It’s time to mark your calendar, whether it’s made out of card stock and hangs on the walls or if it’s a fancy web calendar, because it’s a new year, and it’s time to make sure that you have the right types of insurance once again. If you have a type of insurance that you don’t need or haven’t re-shopped your insurance policies, you could be wasting a lot of money. If you don’t have insurance that you do need, you could be putting yourself at a lot of risk.

Here are some steps to make sure that your insurance is ready to go for 2009 and beyond:

Check Up on Your Life Insurance - If you’re in relatively good health, mark a date on your online calendar to re-shop your life insurance quotes online. If you have whole-life, consider switching to more affordable term insurance. If you don’t have any children or have adult children that aren’t dependent on your income, ask yourself if you really need life insurance at all. If you have a wife and kids and don’t have any life insurance, you should beat yourself up, get a quality term insurance policy so that your family is protected.

Reconsider Your Car Insurance - If you have a vehicle and are paying for collision and comprehensive insurance, make sure that it actually makes sense to do so. If your vehicle is worth less than $5000, and you’re paying for these extra insurances, you should probably not be wasting your money by insuring something of such little value. If you’ve bought a new car and are only carrying minimal insurance, consider upping it.

Review Your Health Insurance – If you’re getting employer provided health care, you’re probably stuck where you are, but if you buy your own health insurance, you should probably go out and check and make sure you’re with a good company. Not all health insurance companies are the same and there are some that are notorious for turning down claims, and there are others that provide great customer service, so make sure you’re with a good company by reading reviews of it online.

Eliminate Wasteful Policies – If you are paying for pet insurance, mortgage-life insurance, cancer insurance, or any other policy that most people don’t have, you might be insuring something that’s really un-necessary. If you get cancer, your health insurance will pay for the bill, you don’t need a separate policy that will pay your bills if you get cancer. It’s kind of like signing up for both Flickr and Facebook for photo sharing, they do exactly the same thing, so there’s not much need to do both.

Finally, you should check up on your
home insurance
policy. Make sure that it will cover the current value of your home. Although the market is down a bit, some have still appreciated significantly in the last 5 years, so make sure the dollar amount on your policy matches the value of your home.

If you are currently one of the 50 million Americans who don’t have health insurance
through their employer and can’t seem to afford it on your own, you’re probably looking for ways to lower the cost of health insurance premiums so that you can afford them! There are many options and features across numerous health insurance providers, but here are 8 tips to help you lower health insurance premiums to fit into your budget:

1. Raise the deductible. When you get a health insurance policy quote, it’s possible that the quotes are at lower deductibles. If you raise the deductible (the amount you pay out of pocket annually before your medical insurance will kick in and start to cover your expenses), you pay less per year for the coverage. Try obtaining quotes with various deductible amounts to see if you could more easily afford a health insurance policy with a higher deductible.
2. Start a health savings account. You can save money on a pre-tax basis into special medical savings accounts that can be used to pay for medical expenses. You can use the funds in a health savings account to pay for an annual medical insurance policy, as well as medical expenses not covered by the insurance plan and as an added bonus, your annual tax bill will be lower.
3. Consider major medical insurance coverage. Not everyone is aware that there are two primary types of health insurance coverage options – one that covers the standard visits to the doctors and prescriptions; and one that covers surgeries or procedures you must have due to accidents or emergencies. If you choose to obtain only major medical insurance coverage, your premiums will be lower than if you’re looking for major medical as well as standard coverage, and since the cost of major medical procedures are costly, it may help to at least have insurance coverage for these instances.
4. Keep an eye on your credit score. Believe it or not, your credit score can play a role in the price you pay for health insurance. Pay your bills on time, reduce your debt utilization, and make sure there are no errors on your credit report that are adversely affecting your score.
5. Throw out the smokes. Smoking is a habit that is costing you a fortune when it comes to health insurance. Because smoking is related to a number of illnesses and diseases, smoking puts you in a higher risk pool to insure, therefore making the price you pay for insurance higher than someone who doesn’t smoke. Quit smoking and the rates you pay for insurance will drop, plus you’ll save the money you were paying on cigarettes.
6. Pay the annual premium all at once. If you can afford it, paying the annual premium for a health insurance policy will typically cost less than if you were to pay the same policy premium on a monthly basis.

