If you’ve watched the news over the past few years, you know that more and more home insurers are pulling out of coastal communities and that across the nation homeowners insurance rates are rising. Unlike auto insurance, the typical term for homeowners insurance is an entire year. As well, it’s a bit more difficult to change home insurers, though it’s certainly not impossible. Even so, it is possible to reduce what you spend on this vital coverage.

Here are some suggestions:

• Shop Online: Just as with auto insurance you can save a lot of money on a new home policy by shopping online. This will allow you to easily compare multiple companies, and cut down the time you spend looking for coverage. Shopping online is one of the fastest ways to narrow down which companies offer cheap home insurance. Reputable companies will still have a live person available to answer your questions, even if you do the initial application online.
• Raise Your Deductible: The higher your deductible, the lower your actual premium. If you have the cash on hand to cover your deductible in the event of a claim, consider increasing your deductible – it can net you a savings of 15-30 percent.
• Pay Attention to Home Maintenance Recommendations: Basic home repairs and maintenance can reduce the way your insurance company perceives risk, so consider simple things like adding storm shutters, reinforcing your roof or retrofitting your home to make it more earthquake resistant, and then let your insurance agent know about the changes. Likewise, upgrading the systems in your house – especially the plumbing, heating, and electrical work – can reduce the risk of damage from fire and water, and may also save you some cash when you make your insurance company aware of the changes. Companies are more likely to offer cheap home insurance with an updated house than a home that has not been updated.
• Boost Your Home Security: Most insurers will give you a discount of at least five percent when you install a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks. If your alarm system is also monitored, you may be able to save even more, and some companies will increase your savings if you also have a sprinkler system installed to help douse a fire should there be one. Most of the better systems are fairly expensive, so check with your insurance company before spending your money, to be sure they approve the brand and style.
• Bundle Your Coverage: If your home and auto insurance already come from the same company, good for you! You’re likely getting a significant discount on one or both policies. You can also save money by purchasing your life insurance policy from the same company as your homeowners insurance, even if your auto insurance is with a company that only sells auto coverage.

These five suggestions are just a few of the ways you can cut costs on homeowners insurance coverage without compromising your family’s safety or security. When renewal time approaches, be sure to ask your insurance agent about any other discounts that may apply to you.

If you’re one of those Americans who is lucky enough to be both employed and covered by a business health insurance plan, you probably know that this time of year – mid-October through early-November – is the usual time for open enrollment in health plans, as well as the time when you can change your benefits for the next plan year.

It may be tempting to continue with the same options you’ve had so far, but before you decide what you have is enough, make sure you read everything. You may find that some benefits that used to be automatic are now optional, or that there are changes to coverage options.

Other tips for working with business health insurance plans to get the coverage you need and save money where you can include:

Look past the premium. Cheap health insurance is usually cheap for a reason. In most cases if a premium is really low it either means that you’ll receive fewer benefits or that you’ll be paying larger co-payments.

Read everything, and then check your choices. Many people forget to select optional coverage like dental and vision care.

Consider a higher deductible. Just as with auto insurance, the higher the deductible, the lower the premium. Just be sure you set aside enough money to cover the out-of-pocket expenses you’ll accrue until your deductible is met.

Consider an HSA or FSA HSAs, or Health Savings Accounts, usually come with high-deductible insurance plans, and allow you to carry the balance over from year to year, or bring it with you if you change your group health insurance companies.

FSAs, or Flexible Spending Accounts, are more, well, flexible. You can set aside a certain amount of pre-tax income for any health-related item that your insurance doesn’t cover (including some prescriptions, and elective surgery), but you have to use it by the end of the year, or you’ll lose whatever money is left in the account. Beginning in 2013, there will be an annual cap of $2,500 on these accounts.

Separate can be more than equal. If you and your spouse or partner are both employed, and both qualify for benefits, it’s far less expensive for each of you to carry your own health insurance, and for whomever has the least expensive policy to cover any children, listing the other parent’s insurance as secondary coverage.

Stick with the plan. If your health plan is an HMO or PPO, be sure you always use doctors who are part of the network, as insurance will pay a greater percentage of your medical bills.

