N-VA argues in favour of a ‘Flemish supplementary health insurance’

The premiums of the personal health care are still increasing. This insurance becomes really expensive. This results in the fact that half the people do not have a health insurance. The Flemish political party, N-VA wants to introduce a supplementary health insurance which should cover all medical care including the price of a double hospital room.

The extra health insurance means that the private health insurance should not be taken anymore unless a person wants more luxury than a double room. With the help of the Flemish government, the cost-price for adults would be about 100 euro.

This is a good proposal of the N-VA because people are looking for several opportunities to economize due to the economic crisis. If this idea should become reality people can cancel their private health insurance, which cost a lot. In this way they can use the money for something else.

On the other hand this proposal is no good news for the insurers and the insurance companies. They will lose a lot of their health insurance clients. The income of the insurers will probably decrease and maybe they will increase the premiums of other insurances to compensate their losses.

I think that all the political parties should come together and investigate all the benefits and disadvantages for all the parties involved and come to a solution to encourage people to take a health insurance somehow.

Sofie De Cooman

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Belgie/article/detail/791762/2009/03/24/N-VA-pleit-voor-Vlaamse-aanvullende-zorgverzekering.dhtml

Again rise in contribution for hospitalization insurances!

Last year, the contributions for the hospitalization insurances were already twice as high as the year before and now it seems that a new increase of the contributions is coming. Since 2001, the contributions already rose with 50 till 100%. The insurance companies have to take their chance now or never because on the first of July, there will be a new law coming into effect and then the rise of the contributions will be related to an objective index.

Lots of pensioners saw the price of their insurance double and some saw it even increase in fourfold. But with the new law-Verwilghen, this madness will come to an end! The adjustment to the new law are now in the last phase. On the first of July is the transitional period over and then al the policies have to be switched over so that the new law can do its work. Until then, the insurance companies can do what they want, which is nowadays clearly to see. Market leader DKV announced in January that the contributions would increase with 5,8% after huge raisings in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Also Ethias and Argent made their contributions rise.

A link to the index is one of the forces in the law-Verwilghen. Now they’re still waiting on the elaboration of the medical link with the law. The minister of the financial department Reynders stays very vague when we ask him the question if the medical link will be good for the consumers. For the consumers, the best case scenario would be if they adjust the index to the objective medical costs. This kind of index would offer most guarantee to reasonable evolution of the index says Freya Vandenbossche in her amendment. This amendment would be very positive and good for the consumers if it would be approved of course.

The biggest challenge in the future months will be to come to an objective medical index, that offers lots of security for the insurance companies but also for the consumers.

My personal opinion is that another increase of the contributions is just ridiculous. I completely understand that the financial crisis is a very rough time for everybody, but the consumers can’t be the victim of the situation. The insurance companies also have lots of expenses and costs, but the consumers also. And even in some cases a loss on income. They still have to be capable to pay their bills and being able to buy food and other important things. In the near future, there has to come a law, which protects us from the insurances companies so nobody has to be afraid they’ll not be able to foresee in their own needs.

Nathalie COUDEVILLE

Source:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=V5267QHC

Law proposal of damages compensation for medical mistakes

Laurette Onckelinx has a law proposal that contains a system with payment of a damages compensation for medical mistakes.


According to the paper ‘La Libre Belgique’, the law proposal is a copy of the French model and it will cost the state about 18 million euro.


The major lines of the proposal:
* There are two possibilities for patients who suffer from a medical mistake:
- To take a case to court
- The right to claim from a fund
* This will be funded with contributions from social security.
* If the doctor is found to be guilty of the mistake, his insurance will cover the damages claim, and not the fund. If the doctor did not make a mistake there will only be a minimum damage compensation.


The procedure of the application of the damage compensation will be maximum 10 months.


In my opinion this proposal is a very good idea. When a person suffers from a medical mistake they have to be compensated by the doctor for the extra cost and possible discomfort. These extra costs can involve a further operation or even long term inability to work.


I also think that doctors have a very busy life and have a lot of patients they have to operate on or take care of. In my opinion mistakes are human. But when a mistake happens during surgery and for example the doctor drank too much alcohol, I really think that something like that should be compensated.

Ruth Blommaert
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20090321_007&word=verzekering

Reserve funds insurance exhausted in 2033.

