Every parent who is getting divorced should be sure to include in the final divorce decree a provision establishing which party will maintain health insurance coverage for the benefit of the minor children. Parents are responsible for ensuring that their dependents have minimum essential health care coverage. …
Injured in an accident? Do you have enough insurance coverage? Most people understand they have liability insurance to cover themselves if they cause an accident. Most people also understand they have uninsured motorist coverage in the event they are injured by a negligent driver with no insurance. Most people assume they have underinsured motorist coverage in the event the negligent driver has insufficient liability limits to cover their damages. …
When handling a personal injury claim for an auto collision case, one of the questions I hear most frequently concerns the medical payments coverage, and how it relates to settling the personal injury claim. First off, medical payments coverage insurance (or “med pay”) is insurance coverage that pays you or others in your car for medical expenses, no matter who is at fault for the car wreck. It is usually included in your auto insurance policy—in fact, it’s mandatory in Wisconsin. It is generally limited to a dollar amount between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the policy. In tragic cases, this money can also be used to cover funeral expenses. …
There were 72,117 car crashes in Minnesota in 2011, resulting in 30,295 injuries.* In 2010, Wisconsin had over 100,000 car crashes with over 40,000 injured people.** The most common reason for filing bankruptcy is medical expense. Among those people who list medical expense as their reason for filing, 78% had insurance. 60.8% of those insured had private medical insurance, as opposed to Medicare or Medicaid. What do these numbers tell us? It tells us that there often isn’t enough insurance coverage when a medical tragedy strikes a family. It also tells us that hundreds of people get injured every day in auto crashes. The above information isn’t meant to scare you—it should instead motivate you to take action to protect your family and yourself, in case of a car crash. You can do this by purchasing the right amount of auto insurance coverage. …
There is a classic scene in one of the Pink Panther movies with Inspector Clouseau where he enters a shop and sees a little dog. He asks the shop owner if his dog bites. The shop owner says “no.” Inspector Clouseau promptly bends over to give the little dog a pat and, voila, the dog bites him. Inspector Clouseau looks angrily at the shop owner and exclaims, “I thought you said your dog doesn’t bite!” …
Is the car you drive covered by an automobile insurance policy? If it isn’t, make sure to change that as soon as possible. If it is, however, don’t take comfort that you’ll be fully covered if you get into an accident. It’s best to protect yourself in case you get into an accident caused by an uninsured or under-insured driver. …