Avoid the ER. Even if your insurance covers ER visits, you should make a point of only going when it really is an emergency. Otherwise, check to see if your coverage includes urgent-care or after-hours clinics, and go there for things that are urgent but not truly critical.

These are just a few ways you can maximize your group health insurance care, but the best thing you can do is not need it. Joining a wellness program or taking other steps to keep yourself healthy are better for your body and your wallet.

Until fairly recently, it was usual for life insurance policies to be filled with exclusions – lists of conditions under which there would be no payout. Common coverage exclusions were war, military service, aviation, dangerous hobbies like mountain climbing and scuba diving, and certain health conditions, like HIV. If your death was caused by one of those excluded conditions, the insurance company didn’t have to pay.

The good news is that the world has changed, and life insurance companies have been eliminating exclusions, partly because it’s good business – the fewer exclusions in a policy, the more confident consumers tend to be – and partly because certain risks are perceived differently than they used to be.

Two of the exclusions that are no longer part of most policies are those for HIV and aviation. The former is still an issue, but a patient who is HIV-positive won’t be denied coverage for it. Instead, it will be treated like any other chronic health condition, though there will likely be an increased charge for a policy. Likewise, aviation is no longer considered terribly risky, so now, unless you’re an extremely inexperienced pilot or an extremely old (say, in your 90s) pilot, there is no exclusion for it.

Otherwise, there are two types of exclusions that still exist. One is an “outright” exclusion that applies to everyone insured by a given company. An example of this is the exclusion for suicide. There are virtually no life insurance companies that will pay out death benefits to the family of someone who commits suicide. The other type of exclusion is an option that underwriters use at their discretion, when they don’t like the risk associated with an applicant, or don’t have enough information to set a price.

The reality, however, is that even those optional exclusions are rarely used. Instead, an applicant who is so far outside the norm that actuarial tables don’t apply will be assessed some kind of “flat extra,” which is an added fee per thousand dollars of coverage.

In the current economic downturn, many employers are re-vamping their employee benefits programs. Unfortunately, one of the first benefits to be cut is vision care coverage. The result of this is that many people end up putting off regular eye exams and only going to see an ophthalmologist or optometrist when a serious vision problem crops up.

If you or a family member has existing and/or ongoing eye care needs, you should consider purchasing individual vision care insurance to replace what your company no longer provides. If you’ve never needed vision care, consider that roughly 40% of people over forty need some kind of corrective lenses.

What Does Vision Care Insurance Actually Cover?

Details vary between providers and plans, but most vision care policies provide:

• discounts for annual eye exams
• discounts for contact lenses OR eyeglasses, usually one or the other each year
• discounts on eyeglass frames once every two years
• LASIK may be covered, or partially covered, only if it’s deemed medically necessary

Why is Vision Care Important?

In addition to basic things like identifying the need for corrective lenses, and providing them, regular eye exams can also be early detectors of a variety of medical conditions, like glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes, liver disease and even brain tumors.

As well, the condition of your eye can also be an early warning of nutritional deficiencies you may be suffering from.

Who Provides Vision Care Coverage?

Most vision care insurance is offered either as part of a preferred provider organization (PPO) which contracts with eye care professionals (ophthalmologists and optometrists) who provide services in exchange for a co-pay, though you can visit other eye doctors outside of the network. If you choose that route, you’ll likely have to pay first.

As to insurers, most mainstream insurance companies offer vision care coverage only as part of individual health plans, but even if your company stops offering vision care this way, chances are good that you’ll still be able to be part of VSP, the Vision Service Plan, which will give you discounted services, though not quite as comprehensive coverage as actual insurance.

If you have medical coverage through Medicare, basic vision must be purchased separately, however, Medicare coverage does pay for annual glaucoma tests if you are in a high-risk group (diabetes patient, African-American, Hispanic, or have a family history) for it, and it will also cover basic cataract surgery and eyeglasses that may be necessary afterward.

These are just some of the key areas that vision care plans address. For more information, consult your company’s benefits coordinator or your insurance agent.