A new prognosis tells us that the reserve of the Flemish care insurance will be exhausted in 2033. They first thought the reserve would be exhausted in 2037 but due to the increasing care expenses it will be at the end five years before.

The Flemish care insurance arised in 2001 and is obligated for everyone. It covers the costs of the needy ones. The part of the contributions that is not used comes in the reserve funds.
This enlarged by donations of the Flemish Government. Nowadays the reserve amounts 899 million. And it will stay unaffected till 2010 because from this year there will be a lot more older people.

The question rises what can be done to remedy it. Possible the contribution will raise or the government will give higher donations.

In my opinion the care insurance is a very good idea. It helps the older people who have to manage with a very small pension. The contribution amounts 50 euro a year. It is not much if you see how many people enjoy the funds. You can raise the contribution but for some people that will build up a problem. Especially for the people who are hard up. Enlarge the donation of the government at the other side is also a problem I think. Because where are they going to find the money? The best thing to do is change the whole pension system. Nowadays the actives pay for the non actives. There are continuous more and more non actives, so lower pensions.. In the Netherlands they have another system. There every active person collects for his own pension. As result they have a higher pension and so they can also spend more money on healthcare.

De Ridder Steffie

Source: http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Belgie/article/detail/763563/2009/03/12/Reservefonds-zorgverzekering-in-2033-uitgeput.dhtml

‘Test-aankoop’ launches petition against increase of hospitalization-insurance

According to ‘Test-aankoop’ the premiums for the hospitalization-insurance are too high. That is why they decided to launch a petition with the goal to encourage the Government to create a legal system that will stop the evolution of the premiums of the hospitalization-insurance.
‘Test-aankoop’ claims that the hospitalization-insurance has become a necessary supplement with social security, that is why it has to stay affordable. But people with this insurance have seen their premiums risen with 30 to 300 percent.

There is a law from 2007 that says that the premiums have to advance together with the medical index, so the increase of the premiums is a result of not practising this law. Besides that the big insurers begin deliberate with a low premium and as people get older the premiums shoot up because the insured people are too old to change from insurance company. That is what ‘test-aankoop’ says.

So ‘test-aankoop’ launched a petition on their website and the goal is to maintain affordable premiums.

I think that if the premiums will get too high, people will not take a hospitalization-insurance anymore because it will get to expensive. So when somebody gets involved in an accident and they do not have this insurance, they will have to pay themselves. And maybe they can’t pay it so they will end up with debts. So I think that a hospitalization-insurance has to be obligated and affordable for everyone.

Ruth Blommaert

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF02032009_095&word=hospitalisatieverzekering

National Insurance error pensioners shortchanged by £100 million

There has been a huge miscalculation of pensions of retired public sector workers. These retired people have received too little pension for several years due to a mistake of the record-keeping on national insurance contributions. It is not unusual that there was a miscalculation, because in the past a lot of pensioners already received an entitled pension which was higher than they had right to.Now however, the failure is at the disadvantage of the pensioners.

This mistake is related to former military and judicial staff, teachers and civil servants who have been underpaid for approximately £200 a year. The total of the shortcomings would be about £10 million!
The government is aware of the miscalculations that took place but it is not yet clear if they will rectify the underpayments.

I think it’s the government’s duty to restore this shortcoming in payments. It is not the government’s money but the money that the former public workers have earned and saved for the day they retire. The authorities should admit their mistake and inform the parties involved of what will happen.
I think it is very sympathetic of the government not to punish the pensioners who have been paid out more, but in my opinion they should take their responsibility and pay back all the shortcomings in payments to the entitled persons. I think it is the only way to direct a justified policy.

Sofie De Cooman

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/pensions/article5871152.ece

Insurers scared of Fortis managers.

According to Le Soir , nobody wants to insure the managers of Fortis anymore. That is why the “bank-insurer” decided to insure their managers themselves. Before the managers had their public liability insurance at the American insurer AIG, they were insured for a yearly amount of 225 million. But AIG cancelled the contract in October because it had financial problems themselves and at that time also Fortis was hit by the crisis.

Since the interruption Fortis tried to take out new insurances, but nobody wanted to insure them. So the Board of Directors came with the proposal to write in the regulations that the corporations will protect their managers against judgement connecting the tasks of management. They will be protect for a maximum amount of 100 million a year.

