A 30-year-old man with an MBA and a perfect driving record who lives in the fairly well-off suburb of Richmond Heights, Mo., pays $558 a year for auto insurance. But in a lower-income part of the St. Louis area, a 30-year-old man who’s an unemployed high school graduate and has gone without auto insurance at some point pays $2,095 for the same coverage.

The near quadrupling in that policy’s cost — based on factors unrelated to driving behavior — highlights the unfair, discriminatory treatment that low- and moderate-income drivers encounter when buying auto insurance, according to a study conducted by the Consumer Federation of America.

Geography, credit rating come into play

The study, “Lower-Income Households and the Auto Insurance Marketplace: Challenges and Opportunities,” found lower-income Americans pay higher auto insurance premiums because insurers use rating factors such as a driver’s geographical location, occupation, education and credit rating.

“Many low- and moderate-income drivers, because of largely uncontrollable factors, pay a higher price for auto insurance, even if they have maintained a perfect driving record and drive relatively few miles,” says Stephen Brobeck, co-author of the study and executive director of the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America.

However, Jim Whittle, chief claims counsel at the American Insurance Association, a trade group, disputes the study’s findings. He says there are perfectly legitimate reasons why some people pay more for auto insurance than others.

“So, for example, where a person lives could be relevant,” Whittle says. “They could be living in a place where there is a high incidence of property crimes against automobiles. Since insurers have to pay for that, that is built into the rates. They could be living in a place with a higher density of automobiles, thereby increasing the likelihood of potential vehicle accidents. There could be a whole array of reasons why their insurance costs more.”

Poor drivers face annual tab exceeding $1,000

The study, which focused on American households with annual income below $40,000, found many lower-income people who need to work are put at an economic disadvantage by high auto insurance costs. For most of these families, easy access to a car greatly increases economic opportunities.

In 2010, lower-income vehicle owners spent an average of $823 a year on auto insurance, the study found. But in some areas, many responsible, lower-income drivers had to spend more than $1,000 a year just for basic liability coverage that is “often unfairly priced and provides no real insurance protection for them,” Brobeck says.

In some cases, the cost of insurance exceeds the cost of the vehicle itself, Brobeck says. Given these costs, Brobeck says it’s no wonder that 25 percent to 30 percent of low-income drivers are uninsured.

Consumer advocate presses state regulators

The Consumer Federation of America proposes several ways for state insurance regulators to “sensibly” reduce the cost of auto insurance.

Study co-author Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the consumer group, says state insurance regulators should evaluate the fairness of rates charged to lower-income families in an effort to cut down on costs and discriminatory treatment.

“It is urgent that state insurance commissions act to eliminate disparate treatment,” Hunter says. “If there is one priority that insurance commissioners should address, it is to lower rates for liability coverage required by state law for those driving inexpensive cars.”

Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia require drivers to purchase basic liability insurance. Only New Hampshire and Iowa do not mandate that coverage.

Industry: Recommendations would bump up costs

Paul Blume, senior vice president of state government relations at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America trade group, says the consumer group’s proposed solutions would be counterproductive and would hurt lower-income motorists.

“While we agree that low minimum liability coverage requirements would produce lower costs for some consumers, the CFA’s other recommendations would make insurance more expensive,” Blume says. “The CFA has the flawed impression that over-regulation will keep insurance rates down. Ultimately, overly restrictive laws and regulations have been shown time and again to reduce consumer choice and inhibit market innovations.”

Robert Hartwig, president of the industry-backed Insurance Information Institute, finds fault with the study’s findings. He points out that the study comes just a few weeks after a report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners showed the typical motorist saw his or her auto insurance costs drop every year between 2005 and 2009.

“As anyone who watches television commercials knows, auto insurance coverage is widely available in every U.S. state,” Hartwig says. “And competitive marketplaces drive down prices. Car owners have a multitude of choices when it comes to buying coverage as well as a variety of ways to obtain it: through an agent, over the phone or online. Drivers should shop around if they feel as though their current auto insurer is not meeting their needs, or charging too high of a price.”

Q: If you get treatment now for a condition, should you be worried about being denied coverage in the future because the insurance company knows about your health problem? What about denial by other insurers? Do they share information?

A: Your three questions deserve a three-part answer.

First, if you currently are insured and are being treated for a condition, you do not have to worry about being denied coverage in the future under your existing plan. However, if you switch plans and the new plan has a pre-existing condition clause, then it could limit your ability to get coverage for that specific condition.

As for your second question about the possibility of being denied by another insurer, that depends on two main factors:

1. Are you obtaining coverage through a company where you work or on your own as an individual?

2. Are you uninsured or have proof of previous coverage?

Your company’s health insurance plans may or may not have a pre-existing condition clause. This clause often can be waived if you can show proof of previous coverage.

