“There are many drivers who are shocked to see that their insurance went up, even though they have no claims. The reasons for the increase are multiple, but luckily drivers can offset the increase with the right strategies”, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
July 22, 2020

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents some unexpected factors that affect the costs of car insurance and what drivers can do to pay less on their premiums.

For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/why-did-the-price-of-car-insurance-went-up-and-what-drivers-can-do-to-take-control/

It can be frustrating for drivers who have no claims to get a car insurance renewal and see the price go up for no apparent reason. There are many factors that can make the price of car insurance increase. Some factors are related to the things that revolve entirely around the policyholders’ situation, the elements within their control. Other factors are beyond the policyholder’s control.

Some of the most common factors that can lead to an increase in insurance are the following:

• Claims history and driving record.
• History of convictions or driving violations.
• Change of ZIP code.
• New drivers added to the policy.
• Cancelation of home policy, or other policy causing the loss of the multi-policy discount.
• The removal of a vehicle from the policy, causing the loss of the multi-car policy discount.
• Change of employment, causing the loss of a group or professional discount.
• Certain medical conditions.
• Mistakes made by insurance companies.
• Changes to the payment plan fees or structure on the insurance plan.

Factors that raise the premiums and are beyond the driver’s control are the following:

• Liability claims paid out by the insurance company. If the previous year(s) showed a steady increase in the amount the insurers have been paying on claims, then they can make some adjustments.
• Collision, vandalism, or increased claims in the area. Sometimes due to changes in traffic patterns, weather patterns, or if areas become more congested over time, or a variety of other factors, an area may start to see increased claims. In these cases, the insurance providers will adjust their rates.
• A rise in car theft rates in the area. Car thefts impact both new and old cars and every time the annual reports of top stolen vehicles come out; insurance companies are sure to take note. Drivers who own models of cars that are likely to be stolen should consider adding anti-theft devices or vehicle engraving and get a discount to offset the increases.
• Uninsured drivers. The nationwide rate for drivers without insurance increased from 12.3 percent in 2010 to 13 percent in 2015. Insurance providers pay billions of dollars each year on the claims made on uninsured drivers. To offset these costs, insurance companies will raise the premiums to all policyholders.
• Increased repair costs. Newer cars have sophisticated devices and gadgets that are expensive to repair or to replace. Also, some policyholders own older vehicles that have parts that are more difficult to be found on the market.
• Credit scoring or underwriting changes. Sometimes, new factors are introduced into the calculations of insurance rates. In some cases, the files are not updated to include all the discounts and changes since the last renewal, and this can lead to a rise in premiums. One example is credit scoring. Most insurance companies use the credit score to determine insurance rates. A bad score will lead to higher insurance costs.
• General underwriting rate increase. If an insurance company experiences overall losses that exceed their expectations, or if they have not reviewed their policyholders’ rates for several years, then they will increase the rates to remain profitable.

To save money on insurance, policyholders should get the help of their insurance agents or brokers. To check from where the increase is coming for, policyholders can ask their agent to quote another car in place of your own, if they think the vehicle is the reason for the increase. If the policyholders think it’s about the area where they live, their agents can simply get a quote with a changed ZIP code. Agents can also help by checking other insurance companies for better deals.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

Share article on social media or email:

Frustrated healthcare consumers and their Congressional representatives are demanding better healthcare transparency.

In a marketplace where the importance of consumer preference is only just beginning to emerge, we are certain that authentic patient financial engagement will soon become an operating imperative for providers everywhere. – Kevin Fleming, CEO, Loyale Healthcare

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (PRWEB)
July 22, 2020

Before the COVID-19 public health crisis brought about an operational and financial crisis for many of America’s healthcare providers, a critical transformation was already underway for the industry. The degree to which providers participate in this transformation will have long-term implications for their own sustainability.

The coronavirus has not dampened the call for radically improved transparency. Consumers, regulators and the administration are all demanding more and better information about the cost and quality of care. This demand is rooted in the fact that – as with every other economic sector – an understanding of cost and quality has a material effect on consumer choice. Ultimately, this understanding also impacts healthcare accessibility.

