Insurance Hour
KCAA: Insurance Hour (Thu, 11 Jul, 2024)
Hi, I'm Dalve Quince. One way to help manage Type 2 diabetes is to regularly exercise. My exercise program can help get you into a routine that works for you. Keep in mind, managing butt sugar also takes the right. Diet. Hi, I'm celebrity chef Franklin Becker. Ever since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, I've adapted my cooking style without sacrificing flavor. If you want to learn more tips about diet-- And exercise. Visit MyType2Transformation.com. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save, too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp, paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services. NBC News on KCAA Loma Linda, sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932, protecting the future of working families, Teamsters 1932.org. Buckle up, everyone. You are strapped in and ready for the insurance hour. With me, your host, Carl Sussman. Informing, educating, and entertaining Californians, one policy at a time, this is Insurance Hour. Hello, hello, this is Carl Sussman, and you are listening to your watching insurance hour. Thank you so much for being here today. If you have any questions, please remember, you can call me at 559-656-0317. You can actually text that number as well. You can also send an email with any questions you might have to questions@insurancehour.com. Or if you want an agent right away, dial pound 250 from your cell phone, use the keyword "insurance," and voila! You will be connected to an insurance agent or broker that can help you hopefully right away. Today is going to be listener, email, slash, voicemail, calls and emails. We're going to answer questions that we have not been able to answer on the air previously, because people were either calling in the language busy or they sent emails, or somehow we just missed each other. So you know, I'm always promising you that I will always get to your calls, always get to your emails. Today, that promise comes true. If you miss any of these questions, and you want to try and get a copy of this show for later, or you want to share it with somebody, you can always find it online. It's on all of the podcast, great aggregators and apps. You can also find it on iHeartMedia. You can find it on YouTube, just search for insurance hour. You'll find us, just look around. Look for insurance hour, and you'll find it. So, I'm going to, without further ado, go ahead and start with the first question that we have. These are, I just paraphrased some of them, and some of them it looks like we just cut and paste right from the email, for effect, I suppose. So, for a first question that comes in, says, "My homeowner's insurance company dropped me "after never filing a claim. "How can I fight it?" It's a good question. Well, the reason they're dropping you, it has something to do with whether you can fight it or not. If you're in the situation where your insurance carrier is dropping in bulk, let's say they're getting rid of all of the risks, let's say, in an entire zip code, or it might even be that the insurance company is pulling out of an entire county, or even an entire state. If that's the case, the likelihood of you being able to fight that is not very good. If the carrier is simply not writing insurance anymore, then there's not much to fight with. Now, if you had your policy enforce for a long time, and you get a non-renewal notice, and it's for some other reason, maybe they're saying, "Hey, we've noticed that you have holes in your roof. "We looked at satellite imagery." Or, "Hey, during a recent inspection, "we've noticed that you have some debris "that's on your roof." Or we notice that the condition of the house looks like it's not being well maintained. If there's something that they provide you with, and you're able to make remedies to that, then what you're going to want to do is immediately, do not wait. The moment you're notified, reach out to the insurance company, or reach out to the agent or broker, and say, "Hey, I just received this notice "from the insurance company. "They're telling me I have to, "let's just say, repair the roof, or replace the roof. "I'm willing to do it. "What are my next steps? "What documentation do you need? "How long do I have to get it done?" And follow through with each and every one of those steps. My experience has been that, an insurance company is actually happier to have somebody with a new roof than with an old roof, or a roof that is in need of repair. And they were already ensuring that roof before. So if you're prepared to make the proper fixes for your property, the chances are the insurance care is going to be quite happy about that, because now this risk went from being a bad risk, because if there's a storm, it might leak. If there's something significant that happens, the roof might need to be repaired or replaced. And now they have a brand new roof. So you're actually doing something that not only will help you, because let's face it, you're less likely to have a claim as well. You're doing what the insurance care, your needs to make the risk. The risk, I keep saying sounds very rude somehow. You're home, the exposure. You're, you're, it's a risk. I can't think of another way to put it. You're making your risk a better one, right? Less likely to have a loss. So it's a win-win if you're able to do what it is that they're asking you to do. Now, sometimes they might give you information that you simply can't act on. It might be clearing brush through your neighbor's house. Well, you can't do that, right? You might still reach out to your agent or broker or the insurance company directly and pass that information on and say, look, I'm willing to make accommodations. I'm willing to clear the brush as far as my property line. I can't clear it beyond XYZ point. Can you reconsider? I would also use photographs and be sure you're documenting everything along the way. However, keep in mind that insurance carriers do have the ability when a policy renews to underwrite it, to look at it, to see what the exposure actually looks like. It's one of the reasons that an insurance policy has a renewal date that you don't buy a policy and it just goes forever. It gives the insurance carrier the ability to review the risk, to be sure that it's still what they thought it was, and it gives you the ability to decide whether you're going to keep paying that price or whether you want to shop for something else. Hopefully that will answer your question. Next question says, I had one accident after driving for over 40 years and my rate doubled. Is this legal? Yeah, that's a tough one. And let me explain why this can happen sometimes. I'm not sure what state you're in. However, every state has different guidelines for how they're able to they mean the insurance carriers, how they're able to charge for accidents and how they're able to charge for tickets. So let's just use this person to use you as an example. Hopefully you're here listening. You've been driving for 40 years and you've never had a ticket and you've never had an accident and you've been paying a rate for that accordingly. However, now you have had, what was it? An accident, an accident. Now you've had an accident. So you are a different risk than you were for the last 40 years. The last 40 years you were a person without an accident. You are now a person with an accident. So when your policy comes up for renewal, they are going to charge a rate for someone in your situation that has one accident. It's frustrating and I understand the logic behind it why it seems like, well, I've had this great rate all these years. It's one accident. Why am I being penalized? You just have to look at it like math. It's nothing personal. What the insurance carrier is doing and they do this at every policy renewal, just like they do for homeowners policies, they're