DOVER, DE – The Holidays are quickly approaching and most people have already begun shopping, decorating or planning a trip to see family or friends over the coming weeks. Take some time today to review your insurance coverage and to ensure that you, your family, and your home are prepared for the colder weather and other perils that occur more frequently during this time of the year.

Holiday gatherings for most people include indulging in great food and drinks. With all of that extra cooking and baking going on there’s just more potential for a fire. According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average home fire claim costs $34,306. A claim after a fire would likely be lower for renters, since they are only insuring the contents of their rented home or apartment, but many renters do not realize that their belongings are likely not covered by their landlord’s insurance.

While the kitchen remains the number one place where fires start in the home, holiday decorations and space heaters greatly increase the chances for fires if you aren’t careful. Never leave candles or space heaters unattended and keep them away from flammable objects. If you have a live Christmas tree, be sure to water it often. Get rid of old strings of lights that get hot and could cause a fire. According to statistics from Allstate Insurance, the median cost for a home fire caused by a Christmas tree is more than $100,000! Christmas trees burn hot and fast, so a tiny spark can become a huge fire in mere minutes. When plugging in lights and decorations outside, do not overload outlets or use substandard extension cords.

Allstate Insurance found that theft claims went up by 7 percent during the holidays, which makes sense since our houses and cars are often filled with expensive gifts. When shopping, keep gifts in your car out of sight and, when possible, schedule package deliveries for times when you will be home. Some people send deliveries to their workplace so they can sign for, and accept, deliveries during the work day.

Be sure to notify your insurance company if you buy high-value items, like jewelry, art or electronics. There are usually limits on how much the policy will pay for specific categories of items. If an item is worth a lot of money you should ask your agent about scheduling an endorsement (also referred to as a “rider”) to better protect your investment should an item be stolen or damaged in a fire, etc.

In today’s world of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, remember that it’s not always a good idea to overshare the details of when your family will be away visiting Grandma. Don’t make it easy on thieves to come steal presents bought with your hard-earned money.

If you’re hosting a party, remember to serve alcohol responsibly and do not let intoxicated friends or family drive home. When the weather brings snow and ice be sure to clear sidewalks and put down salt or de-icer, if necessary. Homeowners and renters insurance policies both provide liability coverage if someone is injured on your property, but know the limits of your policy.

Don’t forget that it’s also open enrollment time for health insurance plans on the Health Insurance Marketplace (Healthcare.gov). All plans purchased through the Marketplace will expire on December 31, 2014, no matter when your coverage began in 2014. If you would like to re-enroll, change plans or sign up for health insurance for the first time you can do so until February 15, 2015. However, anyone who wants a plan to be effective starting on January 1, 2015, needs to sign up or re-enroll by December 15, 2014. For more information about your health insurance options visit www.choosehealthde.com or www.healthcare.gov.

If you have health insurance through your employer your open enrollment period may be going on now, or may begin soon. Pay close attention to the deadlines and be sure to give yourself plenty of time to review your options. There’s much more to consider than the monthly premium alone. Make sure you review the deductible; sometimes paying a little more in premiums will make for a much lower deductible.

If you are traveling, be sure to take your health insurance information with you. Always keep a record of your medications, and if you’re flying, it’s usually safer to keep medicine in your carry-on since luggage can sometimes be lost for days—if not forever. Remember, if you need to seek medical care and you’re out-of-network you will likely be subject to higher co-pays and/or deductibles. If you need medical care for a non-emergency issue find a local urgent care clinic or medical aid unit, which will typically be cheaper than an ER visit.

For more information about insurance visit www.delawareinsurance.gov

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For more information: Jerry Grant 302-674-7303

 (DOVER, DE) – Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart today released Delaware’s Qualified Health Plan (QHP) rates for Plan Year 2015.  The Commissioner submitted the rates to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in August and CMS approved the rates yesterday.

The rate chart includes a comparison of 2015 rates with 2014, and can be found at http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/health-reform/DEMarketplace.shtml

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 Our Mission: “Protecting Delawareans through regulation and education

while providing oversight of the insurance industry to best serve the public.”

