To start off, you have to know why your credit status matters to most insurance companies. This is because previous clients with bad credit records have the tendency to report higher claims and cost even more. On the statistical perspective, those who have better credit status are usually lesser in cost. And this is the reason why insurance firms favor people with high and good credit scores.

If you would like to know how to increase your credit score, there are actually a couple of easy means for you to achieve this. To start with, you have to get a credit card, but you don’t need to use it often. This could only help you gain score and raise your credit standing. But if you already own a credit card, become a responsible user.

Make sure to pay the dues fully and before the due date, whatever you credit line is. This way, you will be gaining good scores. Regularly check on your credit report and assure that there are no mistakes. Hence, when making use of your credit card, be accountable and also spend only according to what you can pay.

Though it is somehow difficult to find insurance company when your credit score is poor, it is not entirely impossible. Some insurance providers can deal with people who have bad credit with special terms and arrangement. To sum it up, for you to get the deal you want with your current automobile insurance firm, you need to improve you bad credit status.

To begin with, increase your credit ratings. This will take some time, but patience and time give you the best result. Or perhaps, get a cheaper car which you could afford. You should not also get added loan. And more importantly, you should have a stable job and be sure that you can pay your bills on time.

Remember, one of the best ways out of getting a great deal in car insurance is to improve your credit score. Start paying your debts to attempt improving your credit status. Many individuals with bad credit scores depend on other loans to get the car insurance they want. Doing this is not absolutely harmful, just ensure that you are able to pay off your dues on time and that you are dealing with a good lending company.

Otherwise, this can be a wrong move when the stake will be at your car. Various cars have different insurance deals. So if your credit score is not good, it is simply sensible that you get a car that has lower insurance deal. Keep in mind that your score can be improved and rather than finding car insurance with bad credit you can soon be getting it with good credit.

You may be aware that auto insurance coverage can be costly and it is essential that any driver requires it. The most important advice for you is to scout as many auto insurance companies as possible and study their offers and rates. Compare the deals in each company, and then buy a car with a low insurance rate with deals you agree with.

And once again, start improving your own credit rating as soon as possible. Even though obtaining car insurance with bad credit is expensive it is normally less expensive than buying a new car if you get in an accident.

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If you only plan to travel abroad once this year, then single trip travel insurance is probably the best value – there’s no point in paying for cover you don’t need!

Generally speaking, you can purchase single trip travel insurance to cover three areas; Europe, Worldwide and Worldwide with exclusions. These exclusions tend to be travel to areas like the Caribbean, USA and Canada where claims tend to be more expensive. Check your policy details to make sure you have chosen the right territory – for example, some providers include Tunisia under their European cover, while others don’t.

It is also very important to check the details of your single trip travel insurance policy very carefully to check the cover meets your needs. If it does prove to be unsuitable, you should be able to obtain a refund within 14 days of taking out the policy provided your trip has not already begun and you have not made a claim on the policy.

A good single trip travel insurance policy should offer cover for emergency medical expenses, cancellation, curtailment, personal possessions, personal liability and legal expenses. Many single trip travel insurance policies offer the option to exclude baggage cover for a discount – this is worth doing if you already have “away from home” cover for your personal belongings on your home contents insurance policy, or don’t feel that you need cover for this.

You may also have encountered something called “excess waiver” on some single trip travel insurance policies. Basically, the excess is an amount that you pay whenever you make a certain type of claim. By paying a small addition premium for “excess waiver” you can eliminate this cost.

If you are planning a ski or snowboard trip, it is important to find single trip travel insurance which offers cover for this. Similarly if you are going on an adventure holiday, check that the single trip travel insurance policy offers cover for any hazardous activities you are taking part in before you go.

Single trip travel insurance is available from a number of places. If you booked your holiday through a travel agent you will probably have been offered their policy, but remember you are not obliged to take this and it can work out very expensive. Thanks to comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket it is easier than ever to compare single trip travel insurance premiums, and as a result the market has become very competitive.

Don’t be tempted to try and save money by travelling without single trip travel insurance – the cost of sorting out even a small problem will probably outweigh the premium you paid, and bills for medical emergencies can run into many thousands of pounds.

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A relative has just died. He had a life insurance policy with you listed as the beneficiary. There’s just one problem: the life insurance policy is missing. You have no idea which insurance company wrote it. If you find the missing life insurance policy in the future, are you still eligible to receive the death benefit?