If you do not have previous coverage, the company may require a pre-existing condition exclusion period lasting nine months. During this time, the insurance company will not cover treatment for the pre-existing condition.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ensures that your company cannot deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition. However, this is not the case for individual plans. If you are seeking insurance on your own, the landscape changes — obtaining coverage can be difficult if you have a pre-existing condition. If you are an adult trying to get insurance on your own, your application could be rejected or your pre-existing condition could be excluded from coverage.

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require health insurance companies to cover you regardless of a pre-existing condition. As of September 2010, children under age 19 no longer can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. This same change kicks in for people 19 and older effective Jan. 1, 2014. Insurers will have to accept everyone who wants to purchase a plan, regardless of health status. This means health plans also won’t be able to exclude coverage of a pre-existing condition. However, that scenario could change depending on the outcome of a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

As for your third point, you asked whether health insurance companies share information. Before your new insurance company pays your first claim, it will review your medical records to make sure your health history is consistent with the answers you provided to medical questions. If there’s no consistency there, the application will be considered fraudulent, your paid premiums will be returned and the claim will not be paid. That’s why being honest is so crucial.

In a previous column, I addressed the importance of being upfront on your health insurance application. However, you need only report what has been diagnosed and treated. You do not have to report every minor ache and pain.

Jason Beans is CEO of Chicago-based Rising Medical Solutions, a medical cost containment/care management company serving the workers’ compensation, group health, auto and liability markets. Beans founded Rising in 1999. Since then, Beans has received a number of honors, including Business Council Advisory Man of the Year and Midwest finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Rising has appeared several times on the Private Company Index’s Top 10 Growth list and Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 list.

Beans earned a master’s degree from MIT’s Entrepreneurial Masters Program and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Boston College.

For more information, visit www.risingms.com.

If you have a health insurance question for Jason Beans, please send it to john.egan@insurancequotes.com.

Imagine driving down a street and the car next to you backfires. The noise probably will startle you for moment. However, a driver suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may interpret this sound as gunfire and veer off the road, possibly causing a crash.

As more members of the military return from deployment overseas, driving issues associated with PTSD are being brought to the forefront by organizations like USAA, an insurance company that caters to active-duty and retired members of the military along with their families.

A comparison of driving records by USAA done before and after deployments (from 2007 to 2010) found that car accidents that were the fault of members of the military rose by 13 percent in the first six months after an overseas tour.

To the rescue?

As a result of the study, USAA is collaborating with PTSD experts, traffic safety advocates, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and branches of the military to see what can be done to address the problem, says Roger Wildermuth, a spokesman for USAA.

“It may include new programs, greater awareness or new technology, although a specific approach is yet to be determined,” Wildermuth says.

Wildermuth says full results of the study about post-deployment traffic accidents will be released sometime in February 2012.

Dr. Harry Croft, a psychiatrist and Army veteran who has evaluated more than 6,000 veterans dealing with combat-related PTSD, says about 15 percent of returning combat veterans have varying degrees of PTSD. That estimate may be low, he says, as not all veterans who have PTSD report it. Whatever the percentage, it’s safe to say that thousands and thousands of military veterans with PTSD are navigating American roads.

“Driving on a crowded freeway with cars all around them may cause some vets to avoid driving altogether,” Croft says.

One veteran’s battle

It’s been six years since Vietnam War veteran Leonard Keith Crosby of Hawaii has driven a car. Crosby, who’s 61, still owns a car but his wife does all the driving. Crosby has suffered from PTSD since his return to the States in 1969 but was diagnosed only about five years ago.

“I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” Crosby says. “It was a gradual thing. I became more and more fearful on the road until I could no longer drive.”

In a combat situation, you can’t trust anyone, Crosby says. He says he felt the same way behind the wheel.

“I’d drive in combat mode. I thought everyone was out to get me,” Crosby says.

Although he never crashed his car, Crosby was never able to overcome that trauma.

PTSD defined

PTSD comprises clusters of symptoms, all of which can affect driving, says Croft, former president of StayStrongNation.org, a nonprofit that helps veterans cope with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. For example, PTSD often causes sleeping problems, which can lead to drowsy driving and an increased risk of crashes.

Plus, vets who’ve been in life-threatening situations in combat may experience flashbacks while they’re awake, Croft says. “So instead of driving down the freeway, they’re suddenly back in Iraq,” he says.

Another PTSD symptom — known as hypervigilance — prompts veterans to be on “high alert,” such as fearing that garbage on the side of the road is hiding explosives, Croft says.

Any event, noise or situation can trigger a negative response from a veteran struggling with PTSD, according to Croft. PTSD suffers also are prone to outbursts of anger, irritability and aggression; still others become risk-takers and drive too fast.

