13 Times When Life Insurance May Cost More

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by Kate Ashford

You probably need life insurance. Lots of people do.

If you have small children, a mortgage, a spouse who's dependent on your income—or any person who would be inconvenienced financially if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, you probably should have life insurance.

RELATED: 5 Surprising Reasons You Might Want Life Insurance

Experts generally recommend buying 10 to 20 times your annual income in term life insurance, which is the most affordable variety. You make $50,000? Great. You should probably have at least $500,000 in life insurance.

Luckily, it's not prohibitively expensive. A 40-year-old healthy nonsmoking male may be able to buy a 20-year level term $500,000 policy for as low as $350 per year, AccuQuote.com estimates. ("Level term" simply means the annual premium will stay the same for the term of the policy—in this case, 20 years.)

But there are a variety of things that could make your life insurance policy pricier, from health conditions to hobbies to lifestyle choices. Here are some of the top offenders:

1. Tobacco use. If that same healthy 40-year-old male admitted to being a smoker, his annual premium could jump to at least $1,535, according to numbers fromAccuquote.com. Stop smoking, meanwhile, and it will take one year before you can get a nonsmoker discount, but you won't get a top-tier price until you've been cigarette-free for at least three years. "They want to be really sure you're off it," says AccuQuote founder and C.E.O. Byron Udell. That said, if you need life insurance now, go ahead and pay the higher premium—and when you've stopped smoking, call your insurer and see if you can lock in the lower price.

2. Your weight. Being overweight increases your odds of dying, so the more overweight you are, the more expensive your life insurance will be. Depending on the carrier, as little as 10 to 15 pounds may be enough to knock you out of the top pricing tier, Udell says.

RELATED: The Facts and Myths of Life Insurance

3. Your driving record. A couple of recent tickets aren't going to seriously raise your annual premiums, but if you have more than two moving violations in the last three years, you likely won't be able to get the best life insurance rates. "Insurers know that each time you get a speeding ticket, you were probably speeding about 250 times before you got caught," Udell says. "If you're routinely violating traffic laws, there's a much greater likelihood you're going to die in a traffic accident."

4. Cardiovascular disease. This includes high blood pressure and other heart issues, which can lead to early death. "Sometimes they'll write a life insurance policy with an exclusion for heart conditions," says LearnVest Planning Services Certified Financial Planner™ Katie Brewer. "So they'll give you insurance, but exclude you if you die of a heart condition." If you have high blood pressure, but it's controlled by medication, you should have no major problems. That means you can't show up to your insurance exam with a blood pressure of 145 over 95, Udell says. "That's not controlled. It's the high blood pressure itself, not the medication, that concerns them."

5. Cancer. If you have or have ever had cancer, you will likely never qualify for the best life insurance rates—but you may still be able to get a policy, depending on the type of cancer and your current status. Pancreatic? Not likely. Breast cancer? Maybe not now, but when you're five to seven years cancer-free, you should be able to qualify for standard rates. "There's usually a time period where you have to be cancer-free before you can be approved for life insurance," Brewer says. But you may be able to find an insurer that doesn't ask about cancer at all. An insurance broker can steer you toward the companies that don't ask that question.

RELATED: The Cost of Breast Cancer: How I Coped With a Terminal Diagnosis

6. Depression. If you're taking medication for an ongoing depressive condition (meaning it's more than just a temporary state due to, say, a loved one's death), you will probably see higher rates because of it. "The issue is that in a worst-case scenario people may jump off roofs when they're depressed," Udell says. "Carriers don't have to pay for suicide for the first two years, but after that, they do." The mortality effects of certain medications can also be a concern.

7. Cholesterol. Like high blood pressure, high cholesterol usually isn't a big deal if you're controlling it with medication. But if you're not taking your meds—or the meds aren't doing enough—life insurance companies may view you as higher risk.

8. Substance abuse. If you have a history of substance abuse, that could make you a death risk to a life insurance company, but it depends on the substance, how recent it was, and how regularly you're using it.

9. Family history. Insurers are going to ask about your immediate family—parents and siblings—and if any of them have serious or hereditary conditions that could cause an early death, that's probably going to hike up your rates. Chief among those conditions is cardiovascular disease (particularly if a parent died early from it), cancer and diabetes. That is not to say, however, that you can't plead your case. "If you have some great explanation, like your dad smoked two packs a day and you've never smoked in your life," Udell says, you may be able to sway the underwriter.

10. Diabetes. People with Type 1 diabetes typically have impaired life expectancies across the board, so your rates will depend on how well controlled your condition is and what you need to control it. If well controlled, Type 2 is less serious and should cause a smaller spike in your price. But it's all about circumstances. "If you're a diabetic and all you need to control it is diet and maybe an oral medication, you're not much of a risk," Udell says.

11. Asthma. Like other conditions, if your asthma is under control, you may not see much of a price impact. If you're on steroidal medication, that may impact your premiums, since steroids themselves tend to bump up your chances of dying. And if you've landed in the emergency room in the last couple of years due to your asthma, that's going to raise warning flags for your insurer, because it may mean that you're not doing a great job controlling your condition.

12. Dangerous hobbies. Anything that statistically increases your chances of death could hike your life insurance premiums. "Some life insurance companies won't even write policies on people who do these things," Brewer says. Although that doesn't include skiing and biking, it does include rock climbing, motorized racing, skydiving, ultralight flying, hang gliding, and scuba diving.

RELATED: 6 Signs You Should Re-Evaluate Your Life Insurance Policy

13. Your occupation. Like hobbies, if your career takes you to death-defying heights or puts you in risky situations, your insurer will likely raise an eyebrow. Luckily, that only includes you if you do something like drive race cars, handle explosives, fly planes, or work as a trapeze artist in the circus. While some insurers raise rates for firefighters and police officers, many don't penalize them as a matter of public policy. (Maybe your desk job isn't so bad, eh?)

LearnVest Planning Services is a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of LearnVest, Inc. that provides financial plans for its clients. Information shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended as investment, legal or tax planning advice. Please consult a financial adviser, attorney or tax specialist for advice specific to your financial situation. Unless specifically identified as such, the people interviewed in this piece are neither clients, employees nor affiliates of LearnVest Planning Services. LearnVest Planning Services and any third parties listed in this message are separate and unaffiliated and are not responsible for each other's products, services or policies.

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FEATURE-No insurance, no ridesharing, cities tell UberX, Lyft and others

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Using mobile apps to connect passengers with drivers, ridesharing services like UberX and Lyft say they are bringing new zip to transportation. But a number of cities say they don't want to share the road until they get something utilitarian: better insurance.

If the cities insist, they could slow or halt the services' expansion. The conflict poses the latest challenge to the nascent "sharing economy," which allows people to rent out personal property and services, often on an ad hoc basis.

On one side stand the ridesharing companies, which believe their business plans are undermined by forcing drivers to add higher-cost commercial insurance to services intended to attract casual drivers for an hour here and there.

On the other stand many city officials, who worry that ridesharing lacks adequate coverage.

