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Parents and Teens: Behind the Wheel As part of Travelers's commitment to educating the public on safe driving
and helping to prevent tragedies, the company has partnered with Connecticut
Public Television to fund two powerful documentaries on teen driving: Teens
Behind the Wheel and Parents and Teens: Behind the Wheel.
TR Insurance Group is making this
Online Term Life Insurance Rater Upgraded Term life insurance rates have never been lower. We can prepare customized proposals from leading companies. We have recently upgraded the term life insurance rate tool available at our website. You can now view rates from top companies on your own. The new rate tool provides a health analyzer that will help assess health history and family history factors to predict which rate plan you will qualify for based on published underwriting guidelines. Go to www.trinsurance.com and enter your information for an online term life insurance quote.
Health Savings Account (HSA) Notes Beginning January 1, 2009, the maximum contribution limit for HSAs will be:
For eligible people age 55+, the IRS allows an additional $1,000 above the maximum for 2009. You may opt to allocate any contribution that you make to your HSA between now and April 15th, 2009 to your 2008 limit. Therefore, any contribution made between January 1, 2009 and April 15, 2009 must be accompanied by instructions from you for its assignment to 2008. According to the IRS, HSAs may be used to pay for eligible medical expenses including over-the-counter medicines and drugs, as well as the following types of insurance premiums:
Unfortunately, payments for your High Deductible Health Insurance premium are not an eligible medical expense except as part of COBRA continuation or while receiving unemployment benefits.
Dog Bite Claims Exceed $350,000,000 Per Year and Impact Homeowner's Insurance Availability Dog bites now account for about 1/3 of all homeowner's insurance liability
claims. In 2007, the cost of these claims was over $356 million. As a result of these claims and costs, homeowner's insurance carriers have developed a list of restricted breeds and they will not write a new homeowner's policy for a homeowner who owns a dog that is one of these breeds. To provide or continue coverage, some companies will require the owner to sign a liability waiver for dog bite exposures. Homeowners who have had a dog bite claim can expect that coverage will be cancelled at policy renewal (if the circumstances and law permit). The carrier may agree to continue coverage only if the dog is removed. Many homeowner's policies provide personal liability coverage with limits of $100,000 to $500,000. Dog owners need to be aware that they are often personally liable for all damages which sometimes may exceed the limits of personal liability. Owners of tenant-occupied properties that allow tenants with dogs need to be careful as well. The tenant should be required to maintain and evidence personal liability coverage without a dog exclusion. Should an incident occur, the landlord's liability coverage could be involved because the landlord permitted the dog that caused the loss. Talk with your insurance agent if you have a dog or are considering acquiring a dog so that there are no surprises that impact or jeopardize your coverage.
A Little Night Music Concert Series The Community Music School in Trappe is now presenting the third season of A Little Night Music concerts. The first concert of the season was held Saturday, October 25, 2008 and featured the acclaimed Peabody Trio. There are 5 additional concerts November 15, 2008, January 10, 2009, February 28, 2009, March 21, 2009 and April 18, 2009. One hour prior to each concert, there will be an opening exhibit in the Gallery at CMS featuring the works of one of the region's most talented visual artists. For more information, visit the Community Music School's website at www.cmsmusic.org or call 610-489-3676. TR Insurance Group is a Gold Sponsor for the 2009 Series.
Agency Notables Heather Frederick and Debbie Rotenberger both successfully completed the CISR course for Commercial Casualty. This course is one in a five part series leading to the CISR professional designation. Heather has completed two parts of the series, Debbie has completed four. Sue Frederick is scheduled to attend a Commercial Property 3 day CIC course in early December. The CIC designation requires completion of five 3-day courses, with an exam following each course. Randy Riegner has completed a two year term as a member of Mutual Benefit Group's agent council. This group meets twice a year with company management to focus on improving service, products and procedures.
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WINTER 2008 Aetna Offers Competitive Individual and Group Programs Including Medicare Options We consider Aetna an agency partner, in offering competitively priced small group and individual products to meet the needs of our family and small business clients. These products include programs for those clients who are Medicare eligible. Effective December 1, 2008, Aetna has introduced some new plan designs for their small group program including regular and HSA plan designs. These plans assure affordable coverage and include a "Wellness on Us" benefit. Under "Wellness on Us," no copayment applies for routine vision exams, routine physicals, well child visits, routine gynecologist visits and routine mammograms. Aetna has very attractive plan designs and rates for individual medical, individual Medicare, small group and group Medicare programs. We also offer medical plans/solutions through Keystone, Personal Choice, United Heathcare and HealthAmerica. Call us to discuss all of your individual and group medical insurance needs including dental insurance.
Insurance Agents and Brokers Announce Company Satisfaction Index Results In Summer 2008, Insurance Agents and Brokers (IA&B) conducted a survey of its agency members in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania to determine their satisfaction level with the carriers with which their agencies do business. The 2008 survey reflected an increase in respondents of 56% over the 2006 survey. Carriers were rated in both commercial and personal lines. Participants were asked to rate carriers on a four point scale in areas of :
Progressive, Employers Mutual, National Grange Mutual, Foremost, Lebanon Mutual, MetLife Auto and Home, Bristol West Insurance Group, AIG and Farmer's Insurance Group were also companies we represent who were rated in the index results. The survey and index allows agents to benchmark carriers and allows carriers to identify areas for improvement. If you would like a complete copy of the ranking, call or e-mail us and we will forward it to you.
Get the Most From Your Health Plan In these tough economic times, people are looking to stretch their budgets. You can find many smart ways to save money, but cutting back on good health care isn't one of them. Consumers can get quality care while maximizing the value of every health care dollar they spend. These money-saving tips are a great place to start. Get quality care at the right price
Be a smart health care shopper
Save money on prescriptions
Use your discounts! Check if your health plan offers discounts for services such as:
Source: www.aetna.com
Inflatables - "To Be or Not to Be" An article in a newsletter distributed by one of our carriers noted an increase in inflatable amusement attractions for school, community, family and fundraising events. The carrier also noted an increase in large claims from the use of inflatables. Many of the organizations that have had claims have decided not to use inflatables in the future. Before your organization uses inflatables please consider the following:
The following will help reduce the risks:
Based on loss experience, we do not recommend that organizations use inflatables. If you decide to use inflatables, you should follow these risk management techniques.
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This
figure represents an increase of over 10% from 2006, according to a report
by the Insurance Information Institute. The average cost of a dog bite
claim increased by 11.5% in 2007 to $24,511. Since 2003, the cost of
these claims has risen by about 28%. The number of claims paid by insurers
has remained about the same at 14,500 per year according to researchers. 
We
are pleased to represent Mutual Benefit Insurance Company which ranked
1st in commercial lines and 2nd in personal lines. Other companies that
we represent in the top 10 ranking were Donegal (5th in personal lines
and 6th in commercial lines) and Travelers (7th in personal lines and
4th in commercial lines.)