Interstate insurance, or otherwise known as selling insurance across state lines, is a popular topic in the health insurance reform debate. It is thought that selling insurance across state lines will open up health care markets and lower costs for some. Still, many feel that selling insurance across state lines will lower the quality of care overall.

With the holidays fast approaching many will have visitors coming soon or will be visitors. It is common to remember to baby proof or kid proof your house and for others to ask if your baby or child can have a certain treat or not... but what about your pet?

Many pet owners carry pet insurance as one tool to keep their pets healthy, just as one would carry insurance on their child. But many pet owners forget to remind others or forget to "pet proof" their homes as they would for children. As you can imagine, pets can get into many ornaments and other items that can make them sick. Along with that, it is important to let guests know what treats your pet can and cannot have. Having a pet friendly holiday can keep your pet healthier and save you both a visit to the veterinarian.

You have shopped around and found a great deal on your trip, so why not shop around for cheap travel insurance? Yes, cheap travel insurance is available, especially if you are looking for travel insurance online. Check out these tips to find the best travel insurance deal.

Unfortunately, many people who have antique jewelry and fine jewelry do not insure it properly, and a big segment of uninsured jewelry is jewelry gifts. It can often be an overlooked insurance until the jewelry is lost or stolen. Here are four simple steps to help you make sure your fine jewelry, antique jewelry, and jewelry gifts are protected.

I recently came across a story at www.kfoxtv.com. The story explains how a new law in Texas is causing people to lose their cars because of not having insurance.

Getting your car towed if you don't have car insurance is common since it is the law in all states to carry some type of minimum car insurance. Some in the story feel the law should not be so strict. A person in the article, Teran, says that before towing someone's car because of not having insurance the authorities should, "check first if a person has had insurance. If it has lapsed within a certain amount of time, then give them a break, cite them for no insurance, but don't tow the car."

"Give Them a Break?" What do you think would happen if we just gave everyone a break as Teran suggests when one does not have car insurance?

Car insurance rates have risen in the past year. According to www.carinsurance.com, "The national average cost of car insurance in 2009 to date is $1,780 which is 11.25% higher than 2008's car insurance rates."

Want to see how your car insurance premium compares to the national average? Check out the Carinsurance.com site to take a look at some great charts of car insurance national averages and state by state averages. Want to lower your premium? Next, learn the Top Ways to Turn Your Current Car Insurance Into Cheap Insurance.

Many families now know that life insurance is important for both parents in a one income household. Unfortunately though, most families just minimally insure the stay-at-home spouse. The family feels the minimal insurance they have would be sufficient to take care of the basic tasks performed by the stay-at-home parent, at least until the youngest child was out of school.

But what about the child's emotional loss from their deceased stay-at-home parent? Can hired help really take care of those needs? What if the working parent realized they needed to be the stay-at-home parent for a while... would there be enough life insurance to cover the working parent's lost wages?

If you have ever had a job, you have probably heard of worker's compensation insurance. Maybe you have even received worker's compensation benefits from your employer. Most employees don't even think much about the worker's compensation insurance that their employer provides, but that may a big mistake for some.

Generally, employees feel it is great to get benefits if they get hurt at work but accepting your employer's worker's compensation insurance may not always be the best choice for everyone. There are pros and cons to accepting worker's compensation insurance and if you don't understand how it works then you cannot make the best choice for yourself.

Membership organizations have been helpful to many in finding health care benefits. AARP is a household name for senior citizens. This trust seniors have for AARP is based on the assumption that they are advocating for seniors and not swimming in profits like many think that the health insurance companies are. But is that image true or just advertising?

The truth may be surprising to many senior citizens. According to www.washingtonpost.com, "The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records. It does not directly sell insurance policies but lends its name to plans in exchange for a tax-exempt cut of the premiums.

The group's dual role as an insurance reformer and a broker has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks from congressional Republicans, who accuse it of having a conflict of interest in taking sides in the fierce debate over health insurance. Three House Republicans sent a letter to AARP on Monday complaining that the group was putting its "political self-interests" ahead of seniors.

Republicans also question the high salaries and other perks given to some top AARP executives, who would not be subject to limits on insurance executives' pay included in the Senate Finance Committee's health reform package. Former AARP chief executive William Novelli received more than $1 million in compensation last year."

Most insurance companies are good at taking care of their customers claims but, not every system is perfect and sometimes you will need to work a little harder to make sure the insurance company does what it should. Take for example this complaint to the Mercury News Action Line:

"Last month my neighbor across the street lost control of her car and ran into my house.
A tree is down, the support post to my overhang is down, several bushes are uprooted, the corner of my house is bashed in.

No one was hurt.

I immediately made a copy of her driver's license and insurance information. She is insured with AAA.

I am 76 and handicapped. To date, AAA has not sent a claims adjuster to my home to look at the damage.

They have asked me to take pictures for them.

They have asked me for the name of a contractor.

I live in a mobile home and AAA tells me they do not have any contractors who know how to work on mobile homes. I provided them with the name and phone number of a contractor who has in the past done major work for me.

I would guess there is several thousand dollars' damage done."

This situation is unfortunate but if you know how to handle an insurance complaint ahead of time, it will make the process much easier.