Commissioner Stewart Provides Tips and Information for National Fire Prevention Week
Dover, DE–Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart recommends that all Delaware residents take a few minutes this week to test their smoke alarms, review fire escape plans with their families, and ensure that they have the proper insurance coverage in case their home catches fire. October 5 through 11 is Fire Prevention Week and this year’s theme is Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month.

Various data suggests that fires cause almost $4 billion in property damage and around 3,500 deaths each year in the U.S. So far in 2014, five people in the state of Delaware have died in fires. According to the National Fire Protection Association, NFPA, almost 60% of reported home fire deaths that occurred between 2007 and 2011 resulted from fires in home with no smoke or alarms or alarms that were not working. The NFPA says that working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half.

It’s recommended that you replace the batteries in your smoke alarms twice a year. Most people find it easy to remember to replace the batteries in the spring and fall when you change your clocks for daylight savings time. Smoke alarms should be installed on every level of the home and inside each bedroom. Smoke alarms should also be replaced every ten years.

Every home, with the various types of heating and cooking equipment available, poses its own risk. It’s important to discuss various hazards with your children and to create a fire escape plan for your family that you practice at least annually—during the day and night is ideal.

“Simple measures like keeping fire extinguishers in your home, especially one that is rated for grease fires in the kitchen, can make the difference between a burned cabinet and a burned-down home,” says Commissioner Stewart. “Chimney fires are also quite common in homes where people use fireplaces and woodstoves regularly. Now is a great time to hire a professional chimney sweep to inspect and clean your chimney, if necessary. The old saying that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ applies to all of these situations.”

We all know that a fire has the potential to destroy your entire home and everything inside of it but even a small fire can have a huge impact on your home and belongings. It’s essential that you have the proper insurance coverage to protect yourself from devastating losses—whether you own your home or rent. Renters should be aware that a landlord’s insurance coverage does not extend to your personal belongings. The proper insurance coverage can help pay for you to live in another location while your home or apartment is being cleaned or repaired.

When it comes to replacing all of the items in your home that have been damaged or destroyed in a fire the process will be much faster if you have previously completed a home inventory. The Delaware Department of Insurance offers a free home inventory PDF that you can print and fill out as well as a link to a free app for smartphones called MyHome Scr.APP.book. It’s important to keep duplicate copies of important forms in a fire-proof safe, another location outside your home, or saved electronically to your e-mail or online storage account.

For more information about Fire Prevention Week visit www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week. Parents, teachers and other educators can find great resources for kids at www.sparky.org. For more information about insurance and to find home inventory resources please visit the DOI website: http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/

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Delaware Department of Insurance: “Protecting Delawareans through regulation and education while providing oversight of the insurance industry to best serve the public.”

Dover, DE-Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart was recently recognized at the annual conference of the Society of Financial Examiners (SOFE), held this year in Philadelphia, for her Department’s assistance with a major insurance fraud investigation that has led to extensive federal charges. Commissioner Stewart was presented with the Challenge Medal, an award bestowed by the Department of Homeland Security in special recognition of the work her forensic information technology team, INS Services, did in uncovering an elaborate web of bogus web sites, misleading internet addresses and diverted email accounts that were used to confirm assets thought to be held by insurance entities.

In fact, the “confirmed” financial accounts were non-existent. The web of deceit was not discovered by other state regulators, certified public accountants and rating agencies for several years before being exposed by Stewart’s examination and receivership teams. At the SOFE presentation, Commissioner Stewart received thanks in front of insurance financial examiners from across the United States for her leadership and resolute determination to expose insurance fraud.

Commissioner Stewart’s examination and forensic teams are in the process of recovering assets for payment to claimants and policyholders of the former Indemnity Insurance Corporation RRG, a company that insured restaurants, bars and night clubs. The Department’s discovery of the elaborate frauds has also led to a myriad of federal charges pending in Maryland against Jeffrey Cohen, Indemnity’s founder.