Hope they paid their insurance bills

If you’re a beneficiary and you find the lost life insurance policy shortly after the insured dies (within six months to a year, for example), claiming the death benefit should be trouble-free.

First, determine if the insured had term or permanent life insurance. If the insured held a term policy, you’ll receive the death benefit if he died before the end of the policy term. If he died after the policy expiration date, you would get nothing.

If the insured had a permanent life policy, you’ll receive the money if the death occurred while the policy was “in force,” meaning all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death was a while ago, you’ll receive the benefit with interest from the date of death.

If the life insurance policy lapsed — meaning the insured stopped making premium payments before he died — there’s a chance you might get nothing. When a permanent life insurance policy lapses, most insurance companies switch its status from permanent insurance to one of two options:

“Extended term” — The insurance company uses the cash value of the policy to buy a term life insurance policy for the same death benefit using the cash value of the policy. The death benefit will continue for the longest period the cash value will purchase.

“Reduced paid up” — The insurance company will keep the policy in force permanently, but will reduce the death benefit.

Gerry Brogla, an actuary for State Farm, says in the majority of the cases at his company, the permanent policy continues as extended term if it lapses. At State Farm, extended term is the default option for most permanent policies.

If the policy lapses, and the extended-term period expires before the insured dies, the policy is worthless and the life insurance beneficiary will get nothing. If the insured dies before the extended-term period is up, the beneficiary will receive the death benefit. If the policy lapsed because the insured died (thus ending premium payments and causing the insurance to be placed in extended-term status), the beneficiary will still collect the full death benefit, regardless of when the extended term was up. The beneficiary always needs to supply the insurance company with a death certificate to verify the date of death.

There is no time limit during which a life insurance beneficiary must step forward to collect the money, according to Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers. “If a person shows up 30 years after [the insured's] death, the company still makes good on it,” Dolan assures.

What happens if no one ever reports the death?

If the insured dies and the insurance company does not learn of the death, the policy lapses. Insurance companies will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments.

When an insurance company stops getting payments, it sends letters to the insured informing him the policy may lapse as a result of unpaid premiums. If the letters go unanswered, the company might initiate a search to find the insured. If that comes up empty, the company will then lapse the policy.

If a beneficiary to a policy never steps forward, it unfortunately means the insured paid money to a policy throughout his life and his beneficiaries never see a penny. This is why its a good idea to make sure beneficiaries are aware of any life insurance policies you have.

If you’re lucky, the state may have your money

In some cases when a beneficiary fails to claim a death benefit for several years, the money is transferred to the state where the insurance policy was purchased under the escheat laws.

If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state comptroller’s department within three to five years of the insured’s death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered “unclaimed property” and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller’s department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost life insurance beneficiaries.

Many states will try to contact life insurance beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. In Texas, for example, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries are published annually in each county in the state. In New York, the Web site of the New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds has an online search to find any unclaimed death benefits owed to you. You can find out the procedures in your state by contacting the office of your state comptroller or treasurer.

Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with the state are slim. The insurance company has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it’s unaware the insured died. In most cases, it’s the beneficiary who contacts the insurance company.

Also, the insurer only transfers the money to the state three to five years after it cannot find the beneficiary but knows the insured died. If the state doesn’t have the death benefit, it’s likely the insurer is still looking for the beneficiary or doesn’t know the policyholder has died.

Unclaimed death benefits are rarely transferred to the state. Dave Potter, a spokesman for Hartford Life, says less than 1 percent of his company’s death benefits go unclaimed.

Del Chance, a life insurance claims manager at State Farm, says, “Turning over life policy benefits to an individual state after the death of an insured is extremely rare. State Farm utilizes their own search techniques as well as outside vendors to locate lost beneficiaries in the event of the death of one of our insureds. By and large these procedures have always located the beneficiary.

Tips for making sure your life insurance beneficiaries get your death benefit:

1. Give your beneficiaries your policy information. It can be a difficult and awkward conversation, but an important one.

2. Keep all your financial records (especially your life insurance policies) in one place. Don’t force your beneficiaries to search your house from top to bottom after you die.

Tips for looking for lost life insurance policies:

1. Go through canceled checks or contact your relative’s bank for copies of old checks. Look for checks made out to insurance companies.

2. Ask those who may have known about your relative’s finances. Speak with the relative’s lawyer, banker or accountant. Also contact the relative’s insurance agent.