"Insurance is way complicated, and it's far more complicated than a company telling you, 'Don't worry, you're insured,'" said Sally Clark, a city commissioner in Seattle. The city council is currently weighing insurance requirements and other rules for ridesharing, which operates in a legal limbo in Seattle. Insurance, Clark said, is "our number one concern."

Austin, Texas, began threatening to impound ridesharing cars last year, prompting one service, Sidecar, to leave town. "We need to see commercial insurance," among other concerns, said Gordon Derr, assistant director at Austin's transportation department.

Insurance is also an issue in Colorado, where the legislature is weighing ridesharing laws. Chicago, Illinois, is considering ridesharing legislation with stronger commercial-insurance requirements.

Ridesharing is different from app-based car services that use professional drivers. Uber, for instance, relies on limousines for its main black-car service, while ridesharing unit UberX could rope in any driver with time to spare. Paid ridesharing companies operate in various big cities around the United States, where they typically come under heavy opposition from the taxi industry.

Cities have greeted sharing-for-profit with skepticism before, questioning whether to tax a couch offered for a night online like a hotel room, for instance, but insurers have not raised fundamental objections to many such services.

For ridesharing, UberX and the other major services carry their own commercial insurance policies, with $1 million of liability coverage per incident. The policies apply if the personal policies carried by drivers don't cover an incident. But they kick in only if drivers are en route to collect a ridesharing client, or have one in the car.

Insurance has become a touchstone, in part because of a series of high-profile crashes, including a New Year's Eve accident by an UberX driver that resulted in the death of a young girl in San Francisco.

The driver was between rides for UberX. The family of the young girl, Sofia Liu, has sued Uber for liability, regardless. Uber declined to comment on the situation.

Insurance companies say using a personal car for paid rides voids a driver's personal insurance policy. The policy would not cover drivers between fares, either.

"It is a commercial venture," said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, and drivers need commercial insurance.

But commercial insurance could add hundreds of dollars each month to a driver's costs.

In California, a commercial policy costs around $10,000 a year, says insurance broker Rick Monetta, compared to around $1,200 for a basic personal policy. That's enough to give pause to casual drivers seen as the heart of ridesharing.

"The driver is getting caught in the middle," said Colorado Public Utilities Commission Director Doug Dean, who has called for all ridesharing drivers to carry commercial insurance or add additional coverage to their personal policies.

In practice, Lyft and Sidecar say, insurance companies have paid claims for some accidents based on a driver's personal policy, but they declined to provide details, citing the privacy of the people involved.

That wasn't the case for Bassim Elbatniji, a San Francisco UberX driver whose Prius was slammed by another driver in September.

"I thought that they were going to cover me," said Elbatniji about his personal insurance company. But the company denied coverage, citing lack of a commercial policy, according to court documents. Now his passengers are suing him and Uber to cover medical bills, lost wages and other liabilities.

Uber declined to comment on the details of the case.

Ridesharing companies could beef up their own commercial coverage so it becomes primary insurance for any incident, rather than secondary to a driver's personal insurance. But that would drive up rates. One ridesharing company said it has negotiated special rates on the liability part of its commercial insurance policy; paying rates on par with livery companies would cost 35 cents per driver per mile, above its current costs for liability insurance.

Colorado's Dean hopes the insurance industry comes up with specialized riders that provide additional insurance for drivers, with premiums varying on how much they drive for hire, and Sidecar said it was trying to develop a specialized plan.

Earlier this month, ridesharing companies formed an insurance coalition to study the issue, including members from the insurance industry and the California Public Utilities Commission. Its first meeting is Wednesday.

They need to move quickly.

"The liability questions are an issue and are slowing down growth," said Jeremiah Owyang, founder of consultancy Crowd Companies. Resolving them could attract more drivers and riders, he said.

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Durbin’s claim that 10 million now have health insurance because of Obamacare

(Brian Jackson/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

"Bob, let's look at the bottom line. The bottom line is this: 10 million Americans have health insurance today who would not have had it without the Affordable Care Act. Ten million."

– Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," Feb. 9, 2014

Sometimes, talking points persist even in the face of new evidence negating the previous claims.

The Fact Checker has written often about the problems with claims based on the number of new insurance enrollees under the Affordable Care Act. Yet here is the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate trotting out the same tired talking point. So let's review what's wrong with this figure, especially if someone is using it to claim that these people are all newly insured.

The Facts

Durbin appears to be combining two figures released by the administration: more 3 million signing up for insurance through the federal HealthCare.gov and state exchanges and 6.3 million deemed eligible for Medicaid. Both figures are generally October through December, and so obviously have increased since then.

But there are two big problems with both numbers:

a) The troubled federal exchange counts people as enrolled if an individual has selected a plan, but it does not know if a person enrolled and paid a premium because that part of the system has yet to be built.

b) The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility, but no one really knows how many of the 6.3 million are in this expansion pool — or whether they are simply renewing or would have qualified for Medicaid before the new law. Indeed, the number also includes people joining Medicaid in states that chose not accept the expansion.

Obviously, then, these figures must be treated with caution. But Durbin went a step further and claimed that all of these people would not have had health insurance if not for the Affordable Care Act.

That's simply ridiculous. For instance, members of Congress, such as Durbin, previously had health insurance and are now obligated to get it via the exchanges. But the problem goes deeper than that.

The Wall Street Journal in January detailed some of the surveys that have taken of people who obtained insurance through the exchanges, and the results so far indicate that the vast majority of enrollees were previously insured.

• Only 11 percent of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured, according to a McKinsey & Co. survey
• HealthMarkets Inc., an insurance agency that enrolled around 7,500 people in exchange plans, said 65 percent of its enrollees had prior coverage.
• At Michigan-based Priority Health, only 25 percent of more than 1,000 enrollees surveyed in plans that comply with the law were previously uninsured.

Of course, these percentages may change with time. Avalere, a health consulting firm, estimates that, once the law is fully implemented in 2017, about 68 percent of the people who obtained insurance through the exchanges will be newly insured. But even so, that would suggest at least a third already had insurance. (Update: New York state says that two-thirds of the people who enrolled on its exchange were previously uninsured, in line with the Avalere estimate.)

Meanwhile, just last Avalere threw cold water on the 6.3 million Medicaid figure, estimating that only 1.1 to 1.8 million of the enrollees could be attributed to the Affordable Care Act. That estimate generated headlines, including a full report in The Washington Post that said it suggested "many of the people who have joined the program since the initiative's rollout in October would have done so absent the law."

In other words, the Medicaid enrollment numbers are so suspect that, at this point, they should not be used in any formulation regarding the Affordable Care Act. That may change as more information is received, but politicians (and reporters) should be cautious now. (At least one analyst has called into question Avalere's analysis, which further demonstrates the caution that is necessary.)

Durbin's office declined to comment. Update: After this column appeared, Durbin spokesman Max Gleischman provided this statement:  "Fact check after fact check has confirmed that more than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage through Affordable Care Act. Many of the more than 9 million Americans are being covered for the first time. No matter the number of new enrollees, there is no question that the law is working and millions of people are realizing the benefits of affordable health coverage and the protections it guarantees."

