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COVID-19: A Wakeup Call About Uncomfortable Topics

Two-thirds (67%) of Americans say that the pandemic has been a wake-up call for them to reevaluate their finances, according to a new study by Life Happens, a nonprofit dedicated to educating consumers about the...

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Top 10 causes of workplace injuries

Knowledge is power, and understanding the risks to your workers and your profits is the first step to protecting your business. AMERICAN INSURANCE represents Liberty Mutual who has just published their 2018 Liberty...

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Drugged driving problem grows

A new report finds that in 2016, 44% of fatally-injured drivers with known test results were positive for drugs, up from 28% just 10 years prior, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). More than...

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4 reasons for motorcycle fatalities

What every motorcyclist should know - Why are motorcyclists over-represented in overall crashes and fatalities? Motorcyclists now represent approximately 14% of all motor vehicle-related fatalities, up from just 5.7% in...

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Uninsured Drivers Average 1 in 8

Chances are roughly one in eight that a driver is uninsured, according to new estimates from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). After a seven year decline from a high of 14.9 percent in 2003, the countrywide...

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3 Behaviors That Kill Us on the Road

There are three things you can do this Holiday Season to be a survivor when driving. Here's why extra caution is necessary this year... The 2015 traffic fatality estimate for the US is up a shocking 8.1 percent higher...

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Auto BI Claim Costs Up 32%

Auto injury claim costs per insured vehicle have continued to increase across the United States according to a new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). Long-term reductions in highway injuries and fatalities...

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Which States Have Lowest Auto Insurance Rates?

If you want to pay the lowest auto insurance rates in the USA you'd better move to good ole Idaho! Yes, Idaho has the lowest auto insurance rates in the nation according to the National Association of Insurance...

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Who's Dying On The Job? 150 per day!

A study of 2013 statistics shows 4,585 workers were killed on the job in the United States, and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, resulting in a loss of 150 workers each day from hazardous working...

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One in Three Truckers Don't Buckle Up

About 65 percent of on-the-job deaths of truck drivers in 2012 were the result of a motor vehicle crash. More than a third of the drivers who died were not wearing a seat belt. This troubling fact has the National...

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New Tech to Stop Drunk Drivers

Can we keep drunk drivers off the road? Must they kill someone with their car after being arrested 10, 20 even 30 plus times for driving drunk before we find the answer. The answer may be a technology that has been...

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Homeowners Claims & Premiums Rising

The cost of homeowners insurance claims has been increasing at twice the rate of inflation. This is according to a new report from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). Despite significant declines in recent years, the...

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The 9 Vehicles With Lowest Death Rates

Improved vehicle designs bring down death rates (IIHS). The chances of dying in a crash in a late-model vehicle have fallen by more than a third in three years, the latest Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)...

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ACA $840M Initiative Focused on Health Outcomes

A new initiative will change the way your doctor and health care providers delivery their services to you. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced an initiative that will fund successful...

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Hospitals May Recover $5.7B Due To ACA

A report released by the Department of Health and Human Services projects that hospitals will save $5.7 billion this year in uncompensated care costs because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). States that have expanded...

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2015 Health Care Costs Rising

Large U.S. employers expect a significant increase in 2015 health care costs. If no adjustments are made employers project a 5.2% growth rate, putting absolute cost per person for health care benefits at an all-time...

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Uninsured Driver Numbers Declining

How many drivers are uninsured? Across the United States, the estimated percentage of uninsured motorists trended down in 2010, 2011 and 2012, according to new estimates from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). In...

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The Safest Small Cars On The Road

Five small cars, all 2014 models, earn an acceptable rating in crash tests by the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety. Two earn marginal and four earn poor ratings for occupant protection in a small overlap crash in...

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Earthquake Risk Increased In US By 1/3rd - USGS

Idaho is one of 16 states now listed with the highest risk for earthquakes. Is your state on the list? The newly updated national seismic hazards maps from the US Geological Survey (USGS) show an increased earthquake...

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10 Most-Stolen SUVs

Which models of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) were top theft targets? The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released a new report that examines thefts of SUVs and CUVs reported...

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The Driving Talk With Aging Seniors

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did, not kicking and screaming like the passengers in his car." No one wants this old joke to become a tragic reality. Is it time to ask your aging parent to...

