Auto-insurance researchers: 'Cell phone bans don't help reduce crashes'

All those fancy in-car docks and voice navigation? Utterly pointless. At least according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, who reckons that it's not the phone that's the issue, but "the full spectrum of things that distract." The IIHS (funded by a group of car insurers) compared crash data between states that had instituted cell phone bans and those that hadn't. According to its research, while the ban had reduced phone use (whoa, really?), it hadn't helped reduce crash rates. The National Transportation Safety Board has presented several studies linking cell phone use to an increased chance of crashing and their latest proposals would ban most hands-free systems found in major car makers' vehicles today. Hear that? That was the sound of hundreds of third-party accessory manufacturers recoiling in horror.

Be Extra Careful When you Collect Data for Car Insurance

All insurance companies make sure that their insurance data is available online and in detail. This data explains the policies and coverage for each plan online and offers the customers an option of purchasing insurance online.

The purchase of the online insurance is considered cent percent legal. The online version of the document is considered legal and can be accessed any time of the day or night. It is a valid proof of a purchased insurance policy. This document is digitally signed by the company and the terms and conditions of the insurance plan are very clearly stated in the document.

The car insurance data that you collect online should be right and genuine and it is not an easy task to ensure that. A complete research of all the available insurance policies like car insurance India, 4 wheeler insurance+, etc. have to be checked and according to your requirements a policy can be selected. For example, you might need only third party insurance or an additional cover for the driver of the vehicle. There are certain factors which you should be extremely careful about while selecting the insurance policy online. Before you get your quote, enter all details correctly and mention the car model you own.

As car insurance is easily available online, day by day more and more customers prefer to purchase insurances online. The insurance companies offer them other benefits like advanced search tools. The customer can also use the premium calculator to calculate the premium in long run and thus save money. Many companies offer policy-renewal options as well as policy claim form online, which again is very beneficial to the user.

The main reason behind purchasing car insurance or two wheeler motor vehicle insurance online is that you are not bound by time. Insurance is available 24 hours and the form to get a quote can be filled anytime and there is no working-hours restrictions. After the completion of the formalities the digitally signed policy is produced immediately within no time.

But most importantly there is one thing you have to ensure that the car insurance should be purchased only from a legitimate and registered insurance provider. Make sure that you ensure that the service provider is authentic before you part with any personal information and make the online payment as there are high chances of being tricked.

Promise of Renewed Battle Over Reach of Health Care

While Republicans cannot fulfill their campaign promise to repeal the new health care law any time soon, they can lead Congress in a sweeping re-examination of its more unpopular provisions, including new taxes and a requirement for most Americans to carry health insurance.

Joyful over Republican gains in the midterm elections, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the man in line to become speaker, told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday: “The American people are concerned about the government takeover of health care. I think it’s important for us to lay the groundwork before we begin to repeal this monstrosity.”

The election results promise a continuing battle over the health care law, not only on Capitol Hill but also at the state level, where many changes are scheduled to take effect in coming years. The partisan divide on this issue is likely to be a prominent feature in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, perhaps making it more difficult for President Obama and the Democrats to secure broad public acceptance of the law.

The results will also probably complicate efforts to carry out the complex measure, which is expected to provide coverage to more than 30 million people by 2019. At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obama delivered a stout defense of the health care law, saying, “This was the right thing to do.”

He acknowledged that the process of enacting it had been “an ugly mess,” and he said he would consider Republican ideas to modify the law, provided they “deliver faster and more effective reform” to the health care system. Mr. Obama mentioned one example, saying he would accept changes in a provision that imposes a huge information-reporting burden on small businesses. Under the provision, businesses would generally have to file 1099 tax forms identifying anyone to whom they had paid $600 or more for goods or services in a year.

James P. Gelfand, director of health policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday: “I don’t think we’ll see a repeal of the health care law tomorrow. But I believe Congress got the message that we need serious changes. The question now is, what kinds of changes are realistic?”

A top priority, Mr. Gelfand said, would be to alter or eliminate a provision that will require many employers to contribute to the cost of coverage for employees. The requirement, he said, would hurt job creation and increase the cost of hiring workers.

Some labor unions may join employers in trying to roll back a new tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored health plans, scheduled to take effect in 2018. Several Republicans said they would try to reduce or repeal a new tax on manufacturers of medical devices.

Wall Street and many employers do not expect sudden changes. “Reform is here to stay,” said Andrew Webber, the chief executive of the National Business Coalition on Health, which represents employer groups that buy health care coverage for workers. Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager and health care strategist at Miller Tabak in New York, agreed. “We place the chances of outright repeal at virtually nil, given the Democratic Senate and president,” he said in a note to investors on Wednesday.

But with Republicans winning control of many governors’ mansions and making gains at the state legislative level, they will be able to determine how the new law is carried out locally.

Republicans in Congress said they would try to give states more latitude and discretion on issues like the design of health insurance exchanges. The law calls for creation of an exchange in each state and says only government-approved insurance plans can be sold on the exchange.

The new rules, though stricter than in the past, may well be less stringent than they would have been if Democrats had not taken what Mr. Obama described as “a shellacking.” In addition, Republicans said they would try to cut the budget for federal enforcement of the law and related rules.

House Republicans said they would also try to reverse some of the law’s cuts in Medicare, particularly cuts in payments to Medicare Advantage plans run by private insurers, though they will be hard-pressed to find ways to offset the cost of such changes.

Republicans said they might agree to keep popular provisions of the new law, like protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, while trying to scrap unpopular provisions, like the requirement for people to carry insurance. However, administration officials and insurance executives said such a combination would not work in practice.