Where to get help

Unfortunately, PTSD does not go away on its own. “Time does not make a difference,” Croft says.

Croft says veterans must seek help for combat-related PTSD from a psychologist, psychiatrist or other health professional. When Crosby came back from Vietnam, PTSD treatment programs didn’t exist.

“Now that I know I can get help,” Crosby says, “I may get back in the saddle someday, when I’m ready to start driving again.”

Where you fall in the pecking order of your family drives some personality traits that could determine how you behave behind the wheel — and how much you pay for auto insurance.

“There are many birth order-specific traits that affect your attitude toward driving and the way you interact with other drivers,” says Dr. Soroya Bacchus, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles.

Here are the birth-order traits that can send you down the road toward high or low auto insurance premiums.

First born

Bacchus says the oldest child in a family typically pays attention to the road and surroundings, and isn’t easily distracted by chatter and cellphones. Greg Cupper, president of the National Traffic Safety Institute, says the oldest child can thank his parents for that. The institute specializes in traffic safety education.

“Oldest kids are more likely to have received better guidance or training from parents about safe driving practices when learning to drive,” Cupper says. “And those lessons likely stayed with you.”

The oldest child is likely to stick to planned routes, Cupper says, and to stand up to pressure from peers to drink and drive.

Bottom line: While the first born sounds like a perfect motorist, he does have a sense of entitlement, Bacchus says. “They act as if they own the road,” she says.

Sound familiar? If so, take a breath when you’re behind the wheel if you feel the need to cut off another driver or to snub a fellow motorist who wants to merge into your lane. Bacchus says taking that breath gives you time to think clearly — and to avoid a costly traffic ticket or accident. Tickets and accidents easily can bump up your auto insurance premium.

Middle child

The middle child hates confrontation, so he’s not likely to erupt into road rage or tangle with a driver who has it, according to Bacchus.

The middle child’s eagerness to please also promotes roadway courtesy. “Middles will allow other to merge in or go first. They’re very conscientious behind the wheel,” Bacchus says.

Bottom line: Lauren Pearce, a driving instructor at the nonprofit Driving Concepts Foundation in Mission Viejo, Calif., says courteous drivers are some of the best on the road. But she says it’s possible for a driver to be too kind.

“If you give up your right-of-way, you can inadvertently cause confusion among other drivers,” Pearce says. “For instance, if you slow everyone down and go out of your way to let another driver in, you affect traffic behind you.”

That can cause an accident or can make you a victim of road rage.

‘Baby’

“Babies of the family are very social,” Bacchus says. “They love to talk and be part of the action.”

That makes the baby of the family prone to behind-the-wheel distractions like cellphones and passengers, she says. For instance, Cupper says, the baby’s social nature means he’s likely to respond to a friend’s repeated text messages.

Bottom line: If you’re a “baby” who’s a social butterfly, you may want to install a cellphone app — like Drive Safe.ly or tXtBlocker — that prevents texting while driving. Another way to cut down on distractions, according to Cupper: Limit the number of passengers in your car.

Only child

Bacchus says an only child is a highly conscientious motorist who considers other drivers, not just himself.

“They’re likely to take care of their car and everyone in it, and that translates into being a safe driver,” she says.

Cupper adds: “They are more independent and more skeptical, which results in a more careful and analytical way to drive.”

But the only child also tends to be sensitive, making him a prime candidate for road rage. “If they are hurt or feel wronged, they may react emotionally when driving,” Bacchus says.

Bottom line: Pearce, the driving instructor, suggests leaving your emotions in your driveway before hitting the road.

“Drivers will always disagree with other driver’s actions, but that doesn’t mean you should take what other drivers do personally. Before reacting negatively to a fellow driver, count out loud to five,” Pearce says. “Use those seconds to remind yourself that you won’t fix that person through your retaliation. Once you stop letting other drivers make you upset, you’ll realize how much more enjoyable driving is.”

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning are two of the most valuable athletes in professional sports. That’s why they need plenty of insurance, just as they need plenty of on-the-field protection from their offensive linemen.

“The NFL provides some coverage, but it’s not the end-all, be-all of coverage,” says Dan Verdun, an insurance broker at James A. Connors Associates Inc. in New Jersey, which sells insurance to professional athletes. “An athlete should be responsible for taking proactive measures to come up with coverage.”

Here’s a look at some of the coverage that Brady and Manning might consider buying.

Health insurance

Given the rough nature of the game, pro football players are highly susceptible to injury. According to a report released in 2011 by the National Football League Players Association, 63 percent of all players sustained at least one injury over the course of the 2010 season. More than 5 percent of those players suffered injuries that benched them for the rest of the season.