At the presentation, Commissioner Stewart gave praise to the diligence of Delaware’s examiners and analysts. “Insurance Companies choose Delaware as their preferred home for many reasons” said Stewart. “We strive to be the most professional and advanced regulatory environment, and companies that want to put forth new products and properly serve insurance customers are happy to be in Delaware. But we certainly are not easy to fool, and we will be relentless in uncovering fraud.” Stewart thanked her receivership team and all the examiners who work for Delaware for their talent, diligence and tenacity in performing financial examinations. “This is due to your great work,” Stewart told her team.

Commissioner Stewart has a special expertise in the rehabilitation and liquidation of troubled insurance companies. Prior to becoming Delaware’s insurance commissioner, Stewart worked as a receiver for several states in need of insolvency assistance and was a founder of the International Association of Insurance Receivers. She holds the designation “Certified Insurance Receiver – Multi Lines” (CIR-ML).

This is the second such company in the past few years where Stewart’s team has discovered fraud hidden by a complex scheme of interlocking companies and financial institutions. Commissioner Stewart’s Receivership team seized Security Pacific Insurance Company in 2012 after discovering that the company’s assets had been syphoned away. Detection was hidden from its auditors. Security Pacific had relocated to Delaware in 2007 with the certification of auditors that its assets were secure. Delaware’s insolvency department has a tradition and well-earned national reputation for working in cooperation with several branches of federal law enforcement to punish wide-ranging national and international fraud.

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Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, CIR-ML, at right, is pictured with Jerry Link, middle, and Terry Ryals, left, receiving the medal from the Department of Homeland Security. Link and Ryals were part of the IT forensic team that uncovered the fraud.

Dover, DE–Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, CIR-ML, announced that the Delaware Department of Insurance will submit the 2015 rate filing requests covering plans to be offered on Delaware’s Health Insurance Marketplace to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, today. Commissioner Stewart reviewed the filings submitted by the insurers and successfully worked with one of the insurance companies to reduce the requested rate increase of some plans.

Commissioner Stewart stated, “The Department of Insurance is tasked with protecting consumers and we go about our work with the best interest of Delaware’s consumers in mind. The department strives to strike a balance between protecting consumers and ensuring that insurance carriers are able to generate the necessary revenues to meet their financial obligations. I am very pleased that one of the insurance companies worked with us to lower their requested rate increase from the rate originally submitted.”

The Commissioner also noted that, “Overall, we are pleased to see more plans offered on the market and the requested rate increases were generally lower than what some other states have seen.”  The Health Insurance Marketplace will offer 25 plans for individuals this year, four more than were available during this past enrollment period. There will be 16 small business group plans to choose from for 2015, up from 11 this year.

Rate filing requests from the insurance companies that will be offering plans on the Marketplace were received by the Delaware Department of Insurance in June and were reviewed by the department’s actuaries to see if the requested changes in rates were justified. The rate filings were posted on the Department of Insurance website in July and public comments were accepted for a two week period. The rate filings will now be submitted to CMS for review. CMS has the final authority to approve or deny the requested rates. A response from CMS is expected sometime in late October or early November, ahead of the start of the open enrollment period which begins November 15.

The open enrollment period for individuals who wish to purchase health insurance plans through the state/federal Health Insurance Marketplace will begin on November 15, 2014, and will end February 15, 2015. Consumers can utilize www.choosehealthde.com or call 1-800-318-2596 to get information or enroll in a plan for 2015. It should be noted that the Delaware Department of Insurance does not administer or provide customer support for the state’s website, www.choosehealthde.com, or the federal website, www.healthcare.gov.

For help with insurance matters, such as questions about your health insurance after you have enrolled in a plan, call the Delaware Department of Insurance at (302) 674-7300 or (800) 282-8611 for Consumer Services. Visit our website, www.delawareinsurance.gov, and “Like” the Department on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/DelawareInsurance. Follow us on Twitter @Delaware_DOI.

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Delaware Department of Insurance: “Protecting Delawareans through regulation and education while providing oversight of the insurance industry to best serve the public.”