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A worrying fact is that a quarter of children are classed as overweight before they are old enough to start school. That figure is one in three by the time they enter secondary school at the age of 11.

Obesity can be related to a range of health problems including diabetes, heart and liver disease and even cancer. In less than a decade since 1999 the number of doctors’ prescriptions for obesity drugs rose from 127,000 to more than a million.

And now the insurance companies are going to make the fatties pay.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the tool used to calculate whether a person is of ‘normal’ proportions, or ‘overweight’, or ‘obese’, which is anyone with a BMI of over 30. This is the figure at which many insurance companies start charging up to 50 per cent higher premiums. In the past a BMI nearer 40 was used, but as it became clear how serious Britain’s obesity problem was, the figure was lowered to 30. However, they might decide to drop lower still, heading closer to the 25 mark where the ‘overweight’ category starts.

If you are obese and also have other high-risk factors such as being a smoker or suffering from certain medical conditions, the increase in the cost of your premiums could soar to a staggering 400 per cent!

An example for 150,000 pounds of life cover for a 55-year old man in good health, who is a non-smoker of normal weight, is about 1,000 pounds a year. Let him become obese and his 25-year policy could cost him 500 pounds more.

Not all insurance companies use the same BMI rate. The second largest insurer, Norwich Union, uses 35 as the figure at which to raise the premium costs, and the third largest, Friends Provident, goes from 33.

Legal & General, Britain’s leading insurer, uses a BMI of 30, and said that 13 per cent of new customers would have to pay the higher premiums.

L&G’s director of underwriting and claims, Russ Whitworth said, “Most people understand that poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to health problems but they might not realise that being significantly overweight would also make their life insurance more expensive.

“Although it is not an exact science, we find that BMI is the best indicator of the risk of being overweight, so it pays to stay in shape.”

The Association of British Insurers backs its members’ decision to charge higher premiums for the obese, claiming that it is no different from charging more for a smoker or somebody with a previous medical condition

Problems could arise for super-fit sportsmen who would have to convince their insurers that their high BMI score is due to building up solid muscle rather than being obese.
It’s no point being economical with the truth when an application form asks for your height and weight. In the event of a claim, the company won’t pay out if it catches you out in a lie.
The Financial Ombudsman Service says it constantly throws out cases where a claim has been rejected for this reason.

Recently a man of 37 claimed on his application to be six foot tall and to weigh 16 stone. When he died of a blood clot five months later it turned out he was only 5 foot nine inches tall and five stone heavier. Needless to say there was no pay out. His premiums would have increased by 275 per cent if his true details had been known, but his claim would have been valid.

The Financial Ombudsman ruled that there was such a difference between what he put on the form and what he actually measured that it couldn’t have been a mistake.

Matt Morris, a policy adviser at specialist financial advisers Life Search, explained, “ In an ideal world, insurers want the healthier clients. There is an element of cherry picking. They don’t want the burden of the heavier client.”

The Prudential is doing something to help. It now offers free gym membership, and if you use it at least twice a week you get a 2.25 per cent discount as well.Get great deals on Life insurance from The Life Insurance Protection. Please visit our site for helpful articles on Life Insurance. Visit Brokers Online to benefit from its extensive article library covering most areas of uk finance.They also offer Life Insurance Quotes, Mortgage Quotes and much much more all online.

Coordination of Benefits (COB) is a process by which two or more insurers who are insuring the same person for the same or similar group health coverage limit the total benefits received by the insured. The primary health care is the health insurance that will pay first on medical claims. Secondary health insurance will pay after the primary health insurance pays their portion. At no point will the combination of primary and secondary health insurance pay more than 100% of the claim that is being paid.

An employee is always primary on his or her own coverage. A spouse who is covered under a group plan would be secondary on the spouse’s plan. Dependents are covered on a primary basis by the health plan of the spouse with the earliest birthday during a calendar year also known as the birthday rule.

For example, Jim Ventrusca has health insurance for himself through his employer and he is also covered under his wife’s plan. If Jim, had gall bladder surgery that cost $5,000 his plan would be primary and pay after he has met his deductible. Let’s say Jim’s health plan had a $500 deductible and his wife’s plan had a $250 deductible. Jim’s primary health care plan by definition will pay after his $500 deductible is met. Once the coinsurance maximum is met then the secondary payor will pay on the claim.

In our example above, the surgery cost was $5,000 and Jim will pay the first $500 fully out of his pocket. The remainder is $4,500 which in our example is paid at 80% up to an annual out of pocket maximum of $2,500. So Jim is responsible for 20% of the remaining $4,500 or $900.

Jim’s wife has a plan that he is secondary on and this plan will pay the $250 deductible that Jim has through his wife’s employer. This secondary payment allows Jim to collect back a portion of his $500 claim. There may also be coordination of benefits on the coinsurance depending upon the plans that are being coordinated by the two health insurers involved. Coordination of benefits also occurs on other claims for dental, vision and other employee benefits offerings.

