State Farm Continues To Provide Lowest Insurance Rates

State Farm Insurance Co., California's biggest auto insurer, intends to cut drivers' rates by 5.4%, an action that will pressure competitors to continue a downward price trend. The news Thursday means $133.8 million in premium savings for State Farm customers in California.It provoked an angry dispute, though, between Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, and state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush over whether regulators should be investigating excess profits at insurers and ordering even greater premium reductions.Huge sums are at stake in a state where driving is a necessity for most people. Of California's 20...

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Medicare Updates

There's some bad news for those looking for easy ways to trim Medicare spending. The Congressional Budget Office says two major approaches tested in recent years mostly failed to reduce spending. Nonpartisan analysts looked at experiments that promoted better care coordination for the chronically ill, trying to keep them out of the hospital. They also studied experiments that changed the way doctors and hospitals get paid, rewarding quality instead of volume. A report issued Thursday concluded neither approach reduced spending. Care coordination increased spending in some cases, when added fees for monitoring patients were taken into account. Payment for value only seemed to save money when providers...

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Get the Best Home Insurance!

Hunkered down at home in Great Falls, Va., during the blizzard of 2010, Doug Colley and his wife, Christina, discovered a sparking surge protector that quickly set their bedroom on fire. Engulfing smoke drove the couple out into the cold with only their coats and Christina's purse. Fire trucks from several area firehouses responded, but they couldn't reach the house because 3 feet of snow covered the couple's half-mile-long driveway. The Colleys watched as the fire consumed their home of 32 years and, along with it, a lifetime of belongings.Build a Good Policy Keep in mind that you're not insuring the market value of your land, just the cost to rebuild your home, garage and any other buildings. Your policy should include an inflation guard that is keyed to regional costs and, ideally,...

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Read This: The best Life Insurance benefits!

Life insurance is one of those financial products that can give people the heebie-jeebies. It can sound confusing and complicated, and it involves thinking about a very scary proposition: death. But life insurance really isn't as frightening or complex as it seems. It's actually a fantastically useful and flexible estate-planning tool that can provide income-tax-free security for your loved ones. It can also provide liquidity to pay estate taxes, especially if your estate largely consists of assets such as real estate or a closely held business that you may be reluctant to sell to raise cash. (If the policy is owned by an irrevocable trust, the insurance payout can avoid estate taxes too.) Here's a rundown of some of the basics of life insurance: 1 'How do I buy insurance?' You...

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