3. Contact your relative’s past employers. They might know of possible group life insurance. The insured might have also purchased supplemental life insurance through work.

4. Check the mail for a year. Premium bills and policy-status notices are usually sent annually.

5. Look at income tax returns for the past two years. Check for interest income from policies or expenses paid to life insurance companies.

6. Contact the Medical Information Bureau. If your relative bought life insurance fairly recently, there might be a trail of the companies to which he applied. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) maintains a database that might show if insurers requested your relative’s medical information within the past seven years. Record searches can be requested through the MIB’s Policy Locator Service and cost $75. The MIB says that nearly 30 percent of searches turn up leads.

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So your employer in Dallas, Houston or any place in Texas doesn’t offer health insurance. Perhaps you can’t afford to pay for a health plan. Or maybe you just don’t want pay for health coverage because you’re healthy enough that you feel “you don’t need it.” If you fall into any of these categories, you may be a candidate for a “catastrophic” health insurance plan, or what is sometimes called a “high deductible” health plan (HDHP).

Catastrophic health insurance is usually characterized by its high deductibles and low monthly premiums. These plans typically cover major hospital and medical expenses only above a certain deductible. This means you are likely to pay out-of-pocket for most everything else, like routine doctor visits and many, if not all, prescription drugs.

The many catastrophic health insurance plans offered these days cover expenses for hospital stays, surgery, intensive care, diagnostic X-ray and lab tests.

When choosing this kind of plan, your deductible may start at $1,000 a month or higher. Along with the high deductibles, many catastrophic health plans have high lifetime maximum benefit payments, or caps, which can be between $1 million and $5 million. Once you reach your cap, the insurance company won’t pay for any additional medical expenses and your coverage is terminated.

By selecting a high-deductible plan, it’s expected you’ll pay for your medical needs until your expenses exceed your deductible. For example, with a $15,000 deductible and surgery that costs $5,000, you would pay for the surgery entirely. You should also be aware that the deductible limit for a high-deductible health plan, which is qualified as a Health Savings Account (HSA) is $5,000 in 2007 (unless you are age 55 or older).

If you decide to pursue a catastrophic health insurance plan, you should also know that most of them do not cover most of the costs of pregnancy care. So if pregnancy is a possibility, make sure to check if pregnancy coverage is available with your plan. Some catastrophic plans don’t cover maternity care for a full year after your effective date.

People who buy catastrophic health insurance tend to fall into two groups: young adults in their 20′s and older adults ages 50 to 65. Young adults who buy catastrophic coverage are usually self-employed or have no coverage through their employers.

Older adults who buy this kind of policy are concerned with financial losses associated with heart attacks, cancer or other serious illnesses. They’re generally healthy, have very few or no prescriptions, and would prefer to pay out of pocket for office visits to save on premiums.

Catastrophic health plans can be purchased as an individual health insurance plan, as well as through employer group plans. Companies with 1,000 or more employees typically offer higher deductible plan options. Retirees, who aren’t yet eligible for Medicare, also often choose catastrophic plans to reduce their premiums.

Certain pre-existing conditions will make you ineligible for a catastrophic health plan in the individual health plan market. Health conditions such as AIDS, diabetes, emphysema, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and schizophrenia, as well as some other serious illness, are red flags to insurances companies and can prevent you from being underwritten for a catastrophic plan. While serious impairments like these will disqualify someone from a high- deductible plan, that it is much easier for someone with mild impairments to get a high deductible plan – particularly the very high deductible plans – than a low deductible plan.

Like many other health insurance plans, you can purchase different levels of catastrophic coverage depending on what type of high-deductible plan is chosen.

Before purchasing a catastrophic health plan, you need to consider:

How much is the premium, and do you pay monthly, quarterly, annually?

How much is the deductible?

How much of a deductible can you afford?

How extensive is the coverage?

Do you need prescription medications?

Are your own doctor’s office visits affordable?

Do you have any pre-existing conditions?

Do you get sick often?

What’s the annual and lifetime coverage limit?

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Teenagers are more excited when the day they start to drive alone having the license that will allow them. What could be the consequences that you might expect when this day comes? This question is what most parents ask about this thing. There are lots teenagers who are uncontrolled when they are driving. A lot of them are so intense and over confidence already driving in an expensive car with their companions. Parents are most likely involved on how to control this too much excitement of their kids, definitely they are thinking of teenager car insurance that will ensure their kids safety. But, because of these trends some of the teenager car insurance already set standard rates to be paid by the policy holder. These insurance companies give higher charges if the car is an expensive sporty class type.