The definition of primary health care or health insurance is a complex transaction. Talk to your human resources department if you want more information on how coordination of benefits will work for your specific case. Understanding which plan is primary and how the coordination of benefits process works can save you money in the long run. However, you should always evaluate what the cost of insurance is for you. How much do you pay per pay period and how much does your spouse pay as well. You may be overspending relative to the potential payout from coordination of benefits.Scott is a partner in ESP Benefit Design, an employee benefits insurance firm based in Westerville, Ohio. (614-882-8535) Scott has an MBA from Franklin University. Scott has worked with over 6,000 customers. Email Scott at scott@espbd.com Visit http://americanhealthadvocate.com and check out articles such as health and medical insurance quote

Many nursery schools and early learning establishments already have high quality staff that are drawn to the pre school sector not through any financial incentive but mainly through a love of children and a desire to help them learn. These qualities are rightly sort after in nursery staff but the fact is the pre school industry still suffers from a lack of high quality candidates due to the remuneration packages available. For this reason the first 3 tips are based around funding for nursery schools and the money available to the pre school sector.

The first tip would be to combine the love nursery staff have for teaching and working with children with better qualified nursery staff. Some of the most successful nursery schools in the world are in Scandinavia and in those countries, nursery staff are of an equal standing as teachers. Contrast this to nursery staff in the UK where less than 8% of staff are educated to university level and you will notice a major difference.

So with this shortfall in degree standard staff in the pre school sector what can be done to increase the calibre of nursery staff? One way would certainly be to pay staff in the nursery sector more money. And whilst the best teachers are not necessarily motivated by money, it would certainly help more degree educated consider the pre school route to a career rather than choosing industries such as banking, insurance or other financial services routes.

So if we want better staff and we want to encourage them with higher wages how is this going to be achieved? Well the fact is any increase in funding is going to have to come from the government and this may well mean either fund raising through increased taxes or redistribution of existing educational funds and budgets. In the UK more money is spent on secondary education rather than pre school and nursery education and yet if we invested more in children up to the age of 5 years old, many good traits and qualities would have already been established and therefore less money would have to be spent on dealing with unruly children at secondary level.

Top tip number 4 for improving our pre school system is to actually get parents more involved with the development of their children. The sad fact is many parents simply do not have the time to dedicate to their own children which means they rely totally on nursery staff for their under 5 year olds development. Structured parental programmes which would give parents advice and the skills to develop their children at home could have a massive affect.

And this approach to learning and working together brings us onto the fifth and final way in which nursery school education can be improved upon and that is for nurseries and schools to learn from what already works and roll this out across the board. Teaching done well works and so the most successful teaching methods need to be adopted by all nurseries.

Children learn best when they are engaged and taught to think. Combine this style of learning with better nursery staff, higher wages, better parenting and all pre school learning establishments teaching in the best possible way and our nurseries will improve and so will our childrens chances of success.NCi Nursery is Nursery Insurance Specialists and for details of their Nursery Insurance facilities or to get a nursery insurance quote simply visit the nursery insurance brokers.

During times of economic slowdown, the Federal Reserves Bank decides on the appropriate measures how to deal with the situation. There are two main economic policies on how to fix an ailing economy. One is through fiscal policy wherein taxes and government spending are being dealt, while the other is through monetary policy of central banks that focus mostly on interest rates.

The US Federal Reserve Bank tweaks interest rates during an economic bust or boom to keep matters in equilibrium. The Fed Board meets to discuss this decision. When interest rates are treated, this signals that there is neither too much money supply nor too little going around the economic system. When interest rates rise or fall, the banking sector absorbs the blow. Although different sectors of the economy will be affected in the long run, its effect on the mortgage interest rates do not happen in an instant.

Fed rates are indicators for banks overnight borrowings to maintain reserve requirements to avoid bank runs. The Fed usually increases interest rates to calm rising inflation and cut the supply of money in the economy. During recession, the Fed nips it to curb recessionary effects. Inflation and recession then influence the mortgage rates giving it some time before the impact is felt.

When banks approve loans for purposes of purchasing new homes or refinancing, banks then resell them to Fannie Mae (FNMA), a nationalized mortgage company, or Ginnie Mae (GNMA). The funds obtained from these financial institutions will be used again to finance more loans.

These financing agencies belong to the secondary lender market wherein the funds they use to buy out loans from banks come from selling their securities as bonds. These securities are billion dollars worth of individual mortgages to be sold. Once these mortgage-backed securities are repackaged as bonds, people and other institutions perceive these as secure investments. Stocks and bonds usually go up against each other in the market as form of investments. When the demand for bonds is high, meaning interest rates are attractive, its effect is felt in the stock market wherein there is a dip in the investments, and vice versa.

For these bonds to lure more dollars, there should be a higher rate of return, which then translates to high interest rates of mortgages sold. This activity drives interest rates of mortgages to vary every day. Mortgage rates vary, depending on economic conditions of different countries according to different lenders.

Several economic indicators influence a lender’s decision to determine a viable interest charge to mortgages. If a country is experiencing economic lag due to default rates in different sectors such as banking or property, lenders draw back in giving out loans. And when they do amidst higher risks, they set assurance by imposing high interest rates.

Lenders also have to consider the qualification of clients such as credit scores. They also check for debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios. Loans differ accordingly; that is why the advice of a professional mortgage planner should be sought.Greg Shuey helps individuals and families obtain a Utah mortgage loan. Together with Chase Gunderson, we specialize in all types of home loans. To find out what the most current national Mortgage Interest Rates are, or to find out what the Utah Mortgage Interest Rates are, visit our site.