22 AprCar insurance for young and unexperienced drivers

Most of you are probably well aware of the fact that different age groups of drivers get different insurance rates, and the difference can be quite significant. Why the discrimination, you might ask? Well, don’t haste with accusing insurance company with unfair pricing, as there is a set of reasons behind such practices. When speaking about age groups and pricing, you have to understand how the insurance companies assess risk and set the rates you get when quoting.

The primary factors determining the price you will pay for insurance are risk and claim history within your demographic group. Insurance companies analyze the costs of insuring each age group and set their rates respectively. And due to a set of reasons, young adults are considered to be the most risky car owners, thus the high rates a young driver will receive when getting insurance quotes. That’s because young drivers have a larger claims history as a group, and the accidents they end up in tend to be more devastating and costly. Of course, it doesn’t mean that all teenagers and young adults get crazy on the road and have serious accidents. But that’s the situation when one has to pay for other’s mistakes, and unfortunately there’s little you can do about it.

But little doesn’t mean nothing. If you are a young driver looking for cheap auto insurance, you still have chances of getting better rates if your follow some of the following advices. Of course, they won’t drop your rates instantly and dramatically but by combining them you will be able to get quite reasonable car insurance rates.

Be a good driver

Being a good driver with a clean driving record with no accidents or traffic violations always pays of no matter how old are you. But you can go beyond that. Enroll in special driving schools and employ a defensive driving style – having proof of your good safe driving abilities will definitely give your significant discounts from the insurance company.

Buy a safe car

When you are young, you want to be fast and furious. That’s your right, but if you buy a fast sports car don’t expect to get advantageous auto insurance quotes for it. Sports and muscle cars are considered to be risky and have high insurance costs, so insurance companies will always charge more for owning a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo than for a VW Golf. That’s why you should think about the car you want to drive before actually buying it.

Do some comparison shopping

Shopping around has never hurt anyone. In fact, getting more auto insurance quotes from different companies will help you find a really competitive policy. Some companies give young drivers lower rates than others, so why not spending a bit of your time on comparing auto insurance quotes if you can save quite well on it? Besides there are so many free quote sites out there that it would be simply a crime to leave such a great opportunity for saving some money on car insurance unnoticed.

28 MayRisk Pools – Health Plans For The Risky Or Uninsurable

Rating the health plans


If you have a pre-existing condition that carries high risks for your insurance company, you may have trouble finding an affordable health plan. In fact, companies are not forced to insure you. If you are too risky, they can reject your application.

More than half of all insured people get their insurance from their companies. Group insurance plans reduce risk by sharing the cost equally. But, what if you can’t get into a group plan?

States offer a type of health plan called “risk pools.” Risk pools are intended to provide insurance to the uninsurable.

What Is A Risk Pool?

First, let’s look at how group insurance works. Even risky individuals can be covered under group health insurance at little cost to insurance companies because everyone shares expenses and risks. When the company has to shell out extra for claims made by a certain individual, the rate of the whole group goes up.

With individual health plans, there is no group. It’s just you. So, private insurance companies look at your medical history and risks. This is what determines your rate.

A risk pool is like a group of all the people within a certain state who can’t get private insurance because of pre-existing conditions and other health risks. It works in much the same way as group insurance does, except that the group in this case is not the company, but all the individuals in the state who can’t get insured.

Because they are obviously risky, risk pools cost more than regular insurance. This is not a government support program like Medicare or Medicaid aimed at low-income earners. Risk pools are usually quite expensive.

Does My State Have A Risk Pool?

Not every state offers risk pools, but most do. There are risk pools in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Each state’s risk pool varies. You definitely have to be a resident of the state in which you apply. Other than that, the requirements are different in each state. In order to qualify, they may require that you prove that you’ve been rejected by an insurance provider because of a high health risk.

In most states, you can’t get a risk pool health plan if you qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. Some states also have an enrollment cap, meaning that they will only accept a certain number of applicants to the program each year.

Risk pools are operated by non-profit healthcare organizations. Currently, almost 200,000 people are enrolled in risk pools, which is not a large number if you consider how many Americans are uninsured. Some states, like Tennessee, are starting to have special programs for kids and specific diseases like diabetes.

Risk pools are convenient for individuals who are having trouble getting insured. You can take out a short-term plan to cover a gap in your employment or insurance.

If you have a pre-existing condition that puts you at high risk, you may feel like you should stick with your group plan so that you can stay covered. This might mean staying at a lousy job that you would just as soon ditch otherwise. Risk pools offer you more choices for your health insurance coverage.



You can also find more info on Long Term Health Insurance and Short Term Health Insurance.