Earlier this year, the American subsidiary of the South Korean carmaker Hyundai began promoting a program it called Hyundai Assurance: buy one of our vehicles, the ads explained, and “if in the next year you lose your income, we’ll let you return it.” One of these decidedly unfestive spots ran during the Super Bowl. And while that sounds like a horrible idea — the big game is one of the few moments when we can get together and not think about being canned — Hyundai can point to results. Its sales for the year are up about 4.9 percent over the same period in 2008. That compared with about a 40 percent drop for car sales overall. Read more…

(Alamogordo Daily News) – My basic liability auto insurance had only risen about 3 percent per year for the last five years. Suddenly, in late 2008, it shot up 48 percent. I have not had a ticket in more than 20 years and have never made a claim on this company. When I had my agent check for a reason, the company responded that rates had gone up statewide. Read more…

(Business Wire) – The first 100 children who arrive at the Georgia Aquarium Saturday, March 21 will be treated to complimentary aquarium passes to celebrate the arrival of GEICO’s traveling gecko exhibit to the famed aquarium, and the Gecko exhibit’s one year-anniversary .

The Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest aquarium, marks the second stop on the ongoing GEICO and Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) nationwide conservation campaign and tour. Each stop features the giant day geckos, one of the largest of all geckos, which are native to Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands. The GEICO Gecko costume character will also appear at the aquarium each weekend through May 30. Read more…

In 1990 the U.S. League of Women Voters undertook a two-year study of funding and delivery of health care. A key conclusion reads, “The position calls for a national health insurance plan financed through general taxes, commonly known as the ‘single-payer’ approach.”

With all the health plans recently put forward, it’s a wonder anyone can parse truth from fiction. Since 2001, when I turned 65 and joined the Medicare brigade, the solution seemed simple: At birth register every infant to the Medicare rolls. As the plan exists today, only people in their declining years use Medicare, thereby making the cost of care exorbitant. It is the opposite for private health insurance plans that seek to cover primarily healthy people. Read more…

Insurance is one of those necessary expenses, so you can’t cut it out of your budget entirely. Fortunately, all major insurance companies offer a multitude of discounts you may already be eligible for.

1. Drive Safe
Almost every major auto insurance company offers safe driver discounts. AllState (Stock Quote: ALL) offers three levels of discounts for safe drivers: Premier for drivers with a three-year clean record, Premier Plus for drivers with a five-year clean record; and a Defensive Driver discount for those who’ve taken an approved defensive driving class. State Farm has a special safe driver program for drivers younger than 25 who have completed a specific program designed by the company. Read more…

(Newswise) – The keys to fixing the U.S. health care system are to hold people accountable for their actions; treat health insurance like auto insurance and tax individual’s health care benefits said Larry Van Horn, a leading expert and researcher on health care management and economics.

“People need to consume less health care, period,” said Van Horn, associate professor of management and faculty director of health care programs at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. Read more…

The payments to 400 employees of the financial-services unit – some of whom no longer work at the insurer – were promised last year before the government bailout

American International Group (AIG), the troubled US insurance giant which is received several lifelines from the Obama administration, is all set to shower US$450mn in bonuses to employees of its financial unit that is believed to be responsible for the New York insurer’s near collapse. Read more…

Attorney General Martha Coakley wants the state’s insurance division to maintain the appeals process for drivers who believe they were wrongly assessed surcharges for accidents.

The Board of Appeals is slated to stop hearing new cases April 1 as Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes continues to phase in deregulation of auto insurance. Read more…

Progressive Insurance wants Missouri customers to install a device in their cars to tell whether their driving is mild or wild. The gadget sends the data off to the insurance company through cell phone towers.

The carrot: Volunteers get a 10 percent cut in insurance rates, offset by a $60 annual technology charge. The company also holds out hope of a deeper premium cut — up to 30 percent — if Progressive finds that you drive gently and not very far. Read more…

More consumers complained about claim denials last year than any other type of insurance problem, the Ohio Department of Insurance said today.

Nearly a third of the 6,506 complaints closed by the department in 2008 involved claim denials. Read more…