looking at the exposure. They're looking at how much of a risk are you? And again, I keep saying risk. Risk is a generic term that we use in the industry that describes something that's being insured. If I'm ensuring my little pinky, then what's the risk of me losing my little pinky? It's a risk, right? So don't look at it with a jaundice eye. I'm not saying it in some way, like you're a risky something. It's just the terminology. So your rate is going to go up in this case because now you're a driver with one accident. You basically are fresh every time the policy renews. They're going to look at you and they're going to rate the exposure that they have. Look at it like you're renewing your values with the insurance company every time it renews. You have to decide based on what you've had, what your experience has been and what their experience has been. You both get to make a decision as to whether this is a good relationship and you want to move forward or if there's going to be some change that's going to be made. Remember, depending on what state you're in, the insurance carrier's ability to actually change your rate is regulated. They can't just decide to do whatever they want. These rates are all filed with the state departments of insurance and they should be fairly straightforward and they should be fair. Let's face it, that's what the Department of Insurance is therefore to be sure that rates are properly priced and surcharges are appropriate and not excessive. So that's the answer to that question. We're going to take some more questions as soon as we come back. If you have questions, feel free to give us a call 559-656-0317. I am Carl Sussman and you're listening to The Insurance Hour. We are back in a flash. (upbeat music) - Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, in just a few moments, the window to the magic podcast show will begin. (upbeat music) My name is Patrick. - My name is Calvin. - I'm Mouse Catier-Greg. My name is Paul and I will be your guide through the wonderful world of Disney sound experiences. This show is a weekly trip into the world of the Disney theme parks and resorts. And this is the place where you get to use your ears to surround yourself with the magic. - For your safety, please remain seated while listening to the window to the magic.com podcast. - Maybe there's a name for this. Something like "Diznautic" in a session. - The round is always a package! - Please visit windowtothemagic.com for more information or you can find us on Apple podcasts and in the iHeart Media app. (upbeat music) - Hello, hello, this is Carl Sussman and welcome back to Insurance Hour. Thank you so much for being here with me today. We are going through listener questions today. Remember, if you have any, you can send them to questions@insurancehour.com. You can also dial pound 250, use keyword insurance. You can get an agent all right away. And don't forget, I want to hear from you. I want to be able to answer the questions that you have. So use that email address. Use that pound 250 if you need help right away or call 559-656-0317. If you've missed any part of the show, you can catch us on YouTube. You can catch us as a podcast. You don't want to miss this. It's a lot of good information. You can actually go back, back, back and get more information and more information, more information about insurance than you probably want. But a lot of your questions will be answered there. That's what I'm all about. I really want to be sure that you have the opportunity to have a friend in the business, someone that can help you through and help you understand some of the nuances that really can affect your policy and what you're paying for it. All right, back to these emails. The next email says, "My insurance agent won't return my calls. "Can I get her in trouble or report her to the police? "Can you get her in trouble?" I'm sure you could. You could certainly, first of all, find out if the agent is employed by somebody else and ask to speak to that person if you're not getting a call back. You could also potentially go to the insurance company and say, "Look, your agent, "your representative is not providing me with service. "I'm not getting calls back the way I would expect to be." Or if it's really horrific and you really want to make waves, you could go to the State Department of Insurance and report the agent as being non-responsive. I don't like recommending any of these things, to be honest. I don't like to speak ill of anyone that does what I do for a living, right? Which is servicing clients for insurance. But like anything else, there are good insurance agents. There are average and there are not so good. Just like with any other profession, right? There's good doctors, medium, okay doctors, and horrible doctors. Actually, I remember it reminds me that my father told me one time, he said, "You know, when you go to medical school, "as if I would, when you go to medical school, "the doctor that graduates with a C "still writes M.D. after their name." And I remember thinking, "Oh wow, that's kind of scary, "but yes, it's true." So just like anything else, there are good agents, there are bad agents. Try and work with them. I mean, we're all people too. Maybe they're having a bad day, maybe they had a fight with their significant other, who knows? But if you're really, really having trouble, sometimes the best thing to do is really just be honest. Send them an email, don't chew 'em out, don't leave 'em a vicious voicemail and tell 'em how miserable and awful they are at their job. Give 'em the benefit of the doubt. Send 'em an email or give 'em a call, leave 'em a voicemail and say, "Hey, look, I've called you a bunch of times, "I know you haven't called back, "and I'm assuming that there's, you know, "something going on maybe in your life, "but I really have to talk to you, "or can you please call me back, "or have somebody call me back?" And I know, you shouldn't have to do that, you don't wanna do that, you're paying for your premium, I get all that. Just remember, these are people, right? And some are going to be better at it, some are going to do not be as good at it. There is always the possibility that when you find out the reason, if there is a good reason, that they're not calling back, you would be okay with it. Just keep that in mind, all right? Next question, why can't I get a simple quote for home insurance because I have a few doggies? It's my home, I want insured, not my doggies. First of all, thank you so much for saying doggies over and over, not just dogs, that just warms my heart because I'm an absolute dog fanatic myself. And this is a good question, actually. So why is it that the type of dog you have could preclude you from obtaining home insurance? It's a great question and it makes a lot of sense because you don't seem to see the connection. So let me try and put that together for you. When you have a dog, there's the potential the dog could cause harm to someone, let's say bite them, who knows, right? Now, homeowners policies in general, and we're speaking generically, don't just cover your property, they provide liability insurance. Liability insurance protects you in the event somebody sues you for something. You see where we're going here. So that doggie might bite someone and that person might have an injury and they might sue you. Therefore, the liability insurance on your homeowners policy potentially would kick in and have to pay for those injuries, pay for those medical bills, the pain and suffering, the trauma, whatever it might be. So it's not exactly that your homeowners policy would pay for the dog bite. It's that the liability portion within your homeowners insurance policy could be triggered to pay for that in the event that there's a dog bite claim against you. Now, I understand the thinking of, well, my dog doesn't bite, I get it. If you're old