In lieu of reducing insurance costs and co-pays, many parents are opting to take advantage of the in-store clinics provided by some major drugstore and grocery store chains. These mini-health clinics can be a great boon to efficiency-you can pick up laundry detergent, diapers and get a your little guy’s sniffles checked at the same time-but are the safe?

The answer is: It depends. Each of these clinics is different and their effectiveness is only as good as the treatment services they provide and the medical staff providing them. One thing they offer that most doctor services don’t: night and weekend hours. That’s something you won’t get from your family doctor.

In-Store Clinic Staff

For the most part, they are staffed by nurse practitioners who are more educated than registered nurses (like the ones at most public school clinics) and but not quite as knowledgeable as your doctor. A rule of thumb: for little problems like a cough, it’s fine to get checked up at this clinic, but remember to ask that yours and your child’s medical records be forwarded to your family doctor. If you have a chronic condition, you may wish to avoid these clinics altogether as you may end up with a prescription that could conflict with current medications or be dangerous to your health.

In-Store Clinic Services

Some offer free services, but others require your insurance to cover them so the cost may still be an issue. As far as the services provided, it could be anywhere from basic diagnostic and treatment measures for pinkeye and the flu all the way up to basic x-ray and lab services. Again, it varies by location.

If you choose to take advantage of a free in-store clinic service, make sure that you call your doctor and ask if you should schedule a follow-up with her.

Farecast, an Internet start-up that made some noise last year by predicting ticket prices for air travelers, is taking their predictions a step further. The Internet site will begin offering one-week fare guarantees for a fee of $10.

Analysts said that many consumers could embrace this apparently novel idea, since it helps take much of the risk out of a marketplace that is notorious for its volatility. “You’ve got to give them credit,” said an online travel analyst with Forrester Research, a technology consultancy. “To my knowledge there’s nobody else out there offering you an insurance policy for airfare.”

With Fare Guard, users search for airfares as they would on most other travel sites. But alongside the fare results, Farecast displays a graphic showing the likelihood that each fare will increase in the coming week. Farecast’s technology sifts through billions of historical fare searches and considers factors like seasonal demand to predict price fluctuations.

Before clicking through to an airline or travel agency Web site to buy the ticket, users are given the chance to buy insurance, which will cost $3 a ticket until Feb. 1. The consumer merely reserves the flight at the current price. If the price rises before he books the flight, though, Farecast will refund the difference. Farecast will offer the Fare Guard service only on about half of the fares it displays.

Sites run by airlines and travel agencies typically offer a 24-hour reservation period, during which time customers can lock in a ticket price. Fare Guard adds six days to that lock-in period, backed by Farecast instead of the originating site. Farecast can afford to take that risk, according to Hugh Crean, the company’s chief executive, because its fare predictions are correct at least 70 percent of the time.

Many employers offer life insurance coverage to their employees as an option in lieu of compensation or as a benefit. But is it a good idea?

The Down Side. If you lose your job or are disabled and unable to continue working, they could cancel it on you, leaving you older than when you first applied and possibly with new health conditions, both of which are factors that will make any new policy you get more expensive than if you buy it now.

The Up Side. Employees generally can’t be turned down for employer-provided insurance policies, so if you’re having difficulty finding coverage, this might be a good idea. Also, these policies may offer low limits and coverage amounts but at a really good price. If this is the case, you may want to consider using it to supplement your main life insurance policy.

As always, though, compare rates. You may find that your employer provided life insurance is much more expensive than you can get as an individual. If you won’t have a problem getting accepted, then ditch the employer’s life insurance plan completely and up the limits on your main policy.

In all of the tumult and turmoil about insurance coverage for the homes destroyed by Katrina, the issue of rising rates has been one that legislatures and governors debated almost exclusively. Few people are familiar with the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission.

The commissioners ostensibly have power to limit, restrict and otherwise regulate companies that write insurance policies. After the 2005 hurricanes, with the cost of property insurance shooting upward, some Louisiana homeowners look to the rating commission to help bring prices back down.

There’s little chance of that – and homeowners angry over insurance hikes shouldn’t take out their frustrations on the commission’s six members, who have little power over rates anyway. They did at one time, but such government intervention in the marketplace amplified the perception that good-ole-boy Louisiana was a lousy place to run an insurance business.

Three consecutive insurance commissioners had spent time in federal prison. And the Insurance Rating Commission was an arm of government with the power to meddle in the free market, blocking rate increases and otherwise interfering with the business of making a simple profit.

So in 2003, one of the sitting commissioners persuaded legislators to pass a law that stripped the commission of much of its power. The new law meant the rating commission would only have power to block rate increases of 10 percent or more. So if your homeowners’ insurance company wants a 9 percent increase, it doesn’t need rating commission approval; it only needs approval from the insurance commissioner.

Louisiana still understands free enterprise – they clearly have an enlightened approach not only to the business of doing business, but also to the rehabilitation of those who have paid their debt to society.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the choices in coverage when it’s time to purchase insurance for your business. Just buying basic liability coverage may leave you without enough insurance in the event of an emergency. Here are some insurance options that you should consider.

Fleet Insurance – This supplemental insurance coverage takes care of the cost of injuries and damages to company-owned cars and trucks in the event that you or an employee are in a car accident while driving it for business purposes. This also covers replacement of your vehicle if it is stolen or damaged in a break-in, provided you purchase enough coverage. It should also cover damage and theft of cars rented for business purposes.