Many employees made the decision to take their current job based on the duties involved, the rate of pay, and the health insurance packages and other benefits offered by the perspective employer. In the even you lose your job due to a layoff or a termination, employees may qualify for a continuation of insurance even though employment has ended with the company. Because of the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, employers who have more than 20 employees working must offer continued insurance, commonly known as COBRA.

COBRA insurance works in this fashion: employees who wish to remain under their employer’s sponsored insurance plan must pay 102% of the premium for the health insurance policy. This percentage includes the amount the employer initially subsidized during the individual’s employment term. Eligible participants will receive the same coverage and services as all other still-employed individuals receive under the policy.

The Downside of COBRA
While the option to continue on the same insurance policy as when they were employed seems like a great plan, many do not realize they will have to pay more for the insurance coverage than they did when employed. Since the company is no longer footing part of the bill, COBRA coverage can be expensive to maintain, especially if you are out of work. The coverage you may have under COBRA may fit your health care needs, the payments will not always fit your wallet so it may be in your best interest to shop elsewhere for medical insurance. Don’t be fooled into thinking that everyone else is jumping on the COBRA bandwagon after leaving a job. You need to do what you can financially to ensure your health care needs are covered at a premium you can afford to pay. Each individual will need to assess their own situation and find a health insurance policy to meet their needs, whether it is through COBRA or not.

Qualifying for COBRA
Before you make a decision to leave your position or to accept continued coverage through COBRA, you will first need to make sure you are eligible. There are various deadlines for applications and payments in order to have continuous coverage so you will need to know what time lines you will need to abide by so your coverage is not interrupted.

If you do plan to continue insurance coverage through your former employer, make sure you understand clearly the terms and conditions of the benefits under the policy. There is always a possibility that you will move to find other work. In the event you do make such a life change, you will need to know if the new area medical facilities will be covered under your policy. You also want to be clear about the total cost of paying for the premium and whether or not it is in your budget. It will make sense to shop around for other policy information and compare services and price with companies beyond the one sponsoring the policy your currently maintain.

It can be quite difficult to find a health plan that includes a lot of coverage for the least amount of expense. Being able to determine what you need most and when isn’t always easy but here is a good breakdown of different stages of life and what insurance services you need to have covered.

Single/No Dependents
If you are in good health, you most likely will get what you need from an HMO, or the least expensive insurance package. Try and stay within the network service providers when seeking treatments such as with your PCP (primary care physician). In the event you need to see a specialist, your PCP can refer you. If you are able to easily stay with your insurance network of providers because all of the doctors you see are listed as part of the network, you should consider choosing a plan that carries a higher deductible for physicians out of the network so you can pay even less in premiums.

Marry/No Dependents
If married couples both are offered insurance plans from their employer, it is important that both plans are reviewed and compared throughly. By choosing which plan has the best coverage for both individuals, you will save money rather than keeping up two separate plans. Some companies will even offer a cash opt-out for those employees who choose not to take coverage from their employer. On the other hand, some companies will hit you with a charge simply for adding your married partner who has alternate insurance options onto your policy.

Married/With Dependents
Married couples with children may choose to have both parents stick with their own employer’s plan and add the kids to one parent’s plan under the employee and family option. Or they can opt to cover the entire family under one plan. It depends on how many members there are in your family to determine whether or not you want to choose an HMO or a PPO. If you have kids away at school who are still covered under your plan, it may be in your best interest to have a low-deductible PPO plan since it is likely that most of the kids providers will be out of the network. The PPO option is also a good choice for families who have special needs children.

Aging Parents/Kids Gone
Once the kids move out of the house and are taking care of their own insurance needs, the parents the left behind will want to find an affordable plan that covers prescription costs and the costs for seeing specialists. Plans that have the lowest prescription co-pays without caps on spending will be the best to consider. When looking over coverage options, remember that finding the lowest premium may not be what you are looking for. A higher premium policy may even out the costs coming out of your pocket. You may also appreciate the ability to see specialists without having to go through your PCP for a referral each time.

Sure it takes time to weed through the plan options for health insurance coverage but the time you invest in choosing the right plan for you will save you hard earned money.