The belief that uninsured people already get free medical care is one of the arguments when people discuss the cons of universal healthcare in America.  I find it specious for two reasons.  The first reason is that if this is true, we are already paying for that medical care.  The second reason this is specious is that the care may cost more under this system because emergency care is better covered than preventative care.

If a doctor or hospital gives care to someone who doesn’t have private medical insurance and can’t pay their bill, the provider will be forced to add a little bit to the bills of their paying patients.  You and I are paying for that care in extra premiums to our health insurance companies and/or in extra dollars that we pay to our healthcare providers.  Shifting these costs to our taxes may not mean that we necessarily pay more; we may just pay differently.  This could mean that although it is probably not true that universal healthcare will not create higher taxes it may be true that it won’t cost us more overall.

There is no way around this.  This is true for supermarkets as it regards shoplifting.  This is true with companies in all industries that have outstanding accounts receivable. So this fact of business life isn’t  just for Californians without health insurance or Arkansas who don’t have Arkansas group insurance the costs of those who don’t pay is always transferred to those who do pay.  Does it matter that we currently pay this extra money in insurance premiums as opposed to extra tax dollars?

Free expensive emergency health care – limited cheap preventative care

The current system is biased towards providing emergency care for the uninsured and against providing cheaper preventative care.

Hospitals that want to get Medicare dollars are mandated to accept people in emergency situations whether or not they can pay for their care.  They don’t have to accept people who have chronic conditions that are all but destined to get worse.

This means that they don’t have to accept the person with high blood pressure and help him prevent a costly heart attack. This heart attack may keep that person from being a productive member of our society.  However they do have to help him when his wife drives him to the hospital after his heart attack.  Which do you think costs you and me more?

Another issue regarding this so called free care in the hospital is that the patient will be billed.  Their wages my be garnished and their credit may be ruinde. The uninsured patient may own a house and have that house taken away from him.  This may cause major disruptions in that person’s life and the life of his or her family.  It may cost the community as well.  The loss of credit and/or assets may mean that a child doesn’t complete their education and isn’t able to be as productive a citizen or pay as much money in taxes as he or she would otherwise.

I’m one of few health insurance agents who likes the concept of universal healthcare.  However, as with almost everything, there are more ways to do it wrong than to do it right.  I do have strong concerns about how we might implement universal healthcare, but we may be a better country after we have a better healthcare system in place.

The procedure for cancelling a medical insurance policy generally amounts to submitting a signed request with your policy number the date you want your policy cancelled and your name and address on it. However, you may need to cancel your policy by a certain date or with certain documentation in order to get a refund.

Most medical insurance companies will allow you to use a modified version of this health insurance sample cancellation letter.

The most important thing about cancelling an insurance policy is to make sure that you have another policy in place, or no longer have the need for the policy on the date of your insurance cancellation. You can accomplish this by applying for your new policy ahead of time. For example if you are looking to change from one MO medical insurance company to another, your Missouri individual health insurance application might request an effective date of June 1, 2009, but be submitted to the company on April 10, 2009. This should give the new insurance company enough time to make a decision about insuring you. You might get your approval notice sometime in late April and then you can notify your old insurance company that you no longer want them to cover you after the end of March.

Most if not all insurance companies will allow you to cancel your policy by fax. All will allow you to cancel by mail and a few will allow you to cancel by phone. Your company may have a form that you can use, but they should accept a handwritten or typed request. To find the fax number and the exact procedure recommended by your company, you should call their customer service number. However most companies will accept a modified version of the insurance cancellation letter samples you will find below.

An insurance policy cancellation letter should contain the following elements.

• Your policy number
• Your name
• Your address
• The date you want your coverage to end
• Your phone number
• Your signature
• A request to cancel your policy

You may also need proof of coverage with another carrier if your requested cancellation date is in the past or is in the middle of a month.

Health Insurance Sample Cancellation Letter

Name:

Address:

City, State, zip:

Date:

Aetna Inc.

151 Farmington Avenue

Hartford, CT 06156

USA

To Whom It May Concern:

This regards policy number: [enter policy number].

Please cancel my policy as of: [enter date].

If you need additional information, please contact me or my broker.

My broker is [enter broker's name]. My broker’s phone is: [enter phone number of broker].