[The Fact Checker is unaware of any fact checks that have confirmed these figures as all ACA enrollments or evidence that "many" of the enrollees are being covered for the first time.]

The Pinocchio Test

Even if one took the high end of these estimates, the most one could claim is that about 4 million people have gained insurance because the Affordable Care Act, but that's being extraordinarily generous.

In the meantime, given the fuzzy nature of the numbers and the wide publicity devoted to the recent surveys, Durbin has little excuse for going on national television and claiming that every one of these people had been previously uninsured. This has now become a Four Pinocchio violation.

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New ACA Insurance Causes Headaches In Some Doctors’ Offices

Sheila Lawless is the office manager at a small rheumatology practice in Wichita Falls, Texas, about two hours outside of Dallas. She makes sure everything in the office runs smoothly – scheduling patients, collecting payments, keeping the lights on. Recently she added another duty--incorporating the trickle of patients with insurance plans purchased on the new Affordable Care Act exchanges. 

Open enrollment doesn't end until March 31, but people who have already bought Obamacare plans are beginning to use them. "We had a spattering in January—maybe once a week. But I think we're averaging two to three a day now," says Lawless. 

That doesn't sound like many new customers, but it's presented a major challenge: verifying that these patients have insurance. Each exchange patient has required the practice to spend an hour or more on the phone with the insurance company. "We've been on hold for an hour, an hour and 20, an hour and 45, been disconnected, have to call back again and repeat the process," she explains. Those sorts of hold times add up fast. 

In the past, offices have been able to make sure patients are insured quickly, by using an online verification system. But for exchange patients, practices also have to call the insurer to make sure the patient has paid his premium. If he hasn't, the insurance company can refuse to pay the doctor for the visit, or come back later and recoup a payment it made. 

That's because of a provision of the law that gives exchange patients who neglect to pay their premium a "grace period" of up to 90 days. During the first 30 days, insurers have to pay any claims incurred by the patient. But for the next 60 days, nothing is guaranteed. If the patient visits the doctor, the insurer can "pend" the claim – that is, wait to pay the doctor until the patient pays his premium. At the end of the 90-day grace period, if the patient has not paid the premium, the insurer can cancel the coverage and refuse to pay the pended claims, or recoup the payments it's already made.  And that puts the doctor's office at risk. 

So Lawless is checking first with the insurer to make sure that everything is in order before proceeding with the visit. If the premium has not been paid, Lawless gives the patient the option of rescheduling the appointment or paying in cash and then applying to his insurer for the payment. 

"Most small practices run lean and mean – you've got one or two people to do this process plus do their other job duties that day as well, which is tend to the patients in front of them," says Lawless. To manage the new workload, she's had other staffers, including nurses, step in to answer the phone. And that means longer hours, more overtime, and higher overhead expenses. And then there's the plain old annoyance factor. 

"You call in and you hit option prompts and you get to listen to no less than an hour of Blue Cross Blue Shield intro music. I could sing you the tune, that's how often I've had to listen to it," she says. "My staff said yesterday, it's a sad shame within their prompts you can't pick your music as well. If you're going to have to wait that long, at least let us listen to what we want to listen to!" 

Blue Cross Blue Shield in Texas is the only insurer offering exchange plans in Wichita Falls. Dr. Dan McCoy, the company's chief medical officer, says part of the problem was the health law's compressed timeline. 

"Clearly at the end of December there were a significant number of members that enrolled and it's taken some time to work through that volume in membership," explains McCoy. "And we know this is a new day in the transformation of American health care. So it's going to take a little bit of time to work through that." 

Health Care Service Corp., which owns Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, has tried to address the situation by adding another 600 employees at its call center to handle the influx of calls and by extending business hours. McCoy has also been working directly with the Texas Medical Association to work out the kinks. 

Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs at the Medical Group Management Association in Washington, D.C., a trade group for practice administrators, says the real problem is that signing up for coverage on the exchange isn't as simple as the White House has made it sound. 

"What we've found is that messaging out of the [Obama] administration right now that's aimed at the public, it tends to oversimplify the complexity of what it takes to get covered on the exchanges," says Gilberg. "Just because you enrolled in coverage doesn't mean your coverage is effective." 

Even if patients pay their premium right away, it could be up to six weeks before their coverage actually starts. To have insurance start at the beginning of a month, the coverage generally must be purchased by the middle of the previous month. A plan purchased on Feb. 14 would be effective March 1. But a plan purchased on Feb. 16, for example, would not become effective until April 1. Go to the doctor before then, and your insurer doesn't pay. 

"It's not a surprise that given the subtle nuances and differences of what these exchange products are, that you're in a gray area right now where there's a little confusion on the patient side and the practice side. And I think that's what we're seeing a lot of right now," says Gilberg. 

For a brand new program, that's to be expected, he adds. And it doesn't mean the exchange isn't working. The real test will be what happens in April, when open enrollment ends and everyone who has purchased a plan offered through the health law's online exchanges plan is clearly covered. 

In the meantime, Lawless offers this advice to patients who have bought plans on the exchange: "If you pay your premium prior to [visiting the doctor], print that out and bring it with you because that will certainly save all a lot of grief."

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Pedestrian Accident Attorney, Farhad Hamdam, is Offering Free Consultations for Victims of Pedestrian Accidents

Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Traffic laws are often complex and involve motorized and non-motorized vehicles as well as pedestrians. These laws are in place for the safety of everyone who shares the road and areas where both vehicles and pedestrians may be present. Even with extensive laws, accidents do occur, often with devastating results. Accident attorney in Los Angeles, Farhad Hamdam, is now offering free consultations to victims who have suffered injuries as a result of pedestrian accidents. Pedestrians may suffer severe trauma or injury due to motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents or car accidents, which may result in extensive medical bills and continuing care that may last a lifetime. It is often difficult to get an appropriate settlement that takes into account the long term needs of the accident victim. In an effort to help victims receive fair compensation.

About Farhad Hamdam, Accident Attorney Los Angeles

Farhad Hamdam, accident attorney in Los Angeles, has extensive experience with pedestrian accidents and the potential injuries, both short term and long term. The law offices of Farhad Hamdam know that as pedestrians, people may suffer more extensive injuries that have far reaching consequences that may last for a lifetime. Victims of pedestrian accidents can take advantage of the free consultations currently offered by Farhad Hamdam to determine the appropriate compensation that can be received in their specific cases. Visit http://www.pedestrianaccidentattorney-losangeles.com for more information.

A pedestrian has little protection against an impact with a vehicle. Damages to the person may include bumps and abrasions, broken bones, internal injuries, brain trauma, and even death. Medical treatment is typically necessary, with the potential for physical therapy and other forms of rehabilitation. The medical bills can add up quickly.

When an insurance company offers a settlement to the victim of a pedestrian accident, the settlement typically benefits the insurance company and is not always offered in the best interest of the victim. It is important to attain the services of an attorney who will look after the patient's rights. Monetary compensation may be available to cover medical expenses, pain and suffering, wages from lost work due to injuries, long term care, and expenses as a result of the accident.

