January 30, 2012 in Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Health Insurance Plans Can Help Protect Savings and Health

If you have ever experienced a long illness or multiple illnesses, you know the value of health insurance.

Having a health insurance plan in place is smart, because if anything happens to you, you need help paying medical and other related bills. That is the truth. Unfortunately, sometimes due to circumstances and sometimes due to choice, millions of Americans do not have health insurance plans to protect them. If something happens to someone in their family or to them they will be stuck trying to pay staggering bills.

The basic truth is if you have health insurance plans for your family, or have one for yourself, then you have help paying any medical expense that you have incurred, and it is always nice to have someone help you pay the bills, right?

When it gets right down to it, your health is wealth. Think about that for a minute. If you have your health and have it protected, you get help with bills and may likely still be able to work and make money. If you do not have your health, do not have money to pay your bills and may not be able to work; you have nothing but grief and unpaid bills. There is a better way to live your life.

Certainly life is filled with unforeseen circumstances that may find you involved in an accident, dealing with a broken leg or recovering from traumatic brain injury. Any of these things can happen at the drop of a dime. No one knows when they will need medical help. You would not go without home and car insurance, so why would you think health insurance is not necessary?

What do you consider when you are searching for health insurance plans to suit your lifestyle? Some of them should be:
- Know what medical expenses you and/or your family need to ensure a comprehensive plan for everyone
- Search for an insurance company that will provide assistance to help you get precisely what you need
- Do what you can to lower the costs of insurance, such as stop smoking, don’t drink or do drugs
- Buy health insurance from the same company that sold you car and home insurance for a policy reduction
- Do as much online research as possible to find quotes and compare them side-by-side
- Call an agent to double check that the deductibles and monthly premiums cover exactly what you need

Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com.

January 26, 2012 in Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

The Right SEO for Insurance Marketing Makes Success a Reality

You need a web presence that really stands out. To do insurance marketing online, you need the right blend of search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing skills to power your site.

There are some days when you wonder if you are making any progress toward your goal of being page one ranking. It does seem like an uphill battle, but you need to remember that nothing happens overnight on the Internet. It takes proper planning, the right kind of SEO work, a blend of content and plug-ins, a gift for using social media and time. In other words, you will not jump to page one in an hour, day, or week.

Now, what if you had a team of highly qualified SEO pros working in the background for you? What if they created great copy for you every month that promoted your name and business online? What if those services were reasonably priced, got quantifiable results over time, and your business received more customers? Bet you would be signing on the dotted line and excited to have your insurance website design geared up and ready to go.

Chances are you do not have enough hours in the day to even attempt to market your own insurance business. It is hard enough as it is to keep up with phone calls and walk-ins. One person just cannot do it on their own, unless they are backed up by a team of insurance search engine optimization specialists who know what works to increase traffic to your website. It is possible to find such a team. This team not only knows their stuff inside out, but can improve your insurance marketing efforts vastly.

Imagine fresh content added frequently, interesting blogs, articles with relevant information, and news releases that put your company in the position of being an expert in insurance marketing industry. A site like that can be yours by finding the right insurance search engine optimization company.

Why would you choose such a company? If the company co-founder worked in insurance marketing for more than 25 years, the company would have the inside scoop on how to make you look good, get more conversions and keep your insurance website updated. A company like this has helped agencies, solo agents, and insurance companies rev up their marketing and business development efforts. Once you have an established presence on the Internet, you get to sit back and do what needs to be done to run your insurance business.

ReadytoQuote is aninsurance marketing company, ReadytoQuote.com. ReadytoQuote.com specializes in marketing insurance websites online. Learn more at ReadytoQuote.com.

January 23, 2012 in Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Make Looking for Affordable Health Insurance Quotes Like Searching for Car Insurance

Searching for car or house insurance is very similar to searching for affordable health insurance quotes. The only difference is the quotes are for a person.