My phone number is:

[enter phone number]

Sincerely,

Signature: [sign]

When cancelling a policy that hasn’t been approved yet, you are technically withdrawing your application and not cancelling your policy. When withdrawing your application, you should expect to get any money you have paid refunded to you. Insurance companies will not typically be able to give you an instant refund. You may not get your refund until several weeks or a month has passed.

Application withdrawal letter

Cancellation letter for insurance when the policy number hasn’t been issued yet

Name: [enter name]

Address: [enter address]

City, State, zip: [enter city state and zip]

Date: [enter date]

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield

P. O. Box 1014

North Haven, CT 06473

To Whom It May Concern:

This regards the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield policy I applied for on or about

[enter date] The application was for a policy to cover

[enter name]

Relationship [circle one] Self My Child

Please withdraw the application.

If you need additional information, please contact me or my broker.

My broker is [enter broker name] My broker’s phone number is : [enter phone number]

Sincerely,

Signature: [sign]

It is costly to pay for something that you don’t need.  Often we make decisions about our health insurance or other insurances based on what we need at the time of purchase.  Our needs often will change and if we don’t revisit those decisions, we are stuck paying for something we don’t need.

Maternity insurance is probably the most expensive private health insurance option.  Of course it is expensive not to have coverage for the maternity ward and everything that goes with it if we do need it.  However, if you and your spouse have determined that you are not currently in the baby making business, paying $200 or more every month for something you are not going to use is a bad financial decision.

Couples who don’t review their needs will sometimes find themselves paying for maternity coverage when their youngest child is in high school and they have no plans or desire to change another diaper.

It is a good idea to review your all of your insurance policies at least every couple of years.  You can make similarly costly mistakes with other lines of coverage and the insurance company won’t give you a rebate for the time you were over insured.

Dental insurance may also be something that you can do without.  Dental insurance plans are often limited.  A plan might only pay for $500 or $1,000 of dental care per year as a maximum.  This means, that that amount of maximum benefit minus the cost of the insurance rider, is the most that you can lose by not having the coverage.  You may find that that the net amount of risk that you will incur by going without dental coverage is quite small.

You may also find that the lists of dentist on your dental plan keeps you from going to the dentist that you like.  If you pay out of pocket, this negative goes away.

Prescription coverage can also add to your costs and may or may not be necessary.  Unfortunately Americans are using more and more prescriptions and the costs for the drugs is going up all the time.  However, you can over pay for drug coverage.  Your HMO health insurance and perscription coverage may cost so much more than the cost of the HMO coverage without the drug rider, that you can do without it.  Again, look at the annual limit of coverage and the annual cost of that coverage.  Subtract the cost from the maximum benefit and determine if you can handle the net risk.

Putting yourself at undue risk while trying to reduce your health insurance, auto insurance, life insurance, maternity insurance or other insurance costs can really hurt your family in the long run.  There are wrong and costly ways to reduce your insurance costs.  There are also a right ways.

Dropping Your Insurance Coverage

If you can reduce the coverage instead of eliminating it, you will continue to provide your family with protection.

You can raise your deductible on your health, home owners or auto insurance.  You can increase the waiting period on your disability insurance or reduce the face amount on your life insurance.  In some instances you can make these changes without getting a new policy, in others, you will need to change to another policy.

One word or caution regarding reducing your coverage:  If your health status has changed for the worse since you purchased the original policy, you may wind up paying more for a policy with less coverage.  In this situation, you may not be able to lower your costs without eliminating the coverage all together.

Shopping Around With the Wrong Insurance Companies

Not all insurance companies are created equal.  In fact, some companies that offer products that compete with insurance companies aren’t insurance companies at all.

Be sure to check with the insurance department of your state to see if any company you are considering has is in good standing and has a reasonable amount of complaints against them.  No large insurance company that is without any complaints.  However, the number of complaints should be consistent and reasonable when compared to the size of the company and the number of people it serves.

Failing to Shop Around for Coverage

Many Insurance policies will change their rates on an annual basis.  This means that the company that offered you the best price last year may not be the company to be with this year.  Look at competing companies prices at least once every two years.  You may save a bundle without reducing the level of protection you provide your family.

One of the benefits of being self-employed is that we are forced to think about our benefits package. Many employees will accept what they are offered at work without giving much thought to it. If you work for yourself and even if you don’t, you should make sure that you have the benefits package you need. Whether that means creating it from scratch or supplementing the employee benefit package your employer put together for you.

