Breast cancer is a devastating disease. A good friend got it when she was just 30; she lost both breasts to the disease, but survived. Breast cancer knows no age limits and doesn't respect wealth or status. In the US, as many as 1 in 8 women will find themselves in a struggle with breast cancer. That could be your mother, your sister or your best friend. It could be you. If it's in your family history, it will affect your insurance rates. As a result, I think many heaved a sigh of relief when studies...(read more)

As a writer who uses a MacBook Pro for each and every entry that you see in this blog, I'm a firm believer in Apple Care. However, don't confuse Apple Care with insurance that will cover your iPhone in case it is lost or stolen. What's the difference? Apple Care is basicallly "extended warranty". Now, while I'm not a fan of extended warranty, I've actually purchased Apple Care for my MacBook. You might wonder why. Well, the quality of the MacBook is undisputed, but things can still go wrong. Because...(read more)

Here's one way I won't be travelling anytime soon: Ken Couch got into a lawn chair attached to 105 helium-filled balloons , and took off for Idaho. While he didn't make it, he did travel 310 kilometers from home before he touched down on the earth again. This has to be every kid's dream. What one of us hasn't dreamed of floating up into the air hanging onto a helium balloon? I am just a little envious, in fact: the trip Couch said, "It was beautiful -- beautiful." Apparently, this was Couch's second...(read more)

There were a number of great contributors to Robert Hruzek's writing project on travel. I've included the full list of entries here for your reading pleasure: What I Learned from… … Travel – Diversity , by Karin H. at Stop/Start … Travel , by Benjamin Penfold-Marwick at Hello Internet … Travel , by themolk at themolk & Michelle’s Blog … traveling in Mexico , by Joanna Young at Confident Writing … Traveling In Mexico Without Knowing Spanish , by expatmom at ExPatMom … my trip to Thailand , by...(read more)

Well, we have another writing project from Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings. This month's topic, "What I learned from travel", has travel insurance written all over it. Do you buy travel insurance? In most cases, you shouldn't . I certainly learned that from my travels. In fact, I learned this from buying travel insurance specifically for a long trip from Canada to Australia. I was going to be out of my home country for almost a month, and I decided (despite the fact that I was a relatively healthy...(read more)

Paul Tracy, famous race car driver, has no regrets about his racing career, according to an article in the Toronto Star. However, if I were him, I'd be regretting a few of those crashes he's had. Between April 1993 and June 2007, Tracy has had either hurt himself or had a near miss 18 times! Now, this list includes crashes that he's had on his own time, including a "joyride" in a golf cart, but clearly the man is a risk-taker behind the wheel, no matter what kind of wheel it is. In fact, he better...(read more)

We're back after a "driving holiday", when we were just one of millions of others who went to see relatives and let the kids run around in the fresh air far from the city. We own a minivan; when we bought it, I was pleased that we owned one that is well rated in crash tests. I even blogged about getting an insurance friendly vehicle . Then I saw this morning's news online. In an article on FoxNews.com, an insurance industry study shows that the head restraints in many SUVs, pickups and minivans are...(read more)

Today, the iPhone will burst onto the market, with fans of the phone standing in line (for the past couple of days, in some cases) in order to get one of the first ones. All I can say is: if you buy this phone, get insurance. However, I don't mean the extended warranty . The iPhone is likely to be one of the hottest tickets on the pick-pocket circuit. The iPhone will likely beat out cell phones, iPods and other electronic gear as the item of choice to steal. So, make sure that your phone is covered...(read more)

This is a question that many of us have: just how much life insurance do I need? There are a ton of answers out there, from 5 times your salary as a basic rule of thumb to complex equations that include your current debt load and the anticipated cost of your children's Harvard education. Many of the methods for determining how much life insurance you need depend on a level of prescience only claimed by those advertising 900 numbers for fortune telling. It doesn't have to be that hard or that unpredictable....(read more)

I blogged recently on a shocking case where a man lost his eyesight because of a infected molar . That situation highlighted the plight of the working poor; dental insurance is just not affordable, and the procedures to save an infected tooth (usually a root canal with a filling and a crown) are extremely expensive. This is true across North America; while Canada has "socialized" medical care, dental care has been left to the "free" market, just as it has in the US. This approach has not worked in...(read more)

Hold onto your health insurance : according to an article in the Toronto Star, if you are gay and deaf, you are less likely to have had the information on safe sex and HIV risks communicated to you. Statistics indicate that as many as 2 to 10 times as many deaf people are affected by AIDS as compared to hearing people. At issue appears to be the nuances of the safe-sex message, as well as the risk of using injectable street drugs. Coupled with the challenge in getting the message to the deaf community...(read more)

Every year, it's the same thing: once the nice weather comes, young drivers (males predominantly) get behind the wheel and drive their vehicles on regular streets and highways as if they are on a raceway. Why not? They know what they are doing; they can handle their vehicle. Only, they find out that they can't handle their vehicle, and the results are tragic. Sometimes, the young driver dies. More often it seems, it is innocent by-standers who die. In my morning newspaper, the Toronto Star has an...(read more)

An article on Insurance Journal states that Governor Bob Riley has blocked legislation that would have required drivers in Alabama to carry higher liability limits. At issue was the wording of the bill, which would have made the new car insurance requirements mandatory from the moment the governor finished signing the bill! Apparently, Riley will support the bill on a couple of key conditions -- a long enough implementation period for insurance companies to prepare new policies and for motorists...(read more)

If you are a small local church and you're trying to get liability insurance , I think I know why your payments are so high: according to an article posted on azcentral.com, insurers receive in excess of 260 reports of sexual abuse of children. Curiosity regarding sexual abuse of minors in Protestant churches has increased in the wake of revelations of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests. Data has been hard to get on Protestant abuse cases; on the other hand, because the Catholic Church...(read more)

Well, I'm not a fan of the yearly (or bi-yearly) physical, but I hadn't had one since well before I got pregnant with my daughter, who is now 16 months. Given that I conceived her somewhere around April 2005, and considering my usual reluctance to visit a doctor if I'm not sick, I figured I probably hadn't had an overall review of my health since at least early 2004. So, it was time for a "tune-up". That got me thinking about how important it is to review your health insurance coverage from time...(read more)