In Belgium it isn’t allowed to insure prior actions. So there is a gap for the managers that resign between the 10th of October and the 16th of February. In the Netherlands it is possible to insure actions from the past so it will be proposed on the congress.

My opinion is divided. For the managers it is indeed a good solution. They are still protected against judgement and have a public liability insurance. If Fortis didn’t came with this solution I really did not want to be a manager! It would be to risky for me. On the other side what if Fortis has to pay? They are already an insolvent company, when they will have to pay 100 million for each manager… For a multinational it maybe look a futility but not when they are in such a deep trouble. I read in the newspaper they will have to collect new money again!

De Ridder Steffie

Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=DMF20090319_017

Insurers 'Manifesto'

The insurers launched a kind of manifesto that underlines the importance of having insurances in times of financial crisis. The recession only gets stronger and so we have to be prepared for the worst case scenario! You can never underestimate anything.

The BIBA, the British Insurers Brokers Association, says that every company which is cutting costs, will also stop investing in insurances, because those are very expensive investments. Especially small companies do this, because they think they don’t need some insurances because their company is small and they have less risks. But when they don’t pay their insurances anymore, they will lose a lot of capital when they are hit by fire of flood. I think if people stop paying their insurances they are taking a very big risk. An accident never comes alone! You always have to be aware and some things in life, humans can’t control, like hurricanes or floods.

The British government thinks that 20% of all businesses are suffering from disruption and 80% of companies hit by a major accidents has to shut their place down within 18 months! This is a very good example why everyone should keep their insurances, because no one can predict the future.

With the financial crisis in the world, people are always looking to the price if they want to buy or hire something. They do the same with insurances. They often only look at the cheapest options, but they forget that those options don’t cover much. Only the basic things are included. I think that everyone should consult his or her broker and ask for advice, because insurances are so important. They are expensive, but when something happens to you, the medical costs will be covered.

There is only one right conclusion here: an insurance can make the difference between success or failure of you company. Everyone must keep this in mind and take wise decisions.

Nathalie COUDEVILLE

Source:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6784/is_2009_Jan_19/ai_n31201244?tag=content;col1

Flemish fines for care insurance are unreasonable

According to a member of the Flemish parliament, Helga Stevens, are the administrative fines of care insurance for not paying or paying too late unreasonable.
The fines for people who pay too late is as high as for people who do not pay and she cannot agree with this.

For this month in total there are already 42 000 administrative fines sent to people who did not pay their contribution or paid it partly. The contribution is 25 euro’s, but the fine can be more than 250 euro’s. The most important fact is that in the letters of the care insurance there is a fine mentioned but it does not say the amount of it.

That is why Helga Stevens asked the minister of welfare to be willing, especially for people who did pay their contribution in the financial year. She also asks to lengthen the payment date from the 10th of May to the 31st of December.

In my opinion I think it is not fair that people who pay their contribution partly, have to pay the same fine as people that don’t pay their contribution. I also think that the amount of the fine has to be mentioned on the papers of the care insurance. That Helga Stevens asks to lengthen the payment date is also, in my opinion, better. Because a payment at the end of the year is better than half the year.

Ruth Blommaert

http://webnieuws3.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=DMF23022009_074

Costa insures the tongue that can tell sweet beans from sour beans for £10m

Lloyd’s of London, the biggest insurance market in the world, has insured the tongue of Costa Coffee in case the company loses it’s market leader position. The insurance includes a policy of £10m but no one knows who the underwriters are nor how much premium fee Costa Coffee pays.

Mr. Pelliccia, who is the most important person of the business, tastes the difference between several flavours. He recognizes all kinds of aromas, flavours thanks to his taste buds and his sensory skills.

Lloyd’s of London is known to be the insurance market where everything can be insured. I think the way Lloyd’s operates is very good because they insure the most unlikely things. Things which contain an enormous risk once damaged or totally destructed like the WTC towers or other things like the chest hair of celebrities, Ugly Betty’s smile… Another reason why there are so many underwriters is that the policies include remarkable amounts which are too high to insure for one insurance company.

In my opinion this is a very good way to work because several insurance companies should work together so there is less competition. Also, it is not that strange that Lloyd’s insures Costa Coffee because Lloyd’s has already entered into more extravagant contracts. Insuring the unique taste of the coffee of Costa is a good measure to protect the product. For as we know there is a lot of competition going on, on the coffee market.