If anything, COVID-19-related financial stressors on American households have made cost more important than ever for consumers who are trying to decide whether and where to seek care. With millions losing their jobs and employer-sponsored healthcare coverage and millions more struggling to make ends meet with severely reduced incomes, the ability to find affordable care has become critically important for consumers. Sadly, the industry is poorly prepared to deliver.

Analysts at McKinsey & Company published an article earlier this month titled, “Consumer decision making in healthcare: The role of information transparency.” In it, authors Jenny Cordina and Sarah Greenberg summarize the results of McKinsey’s 2019 Consumer Health Insights Study. The survey results reflect pre-COVID-19 answers and sentiments, but we would argue that healthcare consumers today are more interested than ever in more transparent, consumer-friendly interactions with their healthcare providers.

According to the study, “Only a fraction of respondents said they have been able to retrieve the information they sought when making healthcare decisions, contributing to low satisfaction.” McKinsey’s analysis points out that, “When respondents can access relevant information when making a healthcare decision, they will choose an option that best meets their needs. They often look for lower costs, even if it means making other trade-offs (for example, a more convenient location).” In fact, “About 90 percent of respondents chose the lower-cost, in-network options that were of average quality over the higher-quality, higher-cost options.” The research suggests “that providing consumers with better and more accessible information could have a profound impact on how decisions are made.”

The need for consumer transparency has become so urgent that prominent business leaders are lobbying for it. According to an article published this week by the National Review, “A group of economists and business leaders urged Congress on Monday (July 20,2020) to include healthcare price transparency in the next COVID-19 stimulus package” by expressing their support for the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act, which would require hospitals and insurers to publish their cash prices and secret negotiated rates in an easily accessible place online – noting that “Transparency is needed now more than ever with the global coronavirus pandemic that has inflicted abrupt hardship on many Americans.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the agency under which Medicare and Medicaid operate) enacted the Price Transparency Act last November with the requirement that it be implemented by January, 2021. But according to a Rev Cycle Intelligence article, hospital groups are urging HHS to delay requirements mandating the public disclosure of privately negotiated rates. This is taking place about a week after a federal judge dismissed the group’s case challenging the upcoming price transparency rule.

The tension has grown between what consumers and their representatives want, and what healthcare providers believe they can deliver. Consumers and healthcare providers are each experiencing profound economic distress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The difficulties for consumers are described above. For providers, the struggle to compensate for higher costs and dramatically reduced revenues makes compliance with burdensome new transparency regulations seem ill-timed and ill-advised. Unfortunately for them, the momentum of the COVID-19 era seems to be pointing toward transparency.

Getting Transparency Right in a Difficult Environment

We published an article late last year titled, “Medicare’s Price Transparency Rules Alone Don’t Deliver What Patients Need. A Patient-First Approach Does.” In it, we noted a number of deficiencies in the Price Transparency Act as it relates to real-life consumer expectations. Using a big-ticket retail purchase as an analogy, we pointed out a number of parallels in the consumer experience, emphasizing the fact that, “As consumers, we care about price but what really matters is affordability. I can get a good used car for $10,000 which I can’t afford. But if the dealer will offer me a payment plan which I can afford, we have a deal.”

Consumer transparency in healthcare must ultimately include much more than the disclosure of published and negotiated prices in a machine-readable format on a hospital or health plan website. Based on the expectations that have been well established in every consumer’s daily experience, true transparency in healthcare must include the following:

• The presentation of upfront cost estimates for a patient’s anticipated course of treatment and all associated expenses, including pre-service eligibility so a reliable out-of-pocket estimate can also be presented.
• The availability of multiple payment options to address patient affordability, along with provider-configured options for a variety of payment plans and incentives.
• Interactive self-service options with secure, highly personalized online experiences that resemble the best of other online interactions in other sectors.
• The delivery of consolidated, plain-English healthcare bills that combine and simplify the many bills that often accompany an episode of care so bills are easy to understand and just as easy to pay.
• Personalized, contextual digital communications that honor each patient’s preferences and behavior – from beginning to end throughout the patient’s care journey until their financial obligation is fulfilled.
• End-to-end provider analytics so hospitals and health systems have the information they need to make evidence-based decisions about their patient-payment portfolios, as care-givers and operators.

The beauty of this approach to transparency is that, while better meeting the high expectations of an increasingly demanding healthcare consumer, it also complies with the Price Transparency Act. Most important of all, these digitally-enabled capabilities have proven their ability to reduce costs, increase productivity and drive significant revenue gains.

