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 Medicare Plan Open Enrollment Period Begins November 15, 2007 If you are eligible for Medicare you have quite a few options available to you for medical care insurance and prescription drug coverage. You may be covered by traditional Medicare Part A and B, and you may have a Medicare supplement policy to cover deductibles and co-payments not covered under Medicare. You may be covered by a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan offered by a Medicare approved provider. In the Philadelphia suburban area, many individuals eligible for Medicare are covered by Medicare Advantage plans offered by Aetna and Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 and Keystone 65). Prescription drug coverage is included under many of these Medicare Advantage programs. This is the time of year when plan designs and rates are announced for 2008. Participants in Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans can make one change per year in coverage selection. This change could be a change from one insurance provider to another or it could be a plan change with the same insurance provider. The change could be a plan upgrade (better or higher priced plan) or a downgrade (lesser or lower priced plan). Generally speaking, only one change can be made per year and the change must be initiated between November 15, 2007 and March 31, 2008. TR Insurance Group Inc. offers Medicare Advantage (MA) and Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) through Aetna. Aetna's plan offerings extend well beyond the five-county suburban area and are available for most areas of eastern Pennsylvania. We are also familiar with other options and can help you compare plans and costs. Give us a call for more information about Aetna Medicare options.
TR Website Redesigned In the last issue of our newsletter (which was an abbreviated version), we asked for feedback about our newsletter and website. Some of you were kind enough to give us feedback and we have incorporated some of your ideas in revisions (we look forward to additional feedback - send us an e-mail). We discovered that many of you were not aware of or not using our website. There have always been many links and resources available at our site, but the site has been redesigned to provide many more options. A copy of the new home page is reproduced below. Some of the revisions are still in progress, so be patient if you do not see everything complete on your first visit. The Insurance Plans option will take you to a menu of the types of insurance offered. Each menu will provide resources that will include company links, plan and rate options, brochures, applications, and forms. The Frequently-Asked-Questions option will answer common questions that clients pose. This may start small but will be expanded in the future. The Customer Service option will provide links and direction to make on-line payments, information about reporting claims, or changes. The Get-A-Quote option will allow you to provide basic information about a type of coverage you would like us to quote. The Newsletter option will allow you subscribe to an electronic version of our newsletter. Check our newly redesigned site and give us feedback about additional items that you would find helpful.
Agency Notables Randy and Debbie Riegner were recently recognized for their ongoing pledge to education, commitment to excellence, and dedication to the insurance profession. The Society of Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC) presented Randy and Debbie with formally-inscribed certificates for continued participation in the CIC Program. Randy was recognized for 20 years of participation and Debbie for 15 years of participation. The Society of CIC is an organization nationally recognized as a leading continuing education program for insurance professionals. Lebanon Mutual Insurance Company has been added as a company we represent. The company offers businessowner's and contractor package policies and also writes habitational type accounts. Debbie Riegner, Board President of the Community Music School in Trappe, would like to remind you of the upcoming series of concerts which begin on October 13th referred to as "A Little Night Music." There are six concerts this year. For details, check out the Community Music School website: www.cmsmusic.org. Randy and Debbie Riegner attended the annual conference of the Applied Systems Client Network on October 16-19 in Orlando, Florida. Applied Systems is the largest agency software vendor in the country and about 2,000 users attend the conference each year. They will bring back important information to update and improve the efficiency of the agency operations. In our last abbreviated newsletter, we reported that Heather Frederick has a new son Jacob. Heather is now back to work part-time. She brings Jacob with her for a few hours in the morning and works from home for most of the day. Heather will also take a personal residential CISR (Certified Insurance Service Representative) course in October. This is one of five courses which when successfully passed earns the CISR designation. Randy Riegner currently serves on the Mutual Benefit Group Agents Advisory Council. The Council meets twice a year with a recent meeting at Hotel Hershey on October 9, 2007. Sue Frederick was recently invited to participate in a personal lines advisory council meeting by Main Street America Group - NGM Insurance. The council meeting was held in Syracuse, New York, on September 18-19. Randy Riegner, Board Member of the Perkiomen Valley School District Foundation, asks you to mark your calendar and consider a donation to the Foundation's Silent Auction. The Silent Auction will be held Friday, November 9, 2007, from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM at the Rivercrest Golf Course and Preserve. Tickets are $30 per person and include light fare at the event and a cash bar. This is a major fundraiser for the Foundation. Please consider donating gift certificates, sports tickets, use of vacation home, sports memorabilia, gourmet dinners, or other items to benefit the Foundation. To send an e-mail about an item that you may like to donate or to order tickets, go to the Foundation website link www.pvsdfoundation.org.
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AUTUMN 2007 Travelers Introduces Quantum Home Insurance Program On October 21, 2007, Travelers released their new home rate plan in Pennsylvania. The plan features over 1300 territories and 50 rates tiers. Seasonal, secondary, and 3- and 4-family homes are eligible. Rates are improved for homes without fire hydrant protection. Log homes and trampolines are eligible. This follows the release of Travelers very competitive Quantum auto program in 2006. Travelers is a quality company committed to growth in Personal Lines. Check out the savings!