Sofie De Cooman

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article5870352.ece

Black boxes which analyses the style of driving settles down.

The black boxes in airplanes give us useful information after a crash. If the pilot did something wrong of there was a technical problem, the black box never lies! Now the car industry is trying to introduce it too. Some insurance policies are already giving some insurances that pay attention to the driving behavior of the driver. The insurers did some research and the results were remarkable. The cars with a black box on board cause 11% less accidents then the cars who haven’t got one, because the black boxes register the speed of the car. The black boxes in cars make use of satellite communication like a mobile phone does so. Then they can see what the driver did wrong or what happened during the accident.

The only thing that could cause a problem is the huge database the insurance companies will need to save all the personal information about the driver, but some IT specialist found a way to protect the databases. They came up with a very sophisticated system to guarantee the safety of the system. This box gives also advice of what the car driver should do or shouldn’t do. This is to avoid accidents off course. There will also be fines if the black boxes prove the driver didn’t respected the speed limits. The box will registrate the speed and give the needed information to the police.

Last year, there were already some projects to try the idea out. Ethias was the first pioneer on this market and launched the EcoCoach car. This system registers the speed, the acceleration, the fuel use, … . With this system, the fuel use can come down to 8%, which off course is very good for the environment and people’s wallet. Now, there are already 100 cars equipped with the system, but it’s too soon for an evaluation. People sense the profit they’ve made, but the question is what happens to that bonus? Some say you have to pay it out to the government, but the majority sais you have to reward the people and give it to them, because only with the “green” consciousness you won’t get far! Also other bank institutions like Axa and Dexia are now becoming participants of this new raze!

The projects have already lots of participants and seems to be a good way of preventing people to cross the speed limits. Also the emission of CO2 gasses will decrease! What a new way of supervision can do with people’s habits.

Nathalie COUDEVILLE

Source:
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=O526KB05&word=AUTOVERZEKERING.

Obama's public health insurance idea draws fire

President Barack Obama launched the idea to reshape the public health insurance. He has not given details jet. But some Republicans and the insurance industry are already concerned about the idea.

Previously, Obama signed a proposal in which he promised to change the healthcare system. The American system is the most expensive one of the world and this even with 46 million of Americans who have no health insurance at all.The other Americans, around 170 million, get a private health coverage from their employer or they buy a private insurance themselves. There are also some public programs like:
· Medicare for the elderly and disabled people
· Medicaid for the poor
· State Children’s Health Insurance Program for the low-income children
But still a lot of Americans have no coverage, they try to pay the medical help themselves or even do it without medical help.

Obama’s program would likely offer coverage for those who do not have an insurance or for those who do not want a public one.

Like I said before there are people against it and people who encourage the plan. Robert Moffit a healt policy expert said “It's a Trojan Horse for national health insurance where you basically rig the competition against private health insurance and you set up the economic incentives to encourage employers to dump people into the public plan”. The insurance industry is concerned about the impact on private insurers.

History tells us it will become a hard fight. In 1993, the plan of Bill Clinton already failed because the Congress didn’t accepted it.

I really hope that the plan will be a success! This because medical support is very needed in America. There system means nothing compared to our system. So the Republicans cannot be against it when they want the best for their nation. These days only the wealthy persons can close a health insurance. Some actives become an health insurance from their employer but others have none at all!

De Ridder Steffie

Source : //www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE52B4BK20090312

The freezing cold causes water damage of 23 million.

The insurers helped over 12 000 people this year caused by water damage related to the long period of freezing cold. According to the first estimation of Assuralia, which is the federation of the sector of insurance in Belgium, the water damage of January 2009 will cost about 29 000 euro’s.

But the record of highest water damage in Belgium isn’t broken. Because of the winter 1996 and 1997, the insurers counted 20 000 files of water damage, which leaded to a cost of 32 million.

Claims for water damage are approximately 1.500 to 1.600 euro’s. The damage caused by a flood is much higher, the average price is 4.300 euro’s.

The house insurance only covers for furniture damage which is the result of soaking through the roof or a leakage in the water pipe. It also compensates the costs that are made to prevent that there would be damage or to restrict the consequences of water damage.
Since 2006 every house insurance includes an obligated warrant “natural disasters”, whereby floods and earthquakes are covered.

