How To Make Best Use Of Your Medical Insurance Policy?

By Susan Chen

Purchasing medical insurance fills you with a sense of security and confidence that you and your family are well covered. But your responsibility does not end with purchasing a medical insurance policy. Any financial product comes with a number of features and benefits, and you should take the time to understand what benefits and facilities you are entitled to receive from your medical plan. If you are fully informed about your medical plan you will be able to use it to your full advantage. Here are some tips to help you accomplish that goal:

Go Through Medical Insurance Policy In Detail

Carefully go through the policy and member handbook to learn about the benefits, coverage, and limits. It is a good idea to subscribe to a magazine or newsletter published by your insurer. These resources are particularly helpful in familiarizing yourself with the plan and company policies. Also, make sure that you are notified every time there is a change in the network of providers or covered services. You can also consult the Summary Plan Description (SPD) of the policy for additional information.

Always Maintain Records

Maintain a separate file to keep all the medical insurance related documents. Don't throw away the plan brochures and other documents. Keep all the memos along with correspondence from your employer relating to health benefits. Also save the SPD.

Medical Insurance And Hospitalization

Even though you are in perfect health right now does not mean that you will never need hospitalization in the future. So go through the policy to find out what hospitals fall under the network of your medical insurance plan. It is also important to learn beforehand as to what sort of medical conditions are defined as a health emergency, and whether these health emergencies are covered by the medical insurance policy. If your primary care doctor does not provide you with a certificate for emergency medical care, your hospital expenses will not be covered by the policy.

What To Do If Dissatisfied With Medical Plan?

In addition to being fully aware of your benefits and rights as member of a medical insurance network, you should also learn what your options are in case of any dissatisfaction or grievance with the service or care provided. As a policy holder you are entitled to get copies of your medical test results and other information. You can also request to change your primary care doctor if you do not like the treatments or care received. All policies come with an appeals process, which can be used to appeal the insurer's decision in case you or your doctors do not like it.

Lastly, do not shy away from contacting EBSA for customer service assistance if you do not receive satisfactory response to your grievances.

For more details on Medical Insurance and Medical Health Insurance visit MedicalInsuranceService.info.

New data may keep mortgage rates down

The odds of home mortgage rates rising next year took a hit today from news that the economy expanded at half the pace expected in the September quarter.

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard warned this month that he would raise rates in the new year if economic data surprised on the upside. Today it surprised on the downside.

The New Zealand economy expanded by 0.3 per cent in the September quarter, less than the 0.6 per cent expected by financial markets and the 0.7 per cent forecast by the central bank.

"The domestic economy is now in a technical recession and the export recovery looks far from assured," Shamubeel Eaqub, economist at Goldman Sach JBWere, said.

But economists cautioned against getting carried away with the idea that a weak economy meant lower interest rates.

"The composition of today's result is stronger than the headline suggests," said ANZ economists.

The weakness in the September quarter was in part because companies ran inventories down.

Also, the GDP data conflicted with other economic reports, making for a confused economic picture as the year ended.

"The Reserve Bank has some breathing space, but the risk of higher interest rates in early 2007 remains significant," Westpac economists said.

Dr Bollard gave borrowers a backhanded Christmas present this month by leaving the Official Cash Rate on hold at 7.25 per cent.

Some economists had expected him to raise the rate, which has been unchanged all year, to try and squeeze New Zealand's 4 per cent annual inflation rate lower.

"Whilst today's report does not advance the case for a further hike in rates next year, in our view it does not detract from the case either," Deutsche Bank economists said.

Goldman Sachs expects the currently tight monetary conditions to continue. It doesn't see an easing in interest rates until September next year.

Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said the annual growth rate was 1.4 per cent in the year ended September, down from 2.5 per cent in the year ended September 2005.

If the latest quarter is compared with the same quarter a year ago the annual rate was 1.3 per cent.

SNZ said domestic spending decreased by 0.2 per cent in the quarter. The decline was attributed to reduced investment in inventories and a reduction in non-residential building investment.

"Domestic spending has fallen in three of the last four quarters, resulting in annual growth (in domestic spending) reaching a five-year low of 0.4 per cent," SNZ said.

SNZ said service industries continued to provide much of the impetus in the New Zealand economy, increasing 0.9 per cent in the September quarter.

"The finance, insurance, and business services group, together with the transport and storage group, and communications industries, contributed strongly to this quarter's growth," SNZ said.

Offsetting this was a 1 per cent fall in manufacturing activity in the quarter.

The New Zealand dollar was at US69.60c in afternoon trading after falling on the data. The currency has been trading at 11-month highs and threatening the US70.00c level.

Russia welcomes mortgage-backed securities market

Mortgage securitization market has opened in Russia. December 8 the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange started trading collateralized mortgage obligations. The obligations are expected to advance grouping of the moderate housing market.

New securities have turned to be the first mortgage-backed securities bidders as well as the first Russian collateralized mortgage obligations. They were issued October 19, 2006, though the Mortgage-backed securities act was passed November 2003. The total volume of float made up 3bn rubles ($1145 thousand). The securities are to be completely repaid December 29, 2036. Their nominal worth amounts to 1000 rubles ($ 38.16).

www.lenta.ru

Insurance cheapest in Shropshire

Shropshire, Devon, and Pembrokeshire are the cheapest places to get insured in England, new figures reveal.

By contrast people living in London, Hull, and Grimsby pay the most for their cover, research from Moneysupermarket.com shows.

And the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive places for home insurance alone is significant, with Westminster in London almost five times more expensive to insure a three-bedroom house than Bishops Castle in Shropshire (£903.81 compared with £184.52).

But there is a danger insurers are pricing based on a whole area, rather than looking at the individual properties themselves.

"Home insurers look at the crime rate in an area, therefore your likelihood of getting robbed or burgled, the average property price, the affluence of an area and whether where you live could be affected by flooding or subsidence," said Richard Mason, director of insurance at price Moneysupermarket.

"There are no hard and fast rules though, so an affluent area which is relatively free from crime may still suffer from high premiums because of the rebuild value of homes.

"I would call upon all insurers to assess premiums on a case by case basis, rather than black list whole cities as 'high-risk'."

But it is not just home insurance that is cheaper depending on where you live, with car insurance premiums also varying widely.

The average annual premium for a woman between 45 and 55-years-old driving a Ford Focus in Liverpool is £2,634, but in York this drops to just £145.

For a man of the same age driving the same car the average annual premium is as high as £2,406 in Wembley, Middlesex, and as low as £143 for in Shrewsbury.

"Car insurers look at the rate of car crime, the type of car you drive, your age and whether your area has drivers classed as 'high-risk' or particularly prone to accidents," Mr Mason said.

"So even [if] you live in an area where the incidence of car crime is low, you could suffer high premiums because of the number of reckless drivers in your town.

"Home and motor insurers weight these various factors differently, so anyone who finds their insurance premiums too high should look for insurers who will assess their premiums on an individual basis."