Given the likelihood of injury, a good health insurance plan is imperative. The NFL provides comprehensive health coverage to current players and extends the plan for five years after a player’s career ends. At that point, however, a player is on his own. “It’s pretty tough to find somebody who will insure you if you’re that beat up,” Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth told reporters.

Verdun agrees that getting private coverage may be a problem.

“Former football players are not always top prospects for many companies,” he says. “If the player doesn’t meet the general guidelines, the company will decline coverage or write the coverage at a higher cost.”

Disability insurance

Although NFL players often are guaranteed millions of dollars in income for the length of their contracts, some players take out their own disability contracts to protect against the loss of pay and bonuses.

“It’s very important for pro football players to buy disability insurance,” says Richard “Big Daddy” Salgado, head of Coastal Advisors, a New York insurance group that counts many professional athletes among its clients. “A player may be in the last year of his contract when he loses his ability to perform, so it can protect future earnings.”

Such coverage can be pricey, however: Portfolio.com estimates a premium rate of 5 percent for every $1 million of coverage for young quarterbacks.

Verdun says a player at Brady’s and Manning’s pay level may not need the disability coverage, but it’s essential for lower-rung players.

“Anyone who wasn’t a first- or second-round draft pick may be signing a three-year contract for the minimum salary,” he says. Disability insurance can protect such a player’s income if an injury knocks him out of commission.

Life insurance

The NFL buys life insurance policies for all of its players. For instance, when Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died in November 2007 after being shot by an intruder, his family was entitled to $600,000 in death benefits from a life insurance policy. Among other policy benefits were five years of dependent health coverage; $100,000 deposited into a health reimbursement account; and $103,560 put into a 401(k) plan.

Once they’ve concluded their NFL careers, Brady and Manning will be eligible for the NFL’s “vested inactive” life insurance plan, which provides up to $25,000 for beneficiaries. They’ll probably want to buy additional life insurance to make sure their families are taken care of, Salgado says.

Long-term care insurance

NFL players are subject to frequent concussions. A 2000 study of former NFL players found that more than 60 percent had suffered one concussion, and more than one-fourth had suffered at least three. In many cases, these head injuries can take their toll. A 2009 study commissioned by the NFL found that Alzheimer’s disease and dementia appeared in former players ages 30 through 49 at a rate that was 19 times higher than in the general population.

With the likelihood of dementia, as well as the potential for life-altering physical injuries, purchasing long-term care insurance can prevent family members from shouldering the financial burdens. “A lot of these players with brain injuries are retiring from the NFL, going bankrupt and don’t have the means to pay for long-term care,” Verdun says.

Recently, the NFL began offering a long-term care plan to retired players between ages 50 and 75, covering 100 percent of the premiums. However, players are not automatically accepted for enrollment. Only about three-fourths of applicants have been approved so far. “I wish that number were 100 percent and everyone could be approved, but a decision was made to make the benefit available to as many ex-players as possible, and by accepting applicants up to age 75, the decline rate increases,” former NFL player George Martin, president and executive director of the NFL Alumni Association, says in a news release.

To ensure that they’ll be covered if they need long-term care, Brady and Manning may consider buying long-term care insurance on their own while they’re still young. Verdun points out that the cost of the insurance climbs as a person ages.

Umbrella liability insurance

Brady and Manning would be protected by the NFL in the event that they injured a fellow football player during a game or practice. But they’d need an umbrella liability policy to protect them against other potential risks, such as injuries to another person in a car accident, Verdun says. Such policies provide additional coverage when other policies, such as auto or health insurance, are exhausted.

Specialized insurance

As popular, wealthy figures in the public eye, there’s a chance that Brady and Manning will be the targets of bogus lawsuits — or perhaps even be kidnapped and held for ransom. Specialized policies, such as ones that cover slander and defamation of character in the first case, and kidnap-and-ransom situations in the second, can protect them financially.

You hear about it too often in pro football — a player being sidelined after suffering a concussion. What doesn’t make headlines as often are the thousands of concussions suffered each year by American youth who play sports.

“Concussions have become an epidemic among student-athletes who play football, soccer, rugby, hockey and other contact sports,” says Dr. Elad Levy, a University of Buffalo neurosurgeon and co-founder of the Program for Understanding Childhood Concussions and Stroke. “A concussion sustained by a youth athlete strikes their growing brain, and even mild concussions can result in long-term problems, particularly if an athlete is allowed to return to play too soon.”

A study released in October 2011 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that youth concussions are on the rise. Almost 250,000 children ages 10 to 19 were treated at emergency rooms for concussions in 2009, up from 150,000 in 2002.