Press Release by http://www.avitalweb.com

• Consumer Discretionary
• Transport Accident
• Los Angeles

Contact:

Website: http://www.pedestrianaccidentattorney-losangeles.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HamdamLaw
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/farhad-hamdam/15/a17/1b9
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Hamdamlaw

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Most Expensive Cities for Car Insurance

Drivers in some U.S. cities will face higher car insurance premiums in 2014. Car insurance rates vary significantly across the country, and some citizens will pay significantly more depending on where they live.

NerdWallet found the most expensive car insurance premiums in the country, because high car insurance premiums can have a large financial and political impact on people's lives. Drivers, for the most part, cannot control the major factors causing high car insurance premiums. Bad weather, traffic conditions, high crime rates, local laws, and congestion all contribute to high car insurance costs. Even so, drivers can lower their rates by comparing insurance carriers and searching for discounts. We have found that, on average, drivers overpay $368 for car insurance every year.

Methodology
To find the average car insurance rates of the 125 largest cities in the United States, we used the profile of a 26-year-old male without any history of accidents, insuring a 2012 Toyota Camry with extended coverage ($100/$300/$50 with a $500 deductible). In calculating averages for each city, we used ZIP codes only within city limits and not in the city's metro area.

Key findings

• Detroit's average car insurance rates are more than 10 times that of Winston-Salem, N.C., the city with the lowest average.
• State laws play a key role in a city's car insurance rates.
• Car insurance rates vary greatly from one ZIP code to another.

Detroit has the most expensive average car insurance premiums in the country. At $10,723.22, Detroit's average rates are more than twice as much as the second most expensive city, New Orleans. The city's rates are so high that Mike Duggan, Detroit's newly elected mayor, made lowering car insurance premiums a major part of his campaign platform.

Politics and law play a major role in a city's car insurance rates. All of the most expensive cities for car insurance were in states with no-fault car insurance laws. Large cities such as New York and Los Angeles have cheaper average premiums than small cities such as Grand Rapids and Baton Rouge, which are in no-fault states. 

(Interested in your area's car insurance costs? Check out NerdWallet's car insurance tool here.)

Cities with the most expensive car insurance

1. Detroit
Average annual premium: $10,723.22

The Motor City is known for its cars, but its car insurance premiums are the highest in the nation. In Detroit, drivers face high rates because of the city's high crime rate and Michigan's no-fault insurance system. Under state law, insurance companies must pay medical expenses, lost wages, and property damage regardless of who caused an accident. The system is intended to reduce litigation costs and ensure prompt claim repayment, but many complain that costs have ballooned because lawmakers have not set a cap on claim awards.

Detroit's annual insurance premiums are not uniformly high. We found that even within neighborhoods, Detroit's annual insurance premiums varied greatly. In the Rosedale Park neighborhood, State Farm offers a policy for $25,300 a year, while Hanover offers insurance for a fraction of the price at $4,854.

2. New Orleans
Average annual premium: $4,309.61

Annual premiums in New Orleans might look cheap compared with Detroit, but the average annual cost still equals about 12% of the city's median household income, according to census figures. Residents commute 22.8 minutes to work on average, and New Orleans has some of the worst maintained roads in the country. Also contributing to high rates is a state law that also allows drivers to directly sue insurance companies after an accident. In Louisiana, juries decide only claims exceeding $50,000. The rest go before a judge or are settled.

3. Grand Rapids, Mich.
Average annual premium: $4,042.42

With 189,813 residents, Grand Rapids is much smaller than Detroit. However, Grand Rapids drivers still suffer from Michigan's no-fault insurance laws and bad weather. Bad weather often exacerbates road deterioration. Grand Rapids' potholes are estimated to cost motorists $1,027 a year.

4. Newark, N.J.
Average annual premium: $3,525.43

Like Michigan, New Jersey also has a no-fault insurance. In addition to state law, Newark's high insurance rates may result from its proximity to New York and from New Jersey's snowy winters. Newark drivers have an average commute of 31.3 minutes to work, which is a bit higher than the national average, 25.4 minutes.

New Jersey residents enrolled in Medicaid can save money under the state's special Automobile Insurance Policy, or SAIP. SAIP provides low-cost car insurance to those who might not be able to afford it, though it covers only post-accident medical costs.

5. Baton Rouge, La.
Average annual premium: $3,363.73

Louisiana's capital is smaller than New Orleans by 130,000 residents, and drivers save nearly $1,000 yearly on their average premium. But locals endure traffic congestion and roads in disrepair, and the average cost still accounts for about 8.6% of the city's median household income, according to the U.S. Census.

6. Hialeah, Fla.
Average annual premium: $3,271.86

Hialeah is a major commercial center in Miami-Dade County, and its drivers pay the highest premiums in Florida. One reason for Hialeah's high premiums is that Florida has no-fault insurance laws and frequent hurricanes. Since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida has been hit by seven major hurricanes.

7. Jersey City, N.J.
Average annual premium: $3,266.63

Nestled between Newark and New York City is Jersey City. Drivers must deal with many of the same traffic issues -- notably high congestion -- and often face icy winters. The city, however, is much wealthier than Newark, and the average premium accounts for only 5.6% of the median household income in Jersey City. On average, residents travel 35 minutes to work.

8. Louisville, Ky.
Average annual premium: $3,255.99

Although Louisville has mild winters compared with Detroit and Newark, Louisville, like all of the other cities on this list, resides in a state with no-fault car insurance laws. Louisville, according to Neighborhoodscout.com, is more dangerous than 83% of U.S. cities and has an especially high number of auto thefts.

9. Miami
Average annual premium: $3,168.75

Miami is in a state with no-fault insurance, and it is also victim to hurricanes, but according to a few studies, Miami also seems to have bad drivers. Miami suffers from extreme congestion and was ranked as the city with the rudest drivers in the United States. According to an Allstate study, Miami has the ninth worst drivers in the U.S., meaning that they have a 58.4% greater-than-average accident frequency.

10. Philadelphia
Average annual premium: $2,930.53

Philadelphia drivers deal with many factors contributing to high car insurance costs. They face unfavorable car insurance laws because Pennsylvania is a no-fault state. Philadelphia also faces cold winters and year-round congestion. Drivers who have trouble finding affordable car insurance can apply to the Pennsylvania Assigned Risk Plan.