The key elements of a good benefit package includes a source of income when disabled, a source of money to take care of any dependants when you die, a source of income to take care of you when you retire, medical insurance and possibly dental insurance.

Disability Income Insurance

Long term and short disability insurance or some other source of income that doesn’t stop when you are unable to work is an important part of any financial plan. One year out of work can wipe out a lifetime of savings. You are far more likely to be disabled during your working years than you are to die during those years according to statistics. Disability insurance can mean a world of difference to you family. The impact of being unable to work can be tremendous even if it is a short term disability. Health insurance nor other kinds of insurance will pay you an income when you are sick or hurt and unable to work.

Life Insurance

The average price of life insurance has come down quite a bit over the last several decades. Most couples who are under 60 or so can purchase substantial protection for less the than cost of their cable TV service. Depending on their needs and health status, this may not be enough to meet all of their needs, but $40 to $80 a month will be more than enough for many, many couples to have good a term plan for both spouses. If you have children or other people who depend on your income, you should have life insurance.

Retirement Planning

There are few things that bother me more emotionally than seeing a person of retirement age who appears to be working out of necessity as opposed to choice. We should all have a plan that allows us to retire at a reasonable age whether we actually retire or not. A high interest annuity is only one of many choices that you have when it comes to saving for retirement. One essential component of a retirement plan is discipline. Hollywood actors and many other high income earners teach us that any income can be outspent. My parents’ generation, which grew up in the aftermath of the Great Depression, teaches us that you can also choose to save at almost any income level.

Long Term Care

Long term care insurance isn’t just for the senior market. This is not just because some younger people will find themselves in need of care in a nursing home from time to time. It is also because the best way to get a low rate on the policy is to purchase at a younger age. The cost of custodial and intermediate nursing home care is not typically covered by health insurance or Medicare. The cost of nursing home care averages over $1,000 a day in many parts of the country! The government may pay for much of it, but you may be forced to sell of many of your assets before the government steps in. This can ruin the retirement of your surviving spouse. This a little talked about, but important, coverage.

Health Insurance

Health and dental insurance are often the only types of coverage that people think about when they lose their benefits package. They are important coverages, but so are the others. Consider purchasing a lower cost high deductible plan to save money.

Dental Insurance

Dental insurance, unfortunately, is often not available at a good price when you are not part of a big group. Many people are better off paying for dental care out their pockets or purchasing a dental discount plan when they become self-employed. Dental discount plans can sometimes be priced well, but consumers should be aware that they do not offer the same protection.

Where you live can have a significant impact on the amount of your insurance bills. Factors such as the likelihood of your getting into an accident, the crime rate and the cost of medical care can have tremendous influence on what you are likely to be charged by your insurance provider. These issues all affect how much an insurance company is likely to pay in claims, so it impacts how much an insurance company is likely to charge.

Even the weather can have an impact on the cost and availability if insurance. Certain types of insurance will not be available in certain areas.

The lines of that are most affected by location include:

• Car insurance
• Home owners insurance
• Renters insurance
• Medical Insurance

Car Insurance

The average cost of car insurance is much higher in more densely populated areas. Your car is more likely to hit or be hit by another car in an area where there are more cars per square mile. Also areas have worse crime statistics tend to be areas where auto insurance premiums are higher. This also impacts the cost of car insurance. Even the weather can have an impact. More snow or more rain can mean more accidents and more money for premiums.

Home Owners Insurance

The average cost of Home owners insurance is affected by crime statistics as well. A bigger factor, however, is the cost of construction in a given area. If labor or materials cost more or less in a particular area, this may have an impact on the average cost for a home owners insurance policy. Weather also impacts the costs of insuring your home. Damage from the wind and from the other elements is a major concern of house insurance carriers.

Frequent severe weather can even impact the availability of home owners insurance. Mobile homes can only be insured through plans that have stripped down benefits and high prices in some of the areas that were impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Renters Insurance

Renter’s insurance is impacted by the crime rate. Renters insurance may not be available in all areas because of this.

Medical Insurance

The average cost of private medical insurance in a zip code or city is impacted by the average salary of the physicians that serve that area.