Teenager are most likely disappointed about this fact, but they have to remember that there are certain reasons on why should they follow this guideline for their own safety. The number of recorded cases will really show on how many teenagers are already involved in different accidents that causes serious and sometimes death casualties. These teenager car insurance companies know this because young people are more fearless when driving compare to those older and experienced drivers. This is one of the reasons why car insurance companies are setting higher rates of premium that offers from these cars belonging to higher categories. Probably one of the things to do is providing these teenagers a much bigger car rather than a expensive sports car that may lead to more serious problem, this big hefty car will not easily crash and it is much safer until the time they can really drive a car which is a horsepower engine.

Parents also should consider buying a second hand car for their kids because this is also less expensive and as a starter for their kids in driving this is much safer, they can also get it in cash payment because the amount is much cheaper than brand-new cars and they can easily get the right insurance that will fit their budget. In acquiring a teenager car insurance for their kid will definitely lessen their cost. The liability insurance is more fit because it will totally lower the price rather getting the collision and comprehensive as well. Keep in mind that these second-hand cars are really cheap and the adjustment on the premium payment is very easy.

There are also some factors that can be helpful in minimizing the premium cost, parents must always remind their kids regarding some of the guideline to follow so they can always take advantage of the discounts especially from the teenager car insurance companies. By maintaining a good driving record it will help you to lower the expenses in paying the insurance. Remember that if there are cases of accidents that teenagers under this insurance policy will really create a headache because this companies will definitely charge higher rates. Most insurance companies offer great deals for student drivers who excel in their class especially having recognition receiving awards. These type of students really deserve to get some good credits from different teenager car insurance because they are also excellent in driving.

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This modern world we live in is best described as a world of uncertainty. You never know if this is the day when you’ll total your car, or take a dive down the stairs and fracture a leg, or worse. It’s a real smart idea to be prepared for such certainties. Although we don’t think these will happen to us on a regular basis, it’s wise to have a back-up plan just in case the worst does happen. Definitely, we should all have some form of health insurance. The key of course, is finding that affordable health insurance that will give you the peace of mind you need, while not depleting your bank account to much.

When we think of health insurance, many of us don’t believe we’ll ever need it. We insure ourselves for a variety of reasons; because we have a family, you never know when a child will get sick. We usually hope we never are faced with a stay in the hospital

However, it can happen, and when it does, it will likely come out of nowhere. This is where affordable health insurance is so helpful. We absolutely need that security when the occasion arises.

Do you have any idea what three days in the hospital will cost you?

Most people are somewhat clueless about such costs, but it can really set you back. Especially when we’re young, we rarely take the time to find affordable health insurance. I look back when I was in university, and I could not have cared less that had the least expensive rates. Such security was not in my thinking, I wasn’t interested in health insurance at all. Why should I be? I was only 20 years old, footloose & fancy free. This is a common error made by way to many of us.

However, the cold, hard truth is that it will most likely happen to you, and you’d better be prepared with some kind of health insurance.

Take a true life story; a close friend of mine in college was abruptly hospitalized. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she was certainly ill, & it happened fast! After the doctor examined her, she was diagnosed with meningitis. Yikes! Well, she didn’t have health insurance, & sadly this ended up costing her over ten thousand dollars by the time she was released.

No matter if you’re young or old; it is always a smart idea to check into health insurance. The best part is, you can locate an affordable health insurance plan right from your home, that’ right, online. There are dozens of sites that can assist you in your search.

Believe me. There is an affordable health insurance plan that’s just right for you. Don’t worry about having to spend a small fortune. If you’re already healthy, the chances are that your payments will be quite inexpensive. One thing for absolute sure, if you suddenly need health insurance, you’ll be thanking God that you were prudent enough to have invested in a plan. Initiate your search for an affordable health insurance plan today.

It’s never too early, & you don’t want to be too late.

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Home insurance needs some through research online if you are to get the cheapest deal for the policy. If you were to lose your home such as if it burnt down then you would lose everything you had built up.

What does it do?

Your belongings in the home such as clothing, furnishings and even the wallpaper would be protected with home contents cover and this includes everything you would take if you moved. Buildings insurance cover would cover permanent fixtures such as a fitted kitchen, bathroom suites and the bricks and mortar.