In my opinion I think it’s good that the insurers pay for water damage, because it is caused by mother nature. It isn’t the fault of people who are influenced by it. But I do think that some people should take better care of their houses because sometimes the damage is their own fault, when their roof gutter is for example blocked up, they should take care of it.


Ruth Blommaert
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/2652/Extreem-Weer/article/detail/704564/2009/02/18/Vrieskou-veroorzaakt-voor-23-miljoen-aan-waterschade.dhtml

Car insurance obligated for electric wheel chare.

Since march 2007, electric wheel chares are officially allowed on the public road. Because of this admission, the electric wheel chares are now motorized vehicles and these vehicles need a “green pass” to ride on the streets. So they also need a car insurance!

The government forgot to adjust the law and most of the users of electric wheel chares do not know this. So when they bump up against someone, they are in trouble. They won’t enjoy their family insurance when they were riding faster then 15km/h. When they were riding slower than 15km/h they will still get a compensation but the driver stays suable.

The traders of electric wheel chares recommend their costumers to ask for a “green pass” but most of the drivers don’t know if they already have one or that it is needed. The insurers give a discount on the car insurances for electric wheel chares but it still stays an extra cost for the drivers.

The people with an electric wheel chare can avoid the problems by driving very slow on the sidewalk. But when the sidewalk isn’t driveable they are forced to drive on the cycle path. How many electric wheel chares there are driving on public roads isn’t known. But the “RIVIZ” pays back every year 1,000 till 1,500 examples. But there are still a lot of examples available without refund.

In my opinion it is ridiculous! These wheel chares can never damage what a car can! They drive that fast as a bicycle. They are just a little bit heavier ! But will never kill someone! The people that are using a wheel chare are most of the time sick people and they already have a lot of costs. Now they also have to pay for an extra insurance. Belgium is and stay a strange country on legislation!

De Ridder Steffie

Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=JL277BVA

Beyond simple life insurance!

Everybody must agree to this: a life insurance policy is a very good investment and a very good insurance. But now we’re still young and we haven’t thought things true. But still, it’s highly important to know what a life insurance policy is and for which goals it can be used.

A life insurance policy is very handy when you are very responsible in your family and you have people who depend on you like children or a spouse. When something happens to you and you have a life insurance policy, you are sure that they’ll still have financial support when you pass away. You can see this kind of policy as a protective measure. When you’re single and you don’t have any kids, you don’t need the protective measure. I think that everyone should take this kind of insurance. It’s quite handy for later. Off course, you have to pay for it, but you’ll be thankful later that you’ve made such a wise decision now.

But this policy isn’t only an insurance, it’s also an investment. There are 2 types of this investment: permanent and term. The permanent part is that it can be broken into a variable insurance. It combines an insurance with an investment. Term means that it’s approximately the same as any other insurance. You get whatever you pay for. It’s like an insurance for your car. If you have an accident, the damage will be fixed and payed by the insurance company.

Nathalie COUDEVILLE

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/universal-life-insurance-pf-ym-in_avb_1215youngmoney_inl.html

Hyundai Offers Job-Loss Insurance

Hyundai wants to stimulate their sale by offering a free insurance against the risk of job-loss of their customers. The advantage for the client is that they can return the car up to one year after striking the bargain in case the customer loses his job or he becomes physically disabled.

The consumer should be aware that the contract is always legitimate even if there are some differences between the conditions in the contract and the promises made in the brochure. The free coverage is restricted by a few conditions :

• 
  A customer can only lay claim to the insurance if at least two repayments within the time specified in the contract, have been done.
• 
  The insurance only covers up a maximum amount of $7,500.

In my opinion this is not the solution to encourage people to buy a car. Hyundai gives the impression that one can buy a car without any obligations. I think this is a very misleading publicity. The insurance covers only a small part of the value of the car and the client is responsible for the amount higher than $7,500. The ‘free insurance’ can cause a lot of problems. If the customer loses his job, it could happen that he can not pay the outstanding amount.

The financial crisis has already made a lot of victims. In America there is no social security system to protect the inhabitants like we have in Belgium. I think this free coverage is only in the advantage of the company to survive the economic crisis.

Sofie De Cooman

Source: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/hyundai-offers-job-loss-insurance/?scp=4&sq=Hyundai&st=cse