Term Life Insurance and Long-term Life Insurance

What is a term life insurance policy or life insurance generally? A life insurance coverage offers financial safety to your family in the unfortunate occurrence of your death. At a standard level, it involves paying small sums every month (called premiums) to cover the risk of your unforeseen demise during the tenure of the policy. In such an occasion, your loved ones (or the beneficiaries you have named in the policy) will get a lump sum payment amount. In case you live till the maturity of the policy, depending on the type of life insurance coverage you have chosen, you will get returns the policy may have earned over the years. Today, there are lots of variations to this basic concept, and insurance plans focus on a wide array of needs.

New UK Life Insurance Website From We Know Money

With unemployment reaching a 17-year high, We Know Money, a network of ten consumer-friendly financial services websites has relaunched its website , aimed at anyone looking to protect themselves against unemployment, unforeseen illness or even death.

The life insurance site provides anyone looking for protection products with a range of helpful articles, hints and tips as well as the opportunity to compare life insurance products from trusted providers, including critical illness and income protection insurance. The site also includes a useful life insurance calculator, which allows users to work out their protection needs.

Term Life Insurance and Long-term Life Insurance

What is a term life insurance policy or life insurance generally? A life insurance coverage offers financial safety to your family in the unfortunate occurrence of your death. At a standard level, it involves paying small sums every month (called premiums) to cover the risk of your unforeseen demise during the tenure of the policy. In such an occasion, your loved ones (or the beneficiaries you have named in the policy) will get a lump sum payment amount. In case you live till the maturity of the policy, depending on the type of life insurance coverage you have chosen, you will get returns the policy may have earned over the years. Today, there are lots of variations to this basic concept, and insurance plans focus on a wide array of needs.

Permanent insurance is a life insurance that delivers coverage throughout the insured’s lifetime and may include an element that builds cash value. Permanent life insurance offers lifelong protection. This kind of life insurance policy never stops as long as the premiums are paid. In addition, permanent life insurance coverage gives a cost savings element that accumulates a cash value over a long period of time. There are numerous kinds of permanent insurance. Below are the examples.

Traditional Whole Life stays in force during the insured’s entire lifetime, provided premiums are paid as specified by the plan. Life insurance coverage may also have an aspect for accumulating growth called cash value. Universal life insurance coverage is characterized by its flexible premiums, flexible face amounts, and unbundled pricing factors. Variable life insurance is a form of whole life insurance under which the death benefit and the cash value of the policy vary according to the investment performance of separate account investment options.

Term Insurance is a life insurance under which the death benefit is payable only if the insured dies during a specified period. Listed below are various types of term insurance. Term life insurance is the most affordable kind of life insurance available. It is designed to meet temporary life insurance needs; providing protection for a specified time period, the term which for example, is a term of 10, 20 or 30 years. This kind of life insurance makes sense if you have financial needs that will diminish as time passes, such as a home loan or a child’s tuition.

There are different types of term life insurance. One is level term which is a fixed amount of coverage with premiums that are set over a certain period of time, usually in 10-year increments. Second is increasing/decreasing term wherein the amount of coverage increases or decreases throughout the term, premiums typically remains level. Third is renewable term which includes a renewal provision that gives the policy owner the right to renew the insurance plan at the end of the specified term without submitting proof of insurability. Fourth is convertible term that gives the policyholder the right to convert the term policy to a permanent policy. Last one is group term insurance bought typically by an employer or professional organization that is intended to cover several people, usually leading to reduced premiums.

Term Life Insurance is the most preferred form of Life Insurance today which gives protection for a certain number of years. After all, that is what insurance is for: Protection for yourself and your family.

Study: Michigan health insurance options few

Michigan has the fourth least competitive health insurance market in the country, meaning consumers and employers have fewer choices for health insurance than in most other states, according to a report by the American Medical Association.

Only Alabama, Alaska and Delaware had worse markets for health insurance competition, according to the report that used 2009 enrollment in health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations from 368 metropolitan areas and 48 states to come up with its findings.

In Michigan, the nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — the state's insurer of last resort — controls 71 percent of the state's commercial health insurance market, the association found.

The Blues control two-thirds or more of the commercial health insurance market in 13 of 15 metro areas surveyed across the state. In the Jackson area, the Blues had an 85 percent market share, marking the state's least competitive health insurance market, the report said.

In the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn area, the Blues have a 55 percent market share, followed by Detroit-based Health Alliance Plan with 26 percent. The Blues have a 69 percent market share in the Warren-Farmington Hills-Troy area, while HAP has a 16 percent share there.

Blues spokeswoman Helen Stojic, however, cited two studies that point to a competitive insurance environment in Michigan.

A September 2009 report from the White House found Michigan's employer-sponsored insurance coverage for families had the lowest premium increases in the nation at 88 percent over a 10-year period.

A May 2010 report by Ken Ross, former Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation commissioner, found that while the Blues is the dominant carrier in the small employer market, there is a "reasonable degree of competition" in that market statewide and the Blues' size hasn't prevented other insurers from entering the market.

A June report from current OFIR Commissioner R. Kevin Clinton essentially came to the same conclusion.

But the Michigan Association of Health Plans, which represents 17 health plans with 2.1 million members, argues that the size of the Blues needs to be looked at during the review of the Blues' 31-year-old statute by the Snyder administration and Legislature.

Last month, Gov. Rick Snyder called for a "fresh look" at Blue Cross' unique legal and regulatory requirements to encourage competition, lower rates and provide access to high-quality care.

Nationally, the medical association found four of five metro areas have an anti-competitive commercial health insurance market.

"Our new report is intended to help regulators, lawmakers, researchers and policymakers identify markets where mergers among health insurers may cause competitive harm to patients, physicians and employers," Dr. Peter W. Carmel, American Medical Association president, said in a statement.

Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) Announces Quarterly Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) announced its quarterly results on Wednesday. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.11. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis.

On a related note, analysts at Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC) cut their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group to $16.00 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, October 11st. Analysts at Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, October 11st. Also, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, October 7th.

Shares of Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) traded up 3.15% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.74. Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) has a 52 week low of $12.34 and a 52 week high of $18.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.72 and its 200-day moving average is $15.58. The company has a market cap of $852.5 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97.

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. is a holding company of seven insurance subsidiaries. The Company, through its subsidiaries, offers property and casualty insurance products and services in the East and Midwest of the United States. The Company operates through two segments: Insurance Operations, which sells property and casualty insurance policies and products, and Investment Operations, which invests the premiums collected by the Insurance Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company realigned its federal flood insurance administrative services (Flood) business into Insurance Operations. In addition, in 2009, the Company disposed of Selective HR, which comprised its HR Outsourcing segment