Playing it safe

Responding to the growing concern about concussions in youth sports, insurance company Chartis and the student insurance division of banking giant Wells Fargo have teamed up to establish a first-of-its-kind concussion care program. The program offers a higher level of concussion diagnosis and treatment than had been available, organizers say.

The Play It Safe Concussion Care Program, now available in 23 states, features Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT). ImPACT is a computer program used by many pro, college and high school sports teams to measure things like a player’s memory, word recognition and pattern recognition. Under the Play it Safe Concussion Care Program, young athletes are required to take a baseline ImPACT test at the beginning of the playing season. They’re periodically tested throughout the season, especially after a concussion, to determine whether their skills have declined.

This type of concussion assessment can help evaluate an athlete’s post-injury condition and can track recovery to enable a return to competition.

“Doctors have learned over the past five to 10 years that concussions can have long-term consequences on the health, memory and learning capacity of young athletes if not properly identified and treated,” says John Breckenridge, senior vice president of Wells Fargo Insurance Services.

Extra layer of protection

For 400 student-athletes playing a three-month season, the cost of the Chartis-Wells Fargo program amounts to about $2,000, or $5 per athlete, and includes the IMPACT testing. While schools typically pay for the Play it Safe Concussion Care program, some youth athletic booster clubs and private donors have absorbed the cost. The insurance covers treatment costs beyond what the student’s personal health insurance will pay for; the program provides $25,000 worth of coverage for diagnosis and management of a concussion, with no deductible.

“In most cases, the student-athlete is covered by their parents’ primary insurance,” Breckenridge says. “Our policy offers an excess insurance coverage that pays beyond any primary insurance the athlete may have. If the student is on Medicaid, our plan would serve as their primary coverage.”

The Chartis-Wells Fargo program also teaches schools and parents about recognizing the symptoms of concussion, seeking appropriate treatment and ensuring young athletes don’t go back to competition before they’ve fully healed.

Roger Blake, associate executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in the state, says the Chartis-Wells Fargo program safeguards a family when a student-athlete suffers a sports-related concussion.

“Schools require students to be covered by their parent’s insurance plan in order to participate in a sport, but that level of coverage greatly varies,” Blake says. “Many children are only seen by a family physician, not a neurologist, if their insurance doesn’t cover seeing a specialist.”

The lowdown on concussions

While an estimated 92,000 high school athletes suffer concussions each year, many high schools haven’t instituted formal policies about how sports-related head injuries are treated or when injured athletes may return to play. A study released by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital showed that between 2005 and 2008, about 40 percent of athletes who suffered concussions were allowed to return to play too soon.

As of October 2011, more than 30 states had concussion-related laws on the books regarding student-athletes. While the laws vary, most include requirements that an athlete be removed from a game if it’s suspected that he has suffered a concussion, then be referred to a medical professional who has concussion expertise and be given a doctor’s authorization to compete again.

In addition to ensuring that all student-athletes are covered by concussion insurance, Levy, the University of Buffalo neurosurgeon, encourages parents to invest in the proper equipment.

“Purchasing protective gear such as a helmet may be the best money you spend to protect your child,” he says. “I’ve seen kids who couldn’t finish the school year because of headaches, memory loss and other symptoms that can result from sustaining a concussion.”

If you’ve never filed a home insurance claim, don’t breathe too easily. You’re more likely to file a home insurance claim than you are to be struck by lightning during your life.

An insurance claim was filed for six of every 100 insured U.S. homes in 2009, according to the Insurance Information Institute. By comparison, your odds of being struck by lightning sometime in your life are 1 in 10,000.

With those odds, you should educate yourself about filing a claim if you own and insure a home. Here are seven tips for filing a first-time home insurance claim.

1. File a police report.

If a burglary or theft has occurred at your home, notify the police as soon as possible, says Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute.

2. Inform your insurer.

After calling the police (if necessary), the next call should be to your insurance agent or company. “Insurance policies place a time limit on filing claims,” Worters says. “So it’s important to place that call as soon as possible after a loss.”

3. Ask lots of questions.

Mary Bonelli, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Ohio Insurance Institute, says questions you should ask your insurance agent or company include:

• Am I covered?

• Does my claim exceed my deductible?

• What will I need to file a claim?

• How long will the claims process take?

4. Make a list.

“You’ll likely need to list or document all the items that were lost or compromised as a result of the damage,” Bonelli says.

The best way to do that is with a home inventory. The Insurance Information Institute offers a free home inventory at www.knowyourstuff.org. Bonelli says you also can give written, photographic and video documentation to your insurance company.

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is homeowners not documenting all damages properly. The insurance company will not pay for any item not listed or claimed, so when you’re creating an inventory, make sure to list the big items as well as all the little things,” says Bob Freitag, president of AmeriClaims Inc., a company in Charlotte, N.C., that helps consumers with insurance claims.