enough to remember Inspector Cluseau, I'll tell you the story, it's a great story. So there's this man and he's standing there with the dog next to him. Another man walks over and says, I'd like to pet your dog. Does your dog bite? And the man looks down at the dog and says, no, man reaches over and the dog bites him. And he said, why did you told me this dog doesn't bite? Why, he says, that's not my dog. I kind of ruined the joke because I said, that dog doesn't bite. He said, you told me your dog doesn't bite. He says, it's not my dog. So I understand the thinking that my dog doesn't bite. I really do. I've had dogs my entire life. You just can't ever know for sure. Just like you can know that your dog could be the sweetest thing in the world. There are some dogs that just tend to have a higher propensity for biting. They just do. And I'm not saying, I'm not calling out any dogs or any particular breeds of dogs and saying these dogs are trouble, these dogs bite, these dogs, no, I'm not. Because there's no way to really generalize it accurately. However, statistics, it's just math. It's not warm and fuzzy. And if you look at the statistics, there are actuarial numbers. There's real math that you can look at that will show you that certain breeds of dogs just do tend to have more biting claims. It just happens. It certainly might not be your dog, but statistically it might be the breed of dog you have. Now, there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. First, you can also find out if the insurance carrier is willing to exclude animal liability from your homeowner's policy. Some companies will do that. Similarly, there's actually a bill in the state of California that's being worked through right now that would eliminate an insurance carrier's ability to refuse you based specifically on the breed of dog you have. Now, what that tells me if that bill proceeds through, and I'm actually going to call the assembly person that has that bill, that's sponsoring that bill, let's see if they'll come on the show and talk, I suspect that if that bill does in fact come to fruition, what it's going to do is the insurance industry is going to say, well, look, if you're not letting us refuse coverage for the homeowner's policy because of the breed of dog, you have to allow us to charge a different price, at least for that particular breed of dog, which is going to have its own problems and it's going to frustrate a lot of people anyways. However, it's better than not being able to have the option to have your home insured with a particular company just because of the type of dog you have, you follow me? Again, I'm going to reach out to this particular assembly person in California and see if they're interested in coming on the show, talking about their rationale and talking about where they see this going because let's face it, if it happens in California, the rest of the country is always watching and they will be looking to say, "Hmm, should we be doing that as well?" Speaking of which, guess what I also have to do as well, take a quick break. So we'll be come back, we're going to talk about more of these emails that have come in, answering some more listener questions. Remember, you can send your questions to me at questions@insuranceour.com or call 559-650317, we will be right back. Let's talk about earthquakes for a minute. Look, we know we live in earthquake country here in California. Powerful, devastating earthquakes have happened here before and science says that they will happen again. They can't tell us exactly when, they can just tell us that it is going to happen. Count on it, prepare for it. Did you know that earthquakes are not covered by your homeowner's insurance policy? You need a separate policy to give you the peace of mind that you will be able to recover without getting financially wiped out the next time we get hit with a big one. There's a great company here in California that will provide you with earthquake coverage you need at a price you can afford. That company is Gio Vera. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's Extra Help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services. I have a policy through Gio Vera. I really like how easy it is to choose from all of their great coverage options backed by the financial strength that lets me know that they will be here for me when I need them the most. Go to getquake.com/insuranceour to learn more. That's getquake.com/insuranceour. Make sure you're ready for the day when the ground shakes again. (upbeat music) Hello, hello, this is Carl Sussman. Welcome back to Insuranceour. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. Remember, if you've missed any part of this show and this has been a good one, you even had a few bad jokes in it. But if you wanna get caught up, feel free to look online. You can get a copy of this show on any podcast app you like. You can find us on YouTube or just go to Google and search for Insuranceour. You'll find us somewhere. We are definitely out there. I am proud to say that we are now heard by over 30 million people syndicated across California. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you so much for listening. And as importantly, thank you so much for taking the time to wanna learn and utilize properly your insurance policies. Before the break, we were talking about dogs, doggies to be specific. As an email was emailing in asking us about being rejected for home insurance based on having a particular type of dog. So to complete that discussion, yes, currently an insurance company can refuse coverage based on the breed of dog you have. But as I mentioned, there are some potential options around that. If you missed it, just go back and listen to the show a little earlier today. The next question says, "Can I have a $500,000 deductible "will I save money?" Okay, that's a good question. I don't know what particular type of policy we're talking about. I'm going to assume it's not a car policy or probably talking about a home policy, maybe even a business policy. Now there's an aspect of diminishing returns, right? So for example, if we had a $1,000 deductible and it costs X number of dollars, we would assume that if it's a $2,000 deductible, we would get a drop in the premium, 3,000, another drop. At some point, the insurance carrier, to keep that equal trend of lowering the premium by raising the deductible, they would get to a place where they are charging such a small premium for what the actual risk exposure is, they can no longer do it. So there is a point where you're going to reach a deductible where you're not going to see a premium change at all. You've basically reached the ceiling as far as how much the insurance carrier can statistically balance out the exposure of the risk for the deductible that you would be responsible for. Depending on the risk and what that is, you might see that happen somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. If you go higher than that, you might not see a significant or any drop in your premium for the most part. Again, we're talking generally, if it's a business policy, you may have more flexibility and you may be able to go higher. Another factor to keep in mind is how much risk do you have? If you're insuring something for a million dollars, then going from $1,000 deductible to $2,000 means one thing, going to a $50,000 deductible means another. What if we had a $10 million exposure? Now we can look at a $100,000 deductible, that's possible, right? So it's going to also be a factor of what you're insuring, how much you're insuring and what that deductible ratio is going to be to the actual exposure that you have. Does that make sense? Hopefully it does. If not, let me know, I will try to go through it again. Next question says, my home insurance company is one company and my auto has to be another because my kids driving