Students Off to College . . . Time to Review Insurance Issues US Census data indicates that there are over 15,000,000 students enrolled in colleges and universities across the Country. This is a time of adjustment for parents and kids. It is also a time to review new insurance exposures that arise from students away at college. Personal property coverage generally applies for "personal property owned by or used by an insured while it is anywhere in the world." Coverage for personal property and personal liability depends on whether the college student is still an "insured" under the parents' homeowner's policy. If the student still uses the parents' home as a permanent address for voter registration and drivers license, he or she should qualify as an insured under the parents' policy. The homeowner's policy provides a limitation on the amount of coverage for personal property that the college student takes away with them. The policy provides that only 10% of the personal property limit applies for "personal property usually located at an insured residence, other than the residence premises." Coverage for computers and laptop computers is usually one of the first questions to come up for the college student away at school. Computers and accessories are covered property under the parent's homeowners policy, some homeowners policies vary as to causes of loss covered for personal property. Covered causes of loss can be broad form or special form. Broad form coverage provides a list of covered causes of loss including theft. Special form coverage provides that risks of direct physical damage are covered unless the cause is excluded or limited. Breakage, dropping, power surges or accidental spills may be covered under the special form and not the broad form policy. A deductible applies per loss and this must be considered also. Companies offer special computer coverage endorsements that may be available to enhance coverage under the basic policy. You will need to explore the options available and the costs. While theft coverage is provided under both broad and special form policies, there is no theft coverage for personal property of a student away at school unless he or she has been at the school residence location within 45 days prior to the loss (60 days in Insurance Service Office (ISO) HO-2000 policy form). Even when the college student rents an apartment or house the homeowner's policy may provide coverage. The policy says that an "insured location" includes "any part of a premises not owned by an insured and where an insured is temporarily residing." The longer the term of the rental or lease the more likely that a separate tenant home-owners should be written. Some landlords now require tenants to show evidence of tenant homeowner's coverage. In this case an additional policy will definitely be required. Landlords who rent apartments and houses to college students often require that both parent and student sign the lease or rental agreement. The homeowner's policy pro-vides broad contractual liability coverage. Other exclusions in the policy still apply. Coverage under the liability section of the policy contains an exclusion for "property damage to a property rented to, occupied or used by or in the care of the insured. This exclusion does not apply to property damage caused by fire, smoke or explosion." The HO-2000 version of the ISO homeowner's policy creates some additional issues. Under this form for a student to be considered as an "insured" under the parents' homeowners insurance, he or she must be a student enrolled in school full time, as defined by the school, who was a resident of your household before moving out to attend school, provided the student is under the age of 24 and your relative; or under 21 and in your care. Based on this language, the college student may be an insured one semester and not an insured the next semester. There is no coverage at age 24. An endorsement is available to provide this coverage at age 24, but the coverage applies only "while that person is enrolled at the school and is residing at the address shown in the schedule." A separate tenant homeowner's policy may make sense when coverage is in question. Under the personal auto policy, students with or without a vehicles at college can raise coverage questions. The answers may depend on whether the vehicle is owned and insured under the parents policy or owned and insured by the student. Coverage is generally broader when the vehicle and driver are insured under the parents' policy. When roommates have access to vehicles for regular use there may be a coverage gap. The parents' policy would normally provide excess liability coverage for a non-owned vehicle, but not when the vehicle is "furnished or available for the regular use of any family member." The circumstances of each individual situation need to be evaluated. The analysis provided here is based on recent ISO forms which are broadly used by many companies. Company forms vary and different interpretations may apply for other forms.
New Personal Auto Rate Plan from Main Street America Group Late in September Main Street America Group introduced a new personal auto rate program called Auto MVP. This is a new multivariate program that will provide competitive rates to a broad cross section of clients. Eligibility is expanded to accept many risks with accidents, violations, and other "blemishes." The program is designed to address 80-85% of the personal auto market with competitive rates and discounts. The program has been expanded to include artisan con-tractor vehicles. Main Street America Group - NGM Insurance Company (formerly National Grange Mutual) already offers a very competitive Homeowners Elite program and a generous combined policy discount. We have many other carriers and programs with very competitive rates for all kinds of auto, home, and personal lines exposures. Give us a call for a quote - the savings can be dramatic.
Life Insurance Awareness Month September was "Life Insurance Awareness Month." Life insurance companies and industry organizations teamed up to remind you to consider adequate life insurance to cover the financial needs of your loved ones. You may have read press releases and been exposed to television, radio, and print advertisements. Only four in 10 adults own individual life insurance. Three in 10 adults have no life insurance whatsoever. A recent survey indicates that 68 million Americans have no life insurance, and those with coverage have far less than most experts recommend to ensure a secure financial future for their families. TR Insurance Group wants to do our part to help you determine the amount, type, and cost of life insurance. We have added a new resource at our website that will allow you to obtain quotes 24/7. From the Life Insurance menu, select the on-line term life insurance quote option. The quote engine will allow to you quote 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-year level premium term life insurance plans from almost all of the companies we represent. You may be amazed at how inexpensive life coverage is today. Rates have never been lower. In addition to term life insurance we can also provide proposals for low cost, guaranteed death benefit permanent life insurance plans including equity indexed programs. We can talk or meet with you to help you to determine the amount, type, and cost of life insurance to meet the needs of you and your family. Call Randy Riegner or Debbie Rotenberger for more information or to arrange an appointment.
Medical & Dental Insurance Options Contact us for options to meet the medical and dental insurance needs of individuals and groups. We offer:
We service the plans that we sell. Keep us in mind whenever a need arises.
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