Since its inception, our company, Loyale Healthcare, has been dedicated to helping healthcare providers engage more successfully with patients in the areas of price and affordability. After more than 30-years of financial interactions with consumers in complex, high-cost environments we were among the first to see the coming wave of consumerism in healthcare. We set out to engineer a technology platform with the flexibility and resiliency to power even the most complex healthcare ecosystem. As a result, Loyale’s Patient Financial Manager™ was chosen as the patient experience platform for one of the largest health systems in the country, with more on the way.

The Health Care Price Transparency Act’s implementation deadline of January, 2021 couldn’t be coming at a worse time for many healthcare providers. And the Act itself falls far short of meeting the real expectations of patients. But in a marketplace where the importance of consumer preference is only just beginning to emerge, we are certain that authentic patient financial engagement will soon become an operating imperative for providers everywhere. We’re honored to be on the leading edge of that transformation.

Kevin Fleming is the CEO of Loyale Healthcare

About Loyale

Loyale Patient Financial Manager™ is a comprehensive patient financial engagement technology platform leveraging a suite of configurable solution components including predictive analytics, intelligent workflows, multiple patient financing vehicles, communications, payments, digital front doors and other key capabilities.

Loyale Healthcare is committed to a mission of turning patient responsibility into lasting loyalty for its healthcare provider customers. Based in Lafayette, California, Loyale and its leadership team bring 27 years of expertise delivering leading financial engagement solutions for complex business environments. Loyale currently serves approximately 12,000 healthcare providers across 48 states. Loyale is proud to have an enterprise-level strategic partnership with Parallon which includes the deployment of Loyale’s industry leading technology at all HCA hospitals and Physician Groups.

Our antibody kit is a first among combo (IgM and IgG) antibody test kits approved and manufactured in U.S. with such sensitivity.

EXTON, Pa. (PRWEB)
July 22, 2020

Megna Health, a medical technology company focused on the development and manufacturing of diagnostic and healthcare products, announced today that the Company has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Rapid COVID-19 IgG and IgM Combo Test Kit.

Serology testing for COVID-19 is at an increased demand to better understand COVID-19 infections especially in asymptomatic patients or those who have recovered and developed antibodies. IgM antibodies are generally detectable in blood samples a couple of days after initial infection, and IgG antibodies follow later, then stay in circulation longer. Antibody tests could be even more important to the reopening decision-making process since antibody tests indicate a certain degree of immunity for future infection. In contrast, diagnostic PCR tests can indicate the presence of viral material during infection and will not indicate if a person was infected and subsequently developed antibodies to prevent future infections.

Megna’s Rapid Antibody Test Kit is lateral flow based immune assay. It tests both IgM and IgG antibodies against the COVID-19 virus with only a drop of blood sample (less than 5uL) and reports result in less than 15 minutes. In addition to studies in 411 patients, Megna’s Rapid Antibody Test Kit has also been validated independently by NIH/NCI (National Cancer Institute). It demonstrated sensitivity of 100 percent both combined (IgM/IgG) and IgG antibody.

“Our antibody kit is a first among combo (IgM and IgG) antibody test kits approved and manufactured in U.S. with such sensitivity,” said Eric Hill, Head of Marketing at Megna Health. “Simultaneous detection of IgM and IgG provides more important information to assess stage of infection and degree of immunity than individual assay alone.”    

About Megna Health

Megna Health provides life-changing diagnostic and healthcare products. The company is headquartered in Exton, PA and the antibody combo test kits are manufactured in facilities in Pennsylvania as well. For more information visit http://www.megnahealth.com

Share article on social media or email:

Poms & Associates

“With the pandemic causing unprecedented hurdles for organizations, ensuring your organization is remaining compliant with state, local and federal laws and regulations is more difficult than ever.” – Dave Poms, president of Poms & Associates

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
July 22, 2020

Poms & Associates, an independent, full-service insurance brokerage and risk management firm, today announced the availability of a free educational webinar that addresses many of the most frequently asked questions related to Human Resources (HR) and COVID-19. Presented as a roundtable-style discussion, the webinar is part of Poms & Associates’ ongoing series of webinars about insurance and risk management topics related to COVID-19. The 60-minute webinar is presented by Eddy Canavan, Julie Garcia and Steven G. Meilleur, members of the Poms & Associates Risk Control Services team.

