Here is a fact about spies you won’t find in your average thriller: they worry about getting sued. Secrets are rare in Washington, and the CIA’s work since the invasion of Iraq has been in exceptionally high profile. CIA identities have become political footballs, as Karl Rove demonstrated by ‘outing’ the CIA employment of the wife of a former administration official who had been deemed an administration enemy.

CIA officers know from sorry experience that secrets, especially big ones, rarely stay secret forever. When unseemly details do come to light, it’s the agency that often takes the fall. When President Bush finally acknowledged an open secret by admitting the existence of an international network of secret CIA prisons where “high value” terror suspects were housed and interrogated, some officials at the agency began worrying about their futures. Concern among the operatives involved the methods used to extract information from prisoners – and the possibility that they might be sued by detainees.

To protect themselves, many CIA officers take out insurance policies, according to current and former intelligence officials – who of course, remain anonymous. For a $300 yearly premium, Wright & Co. (known around the agency as Wright Brothers) will cover legal fees for CIA employees sued in the line of duty.

Visit their web site, and you will learn that Wright and Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAMBA, the Special Agents Mutual Benefit Association. You will also find that their motto is “Providing Key Benefits for Federal Employees.” Upon attempting to learn a little more about the company through their web site, my phishing filter shut down the browser.

That’s really all I needed to know. However it’s also comforting to know that even overzealous patriotism has liability coverage available. Something like Lloyd’s of the Pentagon, I guess.

Many people ask the question, “who should own life insurance?” There is one easy way to answer this….think about whether or not you have someone who would suffer financially if you weren’t around tomorrow. If you have someone (a child, parent, etc.) that depends on you financially, then you should own life insurance.

The next question you’ll probably ask is, “how much life insurance should I own?” Experts recommend 5-10 times your annual income, but you may want to check out a life insurance needs calculator to get a better idea of what your financial situation calls for.

When it comes time to make a major purchase, you know how important it is to do your homework. You wouldn’t buy a house without first checking out comparable sales, the schools and neighborhood, or a car without first comparing it to others in the class or taking it for a test drive.

So why is it that so many people buy life insurance policies that don’t offer their families adequate protection? Perhaps they’re getting bad advice, or no advice at all. Here are some common mistakes people make when buying life insurance:

1) Letting premiums define your decision – The amount you’ll have to pay for a premium shouldn’t be your only consideration. It’s also important to factor in the financial strength/integrity of the insurance companies quoted, as well as important product features such as renewability privileges, conversion rights, available riders and how long the rates are guaranteed.

2) Thinking that buying life insurance is a one-time activity – Evaluating life insurance needs is an activity that must be conducted on an ongoing basis. At least every year or two re-examine your policies to be sure they are still doing the needed job. For example, your circumstances may have changed (marriage, divorce, or birth) and the amount of insurance may no longer be adequate.

3) Forgetting to change beneficiaries – Divorce, death, birth or other life circumstances may dictate a need to change beneficiaries. Imagine seeing the death benefits from a policy on your recently deceased spouse go to that person’s former spouse instead of you.

4) Canceling a policy when you don’t have a new one in force – Sometimes it is appropriate to switch companies, especially since term life insurance rates have dropped dramatically over the past 10 years. But before dropping a policy, make sure the new one is in force. You don’t want to find out after dropping your old policy that you can’t qualify for a new one due to new health conditions you weren’t aware of.

Max New York Life insurance company is in negotiation with a general underwriter for support on a venture into the field of micro-insurance. Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. is a joint venture between New York Life and Max India Limited, a large Indian multi-business corporation. “We are in discussions with a general insurance company on the product package, pricing and the distribution model after which we will present the proposal for the Board’s approval,” said Gary Bennett, Max New York CEO.

Micro-insurance is a marketing design for delivering affordable insurance products to people in rural areas. Government regulations permit a life insurance company to tie up with one general insurance company for offering a composite product to uninsured rural Indian residents. The composite policy would provide life insurance, health and personal injury insurance, weather or crop insurance, and coverage for “livestock, hut and dwellings.”

Government regulations on micro-insurance also require that the products carry low premium be easily comprehensible plans, with frequent modes of payment. The goal for Max New York is to offer their micro-insurance plans through non-government organizations (NGOs) and community self-help groups.

According to Bennett, “The next phase of development of the life insurance industry will be in rural areas. India is becoming a focused destination showing value of investments and growth in business.” The joint venture has grown rapidly in four years, claiming 1.2 current customers. In 2002 they had 600 employees in nine cities, compared with 2,500 workers operating 109 offices in 81 cities today.

Raising retirement cash has become the new poolside discussion topic at many a condo development in Miami-Dade. Reverse mortgages are a possibility, but you’re putting your home on the line. Dishing off the family heirlooms is too much like hitting the pawn shop. For a while, selling off a life insurance policy that was no longer necessary seemed like a great solution, but it’s beginning to look like that solution has a frayed silver lining as well.

The $13 billion life insurance secondary market is essentially a life insurance garage sale. Life settlements typically are arranged for healthy insureds who no longer want their policies.

A policy has a fixed surrender value, which is a percentage of the full life value. Life settlement third parties, or brokers offer cash above an insurance policy’s surrender value but less than the death benefit, for life policies of older Americans. In turn, the third party continues the premiums and is named as beneficiary.

