With the proposed new taxes on workplace-provided health care threatening to increase the corporate bottom-line, some are looking for ways to save a little money.

One of the most creative is on-site health clinics. Corporations with more than 1000 employees are finding that it saves both time and money to employ a nurse practitioner with basic medical supplies rather than shell out the money in health insurance claims for some of the basic services that can be provided in a clinic setting.

Flu shots, for example, can save countless money in terms of workplace productivity. Doctors appointments that might ordinarily take an employee away from his or her desk for at least half a day can be taken care of in a half an hour with on-site clinics. Without the commute back and forth to the doctor’s office or the half hour spent in most waiting rooms, employees can walk-in to an on-site clinic and be seen immediately or arrange to be called when the nurse practitioner has time to see them.

Basic services and check-ups can be provided in these on-site clinics saving quite a bit in time and money. Consider, too, the amount of money saved in early detection of health issues that result in less time out sick, at the doctors office and money spent on insurance claims.

All of these benefits add up to a win-win-win idea in on-site health clinics.

Often time’s people ask me what’s more important: Life insurance or disability insurance. I’m here to tell you they are both equally important. Let’s explore why…

First, I want you to think about your most valuable asset. Is it your home, car, jewelry? If you said yes to one of those or to another material possession, I would have to argue that your most valuable asset is your ability to earn a living. And just as you would insure your car, your home, and other valuable possessions, you need to insure yourself in case you are no longer able to work or insure your family in case you were no longer around to work. That’s what disability and life insurance do…protect your family’s most valuable possession…your ability to earn a living.

If someone depends on you financially, you need life insurance. The death benefit can help replace your income and help your family meet many important financial needs like daily living expenses, mortgage payments and college savings. Most American’s need it. In fact, twenty-two percent of families with dependent children admit they will have immediate trouble meeting everyday living expenses, and another 26 percent can cover expenses for only a few months if the primary wage earner dies.

Now, if becoming disabled may seem unlikely, the odds may surprise you. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans will become disabled for 1 year or more before the age of 65. Think about that for a second. If an accident or illness keeps you out of work for a period of time it can be very costly. A disabling injury or illness could lead to medical bills, modifications to your car or home, or other unforeseen needs that can be quite expensive. For all these reasons, almost anyone who works ­whether they’re single, married, with children or without ­should consider disability income insurance.

Many people often wonder the same thing….can I have more than one life insurance policy from more than one carrier? The answer is yes!

Let’s say you purchased a policy 5 years ago, but now need more life insurance due to the fact that your family is growing. You have a few options. You can keep the policy and purchase a new one to supplement the amount that you need. You can shop around for a new policy with a larger face amount, but remember, you’re 5 years older so you may not get as good of a rate that you had.

Whatever the decision, DO NOT cancel any existing policies as you never know how your health or lifestyle in the past 5 years could affect the underwriting decision of the carrier.

With everything else there is to remember at tax time, one of the most important for small business owners is to know their deductions. Even if you have someone else prepare your taxes for you, knowing basically what can and can’t be deducted will help you keep a handle on the process.

Insurance that you buy for your small business and your employees is tax deductible. This includes health insurance – at least until President Bush’s proposed tax break becomes law. A large percentage of a small business owner’s personal health insurance premiums are also deductible.

Spousal health insurance coverage can be deducted as well, but it’s a bit more tricky. If your spouse works for the business as well, the entire cost of his or her health insurance as well as medical expenses that were not covered by insurance are also deductible – as long as a medical reimbursement plan for employees is created and available to everyone who works for you and not just your spouse.

Additionally, all insurance premiums paid on the property and building that contain your business as well as inventory and equipment insurance is tax deductible. Life insurance, too, is deductible except in the case of key-persons insurance where the business is a beneficiary, directly or not.

There are always loopholes and exceptions, however. This should in no way be taken as tax or legal advice. Check with a tax professional before filing deductions.

As you know, AccuQuote is an established leader in providing life insurance coverage to people across the country. What you probably don’t know is we’re always looking at different ways to find and recruit talented people to join our growing organization.

Employee referrals have often been our most successful way to discover talented recruits. So, we thought we’d take it one step further by tapping into our customers in order to find even more talented people to work here that live in or around the Chicago-land area.