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Vehicle Crashes Cost US Society $871Billion

Motor vehicle crashes in the US had an $871 billion economic and societal impact, according to a new study by the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The study,...

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Is Hands-Free Cell Use Safer?

Is hands-free cell phone use safer when driving than hand-held? That's the question the National Safety Council asked in a public opinion poil. The new findings indicate 80 percent of drivers across America incorrectly...

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2014 Winter – One of the Costliest

Insured losses top $1.5 billion so far. Near-record snowfall and prolonged extreme cold throughout many parts of the United States, have resulted in insured losses from winter storms of more than $1.5 billion thus far,...

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$3.9B Health Premiums Saved In 2012

The Obama administration claims that consumers saved $3.9 billion on their premiums in 2012 due to implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that...

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Hailstorm Claims Up 84%

Insurance claims resulting from hailstorm damage increased 84 percent in 2012 from their 2010 level according to a National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) report. See top 5 states for hail damage below. In 2010, there...

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Top 10 Risks For Insurers - Ernst & Young

Insuring risk is risky business! As the insurance industry adjusts to a new environment of low asset returns and stricter regulation, insurers have few illusions about the challenges ahead. In an increasingly...

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Distracted Driving - Employer Issues

From small business delivery to large transportation fleets, distracted driving issues are a major liability to employers. Due to high profile crashes, large jury verdicts against employers, and a changing regulatory...

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20% Of Car Accidents Are Caused By?

Nope – not texting or distracted driving. Day or night, the leading cause of auto accidents is...driving while tired, according to a study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The 100-car...

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Home Claims Satisfaction Study

Following two of the worst years of natural catastrophic events in the history in the United States, overall customer satisfaction with the property claims experience remains high, according to the J.D. Power and...

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32% Rise in Health Claims Projected

Health claim costs per member, per month for non-group individual health insurance plans will increase 32% under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a key finding in the Society of Actuaries study release in March 2013....

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Insurance Fraud Acceptance Drops

Over the last 10 years the public acceptance of insurance fraud behavior has decreased from 33 percent in 2002 to 24 percent in 2012 according to the Insurance Research Council (IRC). Still that is nearly 1 in 4...

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86% Rise In Jewelry Questionable Claims

There was a sharp 26.7% overall rise in "questionable claims" (QC) in 2012 reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). QCs went from 91,797 in 2010 to 116,268 in 2012-a new record. In 2011, the total was 100,...

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Homeowners Claims Rise Rapidly

The cost of homeowners insurance claims has been rising rapidly! The combined effects of rising claim severity and increases in claim frequency were found in the study released by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) on...

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Thunderstorms & Wildfires Bring Destruction

At least 28 people were killed following a prolonged stretch of severe weather in central and eastern U.S. states, which included a violent derecho - a fast-moving, long-lived cluster of intense thunderstorms - that...

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Traffic Deaths Spike Upward +13.5%

An alarming spike in traffic fatalities is being studied by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A statistical projection shows a 13.5 percent increase in traffic fatalities for the first quarter of 2012....

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Health Savings Account Use Jumps 18%

More than 13.5 million Americans are now covered by Health Savings Account (HSA)-eligible insurance plans, a more than 18 percent increase since last year, according to a new census released by America's Health...

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8 Essential Data Breach Protections For Small Business

The number of data breaches involving smaller businesses continues to grow, but a new survey by The Hartford finds that 85 percent of small business owners believe a data breach is unlikely, and many are not...

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New pain meds approved to lessen abuse

Skyrocketing costs for opioid pain management and abuse is damaging the health care and workers compensation systems. Dan Reynolds, managing editor of Risk & Insurance writes "An intense national focus on the...

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Top 10 Contents Items Claimed

Which personal property items were the top insurance claims in 2011? Jewelry losses were the big ticket items in value and volume for property insurance claims made in 2011 according to Enservio's annual Contents Claims...

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ID & MT Among Worst States For Injury Deaths

Idaho and Montana ranked among the worst states with the highest ratios of injury deaths while Washington state was ranked among the best. A new report ranks each state by their injury rates per 100,000 people and...

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What is driving health care spending?

The newly formed Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) compared data from 2009 to 2010 showing that pure price increases for care rather than increased utilization is driving spending higher. In fact, the number of hospital...