It is not such a big task to hunt for affordable health insurance quotes online, particularly if you have already found and bought a car or home insurance online. The premise is the same. You provide information to an insurance agent about what you want, what you have for a budget, and what you want for a deductible. This is the same routine you would go through with health insurance. You will need to let them know what you want, what you need, what you can pay and discuss deductibles.

The odd thing is that there are millions of Americans who are living with home and car insurance, because they realize the risks in losing them but they do not have health insurance. It is almost like their health does not matter, and they think nothing will happen to them. The fact is that not having health insurance for anyone in your family is putting everyone at risk. Ask yourself this one simple question: If you got into an accident tomorrow, and that is quite common these days, how would you pay for your medical and other related bills? If you do not have health insurance, you are hurt in more ways than one.

Now here is another fact that many people do not think about – having health insurance saves money. Yes, saves money by helping you cover the bills so you are not paying out 100 percent. Who in this economy can afford to pay out 100 percent on their medical bills? Very few people can do that. If you can afford car and house insurance to protect your investments, then you can afford health insurance to protect your investment in you.

Seriously, with the price of health care, no one can take the chance that they do not have some form of health care to help them pay their medical bills. Remember, even a quick trip to the doctor can cost hundreds, or in some cases, thousands, of dollar. If you have health insurance in place before your visit the doctor, you are covered.

Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com.

January 20, 2012 in Insurance, Insurance Articles, Life Insurance by jferris

Life Insurance Leads Are the Lifeblood of Your Business

Ever wonder how the most successful insurance agents get their leads? Wonder no more, as they are using exclusive life insurance leads.

Sure, you could cold call if you really wanted to do that and it worked well for you. However, to be honest not a lot of insurance agents have the time it takes to cold call. Agents want returns immediately, and customers want insurance right away when they make the decision to buy. The faster, most reliable way to grow your business is to use life insurance leads.

We do not mean just any old life insurance leads, like the ones being offered for free on the Internet. Really? Free? There is no such thing in life as a free lead. So if you really want to ensure your insurance business is growing, then you need to invest in pre-qualified, real-time life insurance leads. This is the key to your success. Why? Because the leads you buy are leads that are expecting you to call. In other words, you have a captive audience.

This is not to say that people cannot change their minds, but they often don’t if they have gone as far as asking for an agent to call them with information. It is yours to work and land the sale. Know your material, know your policies, know how to answer questions and be personable and helpful on the phone, and you can virtually count on a policy purchase.

Where do you find life insurance leads that pay off for you? By contacting Benepath.net. They are just one click away.
They have been in the business for years and they definitely know what a good lead is and how to handle them. If they didn’t, they would not be selling them to you. It only takes seconds to check them out and get signed up for solid, reliable, pre-qualified and real time life insurance leads. And guess what? You will “not” be competing with any other agent for those leads, not like some places that sell supposedly exclusive life insurance leads that turn out to have been worked over already before you even see them.

No sense wasting money that won’t give you a return on your investment is there? With Benepath.net you get accurate and qualified leads; leads that make a closed sale. You can choose your demographics – seniors or younger individuals. Then choose your geographic area, your local community, your state or other states. In short, you can pre-select the criteria for your life insurance leads. In other words, you have the control.

Remember, you want buyers and not shoppers, people who want various kinds of coverage and people ready to buy. By dealing with Benepath.net, you get precisely what you want and need to make a sale, whether that is a family wanting coverage, the ability to pay for a funeral (just in case) or the ability to fund a child’s education.

The good news is that there are literally millions of Americans who need their first insurance policy and even more who need additional coverage, but do not have a clue where to look for help. The thing is, lots of people just do not know how to look for what they need. They want what they need fast, but do not want to spend the time hunting. This is where you come in. With life insurance leads, you have the answers to the questions they have not even asked yet; a sort of Johnny-on-the-spot, who can help them get what they want, when they want it.

Clelland Green is with Benepath.net, a leader in providing health insurance leads. Benepath provides agents with exclusive health insurance leads and Medicare leads in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.net.

January 20, 2012 in Auto Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Florida Considering Laws Against Distracted Driving

As the 2012 legislative session gets under way in state capitols across the country, many states are looking to pass more restrictions on distracted drivers with an emphasis on texting.

Florida has six bills up for consideration this session that target distracted drivers. There are currently no Florida laws that restrict using smartphones or talking on a mobile device while driving. Some Florida lawmakers would like to change that.

Senate Bill 416 would make it illegal to text, check email or have instant message conversations while driving, but would make it ok while sitting at a stop light. A first offense would be a non-moving violation and would result in a $30 fine. Subsequent infractions within five years would result in a moving violation, a fine of $60 and three points deducted from the driver’s license, according to handsfreeinfo.com.

Another bill being considered in the Florida Senate deals with driver’s education. Senate Bill 122 would require driving schools to include curriculum on the risks of driving while distracted.

Senate Bill 930 also would require distracted driver information in driver’s education classes. SB930 goes one step further and bans all use of portable electronic devices by drivers 18 years old and younger, and violations are punishable by a driver’s license suspension.

The Florida House of Representatives has a few distracted driving laws being considered in this session too. House Bill 299 is similar to SB 416 above, but would add a strong penalty if a driver causes an accident while using a handheld electronic device.

School bus drivers get called out specifically in House Bill 187. They would not be allowed to text or call while driving a bus. This bill also would ban drivers 18 and younger from using portable electronic devices while on the road.

Finally, House Bill 39 would create a designated official to whom a person charged with using a handheld device during a traffic offense would have to appear. That official would dole out a fine depending on the severity of the infraction.

Unfortunately, according to Hands Free Info the chances are slim that any of these bills would become law. Many lawmakers are against such legislation and Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a distracted driving bill last year that would have required driving schools to teach about the dangers of operating a vehicle while using electronic devices.

Resistance to Florida bills that would make distracted driving illegal come in many forms, but some lawmakers say it represents a government overreach to tell drivers what they can do in their cars. Across the country, 35 states have passed laws regulating distracted driving.

Vincent Payne is with Florida auto insurance company and Florida car insurance company, AGIC. To get a quote or learn more visit www.agicinsurance.com.

January 18, 2012 in Auto Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Florida Considers Reforms to Personal Injury Protection Law

Florida lawmakers will consider reforms in 2012 to state insurance regulations that could cut back on fraudulent claims that make the Sunshine State one of the most expensive places in the country to insure an automobile.

It is widely speculated that fraud rings exist in Florida that stage accidents to take advantage of the state’s no-fault insurance system that requires drivers to carry $10,000 in personal injury protection.

Florida is No. 1 in the country in questionable claims linked to staged accidents, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reports that auto insurance fraud costs small businesses and consumers about $1 billion annually. Insurance fraud and the resultant high rates can be especially tough on small businesses that have fleet vehicles and multiple drivers.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has taken up the issue as an important part of the group’s lobbying efforts for 2012. The Tallahassee Democrat reports that the Chamber has a history of pushing for and getting needed insurance reforms. About 10 years ago, the Chamber’s advocacy efforts helped secure legislative changes to the workers’ compensation insurance rules.

The challenge for the governor and the legislature is to cut down on the fraud without a complete overhaul of the system. Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system was started in 1972, according to Florida Today. It came to be as a way to combat frivolous lawsuits and help people pay their medical bills more quickly after an accident.

Someone legitimately injured in an automobile accident would go through the $10,000 in personal injury protection quickly with only a ride in the ambulance and a trip to the emergency room. Reform advocates claim that lightly injured wreck victims are used by fraud agents to take the $10,000 from the insurance company and sometimes the wreck victims even get a cut of the cash.

State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has been blunt about what he sees going on in Florida. “Honest consumers are footing the bill for fake procedures at fake clinics,” he said in Florida Today.

The business reform advocates want to see a few significant changes to the law. They hope to give insurance companies more time than the current 30 days to investigate claims they suspect might be fraud. They want to cap lawyer’s fees and they want insurance companies to be able to inspect the medical clinics some think are committing the fraud.

Milla Tawnie writes for Orlando auto insurance and Orlando home insurance agency, the Florida Insurance Group. To learn more or to get auto and home insurance quotes, visit FloridaInsurance.com.

January 17, 2012 in Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Affordable Health Insurance May Be Around the Corner

Health care reform is still the number one topic in the news. Ultimately, should it remain in place, all Americans will have access to affordable health insurance.

It is a grand idea to make sure everyone in America has a health insurance plan. Even just saying those words brings a thrill of expectation to the millions without health insurance. Question: will there really be affordable health insurance in 2014? Will the states have plans available subsidized by the government? Will the states and the government be able to afford this new arrangement?

These are all good questions, but no one seems to really have an answer. Many feel it makes sense to allow everyone the chance to access affordable health insurance, but they are dead set against the bill for a variety of reasons with the major one being the fine. It is hard to imagine being fined because you do not have a health insurance policy, but that is the idea. If you do not have health insurance in 2014 you will be fined. This will apply whether or not you can afford it or if you choose not to have it.

Those who remain uninsured because they choose to be uninsured, are often people who do not want to pay any extra costs relating to insurance, even they may be able to cover the expense of an affordable health insurance plan. These individuals feel it is their right to choose what works for them, and the government has no business dictating what they should do. If the reform provisions are still in place by 2014, if you have not found an affordable health insurance plan by then, you will be fined every year.

Consider this: no matter what you do, buy health insurance or not, you will still face extra costs for health care by the time 2014 rolls around. How so? As it stands today, most families are unable to squeeze an extra amount of money out of their budget to get health insurance. By 2014, those same families will be forced to have insurance or forced to deal with the costs of not being insured. If you want some control over your choice of health insurance, now is the time to find something that works for you and your family.

There is one other thought you might want to think about, and that is what kind of coverage will be in the state plan. Who knows? Acting now will ensure you have a policy you choose with the coverage you want and need.

Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com.

January 13, 2012 in Insurance, Insurance Articles, Life Insurance by jferris

Exclusive Life Insurance Leads are the Stepping Stone to Success

Selling insurance can be tough. It does not have to be that way if you invest in exclusive life insurance leads.

You have to start someplace when it comes to selling life insurance. Many agents, in the industry for a number of years, likely slogged along by cold calling. It is a tough way to get business, but it does work if you have the time and patience to do it that way. And if you really want to work cold leads, by all means do so. However, you do not have to cold call when you can buy exclusive life insurance leads that will actually get you business.

Imagine getting exclusive life insurance leads in real time, pre-qualified and are waiting to hear from you. That is an insurance agent’s dream, and it can be a reality. You just need to make sure that what you are buying is the real deal and not some collection of over-worked leads that others have already jumped on and worked into the ground. They do not provide you with a return on your investment and are therefore a complete waste of money. Think smart, and only choose leads that provide your business with value, which means sales.

What do you need to think about when it comes to sourcing exclusive life insurance leads? The main thing to focus on is whether or not the leads you are considering are pre-qualified. Would you waste time on calling someone who would rather go for a root canal than talk to a life insurance agent? No, you would not. Therefore before you spend good money to buy leads, check to see if they are genuinely exclusive to you only and are pre-qualified. If you stick to Benepath.net’s exclusive life insurance leads, you won’t have to look any further.

In other words, if you stick with an established insurance company with a good reputation, your chances of getting precisely what you want – exclusive leads, pre-qualified and not worked to death – will be a reality. Ask questions. Do your homework. Call the company. Ask other insurance agents about their experiences with the company you are considering. You won’t be disappointed and business will never look so good when you get those exclusive life insurance leads.

Clelland Green is with Benepath.net, a leader in providing health insurance leads. Benepath provides agents with exclusive health insurance leads and Medicare leads in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.net.

January 12, 2012 in Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Next Generation Insurance Marketing is Easy With the Right SEO

Insurance marketing is tough, but it does not have to be if you have the right search engine optimization (SEO) skills powering the site.

Ideally, in a perfect Web environment an insurance website would be updated at least every second day with new articles, tips, a blog entry or two and valuable information about the business and perhaps a video or a podcast as well. If you had that kind of time on hand, you could likely do it yourself, but you have customers to tend to and an insurance business to run. So what is the best thing to do? Find the right search engine optimization company to help you with these tasks.

Start with a quality, classically designed insurance website that has all the latest plug-ins and social media functions to boost your online presence. Your site is a critical part of your business and you need to take advantage of every opportunity available to promote your insurance company. You like your site and want to beat the competition that seems to be ranking higher than you are. That can be done with skill, patience, and long-term planning with the right SEO company.

Once you have a professional team of insurance search engine optimization experts, get to work to increasing the traffic and name recognition of your site. It is the little things that count big when you want to do proper insurance marketing. The long-term results will make your insurance website a force to compete with in Google rankings. Just remember, website rankings do not increase overnight. It takes time – at least six months – to move up in the rankings in an ethical manner.

It is no secret that if you want your insurance marketing efforts to have results, then you need to have your business name out on the Internet and it must be consistently associated with quality information, good service and content that keeps people’s attention.

What you ultimately want is insurance search engine optimization that works effectively and gets you conversions when people visit your site. You need to have an insurance website design that speaks to people professionally and offers them precisely what they need – quotes, blogs, articles full of information they can use, and news releases that tell them about changes in the insurance industry and how those changes will affect them. In other words, you need to have quality insurance marketing going out consistently.

The right insurance search engine optimization company will do this for you. Get ready for the next generation of insurance websites.

ReadytoQuote.com. ReadytoQuote.com specializes in marketing insurance websites online. Learn more at http://www.readytoquote.com.

ReadytoQuote is aninsurance marketing company, ReadytoQuote.com. ReadytoQuote.com specializes in marketing insurance websites online. Learn more at ReadytoQuote.com.

January 11, 2012 in Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Articles by jferris

Officials Find No Link Between Chinese Drywall and Health Issues

A recent study fails to show that faulty drywall in homes is a cause of health problems.

About 4,000 families complained to the Consumer Product Safety Commission that bad drywall was causing nosebleeds and respiratory ailments. More than half of those families were in Florida.

Researchers testified to a Senate panel that the toxic chemicals released by the drywall are not high enough to show a link to the health issues.

The CPSC’s findings do not yet support making the agency call for a recall of the drywall because of health risks, according to The Tallahassee Democrat.

“We’re not suggesting that (those effects) don’t exist,” said Neal Cohen, with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. “We’re suggesting that we have not been able to explain them with the low level of emissions we were able to (detect) in the home.”

Cohen was speaking to members of a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee last December. “Unfortunately, the results of our studies have not permitted us to make health or safety findings that would enable us to compel the manufacturer to recall this product,” he said.

The National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control had a similar message for Senate committee members. That agency is doing more testing and expects new results in the spring.

Some homeowners claim that the drywall in their homes has made them sick. Drywall manufacturers have disputed those claims, but since drywall is rarely labeled, it is difficult to say with any authority exactly where specific drywall came from in any given house. Just because a subcontractor said American drywall was used doesn’t necessarily mean that the drywall in the home is American, according to CBS News.

The Chinese government owns many of the drywall manufacturers that the CPSC is trying to investigate. CPSC researchers even tried to tour a Chinese plant to try and understand what goes into imported drywall, but they were turned away at the mines during the inspection, according to Propublica.

Cohen told the Senators at the hearing that the answer from China so far has been unhelpful. “To date there has been no response from the Chinese manufacturers,” Cohen said at the hearing. “They are basically telling us, ‘return to sender’ and that they don’t believe there is a problem with their drywall.”

Many of the Florida homes that have been affected are ones built after the 2005 hurricane season.

Milla Tawnie writes for Orlando auto insurance and Orlando home insurance agency, the Florida Insurance Group. To learn more or to get auto and home insurance quotes, visit FloridaInsurance.com.