AIG to sell American General Life

During the past several weeks we have all seen tremendous swings in US financial markets, one of which was the bail out of the world's largest insurance companies AIG. As many of you may be insured with AIG's subsidiary insurance company; American General, you may have heard rumors that this company may be up for sale.

Yesterday American International Group, Inc.’s (AIG) CEO announced his plan for the company’s future, which includes the sale of the AIG American General insurers. American General is very well capitalized with significant reserves and continues to be a safe and profitable insurance company. Because of the desirability of American General as an asset, AIG has announced they will sell American General as part of their restructuring. The proceeds from a sale of these assets can be used toward paying off the two-year $85 billion secured credit facility issued by the Federal Reserve Bank in September 2008 to help AIG with its short-term liquidity needs.

If you have an American General policy, you should not panic or be convinced by an agent that "The sky is falling" and cancel your policy. This may not be a wise move as you will need to re-qualify for a new life insurance policy, which will start a new contestability period and you may also be adversely affected financially with any policy "surrender charges".

For those of you looking for affordable term life insurance or health insurance, use an online quoting tool that allows you to shop the market in minutes to locate the best insurance prices for your situation.

US - Average Family Spends One Month's Salary on Health Insurance

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics find that the median household in the U.S. earn approximately $48,000 annually. A survey titled, ‘2008 Benefits and Talent Survey,’ revealed that the median annual contribution for family healthcare coverage is $3,120, which is a 15 % increase from 2007 and 22% increase from 2006.

Meanwhile, employers are shifting much of their health plan cost increases back to the employee by selecting lower priced healthcare plans that require employees to pay for more medical care costs through higher co-payments, plan deductibles or routine costs in excess of a few office visits and wellness check ups.

With the threat of a recession, in today's economy, many small businesses are turning to the web to shop for affordable employee benefits. Online shopping allows you to compare multiple insurance companies products. Once a plan design is identified, shoppers can compare policies, rates and features. What once took days or weeks to obtain a proposal, now takes minutes. Another common strategy for small or family operated businesses is to compare group insurance policies against individual health insurance options. Individual plans continue to grow in popularity as they offer a larger selection of products, allowing the consumer the ability to mix and match coverages, selecting the plan features that are most important to you. Why pay for features that are not important or you do not need, such as: maternity, chiropractic or Name Brand Rx medications.

QuoteBroker Insurance Services is an online brokerage firm that offers instant insurance comparisons from America's finest companies, all competing for your business. Enrollment forms can easily be downloaded or insurance specialists are available to help you through the entire insurance selection and application process. Shop online to locate your next health insurance program.

Buying Health Insurance - You must know these terms

There are many factors to consider when you purchase Health Insurance. Instead of first asking about the policy benefits, you must first understand some basic policy terminology. A good broker will know how to build a health insurance policy with the benefits and features that are important to you. An inexperienced broker will try to sell you a particular plan, without regard to your needs. If it's in the policy "it's covered", but what if you do not need maternity coverage? Why pay for that feature?

The following terms are the foundation of every health insurance policy.

#1) Deductible. The deductible is the amount you must pay for medical services each year before your insurance begins paying.
#2) Co-payment. This is the portion of charges you pay to your provider for covered health care services in addition to any deductible. For example, $20 for an office visit or $15 for a prescription drug. It is similar to coinsurance, but it is a dollar amount instead of a percentage of the charges.

#3) Coinsurance. Once you have met your deductible, you pay coinsurance for additional medical care. It is a percentage of the billed charge. For example, your insurance company might pay 80%, and then you would pay 20%. It is similar to a co-pay, but is a percentage instead of a dollar amount.

#4) Probably the most important definition. Out-of-Pocket Maximum. The most you will have to pay in a year for deductibles and coinsurance for covered benefits.

An ideal policy would have a low deductible, a low office co-payment charge, a high insurance company coinsurance percentage and a low maximum out of pocket.

Consider the worst case scenario. If you suffered from a "brain tumor" and your hospital bills totaled $300,000, how much would you have to pay? With a good insurance plan, your maximum out of pocket is your liability limit or stop loss. Read your proposal carefully as some policies maximum out of pocket limits includes the deductible, while others may be in addition to the deductible.

Don't get fooled with the variety of new "No Deductible" plans available. You are paying for the deductible, whether you know it or not. Many zero deductible plans have a patient 40% or 50% coinsurance and a higher maximum out of pocket.

Understand your health insurance terms before buying any insurance policy. Shop online and compare plan features that are most important to you. A properly designed plan will reduce your premium payments and your total patient liability. For online quotes and plan comparisons, visit QuoteBroker