department of Insurance website - http://www.insurance.ca.gov - to get this information.

Insurance Scorecard That Guarantees Success

Running an insurance business is never easy at all. Like any trade, owners of insurance companies need to implement strategies to improve their sales. They should continually find ways on how to lure possible clients, yet able to maintain old ones. An insurance scorecard is a helpful tool to guide owners on their way to success.

You might wonder why scorecards are essential. This is because you will never know whether a specific program or business succeeds if you do not have means to measure its success. Many companies use this tool and insurance firms are not an exception. Below are six performance indicators that an insurance company must focus to make success within reach.

First is policy sales. This is regarded as the most basic yet also highly important. Remember that the aim here is to increase policy sales. The management must find ways to improve figures of sold policies continually. One thing that can be done is to give employees proper training on how to hunt possible clients. Customer service is the key here. Employees should learn how to deal with clients in such a way that they will be pleased with the services of the company. Take note that a decrease in policy sales is not a good sign. It will only imply a long-term problem for the insurance firm.

The second indicator is still related to policy sales - ratio of policies. As an owner, always see to it that you get a figure on the ratio of renewed policies against the accumulated sold policies. This is relevant for the company, especially when it decides to implement some changes while updating clients, both old and new ones. Likewise, having this data will give the management an idea of the policy that results to remarkable sales.

Missed payments is the third scorecard. It must be noted that customer contribution also needs to be monitored. Lapses in payments may lead to foreclosure of their policies. This scenario is not good for the company. As much as possible, insurance firms would want to avoid foreclosures, as such is contrary to its aim of keeping clients.

The Fourth performance indicator pertains to lapses or missed payments. The only difference is the existence of a restriction. Here, the tracking must fall within the first two years of the client usage of the policy.

Quota is the fifth indicator. This is important, as such will dictate the direction of the company. Management should impose quota to its agents and collectors. This way, owners can assess the effectiveness of its employees. Likewise, targeting desired sales figures and reaching these can name success for the insurance firm.

The sixth and last metric to be included on the scorecard is total paid benefits. The management must be able to determine the premium percentage through total paid benefits. Having this data is vital, as it will help assess the overall performance of the company.

Take note, however, that the above-mentioned indicators are only among the common metrics included on the insurance scorecard used by successful companies. This means that there are still many options on how to assess the performance of insurance firms. What is important though is to understand that performance indicators are crucial for success.