Having contents and buildings insurance cover means that you have peace of mind that if the worst should occur, you would at least not have to find the money yourself for replacement or repairs.

Contents insurance cover and buildings insurance cover would mean that you are able to start over again in the case of your home or belongings being totally destroyed, damaged or stolen, as well as many other perils.

Getting low cost cover

Check the cost of home insurance online to get among the best value cover. Do not forget to check what the policy includes as each will have different exclusions and could provide cover for different eventualities.

The excess is one way you can keep down the cost of your insurance cover. By offering to pay a voluntary excess on top of the standard excess, you will often be offered lower premiums; however you have to remember that you would have to find the money for the excess out of your own pocket if you make a claim.

Another great savings tip to keep down how much you have to payout each month is by making sure your home is as safe as possible. If you have a burglar alarm, deadlocks on the doors and windows, this makes it harder for thieves to break in. Insurance cover companies do take such things into account when deciding how much your premiums would be.

When deciding how much your contents are worth when taking out home contents insurance cover then do so with care as the figure you insure against will go towards setting how much the premium will be as well defining how much you will receive should you need to make a claim.

Do make sure that you do not undervalue your possessions, as you will lose out financially in the event of a claim.

Another common mistake that homeowners make when buying home insurance is to automatically renew with their current insurer. Renewing with your current insurer without first shopping around is one of the worst things you can do year after year. Your provider might have been the cheapest when you first took the cover but the chances are that the premiums have been raised over the years.

When taking out insurance cover for the home always look at the details of the policy. Usually you would have to pay for extra cover if you had valuable jewellery or expensive collections that you wanted to insure, so check that any high value items are covered.

Often taking out contents and buildings insurance cover together can give you the cheapest deal on home insurance so check out any special offers providers might have.

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There are many different types of life insurance. There are two types of ordinary life insurance. One is the very common, Term Insurance. The other is what is called Permanent insurance. The two types of insurance are absolutely separate forms of insurance with well distinguished characteristics, respectively. If it is Permanent insurance that is being referenced that means insurance that will last for the life of the policy owner.

Conversely, Term insurance is only valid for the Term, or period of time, that the policy was written for. Most commonly used terms are 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years. Sometimes this is referred to as Temporary coverage. It does not build cash value.

Moreover, there are other life insurance products that are deemed Permanent policies. There is Whole Life, Variable Whole Life, Universal Life and Variable Universal Life. For Whole Life there is a fixed death benefit and a fixed premium that are characteristics. The growth of the cash value has fixed and guaranteed features. With Variable Whole Life there is a variable death benefit with minimum guarantees and a fixed premium characteristic. The growth of the cash value here is variable and there are no guarantees like with the regular Whole Life.

The next kind of product mentioned is the Universal Life policy. The death benefit with this type of policy is adjustable. Unlike the Whole Life policy features, Universal Life policies have two death benefit options, a level and an increasing. The increasing death benefit is when the amount of the face value of the policy is added to the policy’s cash value. These two added together create the increased death benefit to be paid out. To purchase this type of policy would be somewhat more expensive than a policy with a level death benefit. But the advantage with the increasing death benefit Universal Life policy is that the insured is buying more pure insurance protection in this scenario.

Then there is Variable Universal Life policies where the death benefit is variable and adjustable. The variable feature is based on an underlying securities account, such as stocks, bond or a money market. A policy owner would allocate a selected percent of the cash value to be invested. Additionally, another characteristic of these types of policies is that the growth of the cash value is variable and doesn’t have guarantees.

The difference between the Whole Life policies and the Universal Life policies with reference to the premium payments is that Whole Life has premiums that are fixed. With Universal Life policies the premiums are flexible. This means that premium payments can be made in any amount and any frequency desired by the policy owner. The only thing that needs to be done is that their needs to be enough premium paid to keep the policy in force.

There is a lot to learn about life insurance. If you are thinking of getting a quote for a purchasing a policy it is a good time to start learning about the different and unique aspects of life insurance.

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A family health insurance policy is a legal, binding contract between the insurance company and the customer, in this instance a family, whereby the insurer pays the medical costs of the family member if he or she becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. This type of insurance is generally purchased year by year with generally no assurance that the policy can be renewed, and if renewable, no guarantee that premium rates will not increase.