sucks. How can I still get a discount for this? Okay, this person is talking about putting your home and your auto insurance with the same insurance company to save money. We've talked about this before. Typically, when you have one insurance company, if you have more lines we call it of insurance, it might be home, auto, whatever it might be, the more lines of insurance you have with one company, the better your rate. The reason for this is because statistically, right again, it's not personal, it's just math, the more insurance policies you have with one company, the more likely you are to stay with that company, meaning they make more money over time. And for some reason, the less likely you are to file a claim. Can't explain that one, but the numbers show it to be true. So not only do most insurance companies give you a discount on the price you're paying for your home insurance, for example, they'll also reduce the price of your auto insurance. So both policies are actually getting a discount, not just one. So the question is, what can I do because their home insurance is with one company, but presumably that company does not wanna write their auto insurance because of their son's driving record. My first question is, why did you not teach him to drive better? I mean, clearly, I'm just kidding. Here's what you might be able to do. Some insurance carriers, it's a small number even that I can think of sitting here right now, but there are insurance companies that will give you a discount on the property insurance portion. If the auto insurance portion is what's called in-house. And what in-house means is that an agent or broker does have the auto insurance, it's just with another company. Meaning, let's say you had your policy and it's insured with mercury insurance, and that's where your home is. However, your auto insurance might be with another company. If that other company, the same insurance agent has control over, they've written both policies, then perhaps mercury will give a discount on the homeowner's portion because they consider the agent having control. Versus if that client went and bought a policy through somewhere else, and the agent has no control over it, that discount would not be available. Not suggesting that discount specifically does exist for mercury, I just pulled them out of the air, but understand that there are some companies that will give you in-house discounts. Typically, it's an insurance company that writes property insurance and doesn't offer auto insurance. Which makes sense, right? If they're going to be offering you a discount on something, they're probably only going to do it because they can't do it themselves. So if an insurance carrier ensures your home, they don't write auto insurance, but you're able to, you, if the broker is able to say to them, okay, I insure the auto, it's just obviously not with you because you don't write auto insurance, sometimes they will give a discount on the home insurance for that. The auto insurance end, I've never seen them give a discount unless you have the property insurance with them. Which is an interesting point as well, because when we say home and auto discount or bundling or all these other great terms you hear, it's not just a homeowner's policy, not everyone owns a home. It could be a condominium owner's policy, it could be a renter's policy, right? So I will holistically call it a property insurance policy, not necessarily a homeowner's insurance policy. I'm just, it's a property policy and an auto policy. And those two will typically give you the ability to have a discount. All right, the next one. Why does my credit score make my auto insurance cheaper? This one, this is a toughy. Credit scores. Now, most states have what's called credit scoring based on your credit, basically. And what they'll do is they'll run a credit score, it's not a credit report, right? It's not going to show up as an inquiry, it's not going to lower your credit by having it checked. However, it does produce a number that the insurance company can look at. And that number, obviously, is going to impact, in this case, the person's talking about their auto insurance. So why is that? Again, we're back to math. Statistically speaking, people that have higher credit have less accidents and less claims, period. I know, it seems kind of crazy. We can speculate on why that is, is it because they have higher credit, so they have more money, so maybe they file less claims, maybe, is it that they have better credit, so that means they probably keep track of things better, so they're less likely to get involved in accidents or have claims, maybe. You and I could debate this forever. All I can tell you is that numbers are numbers, and they are able to show in every state in the country, except for one, that the credit score directly correlates with the propensity to put in claims. Bike drop, it's just period, the end. So yes, that's why. We'll be right after the break, and we will go through some more listener emails back in a flash. (upbeat music) - I'm sure many small business owners out there have been hearing a lot about tax advisory, but aren't quite sure what it is or how it can help. Let Semaphore guide you and help fulfill your tax advisory needs at semaphorehq.com. A tax advisor is a part-time on-demand financial expert who can help you with scaling and tracking your financials and making smart financial decisions. How do you know if you need tax advisory? The answer depends on your stage, size, and goals. Tax advisory can help you address these issues without the cost or commitment of hiring a full-time CFL. A tax advisor can work with you on a project basis, a retainer basis, or a hybrid basis, depending on your needs and budget. If you are interested in learning more about how tax advisory can help you scale your business, please contact Semaphore today at 720-766-8869, or check us out at semaphorehq.com. That's S-E-M-A-P-H-O-R-E-H-Q.com. (upbeat music) - Hello, hello, and welcome back. I am Carl Sussman, and you are listening to Insurance Hour. Thank you so much for being here, taking the time to educate yourself on insurance, find out how to save money, find out how to properly utilize the insurance that you pay for with your hard-earned dollars. Remember, you can reach out any time, just email questions@insurancehour.com. You can also call 559-656-0317. Someone will answer or a voicemail, certainly with a pretty voice. You can leave a voicemail, and I will, just like we're doing today, go over your question and answer it live on the air. Also, if you wanna talk to an agent right away, just dial pound 250, use the keyword insurance, and you'll get connected to an agent right away. Back to the listener questions. All right, here we go. My agent is always trying to sell me more insurance, and I have it all. I am on the do not call list. Where do I report him? Oh, that's an interesting one. All right, so your agent is trying to sell you stuff. First of all, understand that, yes, insurance agents and brokers make money by, say it with me, selling insurance. So, on the one hand, yeah, you shouldn't be surprised, they're trying to sell you more insurance. Also, keep in mind, a little bit less cynical. If you're hearing from your insurance agent and they're offering you something, the possibility does exist that you need something else, right? It's like this, if you have a claim and you don't have coverage for something, what are you gonna say? You're probably gonna say, "Well, my agent never offered it to me." So, where do you draw the line between my agent is offering it to me all the time over and over, and my agent just doesn't offer it to me, and I don't have the coverage that I need. It's a hard line to walk. As far as a do not call list, it's funny, I've actually never heard this question before, my understanding of the do not call list is that it's