Rank	City	State	Population	Average Car Insurance Price
1	Detroit	MI	706,640	$10,723.22
2	New Orleans	LA	360,740	$4,309.61
3	Grand Rapids	MI	189,813	$4,042.42
4	Newark	NJ	277,545	$3,525.43
5	Baton Rouge	LA	230,148	$3,363.73
6	Hialeah	FL	229,967	$3,271.86
7	Jersey City	NJ	250,317	$3,266.63
8	Louisville	KY	602,037	$3,255.99
9	Miami	FL	408,760	$3,168.75
10	Philadelphia	PA	1,536,471	$2,930.53
11	Shreveport city	LA	201,871	$2,901.23
12	Chicago	IL	2,707,123	$2,859.36
13	New York City	NY	8,244,910	$2,712.43
14	Boston	MA	624,969	$2,681.00
15	Tampa	FL	346,064	$2,663.43
16	Lexington	KY	301,569	$2,652.11
17	Las Vegas	NV	589,340	$2,618.59
18	Minneapolis	MN	387,736	$2,602.06
19	St. Paul	MN	288,437	$2,554.29
20	Honolulu	HI	340,931	$2,515.38
21	North Las Vegas	NV	219,017	$2,504.10
22	Los Angeles	CA	3,819,708	$2,307.57
23	Henderson	NE	260,072	$2,301.29
24	Glendale	CA	193,113	$2,276.11
25	St. Louis	MO	318,069	$2,271.58
26	Atlanta	GA	432,425	$2,224.76
27	St. Petersburg	FL	244,995	$2,218.35
28	Houston	TX	2,145,933	$2,211.62
29	Yonkers	NY	197,397	$2,194.56
30	Baltimore	MD	619,493	$2,172.23

NerdWallet also found the cities with the cheapest average car insurance.

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U.S. Examines Swiss Insurance Products In Tax Crackdown

Feb. 23, 2014 2:48 p.m. ET

ZURICH—U.S. authorities are scrutinizing Americans' use of Swiss insurance products to determine if they have been used to hide assets, signaling a potential new direction in the U.S. legal crackdown on tax evasion in the Alpine country, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service are looking at the use of private placement life insurance, or PPLI, a product that meshes banking and insurance by linking the value of a client's policy to assets held in a Swiss bank account, these people say.

Swiss insurers offering the product, which can be used legally by Americans to defer taxes, have nonetheless sought to reduce ties to U.S. clients. At least three big insurers say they aren't accepting new U.S. clients. In December, Swiss Life Holding AG SLHN.VX +1.00% Swiss Life Holding AG Switzerland: SWX Europe ^CHF201.20 +2.00 +1.00% Feb. 21, 2014 5:31 pm Volume : 100,629 P/E Ratio 31.84 Market Cap CHF6.45 Billion Dividend Yield 2.24% Rev. per Employee CHF2,680,430 02/23/14 U.S. Examines Swiss Insurance ... More quote details and news » returned funds to hundreds of Americans who had invested in PPLI policies. Those policies were linked to accounts at Bank Frey & Co. AG, which is among a number of Swiss banks that have disclosed being under criminal investigation in the U.S. for allegedly aiding tax evasion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bank Frey ceased operations last year, after one of its executives and an attorney who directed clients to the bank were indicted for allegedly helping Americans avoid taxes. The bank said in November it had "verified the tax compliance of all its U.S. clients," and has since been in the process of shutting down. Swiss Life, which like many Swiss financial firms is now eager to limit exposure to Americans, used the opportunity to scuttle the shared PPLI policies rather than locate a new bank to house the attached assets, these people say.

Swiss Life is the biggest Swiss insurer offering PPLI, though not the only one. Some of the people fami liar with the situation say U.S. authorities have collected data on the use of PPLI by Americans, though the issue has taken a back seat to the continuing probe of Swiss banks.

Just as Swiss banks have drawn legal inquiries, "the same thing could happen, certainly, with the insurance companies," said Gideon Rothschild, an attorney with Moses & Singer LLP.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the IRS. Nils Frowein, chief executive of Swiss Life's International unit, says the company hasn't been contacted by U.S. authorities regarding its PPLI business.

PPLI policies are generally a lawful way for clients to defer taxes on wealth as it grows. But policies can be problematic for their owners and carriers if they haven't been set up in compliance with tax laws in a client's home country, or if they are loaded with undeclared assets.

The bulk of the 19.3 billion Swiss francs ($21.7 billion) in assets under control at Swiss Life's International unit in 2012—the most recent data available, prior to the Bank Frey purge—was linked to PPLI. About 4% of that portfolio, or around 770 million francs, was attributable to Americans, according to Mr. Frowein.

Mr. Frowein said while Swiss Life has "been continuously reducing exposure to U.S. persons" where it can, it is confident there are no issues with the American PPLI accounts that remain. "There is no reason for us to re sign from the contracts," he said.

The Swiss banks that partner on PPLI once happily accommodated wealthy U.S. clients, but have more recently jettisoned Americans to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the Justice Department. Unlike banks, insurers are contractually bound to hold policies and pay out for a specific event, such as death. Only an unusual circumstance like Bank Frey's closure allows an insurer to prematurely dump a PPLI policy.

Hundreds of Swiss banks have applied to a U.S. program in which they exchange information about dealings with Americans for guarantees they won't be prosecuted. Insurers aren't able to participate in the program.

The Justice Department has said that about a dozen banks are already under investigation.

Swiss Life began offering PPLI in 2004. Assets under administration ballooned to more than 8 billion francs by 2008 from 200 million francs in 2005. In 2007, Swiss Life added a number of U.S. clients through the p urchase of insurer CapitalLeben, just as dealings with Americans were poised to become subject to greater scrutiny.

In 2009, the Justice Department fined UBS AG UBSN.VX 0.00% UBS AG Switzerland: SWX Europe ^CHF18.51 0.00 0.00% Feb. 21, 2014 5:31 pm Volume : 13.74M P/E Ratio 22.30 Market Cap CHF71.12 Billion Dividend Yield 1.35% Rev. per Employee CHF560,995 02/21/14 Beverly Hills Broker Team Join... 02/20/14 Morgan Stanley Wealth Team Jum... 02/19/14 Detroit Proposes New Settlemen... More quote details and news » $780 million for helping Americans evade taxes, kicking off the broader clampdown on Swiss banking.

Mr. Frowein says Swiss Life stopped taking American clients in 2012. Zurich Insurance Group AG ZURN.VX +0.53% Zurich Insurance Group AG Switzerland: SWX Europe ^CHF266.00 +1.40 +0.53% Feb. 21, 2014 5:31 pm Volume : 681,351 P/E Ratio 10.51 Market Cap CHF39.62 Billion Dividend Yield 6.39% Rev. per Employee CHF1,215,320 02/13/14 Zurich Insurance Profit Up as ... 01/28/14 Series of Deaths Among Financi... 12/16/13 CFO Moves: Zurich Insurance, V... More quote details and news » says it hasn't accepted Americans since its PPLI business began in 2009, while a spokesman for insurer Baloise Holding AG BALN.VX +0.09% Baloise Holding AG Switzerland: SWX Europe ^CHF111.60 +0.10 +0.09% Feb. 21, 2014 5:31 pm Volume : 110,716 P/E Ratio 11.48 Market Cap CHF5.58 Billion Dividend Yield 4.03% Rev. per Employee CHF1,094,100 More quote details and news » said it stopped taking American clients under a 2010 company directive. The Baloise spokesman said the firm doesn't believe it necessary to "actively wind down" U.S. policies.

Swiss Life has bulked up on compliance over the years to help it avoid undeclared assets, Mr. Frowein said, and requires clients to declare their tax status.