Deciding which plan is just right for you and your family can seem as challenging as judging which new car is the very best out of an entire parking lot at the car dealership. The cars are all different sizes, styles and colors, and the health insurance plans all offer different fees, types of benefits, and levels of coverage.

For many people, the group health insurance plan sponsored by their employer offers them the most affordable coverage. This insurance is exactly what it sounds like: a health insurance plan or plans offered to groups of people through their employers. Family plans, on the other hand, covers families instead of employer groups, and it can be a much more attractive and affordable option than many people assume.

Because family health insurance is not offered through an employer, those who choose this type of insurance will pay the entire cost of the regular premiums. In some situations, the purchaser may even be able to save money compared to what he would have spent in premiums for an employer’s group plan. Either way, consumers should realize that the money they’re spending each month for insurance premiums is 100% tax-deductible.

There are two basic types of family health insurance plans: indemnity and managed-care. An indemnity plan gives its policy holders the most freedom to choose the source of their health care, allowing them to receive treatment wherever and from whomever they choose. Many indemnity plans also require higher deductibles that must be met before the plan coverage will begin, and they also pay claims based on a percentage of the cost for the care. Managed-care plans, on the other hand, are usually based on a network of approved health care providers from whom their policy holders can receive treatment. Because this network of providers has, in most cases, agreed to provide the treatment at a pre-set price, the care will cost less out-of-pocket for the consumer. The paperwork is generally taken care of by the health care provider instead of the policy holder, and the care is covered with only a small coinsurance or co-payment required from the policy holder.

There are three types of managed-care plans: health maintenance organizations (HMO), preferred provider organizations (PPO), and point of service (POS) plans. These options are all based on provider networks and require their policy holders to pay for their health care depending on their tendency to seek care from in-network or out-of-network providers.
Managed care plans were first initiated during the mid 1980′s as a means of cost savings. As late as 1990 the vast majority of family health insurance was in the form of a conventional plan. By the year 2001, conventional plans had shrunk to merely 7% of the family health insurance in force, with the other 93% some form of managed-care.

In each of the three categories, there are dozens of available plans offering different levels and types of coverage that allow users to choose based on personal needs. In general the higher the deductible, the lower the monthly premium. This along with many other factors affects how much the plan will cost the consumer to use. Therefore, a family who expects to seek health care only a few times per year will benefit by choosing a plan with a lower monthly premium.

These are not the only factors that should be considered when choosing an insurance plan. Someone who travels often may want to consider the possibility of needing to seek care while far from home and the advantages of an indemnity or a more flexible managed-care plan, so that unexpected out-of-network expenses can be covered. Women who expect to become pregnant during their plan year must carefully study the coverage offered to them. Pregnancy and delivery costs can be substantial. No plan is right for everyone; that’s one reason there are so many from which to choose.

There is no way to make a wise choice without a thorough study of the health insurance plans available. The needs of every person in the family who will be covered by the plan should be taken into account. With careful consideration and planning, those needs can all be met at a reasonable cost through family health insurance.

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Wisconsin is to be commended for its efforts to provide affordable health insurance to those low income individuals who otherwise would not be able to afford health insurance in Wisconsin. Like several states, Wisconsin has developed a program to assist its low income residents in obtaining the health care they need, even though they can not afford to purchase any kind of health insurance policy. This program is called BadgerCare, and it provides a broad health benefits package to families who can not find affordable health insurance in Wisconsin.

Also similar to other states, Wisconsin has set criteria for becoming eligible for the BadgerCare program. Those criteria are as follows:

? Each family wishing to participate in the BadgerCare program must have at least one child under the age of 19 residing in the home.

? Each family wishing to participate in the BadgerCare program must meet the income requirements, i.e., the family can not bring in more income than what is set in the income guidelines.

? Each family wishing to participate in the BadgerCare program can not be covered under any other health insurance policy.

Although BadgerCare provides free health care to some families, other families may have to pay a low premium based on the families’ income; even if you must pay a premium, it will be low since it’s based on your income. The BadgerCare program is an excellent way to obtain affordable health insurance in Wisconsin when all other options seem exhausted.

You can find more information about the BadgerCare program in several different ways. Contact the State of Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance to request more information about the BadgerCare program, or check out the Web site to read about it. You can also obtain information about the BadgerCare program by contacting your local Certifying Tribal Agency or social or human services department. Want to get right to the point? Call 800-363-3002.

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