5. Seek authorization for immediate repairs.

“If the damage is severe, tell the agent that you need someone to shore up or board up the property to prevent additional losses. If you choose to do this yourself, keep all receipts, because this type of expense is usually reimbursable,” Bonelli says.

6. Be aware of the role that technology plays.

Instead of sending a company-employed adjuster to examine damage to your home, insurers now rely mainly on software to estimate the cost of materials and labor for repair or your belongings for replacement.

“Insurers no longer send an adjuster to a home to take a written (damage) estimate, unless there is a total or catastrophic loss like a major fire or hurricane,” says Douglas Nadeau, a spokesman for State Farm.

Worters says the estimating software helps insurance companies handle claims “more efficiently and effectively.”

Freitag says that although many insurance companies use software to value buildings and personal property, these programs don’t always accurately reflect the value of what was lost.

“Insurance companies may offer to replace what you lost with lower-quality items. This can often lead to your home insurance company offering a lower settlement, or not enough funds to replace items with the kind and quality you had before the disaster,” Freitag says.

Lynette Simmons Hoag, an attorney who handles insurance cases at Hoag Law Group LLC in Chicago, says she has seen clients’ personal property under-valued and building costs underestimated by insurers’ software programs.

“Most people simply accept what the insurance company offers based upon the computerized systems, but it’s important to know you don’t have to just accept that amount if you can document a higher loss,” Freitag says.

7. Comb through your policy to find out your rights.

“You often have options to fight the estimate for property claims under the policy’s ‘appraisal clause.’ In some cases, the insurance company will consider comparables for property damage, which are similar items like the one damaged or lost that are for sale in the same area,” Hoag says.

Freitag says that if you disagree with the amount of money that your home insurer offers to pay for damage to your home, you can consult a contractor to estimate the repair costs. Many contractors will provide free estimates. If a contractor’s estimate is higher than what the insurance company is offering, ask your insurance company for a list of contractors willing to do the repairs for the amount offered by the insurance company. Being armed with an estimate from a local contractor will help you negotiate with your insurance company, Freitag says.

“If your insurer cannot provide a local contractor who will do the repairs for the amount they’re offering, then question the proposed settlement amount with the insurance company and stress that you feel you deserve more money than they’re offering,” he says. “And don’t be afraid to stress you want the work performed by the contractor of your choice that you trust.”

Whether they’re showing off or texting, novice teen drivers often put themselves, their passengers, other drivers and property at risk when they’re behind the wheel.

You can’t ride shotgun on every trip, but here are six ways you can steer your teen’s driving in the right direction. Following this advice may give you some peace of mind — and may even prevent a spike in the already pricey auto insurance coverage for your teen.

1. Limit the number of teen passengers.

“Teens tend to be very distracting to each other,” says Sue Duchak, who leads the Allstate Foundation’s teen driving program. “The presence of even one passenger increases the chance of a fatal crash. The presence of a male passenger nearly doubles the risk of a fatal crash.”

2. Restrict nighttime driving.

Nearly half the teens who died in car crashes in 2009 were killed between 3 p.m. and midnight, Duchak says.

Even though teens have good night vision compared with older drivers, their lack of experience means they don’t adapt as well to driving at night, says Bruce Simons-Morton, a researcher at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. For teens, late-night driving many times can involve drinking alcohol and other dangerous behavior.

3. Cut the chatter.

“Using a cellphone while driving is like driving drunk,” Duchak says, delaying a driver’s response as much as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.08.

Still, many teens and adults insist they can multitask in the car. The problem is teens aren’t good at concentrating first on the primary task of driving, Simons-Morton says.

In one study on a test track, researchers had adult and teen drivers drive through a traffic signal several times, Simons-Morton says. Then researchers gave cellphones to the teen and adult drivers, and asked them to make calls to obtain information.

Adults were clumsy and couldn’t complete the task. “As experienced drivers, they were uncomfortable not looking up,” Simons-Morton says. On the other hand, “teen-agers were fantastic at using the cellphone and getting the information,” he says. “But they were highly likely to run the red light.”

4. Ban texting.

Texting on a cellphone is even more dangerous than talking. “No one should text while driving,” Simons-Morton says. “It is perhaps the most dangerous secondary task.”

Parents should explain to teen drivers how and why the behavior is dangerous. Put it in terms teenagers can understand. For instance, Duchak suggests, you can tell a teen driver that at 55 mph, a five-second text takes his eyes off the road for the length of a football field. Also, you and your teen driver can visit websites like Distraction.gov to see stories of traffic deaths blamed on texting and other distracted driving.