We hope you will be kind enough to spread the word and tell your family and friends that we are currently hiring for the following full-time positions:

· Web Master

· Programming Database Analyst

· Sales Analyst

· Sales Managers

· Sales Account Executives

· Case Managers

· General Office Clerks

· Courtesy Team Representatives

If any of these positions sounds like a good fit for you, your friends or family members, we can be contacted at 800-442-9899. Full job descriptions and online applications are available online at www.accuquote.com/jobs.cfm.

Thanks for your help in contributing to the growth of AccuQuote!

There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. And there has always been a debate on whether or not child life insurance was a good thing. I wanted to provide my readers with the facts. Only you can decide what’s best for your family.

Disadvantages

• Your child may need a medical exam
• They probably won’t use it
• Most young adults can get coverage later

• Insurance premiums may actually drop as your child ages

• Kids don’t pose a financial loss

• Your group life insurance may already cover them

Advantages

• They can convert to another policy when they’re 21
• They can continue their current coverage into adulthood

• They can lock in a low premium rate
• They may become uninsurable later

An Idaho man convicted of killing his wife by poisoning her with sleeping pills and drain cleaner has appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court to help him collect on her life insurance. The murderer himself was not present in court Wednesday because he is serving a life sentence in prison. But his attorney has argued that the killer should get half the payout of his wife’s $200,000 policy under Idaho’s community property laws.

Under Idaho’s ’slayer statute,’ a person convicted of killing another cannot receive any benefits, including collecting on a life insurance policy, from the victim’s death. Idaho’s 4th District Court ruled last year that the insurance money should go to the wife’s estate. But because Mary Severson’s policy was paid for with communal funds from their marriage, half the proceeds belong to the convict regardless of whether he killed her, according to his defense attorney.

“This isn’t an insurance policy recovery case,” says the lawyer. “This is a case of someone trying to recover their own property.”

The fact is that even if the murderer were to win the case, because he is insolvent the funds recouped would go to the selfsame attorney as partial payment of his legal fees. The attorney readily admits that he’s representing his former criminal client in the suit in hopes of recouping some of his legal fees. The suit is being contested by the murdered woman’s mother.

State Farm has finally agreed to settle the lawsuits brought by a number of its insurance holders in Mississippi whose homes and properties did not fare so well in the storm.

The big debate: was the damage done to the homes of insurance holders by the wind or by flooding? Essentially, home insurance covers perils like windstorm damage but never flooding. State Farm held that it was flooding that damaged Mississippians’ homes and not the winds of Katrina. Mississippians, of course, disagreed.

This week the longstanding and much publicized debate came to a close. State Farm agreed that the damage was indeed done by windstorms and therefore a covered peril under their home insurance policies.

Over 600 State Farm policyholders stand to be paid more than $80 million in insurance claims. According to Mike Barry from the Insurance Information Institute, State Farm won’t stop there: ” What State Farm is saying is that also in these three particular counties, families who believe that their damage claims were not adequately resolved, State Farm has said they’re willing to revisit them.”

Settling these lawsuits also brings an end to the investigation begun by the Mississippi attorney general determining whether or not State Farm had fraudulently denied claims after Hurricane Katrina.

When you think about your plans for retirement, a nice place to live, traveling, playing golf and leaving an inheritance for loved ones may all be part of your plan. Sounds lovely. But what will happen to your plan if you become unable to care for yourself due to an illness, accident or maybe just the effects of getting older? You’ll need some type of long-term care, and that won’t come cheap.

The LIFE Foundation explains basics and urges you not to let “common excuses” prevent you from getting the coverage you need. Have you said the following lately?

1. I can’t afford it
2. I won’t need it
3. My health insurance, medicare or medicaid, will pay for my care
4. My family will take care of me
5. The buying process is too hard

There’s a new study by Carnegie Mellon with new findings on who the worst drivers are and aren’t. If you’re like most of us, you have a few ideas of your own about the shortcomings of drivers based on gender and age differences. Carnegie Mellons’ findings may prove a little surprising.

For example, young and old drivers are both more likely than any other group to get in an accident. But did you know that older drivers are more likely to die in those accidents than are young people? This has nothing to do with driving skill or ability but with the fragility of their bones.

Men notoriously snub their noses at women drivers but Carnegie Mellon research asks that men take another look.

David Gerard is a researcher at Carnegie Mellon. He says that, “20,000 men get killed every year behind the wheel compared to 6,700 females.”

Unfortunately, this new research has no effect on insurance rates as auto insurance companies use their own methods to compute rates, which is good news for some perhaps and not so much for others.