for businesses calling consumers, which this would be because insurance broker is a business calling a client, but I believe that the caveat for that is that they do not have a prior relationship with. Now, since you already have insurance with your insurance agent, them calling you, I do not believe, would qualify as being a violation of the do not call list. I'd love to hear from an attorney on this, someone that specializes in it. So, if you're listening and you have this specific language about how this works, please give me a call 559-656-0317, or shoot me an email at questions@insuranceour.com. I would love to get the actual legal answer to this. However, I would suggest, and again, not an attorney, that because you have the existing relationship with the business, I don't think they're bound by the restrictions of the national do not call list. Speaking of which, if you do put your numbers on the do not call list, remember, it doesn't stay there forever. It falls off. I believe it stays there for six months or a year, and you have to put it on again. So, I know I've had this experience myself. I had myself on the do not call list, and then all of a sudden I'm getting all these calls, I was getting really aggravated, and I checked on the do not call list, and the number was gone. And of course, you read it, and it says you have to add it on after, I forgot, it's either six months or 12 months. So, if your agent's bothering you, I'll tell you the truth, just be honest. And say, listen, I appreciate it, all the reach outs, I appreciate all the offers, even if you don't. Come on, make their day. But please make a note and file, not to contact me to offer more policies. And they will, believe me, they don't want to waste any time either, and they certainly don't want to piss you off, you're an existing customer. So, make sure you just tell them what your expectations are, tell them what you like, and I'm sure they'll comply, all right? You don't have to go as far as the do not call list, especially because I don't think it would apply. Okay, next question. Why is my policy only one page, but my agent says it is a whole big policy code. Okay, this is funny. So first, it's not a policy code, we call it a policy jacket, which I guess is a policy code, right? Jacket, coat, okay, I'll buy that. So here's what we're talking about here. When you get your policy, you used to get it in the mail, now hopefully you're getting it via some electronic format, right? And like a PDF file, something on those lines, so you're saving paper, and let's face it, the USPS is not super reliable anymore, so you're getting your policy electronically. And you're going to see the first one or two pages. That's called the deck sheet, the declaration page. That's going to show all of the things on the policy that are unique to you and only you. Your name, your address, your deductible, your limits of coverage, those types of things, the effective day of the policy. That's the deck page. That's what I think you're referring to here when you say it's only one page. It's one page, sometimes two pages. Now the policy jacket, that is pretty thick. It could be 50, 60 pages, depending on the policy, it could be even more. That language is the same for everyone that's purchasing that type of insurance policy. So an insurance carrier might send you the declaration page and the policy once, and then every year that you renew, they might turn around and just send you the deck page, not the entire policy since it's unchanged. Obviously, if there is a change to it, they'll certainly let you know and they'll send you a copy of it. Now, since you're getting things electronically, hopefully, this probably isn't much of an issue because most of the time now, since it doesn't cost more to send a PDF with the deck sheet and the policy or just the deck sheet, you're probably going to get both. So again, if you're not getting your documents electronically, check with your carrier and see if they offer it because it's a good thing to do. And on top of it, you'll probably get the entire policy and the declaration page included each time. Sound good? All right, next one. My car is older, but my insurance cost keeps going up. I call scam. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Innovative materials, unexpected colorways, and fresh, clean styles that rise above trends. That's how our friends at Movement designed their California modern watches. And to celebrate their 11-year anniversary, they're having a huge sale with up to 60% off site wide. Taste makers in the watch game, like Gear Patrol, have called their ceramic watch material almost magical and deemed their CaliDiver automatic GMT, the best sub $500 dive watch, full stop. These best sellers, plus other new arrivals, clean automatics, and the rest of their site are all on sale now. 11 years in the making. Shop movements, anniversary sale, and experience for yourself what over 95,000 five-star reviews are saying. Built to run with the precision, purpose, and X factors needed to make the best of the time you keep. Find your new movement. Shop now to celebrate 11 years of movements and enjoy up to 60% off site wide at movement.com. That's up to 60% off at mvmt.com. Okay. Here's the interesting part. You ready? Everything's interesting to me. Do you notice? I need to come up with a better way to describe it, but I can't help it. I'm an insurance nerd. It is all interesting to me. Your insurance cost, your auto insurance policy, is not just predicated on the cost of your vehicle. Okay. That's one part that goes into the premium that you're paying. Only one part. It's not everything. So keep in mind that yes, your car is getting older. If you were to follow the actual policy and look at the costs for each part of it, they are charging you less money as your car gets older. However, if your entire overall auto premium is going up, that just means that there's another aspect of the policy that has gone up and it's over, it's compensated even higher from the savings you have on the car costing a little bit less. You follow me? So yes, that would be a scam otherwise. If you were just ensuring the vehicle, nothing else, and the cost of it kept going up every year as the value of the car went down. Remember, I'm also assuming that an older car means a less valued car. If it's a, for example, collector's vehicle, the older the car gets, it might actually be worth more and you would expect a higher premium. You see, there's always nuance to this stuff. But in a general, in a vacuum, you can bet your bottom dollar that if your car is getting older and the value is going down, then the amount you're paying to ensure that car is also going down. You just have to look at the rest of the policy and see what else might be impacting the overall premium. Make sense? All right, we're going to take another break. When we come back, we're going to go through some more questions and I will have some more answers. Remember, if you've missed any part of the show, you can jump online, just search for insurance hour, you can find us as a podcast, you can find us on YouTube, iHeartMedia, you name it, we are out there and I will be back in a flash and we will go over some more listener questions. I'm Carl Sussman, this is Insurance Hour. (upbeat music) - We all love children and many of us have an old car, truck, or van in the driveway. Find the children has a great way for you to put your unwanted vehicle to good use. Keep listening, every year thousands of kids go missing. Trust me, it's a parent's worst nightmare. When a child goes missing, every moment counts and you need all of the help you can get. Find the children is a nonprofit organization dedicated to locating missing children and bringing them home safely. You can help support their mission by donating your car, truck, van, or SUV. A towing company will come and pick