There are a lot of factors that impact the cost of your insurance some are within your control, but many are not. Government mandates in certain states also add a lot to the cost of a policy. For example, in my state, the state of Connecticut, certain infertility treatment must be covered by health insurance. This adds to the cost of the coverage. In other states, insurance companies must provide coverage for those who are have pre-existing conditions when they apply. This also has an impact on the price of coverage.

Of course we don’t always have much choice regarding the state we live in. However, sometimes even the zip code matters. Get some premium estimates for insurance before you commit to moving to a particular area. Sometimes, moving to an adjacent town or even an adjacent zip code can help you keep more money in your pocket. Location matters.

Private medical insurance can be daunting for those who have always been insured by their employer’s group plan. I’ve specialized in helping my clients find good healthcare insurance for well over ten years now and have been a Connecticut insurance agent since 1985. I’d like to share with you the process I use when helping my clients find the best health insurance plan to cover themselves and their families.

The three things we look at are price, coverage and company.

• Company – Your health insurance company should be stable financially and have a good record for paying claims.
• Coverage – The medical coverage must meet your needs. It should cover doctors, hospitals, labs and prescriptions. It should also have doctors and hospitals in their networks that are convenient to you.
• Price – Your healthcare plan must be priced fairly relative to the benefits provided.

The basic process we use is to:

1. Determine which private medical companies are worthy of being considered.
2. Determine which plans offered by those healthcare carriers offer adequate coverages
3. Determine which plans are priced best relative to the health insurance benefits provided

Health Insurance Companies

Private medical insurance companies should have good AM Best ratings and be in good standing with your state’s insurance department. You may also want to do a Google or Yahoo! search for complaints.

For example you might search for "Mega Life and Health complaints" before completing an application with them. Every insurance company has some complaints. Just by virtue of the volume of clients they have. However, a red flag should go up in your mind if the complaints are too numerous.

Another thing to look at is how much they pay in benefits as a percentage of the premium they take in. A good company will spend about 80% of the money they take in to pay for their clients’ medical claims.

Coverage – What does your health insurance plan cover?

There are two aspects of coverage. One is the procedures that are covered. The second is the network’s list of doctors that the insurance plan includes.

Covered Medical Procedures

Your health care policy should cover you in both the doctor’s office and the hospital and should have a good lifetime maximum benefit. I suggest at least 5 million dollars of coverage. You should read through your insurance plan’s outline of coverage or official brochure to see how doctors, hospitals and prescriptions are covered.

Health Insurance Exclusions and Limitations

Most if not all health insurance policies will have a list of procedures and services that are not covered. Most of the items in this section are reasonable and are included in the contracts of their competitors. Policies typically will not cover cosmetic surgery for example. However, there are often exclusions that you will find in one contract but not in others. Maternity insurance is one example of this. Most plans will not cover the costs of a normal pregnancy. The ones that do tend to be more expensive when compared to otherwise similar plans that don’t cover maternity. The exclusions and limitations section of your policy or its brochure should be read carefully before you commit to purchasing any health insurance plan.

Health Insurance Networks

Knowing which medical professionals are in your insurance plan’s network is important for obvious reasons. You should be able to find a list of doctor’s who accept a given insurance plan online or by calling your health insurance broker.

Price – Finding the best low cost health plan

It is easy to compare private health insurance prices, but harder to make sure that you are getting good value for your money.

Comparing Health Insurance Plans

When you are eliminated the bad insurance companies and have eliminated the plans offered by those companies that don’t meet your needs, you are ready to compare plans and prices.

You may need the help of a professional to do this, however one way that I use to eliminate bad choices is to compare similar plans that have different deductibles.

I compare the annual costs of the policies and see if the difference in costs is less than the difference in annual deductible. If a plan costs $1,000 more per year but does not lower your annual deductible by at least $1,000, I remove that plan from consideration.

