Uninsured Motorists: Is It Worth It?According to the Insurance Research

Uninsured Motorists: Is It Worth It?
According to the Insurance Research Council, approximately 15% - 17% all drivers in the United States are uninsured. Despite all the fines and penalties they could suffer, millions of drivers either cannot afford coverage or just do not care about the potential consequences. This leaves the insured drivers in a precarious position. Do they buy uninsured motorists coverage on the off chance that one of these irresponsible drivers will collide with them or do they simply pray it never happens? The entire situation along with the consequences of a wrong decision can lead to overwhelming financial burden for the insured driver, especially for those who can barely afford the state required insurance minimums.

So, what can be done to decrease the number of uninsured motorists on the road? The truth is, barring imprisonment, there is very little that state agencies can do to enforce the minimum insurance requirements until an accident occurs. Even then, fines and penalties may not be enough to keep the determined uninsured motorist off the road. U.S. states are trying, though, to do what they can to help solve the problem.

U.S. State Responses to the Uninsured Motorist Problem

Most U.S. states have tried to address the problem of uninsured motorists by requiring that each driver obtain a specified minimum amount of auto insurance coverage in case he or she is the cause of an accident that results in injury and/or damages to another. Although every state differs in its minimum requirements, all require three elements to the coverage: a guaranteed minimum amount that will be paid per person, per accident; a guaranteed minimum amount that will be paid out per accident, total; and, a guaranteed minimum amount that will be paid out for property damage, per accident.

For example, if you are a driver in Arizona, you must carry insurance that will pay a guaranteed minimum of $15,000 per person injured, with a guaranteed minimum of $30,000 total coverage for the accident. So, if two people were injured in an accident that you caused, and each of those people sustained injuries that totaled $25,000, the minimum insurance would not cover their total damages. Each would only receive $15,000. In Arizona, the required minimum for property damage is $10,000 (on an insurance policy, the coverage limits would be shorthanded as 15/30/10).

In addition to requiring minimum amounts of auto insurance, most states have some sort of fine or penalty system for those who do not adhere to the law. Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island will confiscate a first-time offender's license plate. Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and other states will suspend or revoke an offender's license and/or registration. Just about every state in the union imposes some sort of fine - from $50 to over $5000.

Despite the various punishments doled out by the states, uninsured motorists continue to roam the highways of America. State penalties and minimum requirements help, but no state has the resources necessary to track down every uninsured motorist on the road today.

What Drivers Can Do to Protect Against the Uninsured Motorist

The only real weapon a law-abiding driver has against the uninsured motorist comes in the form of additional insurance- the uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage will protect the driver who is not at fault in an accident by paying for injury and damages that would have otherwise been covered by the uninsured driver. In more than half of the U.S. states, this coverage is optional. The following states, however, mandate uninsured motorist coverage: Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A similar coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, is also required in some of these states. This coverage protects the policyholder (if not the cause of an accident) by supplementing the inadequate insurance of a driver who is at fault in an accident.

While trying to determine whether or not uninsured motorist coverage is really worth the cost, consider what a devastating automobile accident could mean for you and your family. Are you financially able to pay for the outcome of a devastating automobile accident? Would any of your current insurance policies help cover resulting medical costs, lost wages, etc.? If the answer to these questions is "no", then perhaps uninsured motorist coverage would be worth the cost.

Universal Health Care: What Is It?Universal Health Care has been

Universal Health Care: What Is It?
Universal Health Care has been in the news lately and every political campaign usually talks about it somewhere down the line. Universal health care is getting health care for every living American no matter how poor, how rich or ethnic backgrounds. Universal Health Care is one of the few services that haven't reached across the board of all American citizens. Universal heath care would reduce the burden that is taxing our health care system, which is right now in crisis. We don't have enough doctors or nurses to staff our hospitals now.

A universal health care must meet certain requirements to work well in the United States. We must include the entire population, which would include men, women, children, and immigrants. No one should be without it. This program could be wide open to discrimination so we must make sure it runs smoothly and corruption isn't anywhere to be found. Access to care is a must. Many times people don't have ways to get health care. We must provide transportation to and from the medical facilities so they can receive the proper treatment.

A benefits package for universal health care is a must. Primary and specialty care must be included in the package. If we don't make sure we cover every aspect of health care we are doomed to fail. Most people can't afford health care and it has become a luxury for most rather than a necessity. A lot of consumers have been priced right out of it. We need to get universal health care so these consumers can get the health care they need. Why is this important? Millions and millions of dollars are lost to workers being sick and not being able to do their jobs. Lost productivity hurts everyone involved. Fewer goods are manufactured thus increasing prices for the consumer. Health care is probably the most important subject in America today. Universal health care needs to adopted and implemented by a single source. This will save a lot of heartaches and problems.

Poor health causes many problems that universal health care could stop. The poor struggle to pay for housing and other needs just to make it through everyday. This can lead to mental illness and the quick depletion of their resources and becoming homeless is the natural progression. One number that people will find unbelievable is the amount of people without access to health care. Over 15 percent of Americans lack public or private health care. No universal health care puts public health at risk as untreated diseases can go unabated for years before the government can catch them. How many lives will we lose to this?

With insurance premiums skyrocketing one of the main reasons for this is; all the uninsured people who have to access free or low cost medical services. The only real way to recuperate the loss revenue by companies is to increase premiums to people who are now paying them. Universal health care would help control; costs and give everyone at least the opportunity to access health care. It should be a right of every American to have good health care.

Universal health care is something America has needed for a number of years now, so what's keeping it from happening? Many factors contribute to this and their really are no easy answers. Let's look at a few and see why we're one of the few countries without universal healthcare. Being a free country having universal health care would limit the amount of money doctors, dentists could charge everyone. This would not make those in the medical community very happy to have their earning power limited. How many other industries do we limit what someone earns and you have to look what is a certain service worth that a doctor or lawyer does. Can we really tell them it's only worth this amount?

Universal health care has a lot of questions that probably will have to be answered before it will be universally accepted. Getting major health care providers on board is really the only way that it will work in America. I guess only time will tell if Universal health Care is what all Americans really want.