Still, Mr. Frowein said, "If you want to do a transaction with us, I have no possibility to check and prove your tax declaration."

Write to John Letzing at john.letzing@wsj.com

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Rape insurance bill aggressively pushed through by nearly all male senate

Today I received a notice about a petition regarding a bill that becomes law in Michigan on March 13, 2014 that many consider a direct attack on women's rights. As another opportunity to control women, law makers have pushed through a bill without putting it to a state-wide vote. This bill is commonly known as the "rape insurance" bill because it removes the option of abortion even in instances of incest or rape.

Several insurance companies cover abortion as part of their health coverage. This bill requires that private insurance companies no longer cover abortions as part of the standard insurance including if the unborn child will not survive past birth. Even fatal fetal abnormalities are not candidates for abortion if this bill passes, forcing a woman to carry a dead fetus or give birth to a child that will never take a first breath.

Based on the wording of the bill, this also includes the morning after pill and states that abortion will not be legal "to remove a fetus that has died as a result of natural causes, accidental trauma, or a criminal assault on the pregnant woman". This is appalling.

This bill was funded through a signed petition drive from a little-known group against abortion taxes. Oddly this bill enforces private, not state insurance companies to stop covering abortion where state insurance already does not offer abortion aid.

Private insurance companies can but are not required to offer employers and women an additional insurance rider that covers abortion above their standard plan. Meaning abortion insurance may or may not exist at all. Who is really behind this type of bill? The insurance companies in essence can now hold a woman hostage to her own body by making her pay additional fees because she is female.

Women from low income families who don't have funds to purchase standard health care and are participating in state medical programs already need to purchase abortion insurance prior to becoming pregnant if that type of insurance is available. If they don't have this extra insurance, they must save the money somehow for this type of medical care. In this catch-22 situation, often the woman cannot save enough money for a procedure that can cost anywhere from $300 to $10,000 so she carries the pregnancy to term thus placing her and now her child (if it was a viable pregnancy) in more of a poverty situation furthering the dependency on state funds.

The Michigan state senate has four women senators in senate of 38. A bill this extreme should go to statewide vote but was pushed through and passed in the senate with 27 to 11 votes.

In an interview on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell, Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich) told her story of being a victim of rape and what this type of measure would have done to her.

Senator Whitmer also explained how difficult it is being one of four women in a male dominated senate. "My republican colleagues took away women's microphones on the floor of the house when they had the audacity to say the word 'vagina'." She went on to say "this is a huge problem for women when our voices are not being heard in the debate much less in the decision making process." She indicated that testimony was not being heard from victims or from doctors.

It is clear this bill was carelessly written without consideration for women's health and requiring women to plan ahead for the possibility of needing an abortion for any reason. Women are angry and rightly so. One young woman said that "women shouldn't be penalized. Instead they should require that all men carry rape insurance since generally it is a man committing the crime."

Senator John Kerry shared this perfect statement. "Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. It doesn't. I don't want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world. I am actually personally opposed to abortion. But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America."

Whether you support the idea of abortion or not, when it is your daughter or wife experiencing the devastation of a non-viable pregnancy and abortion is the only humane solution what is your choice? To hope and pray your daughter or wife and the child survive even when the odds are against a positive outcome for both or take the action you probably have told yourself you would never condone? The reality is, there is a time and place for everything. To penalize a woman for having the ability to bear children and experience complications from that ability is ludicrous.

This misogynistic bill being unmercilessly pushed through by the "good-ole-boys club" has not gone to a statewide vote because it is petition based. Another reason this bill wreaks of sneaky and unethical methods of quickly putting into law something the majority of women have no control over.

In less than three weeks this bill becomes law in the state of Michigan. Women are encouraged to take a stand if they oppose this attack on women by signing a petition. If enough signatures can be collected before the deadline to create a public referendum on the "rape insurance" measure, this ridiculous legislation can be put to a statewide vote. If this senate behaved properly and actually demonstrated that it was for the people it would have sent this to a vote in the first place. To let 34 men decide the fate of thousands of women is unlawful at best.

Unfortunately, Michigan is not the only state to adapt such a bill. According to Think Progress, other states have already implemented such ridiculous and carelessly thought out laws and others are considering the same. The only ones to benefit from this latest bout of insanity seems to be the insurance companies and perhaps any representatives receiving kick-backs from insurance lobbyists. Perhaps it is true. With enough money you can buy anything including the legal ability to hold ill or victimized women hostage.

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Help for some - but not all - stymied insurance shoppers

Insurers, brokers and state officials say some problems solved, while others remain.

Navigator Eugene Keahey assists Brenda Carter during the 32nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration's Affordable Care Act Enrollment at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center on Jan. 18, 2014, in Dallas.(Photo: Sarah Hoffman, The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Story Highlights

• Life changes, wrong Medicaid qualifications can be easily fixed now
• Orphan files: Mismatch between who feds and insurers think are insured
• More are now eligible for special enrollment periods after March 31

Many consumers who have waited months to resolve insurance application issues on HealthCare.gov are finally getting help, but some are still stuck in limbo without Medicaid or insurance coverage, and many of the site's most vexing problems remain, according to insurers, brokers and state Medicaid officials.

Applications that take days, clueless customer service representatives and error-ridden or orphan files persist. Changes made to the website last week will solve many of these problems, but the fixes were made so quietly that few brokers and consumers were aware of them, says Jessica Waltman, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Health Underwriters, which represents insurance agents and brokers.

Federal officials are "not consistently and clearly communicating what to do to fix tricky enrollment situations, either to affected consumers or to the certified agents and brokers who are trying to help their clients get covered," Waltman says.

It's unclear how many people are awaiting help, but Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, says many of the 22,000 people who have filed appeals of their subsidy or coverage determinations should have their problems addressed by the new fixes. Countless others who struggled without formally appealing should also be able to go back into their applications now.

As of last week, those wrongly qualified for Medicaid or unable to change their insurance application to reflect, say, a birth or divorce, can now update these things easily on their applications, CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille says.. CMS employees are also now contacting people to let them know about the changes, she says.

Even though people can now check a box to say they've been rejected for Medicaid and otherwise edit applications, insurers report the files they get about enrollments still sometimes can't be matched with clients, creating what are known as "orphan" records.

Insurance industry spokesman Robert Zirkelbach says insurers are trying to implement the new policies as seamlessly as possible but are stymied by continued glitches.

"There are still some technical challenges that need to be addressed, including processes are being done manually that need to be automated," says Zirkelbach of America's Health Insurance Plans.

Aetna spokeswoman Susan Millerick says the new ability to report life changes is working well, as is HealthCare.gov. "It's the database that continues to need more tuning," she says.

Mandeville, La., insurance broker Anthony Cyprus says Healthcare.gov "is definitely improved," but echoing many brokers and consumers he notes, "not all the support personnel really have a grasp of what is going on."

Call center workers, Bataille says, are undergoing training on how to deal with problems and communicate the new fixes.

"A number of things have been done to try to make customer service as helpful to consumers as possible," she says.