up your car for free, running or not. And the donation of your car is tax deductible. Your help is providing the funds they need to continue their services. Call now, donate your old vehicle to find the children and get free pickup. Here's the number. - 800-403-6517. That's 800-403-6517. (upbeat music) - Hello, hello, this is Carl Sussman. This is Insurance Hour. Thank you so much for being here and learning about your insurance, learning how to use it, learning how to save money, learning how to file claims. You are just learning everything insurance related. We've been going through listener emails today. If you've missed any of them, there have been some really good ones, then please go back and listen again. You can find us as a podcast. You can find us on YouTube. You can find us on iHeartMedia. You can find us pretty much everywhere. Just jump online, search for Insurance Hour. You can even go to insurancehour.com and find all that information there as well. Remember, you also, you can reach out to me directly at 559-656-650317. And of course, you can email your questions to questions@insurancehour.com. All righty, we are moving right along. We are mowing through the insurance questions that came in. Here's the next one. Insurance companies make money by not paying claims. How is that not a conflict of interest? Ooh, that's a tough one. So let's talk about it. Does an insurance company make money by not paying claims? Well, I suppose in a vacuum, again, all things are remaining the same if you had two exact insurance companies with the identical client and the identical policy and the identical claim, if one would not pay a claim and one would pay a claim, then theoretically, the company that did not pay the claim would have had less of an expense. But listen to what we just said. If it's the same company, if it's the same insured, if it's the same coverage, the same policy, then they would pay the same. If one pays, they would both pay. We were saying it's the same policy. So yes, I suppose if a company does not pay a claim, they're not paying that claim. But if they're not supposed to pay the claim, then none of the carriers would pay that claim. You follow what I'm saying? Insurance carriers are contracts. The contract you purchase from an insurance company is a contract. It's a legally binding document. Not an attorney, disclosure, disclosure. But it's a binding agreement. It's a promise between you and the insurance company. You promise to pay premium and in exchange, they promise to pay a claim in the event you need one. And insurance policies, they say, must be created and you must use them with the utmost good faith, okay? Which basically translates into, let's give everyone the benefit of the doubt, right? So to say that insurance company makes money by not paying claims, dollars and cents wise might be true, but there's an implication that they would be intentionally denying a claim that they should be paying because they wanna make money. And that's the part that's not true. Insurance carriers, again, and we're talking in general, of course there are bad apples, of course there's fraud, of course there's all that stuff that goes on. There's fraud on insurance carriers, there's fraud on insurance clients. We're all people, unfortunately. You're going to see that on both sides of the spectrum if you look hard enough. My point is that an insurance carrier would love to just adhere to their exact policy, word for word, not the spirit of the policy, just the policy because that's what they have actuarly put together, that's what they've decided they need, X dollars and premium for. What happens is when we get into that gray area, when we get into that, well, it's saying this, but does it mean that? And if we're working based on the utmost good faith, shouldn't it pay that? The last thing that a carrier wants is to have to pay for a claim that's not in the policy. That breaks the system, right? Because the system says insurance carrier will determine what the risk will cost them. The client decides if that's worth paying the money, if they do, they shake hands, if it were only that simple, and they have an agreement and they have a policy and they have a document that keeps them on track. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Not all policies are created equal. And what ends up happening is as people might move from one company to another, one policy to another, one state to another, and these policies are different, they might find themselves in a situation where they thought there's coverage and there's not. And that doesn't necessarily, in my mind anyway, equate to an insurance carrier intentionally trying to deny coverage so it can make more money. Hopefully that makes sense. Not trying to justify anything. Like I said, carriers are carriers. It's not personal. They want to follow the policies. And as consumers, we just want to follow the policies. And if it turns out that you file a claim and that claim does not fit within the policy language, then you shouldn't expect to get paid, even though you might want to, right? And the insurance carrier certainly is not going to want to pay if it doesn't have to. All right, next question. Why do people buy life insurance on babies? This is a hard one. This really is a hard one. All right. Let's talk about why people purchase life insurance to begin with, all right? Now, the most general idea to purchase life insurance is to replace the income you generated, right? If you are working and you're making money and you are no longer alive, we assume, then you are not working and you are not making money. So life insurance is there to replace that income to somebody that is depending on that income. We can agree on that, right? Now, there are various other sundry reasons that people might purchase life insurance, but as a general rule, that's the crux of it. It's to replace your income generation. Now, then you say, all right, well then why would somebody buy life insurance on a baby? And I'll answer you, there actually is a reason. There's something called insurability. When a baby is born, oh, they're fresh, and they hopefully, if all is well, they don't have any major health issues, they're not overweight, although I might have seen some that might have been, and you know who you are if you're listening. But for the most part, they're healthy, let's assume. If you purchase a life insurance policy on a newborn, you are taking that fact that they are healthy as healthy as healthy can be. The best health rating and you're locking it in. If you purchase a permanent life insurance policy on a baby, you can take that low exposure, that healthiest of healthiness, and lock it in depending on the policy for the rest of the baby's life. So what happens if when that child is a teenager, they develop diabetes? What if they develop kidney disease? What if they get cancer? Well, they can't get insurance at that point because they have these significant health issues. So what are they going to do? Well, if they had a policy purchased on them when they were first born, not only do they already have an insurance policy, they have a preferred policy. Remember we said the best price, the best health rating, they already have it. So to answer the question, the only reason that I can personally think of, and I'm sure there are more, and I know that people that sell a lot of life insurance, they probably could write books on this. I'm just giving you my take on this. The primary reason that somebody would buy life insurance on a child would be to protect their insurability. Meaning you wanna have insurance in place for them because they might not need it today, but when they get older, they get married, they have kids of their own, they're generating income. What if they're uninsurable? What if something happens and they can't purchase a policy? In essence, you're