The Best Health Insurance Coverage for the Money

The best medical insurance coverage, may not be the best plan for you. Often the best plan is overpriced and does not offer an extra dollar in medical benefits for each extra dollar it costs. Make sure that any plan you purchase is:

• Provided by a good health insurance company
• Will cover your healthcare needs well
• Is priced well for the health care benefits it provides

1. Myth: Group insurance costs less than private health insurance
2. Myth: COBRA costs less than buying health insurance on your own
3. Myth: You can wait until you are pregnant to get maternity insurance
4. Myth: Insurance companies make obscene profits
5. Myth: You can’t be turned down for insurance if you’re currently insured
6. Myth: A high deductible plan is a waste of money
7. Myth: All health insurance policies cost about the same
8. Myth: Any pre-existing condition will keep you from getting health insurance

Myth: Group insurance costs less than private health insurance

Individual or private medical insurance plans almost always cost less than group insurance in Connecticut. This may or may not be true in your state. However, in Connecticut, when a a company offers group health insurance they cannot refuse to cover someone based on their health status. This is not true for individual and family plans. This means that more claims are filed on group insurance plans. This makes the prices higher.

Myth: COBRA costs less than buying health insurance on your own

COBRA merely gives you the right to continue your group insurance. For the reasons outlined above, COBRA health insurance rarely costs less than a health insurance plan you can buy on your own.

Myth: You can wait until you are pregnant to get maternity insurance

Health insurance companies are set up to accept risks, not to accept near certainties. A woman who is pregnant is not likely to pay more in premiums than she is to receive in benefits. Insuring a woman who is currently pregnant is a money loser for the insurance company. None of the private health insurance plans offered in my state will accept a woman who is pregnant. Be sure that you have an insurance plan that covers pregnancy in place before you conceive.

If you want to conceive while covered by COBRA. There are two things that you should be aware of. First if your due date is after your COBRA expires, you may get stuck with a big hospital bill. Second, your baby may not be eligible for insurance for very long after he or she is born. If your baby has a significant medical condition you may not be able to find coverage for him or her after your COBRA runs out. Purchasing a family health insurance policy that covers maternity expenses or waiting until you have another job that offers you health and maternity insurance will probably put you in a better situation.

Myth: Insurance companies make obscene profits

This is only half a myth. Big insurance companies do make tremendous sums of money. However, they don’t make a lot on each policy. In fact, if you took the insurance companies’ profits away and reduced the cost of health insurance premiums by that amount people would barely notice. A good health insurance company will pay about 80 percent of the money it receives in premiums to cover their policy holder’s claims. When you take the other expenses into consideration, health insurance companies profits are typically well under 10 percent.

Myth: You can’t be turned down for insurance if you’re currently insured

This is not true in every state, but in most states health insurance companies will ask medical questions and use other methods to determine your health status. If they feel that you are likely to cost them too much in claims, they are unlikely to insure you. You may qualify for a state sponsored program, but these plans are likely to be very expensive. Most people in Connecticut are unwilling or unable to pay the premiums for the state’s high risk pool.

Myth: A high deductible plan is a waste of money

Health insurance policies with high deductibles will typically cost much less than a similar plan that has a low deductible. If you take the difference in the premium into consideration, you will probably come out ahead by buying the higher deductible plan. If you invest the money that you save when you buy a lower cost health insurance policy and only take from those investments when you have an uncovered medical expense you will probably have a good sum in your account when you decide to retire. You can in effect be your own insurance company for the small stuff.

Of course, you don’t want to be your own insurance company for the big stuff. Decide how much risk you can comfortably take on yourself and take a long look at heath savings account compatible high deductible health insurance plans. These plans work well for a lot of people.

Myth: All health insurance policies cost about the same

Medical insurance plans have wide variances in regards to price and quality. In fact, in many instances some of the worst companies have the highest prices. It pays to work with an agent who works with several companies. His or her opinions are likely to be less biased and you may be directed to a high quality plan that has a reasonable premium.

Myth: Any pre-existing condition will keep you from getting health insurance

I often have clients who think that their asthma, high blood pressure or high cholesterol will keep them from getting coverage. Sometimes one of these conditions will be severe and prevent a client from getting coverage but not in most cases. In fact, many people who have cancer in their medical history can be approved, if enough time has passed since their last symptom or positive test result. It pays to have a frank talk with your agent before deciding that your preexisting health issue will prevent you from qualifying for coverage.

8 Private Medical Insurance Mistakes

Buying Health Insurance? Don’t make these mistakes

Private medical insurance has been my specialty for over a decade. I talk with hundreds of people each year and many of them make one or more of these common mistakes.

