Insurance & Protection
Health insurance, auto insurance, life insurance, homeowner’s and renter’s insurance, disability coverage, and how to evaluate policies and claims.
Latest in Insurance & Protection
A brokerage account is protected up to $500,000 if the firm fails, separate from any FDIC bank coverage
When a brokerage firm collapses and cash or securities go missing from a customer’s account, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) replaces up to $500,000...
The No Surprises Act bars most surprise out-of-network medical bills
A hospital stay handled entirely by an in-network surgeon can still generate a bill running into the thousands of dollars, because the anesthesiologist who administered...
COBRA can keep employer health coverage for up to 18 months after leaving a job
Eighteen months is the federal floor most workers picture when they hear the word COBRA, and the Department of Labor confirms that figure applies to...
Home insurance is jumping most this year in California, Nebraska, New Mexico and Georgia, with the national average near $3,057
The average annual cost of home insurance is projected to reach roughly $3,057 by the end of 2026, a 4% increase over 2025 and the...
Open enrollment for 2027 marketplace coverage starts November 1, and skipping it can forfeit any subsidy
Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage begins November 1 and runs through January 15, and anyone who lets the window close without...
The old health-subsidy cliff returns in 2027, and a late-50s couple over the line can lose up to $25,000
The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, and with them went the cushion that had, for several years,...
Long-term-care insurance premiums keep climbing, and insurers can raise them again
Long-term care insurance is marketed around a single reassuring idea: pick a benefit level, lock in a premium, and budget for it for decades. Federal...
About 4 million people could lose marketplace health coverage as enhanced subsidies vanish
About 4 million people are projected to lose Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage as the pandemic-era premium subsidies that lowered their monthly bills stay expired,...
Naming a minor directly as a life-insurance beneficiary can freeze the payout in court
A grandparent who names a young grandchild as the beneficiary on a life-insurance policy usually pictures the money arriving quickly to help raise the child....
A partnership long-term-care policy lets you keep extra assets and still qualify for Medicaid
A special class of long-term-care insurance, sold under state Long-Term Care Partnership programs, carries a benefit ordinary policies do not: for every dollar the policy...
FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, and beneficiaries can multiply it
The $250,000 figure attached to FDIC insurance sounds like a flat ceiling, and many savers treat it that way, quietly assuming a household with more...
Home-insurance non-renewals are climbing as insurers retreat from high-risk states
The home-insurance squeeze has a second edge that never shows up on a premium quote. Beyond the rising cost of a policy, a growing number...
Home insurance now averages about $3,057 a year and rivals the mortgage for many owners
The cost of protecting a home has quietly become one of the fastest-rising line items in a retiree’s budget. The average U.S. homeowners policy is...
CHAMPVA can cover the spouse and children of a permanently disabled veteran
When a veteran is rated permanently and totally disabled, the health-coverage question does not stop with the veteran. Their spouse and children face the same...
A long-term-care partnership policy lets you protect extra savings and still qualify for Medicaid
Long-term care is the expense most likely to drain a lifetime of savings, and the usual advice is grim: buy insurance you may never use,...
For 44% of homeowners, insurance now costs about as much as the mortgage, and non-renewals have surged
The cost of insuring a home has climbed so steeply that, for many owners, the annual premium now rivals the mortgage itself. A first-of-its-kind national...
Home insurance premiums keep climbing in 2026, adding to fixed-income costs
Home insurance premiums are projected to rise again in 2026, extending a multi-year run of increases that has turned a routine bill into one of...
A new “No Surprises” law bars most surprise out-of-network bills for emergency care
A trip to the emergency room used to carry a hidden financial risk that had nothing to do with the treatment itself. Even at an...
Long-term-care insurance can spare a healthy spouse from spending down savings for nursing care
When one spouse needs years of nursing care, the bill does not stop at that spouse’s share of the savings. Long-term care is one of...
A Hartford insurance unit would mail $11 million in refund checks for a premium-tax overcharge, with no claim to file
A former Hartford life-insurance business has agreed to an $11 million settlement over premium-tax charges it allegedly miscalculated, and eligible policyholders would not have to...