A client in Chicago broker Jordan Wishner's office struggled for months to change her birth date on her insurance application. The matter was finally settled last Thursday once the new fix allowed people to go into applications to make changes. After weeks of waiting for call-backs, Wishner's office was connected to a special consumer assistance person in charge of life changes, he says. His client had already run out of medications that she spent thousands of dollars to refill, he says.

The Medicaid fix doesn't address all those files that are arriving at Medicaid offices or insurers missing key information, however. Medicaid-eligible people who have been bounced back and forth from HealthCare.gov -- a process known as "looping,"-- are now being told just to enroll through their states. That's because the process of transferring files to states is still fraught with problems on both sides, says Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors.

Some of the new changes may also allow consumers to sign up for a "special enrollment period" after the deadline and before enrollment starts again late this year. These include people who give birth, move or adopt a child outside of the traditional sign-up periods.

Broker Angela Surra, general manager of St. Mary Insurance Agency in St. Mary, Ill., says though the website is performing better, some of her brokers have to log in on three different days for error warnings to stop.

Some affected consumers say they simply couldn't wait any longer.

Holly Hawkins, due with her second child at the end of this month, bought a full-priced plan to make sure her birth is covered after trying in vain to get what she and her broker say is an erroneous Medicaid eligibility fixed. She never heard back from her Medicaid office, she says, and "I honestly got sick of messing with it."

Have a health insurance story to tell: Email us at healthinsurance@usatoday.com

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Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. Comments On A.M. Best Rating Announcement Affirming Its B++ (Good) Rating

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. (MIG) ("Meadowbrook" or the "Company") today commented on A.M. Best's affirmation of its B++ (good) rating.

Robert S. Cubbin, Meadowbrook President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are pleased with A.M. Best's affirmation of our B++ financial strength rating.  As we noted in our earnings call this week, we have made cons iderable progress toward improving our core underwriting profitability, increasing our statutory surplus and enhancing our gross and net premium leverage ratios.  We remain focused on continuing to improve profitability and supporting the needs of our customers, partners and agents."

About Meadowbrook Insurance Group

Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc., based in Southfield, Michigan, is a leader in the specialty program management market.  Meadowbrook includes several agencies, claims and loss prevention facilities, self-insured management organizations and six property and casualty insurance underwriting companies. Meadowbrook has twenty-eight locations in the United States. Meadowbrook is a risk management organization, specializing in specialty risk management solutions for agents, professional and trade associations, and small to medium-sized insureds.  Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the sym bol "MIG". For further information, please visit Meadowbrook's corporate web site at http://www.meadowbrook.com.

Certain statements made by Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. in this release may constitute forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, those statements that include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," or similar expressions. Please refer to the Company's most recent 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information on risk factors. Actual results could differ materially. These factors and risks include, but are not limited to: actual loss and loss adjustment expenses exceeding our reserve estimates; competitive pressures in our business; the failure of any of the loss limitation methods we employ; a failure of additional capital to be available or only available on unfavorable terms; our geographic concentration and the business, economic, natural perils, man- made perils, and regul atory conditions within our most concentrated region; our ability to appropriately price the risks we underwrite; goodwill impairment risk employed as part of our growth strategy and the impact of the goodwill impairment charge recognized in the second quarter of 2013; efforts with regard to the review of strategic alternatives; actions taken by regulators, rating agencies or lenders, including the impact of the downgrade by A.M. Best of the Company's insurance company subsidiaries' financial strength rating and any other future action by A.M. Best with respect to such rating; increased risks or reduction in the level of our underwriting commitments due to market conditions; a failure of our reinsurers to pay losses in a timely fashion, or at all; interest rate changes; continued difficult conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally; market and credit risks affecting our investment portfolio; liquidity requirements forcing us to sell our investments; a failure to introduce new products or services to keep pace with advances in technology; the new federal financial regulatory reform; our holding company structure and regulatory constraints restricting dividends or other distributions by our insurance company subsidiaries; minimum capital and surplus requirements imposed on our insurance company subsidiaries; acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses resulting in operating difficulties, which may prevent us from achieving the expected benefits; our reliance upon producers, which subjects us to their credit risk; loss of one of our core selected producers; our dependence on the continued services and performance of our senior management and other key personnel; our reliance on our information technology and telecommunications systems; managing technology initiatives and obtaining the efficiencies anticipated with technology implementation; a failure in our internal controls; the cyclical nature of the property and casualty insuran ce industry; severe weather conditions and other catastrophes; the effects of litigation, including the previously disclosed class action litigation or any similar litigation which may be filed in the future; state regulation; assessments imposed upon our insurance company subsidiaries to provide funds for failing insurance companies; and other risks identified in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any of which may have a material and adverse effect on the Company's results of operations and financial condition. Meadowbrook is not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Moving insurance: Coverage from here to there

America always has been a nation of movers. From the Pilgrims who sailed across the ocean to the pioneers who settled the West, we rarely have been content to stay in one place.

We also love our "stuff," and take it wherever we go. But how do you keep your things -- particularly valuables -- protected when making a big move? Do you need to get some kind of moving insurance?

Home insurance or renters insurance should offer at least some peace of mind. Many insurance companies provide coverage for damage caused during a move by the usual perils named in your policy, such as fire and theft.

But if items break while they're being handled by movers, that can be another story, says Loretta Worters, a vice president with the trade group the Insurance Information Institute.

"Your home insurance will not pay for any damage done to personal property while in the care of movers," Worters says.

So, you will need to pack some special moving insurance coverage.

Insurance options from the movers

You can obtain some coverage from the movers. Moving companies offer two major types, Worters says:

Full-value protection. This is the more comprehensive coverage. The mover is liable for the value of replacing anything that's lost or damaged. If an item goes missing or is harmed or destroyed, the mover can choose one of three options to compensate you:

• Repair the item.
• Replace the item with something similar.
• Offer you a cash settlement for the cost of the repair or the current replacement value.

Full-value protection coverage will cost you a fee. Choosing a higher deductible can reduce the price of this coverage.

Released-value protection. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, this is coverage that movers offer for free.

"However, it provides only minimal protection," Worters says.

Under this option, the mover assumes liability for no more than 60 cents per pound per article, she says. That means, for example, that a 10-pound piece of stereo equip ment would net $6 in damage reimbursement even if the item is worth hundreds of dollars.

Under federal law, movers must offer both full-value and released-value coverage options for all interstate moves. Technically, these two types of coverage are not insurance and are not regulated by state insurance laws, meaning customers who have a beef with their moving company have no recourse through their state's insurance department.

Whichever moving insurance option you choose, Worters urges that you clearly understand what protection is being offered and at what cost.

"Always ask your moving company to provide the specific policy terms in writing," she says.

Add-on coverage from your own insurer

Again, standard homeowners or renters insurance covers loss due to perils named in your policy, such as theft or fire.

But if an item breaks while shifting around in the back of a mover's truck, your policy isn't likely to be much help unless you purchase wha t's called a special-perils contents rider.

This type of add-on covers most breakage, except for fragile items, such as collectible figurines, china, vases and fine arts. (Those items can be covered by yet another rider known as a fine arts rider.)