taking out an insurance policy on getting an insurance policy by purchasing something when they're younger? And on that note, because that sounds funny as heck, let's take our last break for the day, and when we're back, we'll go through the rest of the questions. (upbeat music) Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, in just a few moments, the window to the magic podcast show will begin. My name is Patrick. My name is Calvin. I'm Mouse Catir Gray. My name is Paul, and I will be your guide through the wonderful world of Disney sound experiences. This show is a weekly trip into the world of the Disney theme parks and resorts. And this is the place where you get to use your ears to surround yourself with the magic. For your safety, please remain seated while listening to the window to the magic.com podcast. Maybe there's a name for this, something like "Diz Not A Concession." (crowd chanting) Please visit windowtothemagic.com for more information, or you can find us on Apple podcasts and in the iHeart Media app. (upbeat music) - Hello, hello, welcome back. I am Carl Sussman, and you are tuned in to insurance hour. This is our final segment. Thank you so much for being with me here today. Hopefully you've learned a ton from everyone else's questions that they've been asking. If you haven't tuned in yet and you're just joining us, we have been going over listener emails, and there have been some good ones in here. A lot of information, a lot of good information. If you've missed some of it, go back, grab this as a podcast. You can find it everywhere online. Go to YouTube, you can catch it there as well. Get this information, lots of good stuff here. If you want to send in your own question, please feel free to do so. You can email questions@insurancehour.com. You can also call 559-656-0317. If you want to talk to an insurance agent right now, right now, just pound 250, use keyword insurance, and you'll be connected with insurance broker that can help you right away. All right, let's go on. Let's get through these questions. Got a couple more, and I'm gonna power through them for you, and let's see what we got. All right, is it legal to have, I'm sorry, I don't think I understand this question. I think what they're trying to say is it legal to not have car insurance, but that's not what they said, but I think that's the question. So is it legal to not have auto insurance? And the answer is yes, believe it or not. Now, different states have different laws about what you need in order to drive, right? And what most of us see is, well, it's mandatory to have auto insurance. Well, it turns out that it's not actually auto insurance that's mandatory, it's some type of financial backing. So if you don't wanna purchase an auto insurance policy, you can post a bond, for example, for depending on the state a certain amount of money. So let's say you're looking to purchase an auto insurance policy. You just want the bare, bare bones. You just wanna be legal, right? And you look around, and it's expensive. You don't wanna do it. You can post a bond, which is significantly less expensive than buying an insurance policy, and you can satisfy the financial requirement of your state by having that bond. Now, I'm not licensed in every state, so I can't speak to this with complete certainty, but I can tell you that all states have requirements on how much of a bond or how much financial backing you have to have, and I don't see any that I'm aware of that will not accept the bond in lieu of an insurance policy. Is this done frequently? No. Is it just sort of little nerd insurance trivia? Yeah, probably, but it can be done. The point is, I want you to understand that the law doesn't mandate an insurance policy, which is what some people think, "Oh, this is not fair. "I'm forced to have to buy insurance. "There's collusion. "You know, if the law makes me buy something "from a private company that's not fair." Okay, you don't have to. You can follow another path and you can post a bond and satisfy that same requirement if you want. There you go. I'm pretty sure that's what the question was. It's worded a little bit strangely, but I think that's what they were getting at. All right, next question, let's go for it. "Can I purchase life insurance and die?" Well, I guess I can look at this one of two ways. One, are they talking about committing suicide, which is a horrible thing? Or are they talking about purchasing a policy and then perhaps legitimately dying soon thereafter, whether in an accident or for some illness? First, if anytime I mention the word suicide, please call your local suicide hotline. If you are feeling anywhere near that level, please, please. It is not worth it. You want to stay with us, believe me. You want to stay with us. However you're feeling now, it's not how you're going to feel tomorrow. So reach out and get help if you need it. Moving on from that, the way life insurance works, there's something called an incantestability period, okay? This is a period of time when no matter what happens, the life insurance carrier must pay out. It's usually two years. And the reason I'm bringing that up is because once that period of time passes, it doesn't matter if you lied about your age, your health, it doesn't matter if you lied about your sex, male or female, it doesn't matter. After two years, if you're paying that premium, the life insurance company with very few exceptions has to pay a death claim. So what happens during that two year period? Well, that two year period is there to give a little bit of protection, it really is, for the insurance carrier. Because they'll go through the process of underwriting, they'll check medical records, they'll ask questions, they'll do all of these things, but there's really only so much they can know. So if there is a death that occurs within the first two years of a life insurance policy, the likelihood is they're going to want to do a little bit of research to be sure that that application was filled out completely and accurately. Are they looking for an excuse not to pay? I wouldn't go that far. I would say that because the likelihood of somebody dying shortly after purchasing a life insurance policy does raise red flags, they're going to do with some extra due diligence. Yeah, I think I'm just smoothing that one out. It doesn't make me happy, okay? It definitely doesn't make me happy. But that's typically what'll happen. I actually dealt with one of these myself as an agent. I had written a policy on a client and I believe four months later, five months later, her boyfriend came into her house with a shotgun, shot her, killed her, killed himself, but not before setting the house on fire. It was traumatic, right? And I got a call from the daughter of the insured and she told me what happened and of course I was devastated and I told her please come in right away, we should talk. I called the insurance company and of course, the first thing out of their mouth was, oh, well this is in the two year accessibility period. I said, yes, I understand it is. Tell me what you want to do because the daughter would really like to get her money and be done. And this was not in front of the daughter by the way. Turns out I was, all I had to do was show them a clipping from the newspaper that showed what had happened to this person and when they saw that's what happened, they realized there was nothing self, that they didn't do something to themselves, right? It wasn't like all of a sudden they died of cancer the next day that they hadn't disclosed that this was obviously something that they were not aware of and they were not planning and it happened. So the insurance carrier did the right thing, they released funds and I was able to give it to the client's daughter within a couple of days. Wow, yeah, it's a horrible thing when you have something like that happen but let me tell