Emergency fund. The recession has underscored the importance of an emergency fund. Be sure to have at least six months’ worth of living expenses in your emergency fund. That means it’s money that can easily be accessed in case crap happens. The job situation today hints that a years’ worth of living expenses as emergency fund isn’t that bad. Replenish it before spending your money on other things.

Insurance. Aside from your emergency fund, you can also protect yourself and your stuff through insurance. While many might claim that these can be an unnecessary expense, my own experience has taught me to value insurance. Prioritize getting health, life, home, and car insurance policies. Just shop around to get the best deals.

It basically boils down to two popular choices – term life insurance and whole life insurance.

You may initially purchase a term life insurance which costs the least but it is only valid for a specified amount of years. Once this period is over, you would need to renew your insurance for higher rates.

A whole life insurance may cost higher but they are kept at a set rate until everything is paid off. The only time the premiums change is when the one covered by the insurance decides to discontinue the coverage but later on comes back.

Another consideration for death insurance is if it accrues money or not. This is the reason that term life insurance costs less. You are paying for the term, in most cases about $100,000, and though you may be paying for fifty years, that amount will never increase.

The deciding factor would actually be your financial situation. If you have more money, go for a whole life insurance. Although it’s more expensive, it will be much better for your family in the end. However, if you’re tight on the budget, a term life insurance is a good-enough alternative until you save more to upgrade your policy.

Hospitalization Coverage. Hospital stays can be quite expensive depending on the type of medical service that you acquire. A good health insurance covers hospitalizations which include room and board, and the medical procedures that they perform on the patient.

Co-pays. These payments are the individual expenses that are paid independently such as doctor visits, prescriptions, emergency room visits, and shots. A good health insurance pays for some of these up to a certain amount. Although you can also consider less coverage on co-pays if it allows you to up on other areas.

Durable Medical. This refers to the equipment and devices you need for health management. Examples of this are nebulizers, compressors for administering medication.

Whatever coverage you purchase, just make sure that you read everything on the policies and procedures, including the fine print. Be diligent in keeping and filing paperwork as most health insurance providers would need documentation. Don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have to.

Many young adults remain without any medical insurance primarily due to the cost and many have jobs that can’t quite provide them with enough wages to allow them to pay out of pocket if their companies don’t provide for health coverage.

At least state governments are doing something about it while the Federal government continues to finalize health care reforms.

New York, for example, passed a law in June allowing parents to cover young adult children up to the age of 29 under their employer-provided healthcare. The conditions – child may/must not have any other coverage and should reside within the state. More than 20 other states have similar laws which allow parents to cover children up to their mid to late 20s.

Young people sure can take advantage of this but we sure hope that this doesn’t increase the a mentality of overdependence to parents.

Source: WSJ

Health care has been on the legislature’s agenda. The administration aimed to run a health insurance corporation to help out the 50 million uninsured Americans. This, however, isn’t part of the core health care reform proposals.

Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama’s liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.

The relation of health insurance and mortality rates have been very well documented. For one, the lack of insurance often prevents people from seeking preventive care. Sickness are often caught in their late and extreme stages.

Source: AOL News