Simons-Morton recommends that parents be good role models. “Put the phone down while driving. Make a family commitment to avoid distracted driving,” he says.

5. Don’t buy a car for your teen.

“When teens share a vehicle with a parent, they do not drive as risky as when they have exclusive access to a vehicle,” Simons-Morton says.

6. Don’t let a younger teen drive.

Nine states still allow teens to drive at age 14, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but you can set your own age limit even if you live in one of those states. Driving at 14 may have been fine 50 years ago, Simons-Morton says, but roads are far more sophisticated now.

“Driving conditions are a lot more complicated,” Simons-Morton says. “Modern vehicles are very powerful. Even small cities have extensive traffic.”

If you’re worried that your teen is too immature to drive, don’t let him get that driver’s license even if your state allows it.

“Every parent knows their teens are more mature at 17 than at 16 and more mature at 20 than 18,” Simons-Morton says. “Delaying licensure is a good thing.”

Roughly 900,000 Americans live in assisted living centers, according to the National Center for Assisted Living. And for residents and their families alike, these facilities mean an end to many worries — but not all of them.

Residents of assisted living facilities still might face personal liability risks. What if a resident’s dog bites a visitor? What if a visitor slips and falls inside a resident’s room and sues?

Filling an insurance void

While some experts are skeptical of the seriousness of those risks, one specialty insurance product is providing liability coverage geared toward residents of assisted living centers. Called Asset Guard Endorsement, this insurance was created by insurance agent Eugene Solomon of El Segundo, Calif. Solomon insists that assisted living residents need personal liability insurance but have had little access to it.

Solomon developed the idea for Asset Guard Endorsement when a colleague asked him a hypothetical question about the colleague’s mother, who was an assisted living resident. What would happen, he asked, if his mother ran into someone on her mobility scooter? At first, Solomon says, the two thought that the assisted living center’s insurance would cover such an incident, but the center where his colleague’s mother lived wouldn’t give that information in writing.

The more they investigated the question, Solomon says, the more they found that liability coverage for assisted living residents was inadequate. Typically, residents had some liability protection through their home insurance or renter’s insurance, which they were likely to have given up when they moved into assisted living, according to Solomon.

Often, he says, new residents are asked to take out a renter’s insurance policy, but many don’t actually do so. Additionally, Solomon found that many insurance carriers don’t want to write a policy for somebody who shares a room, for somebody who lives in a unit for which someone else has keys, or for certain geographic areas that have a lot of senior care centers.

To fill that perceived gap, Solomon and partner James Karmin introduced Asset Guard Endorsement. The coverage, underwritten by Philadelphia Insurance Co., is designed to cover personal liability for those in assisted living centers. It covers damage caused by a resident’s pets, protects personal property and safeguards against lawsuits.

A typical Asset Guard Endorsement policy costs $185 a year, Solomon says. Liability coverage options include $100,000, $300,000 and $500,000 limits. Coverage of personal belongings carries a $5,000 limit, with the ability to pay for a higher limit. The policy also covers lodging expenses if a resident’s apartment is damaged by a covered loss, such as a fire.

Is this coverage really necessary?

Not everyone thinks this coverage is necessary, however.

“Given the frailty of these folks, both physically and cognitively, I can’t in my lifetime remember a resident getting sued. … It just doesn’t happen,” says Rick Stephan, a veteran of the senior living industry and principal at Rick Stephan & Associates, a consulting firm for providers of senior living services.

The average assisted living resident is an 87-year-old woman who needs help with one or two basic daily activities, such as bathing or dressing. According to the National Center for Assisted Living, 87 percent need help with their meals, and 81 percent need help managing their medications.

Moreover, Stephan says, residents at such facilities aren’t entirely unprotected. Most assisted living residencies carry liability policies.

“Typically, the liability insurance is the responsibility of the provider, not the renter,” Stephan says.

Generally, public liability insurance (a type of insurance businesses buy to cover themselves if a member of the public is injured on the premises) will cover visitors’ accidents. These days, Stephan says, such policies are fairly cheap — about $100 per bed — as competition in recent years has driven prices down.

Stephan also is skeptical of Asset Guard Endorsement’s value when it comes to seniors in independent living centers, which provide less daily help than assisted living centers do. For these residents, a standard renter’s insurance policy should be fine, according to Stephan. Unless residents are getting an especially good price on coverage, it holds little appeal for “the independent living resident who has been dealing with a trusted broker for many years.”

A troubling development has emerged in auto insurance: Nationwide, the cost and frequency of claims is on the rise. However, experts say this surprising bump shouldn’t trigger higher auto insurance premiums — at least in the short term.