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5 Ways To Reduce Motorcycle Deaths

A summer road trip on your motorcycle may be no safer than last year. No progress was made in reducing motorcyclist deaths in 2011, according to a report released by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)....

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Leading Cause of Death Ages 8-24

More children and young adults die of this than any other cause. Perhaps it is no surprise that motor vehicle traffic crashes continue to be the leading cause of death in the group of age 8 through age 24, according to...

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Stolen! 1 in 10 of these vehicles

Corvettes...we love to look at them and thieves love to steal them! The Chevrolet Corvette holds the title as America's oldest, continuously produced sports car. According to a National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB)...

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Obesity's Heavy Health Care Cost

Obesity now accounts for almost 21 percent of U.S. health care costs -- more than twice the previous estimates, reports a revised Cornell University study. The research, originally done in 2010, was the first to show...

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Healthcare Costs Now Exceed $20,000 Per Family - Milliman Study

A typical American family of four receiving healthcare through an employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) plan now pays $20,728. This according to the latest study by Milliman, Inc., a premier global...

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Turns Out - Death & Taxes Are Linked!

Benjamin Franklin's famous quip "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" has a closer connection than he knew. A 30-year study of traffic accidents in the United States has found that...

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“Check Engine” #1 Repair Item

The most common "check engine" light repair is "replace Oxygen Sensor." A faulty O2 sensor costs less than $250 to fix, but can lead to as much as a 40% reduction in gas mileage if ignored - immensely important to note...

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Hybrids Safer Than Conventional Autos

On average, the odds of being injured in a crash are 25 percent lower for people in hybrids than people traveling in non-hybrid models. Hybrids have a safety edge over their conventional twins when it comes to shielding...

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Which Minivans Win Top Safety Pick 2011?

Five minivan models have earned the 2011 Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, standing out from competitors for superior protection in rollover crashes. The 2012 Chrysler Town &...

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Who Tends To Be An Aggressive Driver?

Just today I was sitting in a coffee shop when a jacked-up and tricked out black Toyota pickup pulls up with the engine roaring and the music thumping. Out jump three young men to buy energy drinks and smokes. They pile...

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Motorcycle Crash Risk Reduced 71% With STAR

Before your "wild hog" drives his new motorcycle make sure he takes Idaho's STAR Training - it could save his life! Motorcycle riding has become more popular in recent years, appealing to a new group of enthusiasts...

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Top 10 Stolen Vehicles in US

Hot Wheels-the list of the 10 most stolen vehicles in the United States was released today by The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Nationally, for the first time since 2002, thieves preferred domestic makes over...

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US Home Ownership Lowest Since 1998

Stricter lending standards blocked purchases and foreclosures forced people out of their residences resulting in U.S. home ownership rate falling to the lowest level since 1998 in the second quarter reported ...

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Traffic Fatalities Lowest Ever Recorded

DOT estimates a 3% drop in 2010 fatalities over previous year's record low. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that the number and rate of traffic fatalities in 2010 fell to the lowest levels since...

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Insurer Losses Increased in 2010

Fueled by worldwide catastrophe losses, the combined ratios (claims + expenses) of US Insurance and reinsurance companies deteriorated 3.4% in 2010 compared to 2009. Fitch Ratings, in its annual report that compiled the...

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Red Light Cameras Reduce Crashes 24%

Red light cameras saved 159 lives in 2004-08 in 14 of the biggest US cities, a new analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. Had cameras been operating during that period in all large cities, a total...

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Top Auto Safety Picks 2011

What vehicles are the top safety picks for 2011? To check out a specific 2011 vehicle before you buy - click on TOP SAFETY PICKS 2011 The 2011 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 earned the "Top Safety Pick" award. The...

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Individual Life Coverage Hits 50 Year Low

35 million US households (about 30%) have no life insurance protection at all, according to the 2010 Life Insurance Ownership Study done by LIMRA. Among households with children under 18, 4 in 10 say they would...

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5 Facts About the Uninsured for Health Insurance

The number of uninsured rose sharply in 2009, reaching 50 million people. Decreasing the number of uninsured is a key goal of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will provide Medicaid or...

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Traffic Fatalities Lowest in 60 Years

2009 saw the lowest traffic fatalities ever recorded according to the US Transportation Department. Highway deaths fell to 33,808 for the year, the lowest number since 1950. In fact, fatalities declined in all...

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