In the webinar, titled “HR Issues in a COVID-19 World: A Roundtable Discussion,” Canavan, Garcia and Meilleur highlight HR issues related to telework and workers compensation and paid sick leave guidelines as defined under the new Families First Federal Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSL). They also offer recommendations for creating new company employment policies that reflect “the new normal” of an ongoing public health crisis.

“With the pandemic causing unprecedented hurdles for organizations, ensuring your organization is remaining compliant with state, local and federal laws and regulations is more difficult than ever,” said Dave Poms, founder and president of Poms & Associates. “In this webinar, our HR and civil rights experts tackle many of the most frequently asked questions we’ve been fielding from employers to offer clarification and guidance on key HR issues related to COVID-19.”

The webinar was presented on July 10, 2020. It is now archived at the Poms & Associates website as a video file with supporting documents that can be downloaded.

For more information about Poms & Associates, visit https://pomsassoc.com/.

About Poms & Associates

Poms & Associates is a leading independent, full-service insurance brokerage and risk management firm with a proven track record of providing innovative and customized solutions to businesses in high-risk industries. Founded in 1991, the company was built on the premise that knowledge is the best insurance – that is, the best way to help businesses and organizations is to serve not only as an insurance broker but also as an educator about best practices in how to reduce risk and prevent loss before an incident occurs. Poms & Associates today offers a wide range of products and services, including property and casualty insurance for commercial organizations and public entities, risk control, human resources and employee benefits and private services for high net-worth individuals. Among the top 50 independent brokerage firms in the U.S., Poms & Associates is headquartered in Woodland Hills, Calf. It maintains branch offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Calif., the San Francisco Bay Area, Albuquerque, N.M. and Dayton, Ohio. For more information, visit https://pomsassoc.com/.

Share article on social media or email:

“There are many strategies drivers can use to pay less on car insurance. Given the current economic situation, policyholders should not hesitate to look for the best methods to save money on insurance”, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
July 21, 2020

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents several tips that can help drivers lower their car insurance bills.

For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/8-tips-that-will-help-you-pay-cheaper-car-insurance-premiums/

Owning and operating a vehicle can be quite expensive. Given the current situation of the economy, it’s well worth the time and effort to try to reduce these costs as much as possible. One area where drivers should look is car insurance. There are several things drivers can do both today and over time that will lower their car insurance premiums.

To save money on car insurance, drivers can do the following:

• 
  Drive safely. Avoiding accidents and driving more carefully are among the best ways to keep the costs of insurance at a minimum. Drivers who already have moving violations should avoid adding more to their records. The good news is that in most states moving violations are dropped from the driving record after three years.
• Buy a car that is cheap to insure. Drivers who are looking to get a new car should avoid excessively expensive or sporty cars. Instead, drivers should pick a cheap car that has plenty of safety features. Safety gear such as a security system, passenger and rear seat airbags, and anti-lock brakes can lower the costs of insurance.
• Complete a defensive driving course. Some providers will offer a discount to policyholders who complete a defensive driving course. However, drivers should check if the cost of the course doesn’t wipe out any savings that will get from the reduced insurance rates.
• Get a behavior-based driving discount. Many insurance providers are offering discounts to drivers with clean driving histories. Also, these drivers can save even more by allowing their insurers to use a telematics device to track their driving behavior.
• Shop around. Many policyholders stay with the same insurers for years, without checking the insurance market. By doing so, policyholders risk having their rates slowly raised over the years by their insurers. To avoid that, drivers should compare quotes at least once per year. To attract customers, some insurers cut their prices and offer attractive discounts for new customers.
• Move to a place closer to work. Drivers who have a short commute will pay less on their insurance. These types of drivers are less likely to be involved in accidents because they spend less time on the road. Also, some companies are offering customized policies where drivers can pay insurance only for the miles driven.
• Improve the credit score. Insurance companies can take the credit score into account when pricing car insurance policies. However, a better credit score is likely to result in at least a slight improvement in the premiums the next time drivers shop for car insurance.
• Raise the deductible. Drivers who have a good driving record can save some money by simply raising the deductible. However, if they get involved in a car accident, they will have to pay out more money out of their pockets before the insurance kicks in.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

Share article on social media or email:

“…we’ve met the moment with a highly curated and comprehensive offering of policies to meet the imperatives of any traveler during this uniquely challenging time.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (PRWEB)
July 20, 2020

Silicon Valley-based insurtech provider VisitorsCoverage, Inc. announced today an expanded offering of travel insurance plans that include coverage for COVID-19. The wide variety of A-rated plans cover individuals, students, families and groups of international travelers and include benefits for COVID-19.