A recent study from the Insurance Research Council, a nonprofit unit of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters and the Insurance Institute of America, found the nationwide cost of auto insurance claims rose between 2008 and 2010. Throughout the past decade, those costs have declined or been stable. At the same time, the frequency of auto insurance claims also has gone up — in the opposite direction compared with previous years.

“This was somewhat surprising and a little troubling,” says David Corum, vice president of the Insurance Research Council. “The long-term trend of decreasing claim frequency may be ending.”

According to Corum, personal injury protection (PIP) claim costs — those related to medical expenses, lost wages and other damages — per insured vehicle rose nationwide by more than 18 percent from 2008 to 2010. Moreover, when it came to bodily injury liability claims — which cover the medical costs of injuries to passengers in your car and other cars after an accident — 2010 was the first year since 1994 that frequency did not decrease.

“This may be a statistical blip or it may be a fundamental change in the trend of claim frequency,” Corum says. “If the frequency is no longer going down and instead going up, consumers could be in for some trouble.”

The effect on your premium

Eli Lehrer, vice president of nonprofit research center The Heartland Institute, says the findings in the Insurance Research Council study probably won’t affect the average consumer’s auto policy right away. A single-year increase in claim costs isn’t enough to warrant higher insurance rates. Since insurers’ profits “are currently pretty healthy,” he says, there isn’t much room for them to pass these costs along to consumers.

“I would guess that a two- or three-year trend would probably be enough to start affecting rates, but not just a single year,” Lehrer says. “I think the auto insurance market is just too competitive right now.”

What drivers should be most concerned about are their habits behind the wheel, says Jim Whittle, chief claims counsel for the American Insurance Association trade group. A person’s driving record and claims history remain the most important factors used to determine insurance rates.

“Your individual driving habits are extremely important,” Whittle says. “If you are safe and responsible, you’re probably going to have fewer accidents and fewer claims than someone who isn’t a good driver, and that’s where you’ll see the most noticeable impact on your premiums.”

Fault vs. no-fault

The Insurance Research Council report focused a lot on the increased cost of PIP claims in three of the largest states that use a no-fault approach to car injury compensation — Florida, Michigan and New York. In Florida, for example, the average PIP claim cost per insured vehicle rose 62 percent between 2008 and 2010.

Whittle says the no-fault premise is simple: If a policyholder is involved in an accident, that policyholder’s auto insurance company is responsible for reimbursement without proof of fault. Policyholders aren’t allowed to seek legal damages for losses caused by other drivers.

In states without no-fault systems, however, policyholders must go through a process to determine whether a defendant is liable, and whether the costs are reasonable and are tied to an accident.

Mike Barry, a spokesman for the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute, says fraud and abuse within the no-fault system causes consumers in New York to collectively pay tens of millions of dollars more in premiums.

“What happens is certain medical providers take a bill that may have been $6,000 and make it $8,000,” Barry says. “While it’s illegal, there are some players in the medical community who figure no one’s going to notice a bill that went up by $2,000. If this is done enough times in a state with 19 million people, it’s going to drive up the cost of auto insurance.”

Insurance fraud within the property and casualty industry — which includes auto insurance — costs about $30 billion a year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau, says PIP fraud is part of that figure. Scafidi says the findings of the Insurance Research Council report can be explained partly by the high volume of insurance fraud schemes around the country, particularly in no-fault states.

“Phony accidents followed by unnecessary or repetitive medical treatments performed by questionable providers all add to the cost that we pay for coverage,” Scafidi says. “These findings (by the council) are not at all surprising for those of us in the business of investigating insurance fraud.”

Other explanations

Fraud and abuse are not the only reasons for the increase in claims costs. Lehrer says the continued rise in medical costs shares some blame.

“The largest bills that auto insurers have to pay are almost always medical bills,” Lehrer says. “And even though most auto claims don’t involve injury, almost all expensive auto claims do, and a typical hospital stay costs more than the average car.”

Insurance expert Frank Cacchione, CEO of New Jersey-based TNC Management Group, says the increase in the filing of auto insurance claims can be attributed to:

• More high-performance, sporty vehicles on the road.

• An increase in driving now that economic recovery is slowly under way.

• Distractions caused by drivers who are talking and texting on their cellphones.

“I think the combination of these factors will lead to more rate increases in 2012 and, at some point, stronger restrictions on the use of cellphones while operating a vehicle,” Cacchione says.

The weak economy also may shoulder some of the blame for increased claim costs, says Ernie Bray, CEO of AutoClaims Direct, which provides claims services and technology to insurers.

“Anytime you have tough economic conditions, you have a lot more people trying to exaggerate their claims in order to cash in,” Bray says. “They see insurance claims as a way to get a little extra money, and this drives up the cost of claims. Someone has to pay for this, and ultimately it’s the consumer.”