1. Don’t Cancel Your Health Insurance Policy Too Soon
2. Don’t Think COBRA Costs Less
3. Don’t Get Pregnant Without Maternity Insurance
4. Don’t Keep Your Maternity Insurance Too Long
5. Don’t Buy a Discount Plan instead of Health Insurance
6. Don’t Buy a Health Insurance Plan Not Approved for Your State
7. Don’t think Low Deductibles Are Always Best
8. Don’t Lie on Your Application

Don’t Cancel Your Health Insurance Policy Too Soon

Never cancel an existing health insurance policy before your new policy is approved. Too many things can happen to the human body to take that risk. Being without health insurance, even for a day can mean exposing yourself to hundreds of thousands of dollars of exposure.

Many people think that they need to wait until the last minute to apply for a policy in order to keep from paying two companies for the same month of coverage. Private medical insurance companies will typically let you apply two months in advance of the date you need coverage. Try to apply at least a month before you need coverage. This way you have a good chance of receiving your approval letter early enough that you can cancel your old policy before the new one goes into effect.

Don’t Think COBRA Costs Less

The COBRA act gives former employees of medium and large corporations the right to continue to purchase health insurance through their former employer for 18 months. Too many people wait until they are nearing the end of their 18 months to start shopping around for coverage. I’m sure that people think that their COBRA insurance is their best an lowest cost option. This is not usually true. If you have a pre-existing medical condition that will keep you from qualifying for a private health plan, COBRA may be your best option. Otherwise you should start shopping for health insurance as soon as you decide to leave your employer. COBRA is often twice the price you would pay for a comparable individual health insurance policy.

Don’t Get Pregnant Without Maternity Insurance

Many if not most individual health insurance plans will not cover the expenses of pregnancy. Today those expenses can be twenty thousand dollars or more. If you are planning to expand your family, make sure that your present policy will cover maternity and make sure that you have satisfied any waiting period before you conceive.

Don’t Keep Your Maternity Insurance Too Long

Pregnancy is expensive and so is the insurance that covers it. I will occasionally talk with women who have had their tubes tied who still have policies that cover maternity. Removing the maternity insurance rider or purchasing a policy that does not cover maternity will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars each year. Having pregnancy insurance when you don’t need it can cost you.

Don’t Buy a Discount Plan instead of Health Insurance

Often clients will purchase plans that for all the world appear to be health insurance policies. However, in many cases, they are not medical insurance; they are merely discount plans. Discount plans have their place, however if you think that you are getting too good of a deal on your plan, make sure that it is actually an insurance plan.

Don’t Buy a Health Insurance Plan Not Approved for Your State

Any private medical insurance plan you purchase should be approved by the state you live in. Contact your state’s insurance department and make sure that any company you decide to do business with is approved by your state.

Don’t think Low Deductibles Are Always Best

Health insurance plans with low deductibles or zero deductibles are often sought after by my clients. However, the higher price for these plans often far outweighs the increase benefits. If when comparing plans, you add the amount of the deductible to the amount annual premium you will often find that the high deductible plan has a lower overall cost, even in a catastrophic situation.

Don’t Lie on Your Application

Insurance companies have up to two years to rescind your policy. If they catch you in a significant misrepresentation, they can cancel your policy and force you to pay back any money they have paid for your claims.

Home Insurance – often overlooked

Home insurance is often overlooked. It costs less, so we think about it less. There aren’t cute reptiles or amphibians that remind us about our house insurance on our Televisions.

However, home insurance is a critical part of our financial planning. Why? If your homeowners insurance isn’t set up properly, you may wind up losing all the money you have saved and invested.

To a lesser degree, this is true of renters insurance. Renters insurance is thought of even less often. Often people are unaware that apartment renters insurance even exists. Families who live in apartments often have thousands of dollars of possessions that are at risk to fire, to burglary and to other perils. Protecting your possessions properly keeps your finances in tact.

Do you have enough coverage to replace your home or your important possessions?

If the cost of construction has gone up in your area, you should make sure that your homeowners insurance policy has a high enough limit to cover that costs. Remember not to over insure by insuring the cost fo the land. Typically the cost to rebuild your home is much less than the price your house would sell for.

Are you paying the lowest price?

It pays to shop around. When shopping around be aware that you may pay less if you insure your car and home with the same company.

Questions like these should be reviewed with a home owners insurance professional. Protecting your home is protecting your savings. Being without house insurance can be just as devastating as being without automobile coverage.