Last month New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer filed a civil suit alleging fraud and antitrust violations against Coventry First LLC, one of the largest third-party buyers of policies. The suit alleges that Coventry uses anticompetitive practices to keep consumers from obtaining the best prices for their policies. Coventry issued a strong denial, arguing that its existence has helped break insurance companies’ hold on policy owners.

Several legislative proposals also are circulating that would increase regulation or limit or simply ban the arrangements. “The Spitzer complaint gives us momentum to further crack down on this business to make sure it’s honest and fair to consumers,” said Jim Poolman, North Dakota’s insurance commissioner.

Let’s keep in mind that if you’re thinking of becoming pregnant, you should review your life insurance needs now and apply for coverage before you become pregnant. If you’re already pregnant and in your first trimester you shouldn’t have a problem getting coverage unless you have some complications. However, the later you are in your pregnancy, the harder it may become to get life insurance for several reasons or your life insurance agent may recommend that you wait until after the baby’s born.

When you’re in your second or third trimester a lot of things are happening to your body. In fact, you may have already begun to develop things such as preclampsia. This would cause your life insurance rate to be unfavorable (yes, even though these things are brought on by your pregnancy) or depending on the situation, you may even get denied for coverage.

My advice to all those in child-bearing age….get life insurance now. It will be easier to get AND remember, the younger you are, the cheaper the rates.

One of the scintillating observations to come out of a health insurance panel discussion this week is that health insurance, when divided into four basic components, is only really insurance in one of the four instances.

Elements commonly included in health insurance are actually four separate financial tools, only one of which is insurance in the classic sense and that is coverage for catastrophic health events such as serious illness or a car accident. The other three areas of coverage – for preventive services, routine treatment and chronic care – are not insurance because they are used for predictable expenses.

Finding a way for more people to afford the current system at the current price is a very different question from, “How can we make the underlying asset more affordable?`” according to Mark Smith, president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, “Dickering around with insurance won’t solve the underlying problem.”

“The thing we call `insurance` is actually four products put together in one financial instrument which is increasingly unaffordable,” he said. “If the cost of new tires is included in your auto insurance, that radically distorts the cost of your auto insurance.”

What Americans think of as ‘basic’ health-insurance coverage is not such a basic question. Expectations about what health insurance is expected to do, and its decreasing ability to those things, is a major contributor to our health care dysfunction. In many cases, people are paying for things they may not need or could get elsewhere.

For low-income individuals, protecting assets they do not have is not much of a priority, Smith suggested. However, lowering the cost of a mammogram from $800 to $150 could dramatically improve health outcomes.

To cover predictable healthcare needs, society could experiment with group preventive care funds and other financial tools, thus lowering the cost of health coverage at the same time. “We should expand insurance coverage, but think about what insurance really does. Is there a different way to do the things insurance does for you?”

First, let’s look at the differences between supplemental group life insurance and term life insurance.

Supplemental Group Life Insurance

• Usually purchased through your employer on a voluntary basis
• Coverage is usually more expensive
• Death benefit can vary and is usually not as much as you need
• Most policies are “non-portable” meaning if you leave your company, your coverage ends
• Premiums usuallly raise every five years according to the “age-band” you fall into
• If you have poor health, no problem – there is no exam needed to qualify

Individual Term Life Insurance

• Individually underwritten – you must take a medical exam to qualify
• No limit on death benefit
• Coverage usually cheaper than supplemental group life depending on health and lifestyle
• Premiums remain level for entire length of the policy
• If you leave your job, you’ll still have life insurance

To answer the question, supplemental group life insurance could be a good deal if you’re unhealthy, but it can be a really bad deal if you’re healthy.

The Ohio Department of Insurance said yesterday that four of Ohio’s five largest medical malpractice insurers have filed for rate changes, which resulted in a 1.7 percent decline overall in medical-malpractice premiums statewide. It is the first decline in five years and an encouraging sign, although the net effect pales in light of the fact that rates increased 195 percent between 2000 and 2005.

The Department has created an insurance pool for physicians unable to find affordable coverage, and is more closely monitoring rate increases. The state also passed several tort-reform measures in recent years to limit malpractice lawsuits and damages. The reforms have reduced the number of cases that have been filed annually, which has contributed to the decline in premiums.

But one consultant in the industry says the reduction is too little and may, before long, be too late. “Malpractice insurance is one of a physician’s largest expenses, and prices have gone so high many doctors have begun to ask if they could afford to stay in business,” commented this consultant.

About 40 percent of doctors surveyed by the insurance department planned to retire within three years because of medical-malpractice insurance rates, even though only 9 percent were 64 or older. Higher premiums habitually led 66 percent of doctors to refer high-risk patients to other doctors. In some areas of the state, nearly fifty percent of the obstetricians in the area had stopped delivering babies.

In 2004, Ohio physicians spent 18 percent of their income on malpractice insurance, an average of about $40,385 each per year. While last year’s reductions brought a little relief, the overall cost is still prohibitive. For many of us, an additional expense that amounted to eighteen percent of our income would be like doubling our annual federal income tax – or worse.

We wanted to take a moment to extend our sympathies to those who had loved ones that were injured or killed in the Virginia Tech shootings yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families in this time of grief.

In addition, we want to thank everyone that contacted us to let us know that our ads for life insurance were running on CNN.com next to stories about the shootings. Out of respect for the families, we immediately paused our campaign on CNN. It will resume again on Wednesday. Thanks again for your comments.