you something. When you're having a life insurance policy and everyone is upset because someone has died and you're the one person that shows up and you've got to check as a broker and an agent, I can tell you that kind of feels good. You walk in there and everyone's angry and sad and hurt and upset and then here comes a guy with money. You know, that's just human nature. So I do believe in life insurance so that's for what that's worth because I have been through that process delivering a check so I can tell you. Listen, that's all the time we have. We did not even get through all of the questions. There were so many good ones. We will try and get caught up and review some more questions next time. So if your question did not get answered, don't worry, we will get to it. You have my word. If I have to start doing the show more often, I will. We will get your question answered. I am again, Carl Sussman. You've been listening to or watching Insurance Hour. I thank you so much for being here. Remember, you can reach me anytime, 559-656-0317 or send an email to questions@insurancehour.com and I will talk to you before you know it. Take care. (upbeat music) I do want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen today. I know insurance is not necessarily the most sexy concept. It's not the most exciting thing in the world. It is important that you understand what it is you're getting, what you should be looking for, red flags, you name it. You just need to know more than you're used to. Things are more complicated than they used to be. If you have any questions, please reach out to me directly. You can email your questions to questions@insurancehour.com or call and leave a voicemail at 559-656-0317. Educating and entertaining Californians, one insurance policy at a time, this is insurance hour. The show is dedicated to Shamrock Papa. (upbeat music) TV journalists, Jane Velez, Mitchell here, excited to tell you about my show, Unchained TV, Animals, People, Planet. Most of us say we love animals. When we truly respect them, we benefit with a happier outlook, better health, even nicer weather. I'll explain when you join me Mondays at 1 p.m. On KCAA1050AM106.5 FM, the stations that leave no listener behind. And check out UnchainedTV.com. (upbeat music) NBC News on KCAA Loma Linda, sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932, protecting the future of working families, Teamsters 1932.org. (upbeat music) Here's the latest news and weather from the KCAA new center. I'm Jake Yates. Inland Empire Parks have become movie theaters this summer. Cities across the region are screening family films. The city is hosting free movies in the park through Friday, August 9th. Films will start at 8.15 p.m. Guests should bring snacks, chairs, and blankets. Redlands Police have arrested three people who the department says attempted a home invasion robbery in May. Ray Sean Jamar, Jefferson 25 of San Bernardino was arrested after a traffic stop in the city on July 2nd. Victorville residents Derek Anthony Thomas, 22, and Ryan Terrell Harvey, 31, were arrested in the city on June 27th. Jefferson was being sought in Orange County in connection with cases involving conspiracy and receiving stolen property. Superior Court Records Show, all three remained in custody on Tuesday and have been targeting high-end residents throughout Southern California. Police ask anyone with information to call investigators at 909-798-7659. Again, if you have any information, call an investigator at 909-798-7659. The Redlands Community News founded and owned Jerry Bean in April 2019 has been acquired by Times Media Group of Tampa, Arizona. The deal included four other weekly community newspapers, including the Yucaypa News Mirror, Fontana Herald News, The Record Gazette, and Sun Lakes Life, all local community papers that have served in the San Bernardino Riverside areas. That's your local news. Weather-wise, we have the mountains mostly clear with a heat advisory through Thursday. Resort-level highs from the mid-80s to 105. Deserts, excessive heat warning through Friday, continued clear and hot with highs from 109 to 121. Beach is little change through Thursday with overnight and morning low clouds and patchy fog. Some afternoon sunshine, highs in the 70s, surf one to four feet, waters, 64 to 74 degrees. While the deserts continue to bake, Coastal and Inland Valley may see some relief after Thursday. A gradual, slow, cooling trend will begin Friday and continuing to next week. I'm Jake Yates, and you're up to date with KCAA. 106.5 and 10.50 AM, the stations that leave no listener behind. Located in the heart of San Bernardino, California, the Teamsters Local 1932 Training Center is designed to train workers for high demand, good paying jobs, and various industries throughout the Inland Empire. If you want a pathway to a high paying job and the respect that comes with a union contract, visit1932trainingcenter.org to enroll today. That's1932trainingcenter.org. NBC News Radio, I'm Michael Kastner. Politico is reporting that George Clooney talked with former President Barack Obama before the actor called for President Biden to bow out of the race of the White House yesterday. The report cites people familiar with the conversation who said while Obama didn't encourage Clooney to go public with his concerns, he didn't object to it either. In a New York Times op-ed, Clooney wrote that Democrats stand to lose the White House, Senate, and House with Biden on the ticket. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is filing articles of impeachment against Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Scott Pringle reports. Ocasio-Cortez' articles of impeachment accused the two justices of refusing to recuse themselves from cases where they appear to have a conflict of interest or personal bias. Justice's Thomas and Alito's years-long pattern of misconduct and failure to recusing cases bearing their clear personal and financial involvement represents an abuse of power. Democrats have rallied against the Supreme Court after a series of rulings and ethics controversies involving Thomas and Alito. The impeachment effort is expected to die in the Republican-controlled House. President Biden is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky later today as the NATO summit wraps up in Washington, DC. This comes after the 75-year-old alliance approved a joint communique on Wednesday affirming that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to NATO membership. The Consumer Price Index report, a key inflation gauge, came in lower for June than most analysts had expected. Aaron Real reports. Today's numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the Consumer Price Index declined 0.1% over the previous month and increased just 3% year over year. The results could be seen as welcome news for the Federal Reserve, whose officials are looking for further evidence that they're making progress in getting rapid inflation under control. Michael Kastner, NBC News Radio. You're listening to KCAA, your good neighbor along the way. For over 75 years, the Marine Toys for Tots program has provided toys and emotional support to economically disadvantaged children, primarily during the holidays. But needs are not just seasonal. And now, neither is Toys for Tots. They've expanded their outreach to support families in need all year long, with their new programs, including the Foster Care Initiative, the Native American Program, and the Youth Ambassador Program. To learn how you can help, visit toysfortots.org. [MUSIC PLAYING] An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's Extra Help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Have you heard about the 2018 study that showed half of prenatal vitamins tested had unacceptable levels of heavy metals? No. Well, now you have. 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