Don’t Be Taken In By Unauthorized Insurance Entities!

Written by Bill Willard


Insurance fraud costs consumers—businesses included--an additional $1,500 per year in increased premiums. In fact, it can inflate premiums by as much as 30 percent -- National Insurance Crime Bureau

Small-business owners often have trouble obtaining affordable health insurance coverage for themselves and their employees. Where SBOs are in need, dishonest predators will invariably come out ofrepparttar woodwork to take unfair advantage, which is one reason why health insurance fraud is a growing problem in this country.

Illegal Health Insurance Schemes

Health insurance fraud usually involves group health plans sold to employers for their employees.

Posing as legitimate-sounding but phony unions or trade groups, or falsely claimingrepparttar 138907 backing of big insurers, fraudulent insurers prey on employers who are badly in need of health insurance by, for example, offering low-cost health care coverage—as much as 50% or more belowrepparttar 138908 going rate. Some even say they’ll issue coverage regardless of health conditions, and with little or no underwriting.

Companies and individuals behind these schemes are seldom licensed inrepparttar 138909 states in which they do business, and they operate by recruiting unwary local agents to sell these fraudulent products to trusting clients. By putting out false information, undercutting rates and competing unfairly with licensed carriers, unauthorized insurance scams are bilking their customers, and constitute a serious financial hazard torepparttar 138910 general public.

Here’srepparttar 138911 set up…

Legitimate v. Illegitimate “MEWAs”

Under federal law, self-insured or fully insured “Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements”--MEWAs—are plans created by two or more employers to furnish employee benefits, such as health insurance. However, unscrupulous entrepreneurs have found MEWAs to be a handy way to market worthless health care benefits to employers for their employees. Here’s how…

While legitimate MEWAs permit individual employers to self-insure health coverage for their own employees, any plan providing coverage to more than one unrelated employer, must be licensed byrepparttar 138912 state. Yet dishonest promoters present MEWAs to employers as employee benefit plans covered byrepparttar 138913 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which (they say) exempts them from expensive state licensure, reserve, and other regulatory requirements and allows them to offer health care and other coverage at such low rates.

It just ain’t so, and states cannot allow health care coverage to become a con game played onrepparttar 138914 unsuspecting byrepparttar 138915 unscrupulous. Yet many of these phony insurers are domiciled outsiderepparttar 138916 United States, further complicatingrepparttar 138917 false information illegitimate MEWA promoters give employers, and their almost inevitable failure to pay claims.

Other Causes for Concern

The primary legal issue involving unauthorized insurers isrepparttar 138918 erroneous claim that they’re free from state insurance regulation, but other issues are cause for concern. These include:

• Inadequate financial backing, andrepparttar 138919 lack of a federal guaranty fund covering unpaid claims.

• Financial impact onrepparttar 138920 businesses that have fallen for this fraudulent scheme, andrepparttar 138921 future insurability of MEWA-covered employee.

• Widespread illegal activity by promoters claiming to be insurance companies, andrepparttar 138922 long-term affect this has on public confidence in state regulation ofrepparttar 138923 insurance business.

Calculating Credit Card Interest

Written by David Mulonas


Almost every American 18 an older has a credit card and some even younger. The first credit card ever issued was by Franklin National Bank back in 1951 and who would of thought that it would become such a staple in society? Now having a good credit rating is imperative to gettingrepparttar most out of your money because everyone borrows. That's howrepparttar 138906 United States is built; Just look atrepparttar 138907 government budget.

Determiningrepparttar 138908 credit card payment each month Each monthrepparttar 138909 credit card bill showsrepparttar 138910 minimum payment,repparttar 138911 interest rate, days in billing cycle,repparttar 138912 charges andrepparttar 138913 interest. These components are all you need to determine a particular months payment:

Take your beginning balance each day and add any new advances, charges and subtract any credits and payments. Then all ofrepparttar 138914 daily balances inrepparttar 138915 billing cycle are divided byrepparttar 138916 total number of days inrepparttar 138917 billing cycle. This determines what is calledrepparttar 138918 "Average Daily Balance." Thenrepparttar 138919 finance charge is determined by multiplyingrepparttar 138920 daily periodic rate (interest rate divided by 365) byrepparttar 138921 number of days inrepparttar 138922 billing cycle and then multiplied byrepparttar 138923 "Average Daily Balance." This determinesrepparttar 138924 finance charge each month.

Let's take a sample first month's payment for a credit card with a 30 day billing cycle, assuming no purchases were made with an interest rate 5.75%.

The principal balance is $76,500.

30 (days in billing cycle)

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