Car Theft and Car Insurance
You might want to choose your car carefully. Legally, you should not drive on a public highway without car insurance. This alone should convince you all the more to get car insurance. But, as the first sentence said, you should choose your car carefully. If you want to safe on insurance, resist the urge to get an expensive car no matter how hot it looks. This will be the target of thieves and your insurance company will, naturally, charge higher rates for expensive cars because of the amount of money they will be spending if your car is stolen.
So, what are the cars that are the favorite of thieves? In 2006, National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB) reported that Honda Civics and Accords are on the top of burglar’s lists. Even car thieves are aware of the latest trends when it comes to cars. If you want your car to stay safe from car thieves, then get yourself updated on their targets too. NCIB reports the top ten stolen vehicles as follows: 1995 Honda Civic, 1991 Honda Accord, 1989 Toyota Camry, 1997 Ford F150 Series Pickup, 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup, 1994 Acura Integra, 2004 Dodge Ram Pickup,1994 Nissan Sentra, 1988 Toyota Pickup, and 2007 Toyota Corolla in ascending order.
When you buy car insurance, make sure that you check the popular stolen vehicles in your State. If you buy a car that falls under this category, your insurance company will give you higher rate in your insurance policy. If you live in the city it is more likely that your car is a target for car thieves. It is likewise the case in port and border areas where the car theft business thrives. In a 2008 data, the top ten areas with highest car theft rates are Modesto, CA; Laredo, TX; Yakima, WA; San Diego/Carlsbad/San Marcos, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Stockton, CA; Las Vegas/Paradise, NV; Albuquerque, NM; San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont, CA; and Fresno, CA. This means that if you live in these areas you are likely to pay higher rates for car insurance. If your insurance company will consider the State where you live in and not only the particular area, you should expect to pay higher rates if you reside in California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Washington, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and New York. The States mentioned are the top ten States with the highest numbers of car theft in 2006.
Car thieves select the vehicle they steal according to what their thieving area prefers. There are some cities that prefer American models, some Japanese models and some still prefer pick-ups. In trying to get affordable car insurance, you will most likely succeed if you are aware of the risks that your car may encounter depending on its model and the place where you live in.
Your insurance policy’s Comprehensive coverage covers car theft. In recent data available, the average premium for Comprehensive coverage fell by 3. 3% in the U. S. In 2005 the average premium for Comprehensive coverage was $145. 16 and it fell to $140. 38 in 2006. Keep this in mind when hunting for low car insurance rates.
Medical Identity Theft Prevention and Protection
Medical identity theft, by definition, is what results when a thief steals someone else’s social security number or health insurance information in order to obtain medical benefits of their own, particularly in the form of hospital visits and prescription drugs. The two facets of medical identity theft involve financial breaches of security and healthcare fraud. Long-term detrimental effects can easily result from this increasingly prevalent type of identity theft.
Medical identity theft is not as easy to detect or reverse as are the more common forms of identity fraud. This type of identity theft has left victims with tainted health records, medical histories, and diagnoses. Victims may receive bills for medications, tests and even surgeries that they never received. In order to ensure your own adequate identity theft protection, always be on the look out for medical service bills, records and notations that are not and were never applicable to your own history. If at any time you receive a bill for a service you never received, or you’re asked questions regarding an unknown medical condition, you’ve probably been victimized. Some victims of medical identity theft have even received faulty blood transfusions due to their records indicating the wrong blood type. So not only can this crime ruin your credit, it can also be potentially life-threatening.
Thieves often fail to pay their shares of insurance deductibles and co-pays, leaving their victims to receive credit reports detailing unrecognizable medical debts. Having a working knowledge of identity theft prevention techniques will help you protect yourself from this damaging crime. It is estimated that 1 in 6 Americans don’t have insurance, making it very tempting for some people to engage in medical identity theft, especially when emergency situations arise. If, heaven forbid, someone uses your personal data in an emergency care facility, they are very likely to get away with it as these facilities cannot refuse care and are less likely to catch the error in the first place.
To date, there are no government statistics as to the number of medical identity fraud cases occurring annually in the United States, but insurance providers and hospitals agree that this type of theft is presenting itself more and more. Approximately 250,000 Americans have been victims of medical identity theft thus far, according to the World Privacy Forum. If you think your medical records and insurance data are safe, never underestimate a thief’s ability to get their hands on your information. Because insurance companies share patient information, just because you clear up a tarnished medical history does not mean you’re always protected should you decide to switch to another provider.
Should a medical identity thief ever use your good name to seek treatment, you could be refused insurance coverage later–depending on the treatment they sought. It’s no secret that insurance agencies can and will refuse coverage to people with histories of certain drug use or pre-existing conditions. Here are a few medical identity theft protection tips for you and your loved ones to keep in mind:
? Any notices from your insurance carrier should be opened immediately. If you’re ever informed of or billed for treatment you didn’t receive, dispute it right away. Always shred these documents before throwing them in the trash.
? Be diligent about checking your credit report–this is important for any type of identity theft prevention. Strange medical bills need to be disputed with credit reporting agencies, as well as your insurance company.
? If you receive mail from a doctor’s office or hospital where you haven’t been a patient, don’t just assume it’s junk. Open these immediately, as they could be data theft notices or bills for services to which you weren’t privy. Let credit agencies know so they can put fraud alerts on your file. Also let your insurance company know right away.
? Suspect that you’re a victim of Medicare/Medicaid fraud? Call 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477), contact the Department of Health and Human Services at 1-800-368-1019 or go to their website at http://www. hhs. gov/ocr/.
? Think you might have been the victim of medical identity theft? File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission ( http://www. ftc. gov/idtheft ) by visiting their website or calling their Identity Theft Hotline toll-free at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).