Extra coverage for valuables

Remember that even if your home insurance does protect your belongings, and even if you have a rider for any breakage that occurs during a move, your insurance may not fully cover pricey items such as jewelry and electronics.

Purchasing a rider on such expensive items can increase your coverage level and leave you better protected, says Pete Moraga, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California.

"This increases the per-item coverage of the valuable and will protect it when it moves outside of the home," Moraga says.

Consult with your agent and other experts if you are unsure about how much coverage to purchase, Moraga says.

"An expert who specializes in the type of item is best," he says.

Finally, it is important to understand whether your valuables will be replaced on an "actual cash value" or a "replacement cost" basis.

Actual cash value means you'll be reimbursed for the cost of your damaged item at its current, depreciated value, while replacement cost means you'll receive the full cost of replacing the item with something new.

Moving it yourself? Rental truck coverage

Some people prefer to handle the moving themselves and use a rental truck to get the job done. Coverage for your valuables is available here, too.

For example, U-Haul offers SafeMove, which covers both the rental truck and any damage to your stuff that results from a collision, fire, windstorm or the truck overturning.

Up to $25,000 in coverage for your cargo is available for the one-way rentals typical of long-distance moves, says Scott Willson, U-Haul's director of insurance programs. In-town rental coverage is limited t o $15,000.

There is a $100 deductible. It is also important to note that this type of moving insurance coverage is actual cash value, meaning that any payout would be made based on the depreciated value of your used belongings.

"Depreciation would be measured by determining the useful life of an item, and what percentage of that useful life remains," Willson says.

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Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts to Bypass Insurance Law

Kyle Balch, left, and Dakota Rader are part-time sanitation employees in Medina, Ohio. Mr. Balch said he was not concerned with being limited to working 29 hours, but Mr. Rader called it a hit to his wallet. Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Cities, counties, public schools and community colleges around the country have limited or reduced the work hours of part-time employees to avoid having to provide them with health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, state and local officials say.

The cuts to public sector employment, which has failed to rebound since the recession, could serve as a powerful political weapon for Republican critics of the health care law, who claim that it is creating a drain on the economy.

President Obama has twice delayed enforcement of the health care law's employer mandate, which would subject larger employers to tax penalties if they do not of fer insurance coverage to employees who work at least 30 hours a week, on average. But many public employers have already adopted policies, laws or regulations to make sure workers stay under that threshold.

Related Coverage

Even after the administration said this month that it would ease coverage requirements for larger employers, public employers generally said they were keeping the restrictions on work hours because their obligation to provide health insurance, starting in 2015, would be based on hours worked by employees this year. Among those whose hours have been restricted in recent months are police dispatchers, prison guards, substitute teachers, bus drivers, athletic coaches, school custodians, cafeteria workers and part-time professors.

The Times would like to hear from Americans who have signed up for health care under the Affordable Care Act.

Mark D. Benigni, the superintendent of schools in Meriden, Conn., and a board member of the American Association of School Administrators, said in an interview that the new health care law was having "unintended consequences for school systems across the nation."

In Connecticut, as in many states, significant numbers of part-time school employees work more than 30 hours a week and do not receive health benefits. "Are we supposed to lay off full-time teachers so that we can provide insurance coverage to part-time employees?" Mr. Benigni asked. "If I had to cut five reading teachers to pay for benefits for substitute teachers, I'm not sure that would be best for our students."

In Medina, Ohio, about 30 miles south of Cleveland, Mayor Dennis Hanwell said the city had lowered the limit for part-time employees to 29 hours a week, from 35. Workers' wages were reduced accordingly, he said.

"Our choice was to cut the hours or give them health care, and we could not afford the latter," Mr. Hanwell, a Republican, said. The city's 120 part-time employees include office clerks, sanitation workers, park inspectors and police dispatchers.

Mr. Hanwell said that new rules issued by the Internal Revenue Service this month did not address the city's fundamental concerns about the cost of providing health insurance.

Lawrence County, in western Pennsylvania, reduced the limit for part-time employees to 28 hours a week, from 32. Dan Vogler, the Republican chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said the cuts affected prison guards and emergency service personnel at the county's 911 call center.

In Virginia, part-time state employees are generally not allowed to work more than 29 hours a week on average over a 12-month period. Thousands of part-time state employees had been working more than that, according to the state personnel agency.

Virginia officials said they could not extend coverage to part-time wage workers because of the expense. Health benefits cost the state an average of more than $11,000 a year per employee.

Mayor Dennis Hanwell of Medina, Ohio, said the city had to cut hours or provide health care, "and we could not afford the latter." Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times

For months, Obama administration officials have played down reports that employers were limiting workers' hours. But in a report this month, the Congressional Budget Office said the Affordable Care Act could lead to a reduction in the number of hours worked, relative to what would otherwise occur.

Jason Furman, the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, reaffirmed the White House view that the law was � ��good for wages and incomes and for the economy over all."

Since Mr. Obama signed the health law in March 2010, the private sector has added more than eight million jobs. But in the public sector, the picture is different.

Government employment at the federal, state and local levels is lower today than in March 2010, by a total of 698,000 jobs, the Labor Department says. And in a recent survey, the National Association of State Budget Officers found that "states plan to reduce the number of full-time employees again" this year.

It is not entirely clear how private employers will respond, but as some government officials point out, businesses a t least have the option of passing along some of the additional costs to consumers.

In Indiana, Daniel T. Tanoos, the schools superintendent for Vigo County, which includes Terre Haute, said, "The school system has no way to increase prices as a private business can."

To hold down the work hours of school bus drivers, Vigo County has reduced field trips for children and cut back transportation to athletic events. School employees who had two part-time jobs totaling more than 30 hours a week — for example, bus driver and basketball coach — were required to give up one of the jobs.

The Obama administration says "there is absolutely no evidenc e" of any job loss related to the Affordable Care Act. And the Congressional Budget Office says "there is no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased" as a result of the law.

Carol Stilla, center, a clerk in Medina's parks department, saw her hours drop from 38 a week to 35 and then to 29. Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times

But economists tend to focus on the private sector, which employs more people and has been adding jobs, unlike the public sector.

Republicans in Congress like Representatives Tim Griffin of Arkansas, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Todd Young of Indiana said they knew of public employers in their states that had restricted the hours of part-time employees.

Authors of the health care law wanted more people to have insurance, Mr. Griffin said, but he asked: "What did they get? No insurance and less pay. Genius! That's a genius federal program right there."

Community colleges depend heavily on part-time faculty members, who teach about 45 percent of all courses, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. The association praised the new rules, saying they would allow many community colleges to avoid the expense of providing health benefits to part-time faculty members.

However, the denial of benefits irks some instructors.

William J. Lipkin, an adjunct profes sor of American history and political science at Union County College in Cranford, N.J., said: "The Affordable Care Act, rather than making health care affordable for adjunct faculty members, is making it more unaffordable. Colleges are not giving us access to health care, and our hours are being cut, which means our income is being cut. We are losing on both ends."

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