Employee Fraud Insurance – Unlike other crime insurances for your business, this one covers theft and fraud committed by your employees. Whether it’s dipping into the till or forging paychecks, this takes care of the loss.

Product-Specific Insurance – Depending upon what it is your business sells, be it a service or a product, your liability vulnerability changes. Should a client or customer get hurt by using your product or incur damages or loss because of the quality of your service, this coverage will cover their medical and/or legal costs.

There is no generic list of insurance policies that will suit every business. Consider the unique needs of your business before investing and then purchase enough to make it worthwhile.

Of course, you can’t control how old you are and you can’t change the past in the way of pre-existing conditions and previous smoking habits. But there are some things you can do to lower your life insurance premium:

Ask for a lower price. This may sound elementary but like credit card rates, sometimes all it takes is a call to the company with a polite request for lower rates. It’s a competitive business and they don’t want to lose you.

Buy more. It may be counterintuitive but your premiums are determined by paying a certain amount per dollar of coverage. The more you buy, the less you pay per dollar, especially in large amounts like $250,000 or $500,000. For example, you might pay $1.05 per dollar for $235,000 worth of coverage but pay $.98 per dollar of coverage on $260,000.

Go on a diet. That’s right. And quit smoking. The Big Two in terms of insurance coverage are more than just optimistic new year’s resolutions. Life insurance companies charge half as much for policies on non smokers than smokers. Depending on the difference between your weight and the average, healthy weight for your height, you could be looking at a discount of 25 percent or more. It could give you quite a discount on your health insurance, as well.

Though some stand to gain through President Bush’s proposed health insurance tax break, the money has to come from somewhere. Someone’s taxes have to go up to balance the books and in this case, that someone is anyone with health insurance that goes over the prescribed annual amount ($7500 for individuals and $15,000 for families).

Health insurance costs that break that barrier will be taxed, even if you get insurance through your employer. Previously, the price of employer-provided health insurance was taken from pre-tax income and this should still be the case for all but the amount that exceeds the limit.

The losers then are those with high health insurance costs. The goal was to tax the rich who could afford it, but more likely the losers in this situation will be those who are already forced to pay too much for health insurance because of their dangerous occupations, accelerated age, or pre-existing conditions. Basically, those who are already victims of the health care system will be victimized even more under the new plan.

Because payroll taxes would apply to the excess insurance dollars, business leaders are not happy. Because of this, both labor and business interests are working together to fight the new law and with this unlikely and powerful alliance, they just might succeed

Yes, Congress finally passed a bill that allows homeowners to deduct their mortgage insurance but with so many ifs, ands, and buts attached to it, it’s might be more of a headache than a blessing.

For example, homeowners who make more than $100,000 annually can only claim part of the deduction. Homeowners with a household income that tops $109,000 can’t claim the deduction at all. To make it even more specific, only homeowners who took out their mortgage (and their mortgage insurance) after January 1 of 2006 qualify for the deduction.

And even if you do qualify, don’t get too comfortable with it: it’s good for this year only unless Congress decides to extend it.

The good news? The deduction makes so-called piggyback loans – like home equity loans and lines of credit designed to help homeowners avoid mortgage insurance – much more competitive. These are the 80-20 loans or 80-10-10 loans. They get 80 percent of the home’s value with the first part of the loan and the rest of what they need for a down payment in the second loan – and sometimes third.

With low home loan rates, piggybacks were a lot more economical than mortgage insurance. But with the deduction, it may just balance out.

First of all, let’s take it from the top: babies and children do not need life insurance. If you are a parent or a grandparent, you can best protect the new baby or the children in your life by taking out life insurance on yourself and listing the child as the beneficiary. Not by insuring them. Life insurance is not an investment vehicle. It will not help your child get into college.

The idea behind life insurance is that those who have dependents or people counting on them financially for the future will be provided for in the event that that person dies. The beneficiary can be an elderly family member who needs long-term care or a child who needs to go to college. More commonly, life insurance is taken out on both bread winners in a family so that in the event of sudden death, the parent left behind to shoulder the emotional burden won’t have to worry about where the mortgage payment is going to come from as well.

Older adults whose children are grown may not feel like they need life insurance, but that’s not necessarily so. Even if a large estate is left behind, it can be tied up for years in court dealing with taxes and other dispersal expenses. Life insurance payments can be made right away so that the family can cover death costs.

Single working adults without children may decide to take out a life insurance to help nieces and nephews through college or take care of their parents.

In a nutshell: Adults need life insurance. Children do not.

Mortgage insurance covers the lender of the home loan rather than the home buyer, so that the lender will be assured that he will be taken care of in the event that the new homeowner defaults on the loan.

Most lenders require mortgage insurance of their borrowers, especially if the borrower offers a down payment that equals less than 20 percent of the home’s asking price. With the advent of 0 percent down loans for first time home buyers, mortgage insurance has become increasingly more popular.

How much does it cost? It varies, but it usually costs about .7 percent of the loan amount. If you borrowed $200,000 then your mortgage insurance payment will cost about $1300 a year. That’s about equal to a monthly mortgage payment.

The good news? When the new homeowners pay off the equivalent of 20 percent of their house’s buying price, most lenders will allow them to cancel the insurance.

More good news? New homeowners who purchased their mortgage insurance after January 1, 2006 and have a household income that comes to less than $100,000 annually qualify for a federal deduction that could amount to as much as $350.