VisitorsCoverage recently made news, announcing the addition of a targeted benefit of COVID-19 screening to its CoverAmerica-Gold® travel medical insurance policy – the first policy to provide such a targeted benefit. CoverAmerica-Gold is available to non-U.S. citizens visiting North and South Americas, and is the only travel medical insurance product on the market to offer no-fee cancellation for policyholders. Consumer response to this timely innovation proved so overwhelming that VisitorsCoverage moved quickly to widen its portfolio of offerings to include other reputed carrier plans with expanded coverage, backed by top underwriters like Crum & Foster (C&F) and Lloyds.

“One of the founding principles of VisitorsCoverage was to do away with the one-size-fits-all approach that once dominated the travel insurance market,” explained Rajeev Shrivastava, CEO and founder of VisitorsCoverage. “We recognized, in normal times, that the needs of travelers, and travel situations, vary. That variance has only increased as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, where health risks and requirements are vastly different from one region or country to another. Catering to the diverse array of present day needs, we’ve met the moment with a highly curated and comprehensive offering of policies to meet the imperatives of any traveler during this uniquely challenging time.”

In addition to COVID-19 testing and treatment, other featured benefits among the portfolio of different COVID-19 plans available on VisitorsCoverage include free telemedicine consultations, coverage in areas with travel advisories, family plans, pre exiting conditions coverage and more. Travelers are encouraged to contact VisitorsCoverage’s licensed and qualified travel insurance experts to seek assistance to help with matching and finding the most suitable insurance policy for their specific need.

The complete list of VisitorsCoverage policies that include COVID-19 benefits is available at: https://www.visitorscoverage.com/which-visitors-insurance-plan-can-cover-for-covid-19/

About VisitorsCoverage Inc.

VisitorsCoverage Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based insurtech company headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. which provides travel insurance for millions of global travelers in over 175 countries. Founded in 2006 by insurtech pioneer and industry expert Rajeev Shrivastava, VisitorsCoverage is constantly evolving by creating innovative, market-demand products and by continually updating an extensive online knowledge base for their global clientele. For more information visit http://www.visitorscoverage.com.

Share article on social media or email:

“Online quotes will help you compare prices and select the best car insurance provider”, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB)
July 19, 2020

The Internet can help drivers find multiple price estimates for car insurance services. It is up to the driver to check prices online and decide which insurer has an edge. When getting and comparing quotes, it is important to remember the following tips:

• 
      Ask estimates for the same product. When a client compares different quotes from different websites, it’s essential for him to choose the same coverage levels, the same limits and the same extra options. Even a single difference between coverage options can lead to significant price differences.
•     Provide the same data on each quote. Again, discrepancies between used data may cause significant price differences. Online forms will ask about the car maker and model, year of production, safety devices, driving experience.
•     Provide realistic mileage estimates. Some questionnaires will ask the user to provide a number, while other questionnaires will ask to choose a limit. It’s important to choose the same range/limit on all questionnaires.
•     Be honest with the negative aspects of your profile. Aspects like traffic fines, at fault accidents, drunk driving, and even bad credit score have a significant impact on an insurance policy. Not adding these details when completing a questionnaire is pointless, as insurance companies already have access to all of this data.
•     Look for discounts. Insurance companies offer different discounts for their drivers. The discounts can vary in value, and how long they last. For example, one insurer will provide a 15% discount for six months, while another insurer will provide a 10% discount for 12 months for the same service. Other insurance companies may offer discounts that other insurers don’t. It’s recommended to do a careful research of the market.
•     Compare multiple quotes. Complete and compare at least three quotes before deciding which insurance company can get you the best policy deal.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

Share article on social media or email: