When the majority of people begin looking for life insurance, the premium they’re quoted is often the one they end up paying. What most people don’t realize is that it’s possible to shop around for a better deal and it may even be possible to negotiate for reduced premiums.

If you’re thinking of applying for life insurance, looking for a policy or maybe wanting to change your existing policy then it’s best to begin forearmed with a little knowledge of what you’re seeking. Obviously you’ll want to be sure you’re paying the most competitive life insurance premium available for the type of policy you’ve chosen.

When people talk about life insurance, most people groan as they think finding and taking out insurance is a lot of hassle or that it might be too expensive. But when the inevitable happens, as it ultimately will, do you want your loved ones to be financially secure or struggle?

Finding the Best Life Insurance

Where do you look if you are in the market for insurance? Here are a few good places to look, but be advised the list is not complete and there are lots of places where you can find insurance. Don’t be fobbed off with any type of insurance either, and you want the best life insurance premium too.

Take the time to speak to a professional adviser about your options. They’re likely to know more about the intricacies of various policies and will be able to help you find the right one for you.

Shopping for the Best Life Insurance Premium

An adviser may also be able to give you some practical tips on ways to reduce your premium. You may consider what exclusions you need or perhaps you might consider various lifestyle factors that can determine how much you pay on your current premiums.

You should also carefully consider the payout figure you’re insured for. If you’re insured for a very large sum of money, this can often increase the amount you pay on premiums. Be realistic about the amount your beneficiaries will need to survive financially if something happened to you and consider reducing the payout figure if necessary. This can lower your premium payments.

Lifestyle and Career Choices

While the right type of insurance is important and best fits your circumstances, factors like age, smoking, and your occupation all come into consideration. Hazardous occupations may incur a steeper premium rate. Likewise, smokers may find themselves paying higher premiums.

Some insurance companies may penalize people who are a little overweight, as obesity can often lead to an increase in health risks, which increases your premiums in turn. In order to reduce your premiums, consider working on raising your fitness level a little. Not only will you feel healthier, but you’ll lose a little weight at the same time and lower your life insurance premium.

Another good tactic is to ask for quotes from several different companies selling life insurance. You are not obliged to take out their policies if you do not want to, but it can help you to see what cover is available and you’ll also be able to accurately compare the life insurance premiums available to you.

I’m sure that a lot of condo/coop & HOA board members have the following question: how come on my Automobile & HO-6 Insurance policies I pay the premiums directly to the insurance carrier, and I have the option of monthly installments, whereas on the condo/coop or HOA master insurance policy I have to pay the premiums to my agent or broker, and the premium has to be paid in full upon binding of the policy and if I can’t afford to pay it in full then we have to get premium financing? That’s a very good question, and it all comes down to 2 main ways that insurance premiums are being charged:

1. Direct Bill
2. Agency Bill

Direct Bill

Most personal lines insurance policies, including personal automobile insurance, homeowners insurance, renter’s insurance and personal umbrella insurance are direct bill. This means that the insurance carrier is billing the policy holder directly. Most personal lines insurance policies come with the option of quarterly or monthly installments, you’ll have to pay a down payment (usually 20%) upon binding, and the rest will be split up to quarterly or monthly installments. In most cases you’ll be charged a small fee for every installment anywhere from $1 to $6 depending if you set up automatic withdrawals from your bank account. Once the policy is in effect, the agent or broker has nothing to do with the billing of your insurance policy (of course he’ll get a notice of cancellation if you don’t pay your premium and call you up to make sure that you’ll make a payment so your policy shouldn’t cancel). This is why on all your personal insurance policies you pay the insurance company directly and you have the options of installments.

Agency Bill

But when it comes to your condo/coop or HOA’s master insurance policy it’s a whole different story. Most condo/coop or HOA policies are agency billed, this means that the insurance carrier is billing the insurance broker the full policy premium, and the broker has to bill the condo/coop or HOA association. The broker usually has 30 to 90 days to pay the full premium to the insurance carrier. This is the reason why you pay the insurance premiums to the insurance agent or broker and why it has to be paid in full. But what if your condo/coop or HOA association can’t afford to pay the whole premium at once?

Premium Financing

Most condo/coop or HOA associations don’t have extra money lying around, so when your policy premium is more than $20,000 it’s kind of hard to pay the full amount up front, that’s when premium financing comes in to play. Your insurance broker should help you out with the premium financing; there are a lot of good financing companies out there. The interest rates are usually between 6 & 10%. They will only finance about 80% of the premium, which means that you’ll have to pay about 20% upon closing. How does the whole financing process work? The financing company sends a check of the full premium (minus your 20% down payment) to the insurance broker. Then the insurance broker sends to the insurance company the down payment that he got from the condo/coop or HOA and the check that he got from the financing company (minus his commissions). Then the financing company is going to bill you monthly or quarterly with a 6 to 10% interest rate. The following is something that unfortunately happens quite often: The insured made sure to have the policy paid up in full, whether by paying the full amount or by getting premium financing, and after a few weeks they get a notice of cancellation in the mail. What happened here? Very simple, your broker received the full amount, now he has up to 60 days to pay the company, and very often brokers neglect or on purposely delay paying the insurance company right away. This is wrong and illegal and you should stay away from such insurance brokers.

In health insurance, two major factors affect policy premiums or rates. The first major factor is your family health or personal health history. The second factor is age.

While calculating the life insurance premiums and health insurance premiums, the insurance companies, consider family history and personal health of the individual, as the major contributors. Most health insurance companies request urine samples and blood samples to ensure that there are no pre-existing health problems.

Most insurers offer policies with higher premium amounts to people, suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and other health risks.

People who have perfect health can observe that the standard term policy may have more premiums simply, because such policy covers most health risks. This policy is good for those people, who do not have time to lower their risk factors and can afford to pay huge premiums.

Thus, before applying for policy, people can check out various online quotes that can help them to locate a guaranteed issue policy. Moreover, people can also refer to FAQ’s to see, what factors they need to consider while obtaining an ideal health coverage plan.

Unfortunately, even though policyholders can have low insurance premiums, family history and health are not always controllable. Therefore, such people may have to pay high premium amount.

Some Statistics:

In the early part of the decade, typical health insurance premiums skyrocketed with an annual growth of 10.8 %. In the year 2003, the premium growth shockingly remained strong, before it decreased to 8 % in the year 2004. Right from the year 1982, health insurance premiums have registered an average 7% annual growth. For health insurance premiums, volatile business cycle is very typical thing.

In the year 1992, health insurance constituted 6.3 % of the employee compensation for the private industry employers. In the month of September 2007, health benefits comprised a large portion of employer provided benefits. This included 7.1% of the entire compensation. This made health insurance the largest compensation share for employers having an excess of 500 employees.

The moment the costs escalated, most employers passed their increased premium on to their employees. This has really just shifted the problem.

Conclusion:

An aging population has a significant impact on the future of health care industry in the United States. In terms of pharmaceutical treatment, in-patient care stays and physician visits, the elderly are the most high-cost demographic groups.

The main cause of rising health insurance premiums are the aging population. An aging population creates huge problems in terms of the Medicare Program, since it attempts to fund the services of at least 22 % of the total population.

It is important for people, to pay their monthly premiums on time. Some insurance firms also provide discounts for such people. Secondly, it is also essential that the policyholders compare various health insurance plans. Thereafter, they can select the best plan amongst them all.

Health insurance has become an extremely important issue in America due to spiraling health costs. Thus, easy to pay typical health insurance premiums can ensure coverage for majority of American population.

If you need to cover your own health care cost consider getting a free quote to see if you could save money. You can get them free instantly by simply visiting one of the sites below.