New Health Insurance Search Tool

Source: HHS.gov

New insurance finder web tool simplifies the process of searching for health coverage

WASHINGTON, DC- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the release of  a new HealthCare.gov web tool available for download that makes searching for coverage options even easier than before.

“HealthCare.gov is a valuable resource for small businesses, consumers, and their families to search for coverage options and understand the new benefits under the Affordable Care Act,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.  “By putting the power of information at your fingertips, HealthCare.gov is helping American families everywhere to take control over their health care and make the choices that are right for them.”

The Insurance Finder “widget” enables anyone with a website or blog to embed a tool on their site allowing users to begin the process of searching for coverage options. The tool asks users two initial questions: “select a state” and “which best describes you.” Users then click on “next steps,” and are redirected to a page on HealthCare.gov that continues with the insurance finder process based on answers to their specific questions.

To view the widget and the embed code, visit this page: http://www.healthcare.gov/stay_connected.html

HealthCare.gov allows consumers to search for both public and private health coverage options through an easy to use health insurance finder tool. Based on answers to a series of questions, the coverage finder produces a menu of potential coverage choices personalized for the user.

 

Housing Affordability Remains High

Source: U.S. Department of Treasury

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the second edition of the Administration's Housing Scorecard (www.hud.gov/scorecard) showing that, thanks in part to interest rates continuing at all-time lows, home affordability in the U.S. remains near the most attractive levels in 10 years. In addition, for the first time, the report now tracks the impact of HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which has spurred local investment and is beginning to make affordably-priced homes available to consumers. The Housing Scorecard is the Administration's comprehensive report on the nation's housing market.

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Monthly Housing Costs Reach $1,000 for Homeowners

Source: BLS

The nation's homeowners paid a median of $1,000 in monthly housing costs in 2009, compared with $808 for renters, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, renters usually paid a higher percentage of their household income on these costs than did owners (31 percent compared with 20 percent).

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MetLife Study on the American Dream

Source: MetLife

A few key findings in the study:

• 40% have become more focused on establishing a financial plan as a result of the current economic situation
• 55% could not take care of expenses for more than two months
• 58% of Americans still believe that the bar is constantly rising in terms of the basic necessities in life
• 64% of Americans have given or received help from family members
• 93%  have, or plan to, save more and spend less
• 45% of Americans say that concerns about how they are going to “make ends meet” is keeping them up at night
• only 34% of Americans consider themselves to have an adequate safety net

Read study.

Morningstar Finds Mutual Fund Expense Ratio Good Predictor of Success

Source: Morningstar

How Expense Ratios and Star Ratings Predict Success

We test the ability of expense ratios and star ratings to predict funds that will survive and beat their peers. We've run some fresh data on expense ratios and the Morningstar Rating for funds.

I'll share the details on who, what, and when, but first a few grabbers. How often did it pay to heed expense ratios? Every time. How often did it pay to heed the star rating? Most of the time, with a few exceptions. How often did the star rating beat expenses as a predictor? Slightly less than half the time, taking into account funds that expired during the time period.

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IRS Posts Draft Tax Forms

The IRS posts drafts of the current year tax forms before they are finalized. If you would like a peek at what your next tax return might look like, you can inspect the likely forms at the IRS website. 

Draft Federal Tax Forms

Draft Form 1040

Kaiser Health News on End of COBRA Subsidy

Source: Kaiser Health News

Jennifer Richards of Park Ridge, Ill., is angry that her family’s monthly health insurance bill tripled in August to $1,250 after her husband lost his job and health benefits. But as bad as that is, what really upsets her is the inaction of Congress.

Deficit-conscious lawmakers have not renewed a subsidy that helped many jobless Americans afford health benefits. A longstanding federal law called COBRA requires employers to continue insurance for former employees, typically for 18 more months, if they pay the entire premium plus a two percent administrative fee. Last year, Congress approved a 65% COBRA premium subsidy, but it ended May 31.

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$250,000 Federal Deposit Insurance Amount Now Permanent

Source: FDIC

New consumer protection bureau also part of major reform law

The far-reaching financial reform law approved by Congress and signed by President Obama in July includes a variety of new protections for bank customers, including a permanent increase in the basic federal deposit insurance limit from at least $100,000 to at least $250,000 per depositor. Under prior law, the basic federal deposit insurance limit was set to revert back to $100,000 on January 1, 2014.

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Review the New Rules on Bank Accounts

Source: FDIC

Bank Accounts Are Changing: What You Need to Know Costs may go up for checking and savings, but here are ways to pay less by going back to the basics

New rules limit the fees banks and other financial institutions can charge on some services, so it's possible that the costs of other services could go up. In the Spring 2010 issue of FDIC Consumer News, we discussed how to avoid potential interest rate and fee increases for credit cards. And here, with expectations that banks will be adding new fees or requirements on bank accounts — such as by discontinuing or limiting free checking services — we focus on ways that careful consumers can avoid unnecessary costs on their deposit accounts.

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SEC Publishes Best Practices for Senior Investors

Source: SEC

Washington, D.C., Aug. 13, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today updated a joint report that outlines practices being used by financial services firms to strengthen their policies and procedures for serving senior investors as they approach and begin retirement.

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BLS Examines Trend in Health Care Spending

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Health Care Spending: 1998, 2003, and 2008

How have rising health care costs affected household budgets? That question was raised many times before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, whose goal—as the act’s name implies—is to make health care more affordable for American families.^[1] This analysis of Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) data from the 1998, 2003, and 2008 Interview Surveys provides a picture of nominal out-of-pocket health care spending among households categorized by the age of the reference person.^[2] The expenses analyzed were total health care and its components: health insurance, medical services, prescription drugs, and medical supplies. Among the findings are the following:

• Among households nationwide with medical expenses, the mean share of a household’s total budget spent on health care was higher in 2003 than in 1998 and was virtually unchanged in 2008 compared with 2003.
• Households’ spending changed over the decade. In 2008, the mean share of medical expenses that was spent on health insurance was higher than in 1998, and the share spent on medical services was lower.
• Households whose reference person was 65 or older spent about twice as much of their budget on health care compared with the national average in all years studied.

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Updated American Housing Survey Released

Source: US Census

U.S. Census Bureau Releases Detailed Information on Nation's Housing; Monthly Housing Costs Reach $1,000 for Homeowners

     The nation's homeowners paid a median of $1,000 in monthly housing costs in 2009, compared with $808 for renters, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, renters usually paid a higher percentage of their household income on these costs than did owners (31 percent compared with 20 percent).

Read more

Housing Affordability Continues to Increase

Source: US Department of Treasurey

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the second edition of the Administration's Housing Scorecard (www.hud.gov/scorecard) showing that, thanks in part to interest rates continuing at all-time lows, home affordability in the U.S. remains near the most attractive levels in 10 years. In addition, for the first time, the report now tracks the impact of HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which has spurred local investment and is beginning to make affordably-priced homes available to consumers. The Housing Scorecard is the Administration's comprehensive report on the nation's housing market.

Read more.

Bankruptcy Filings Up 20 Percent in June

Source: US Courts

Bankruptcy filings rose 20 percent in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2010, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. A total of 1,572,597 bankruptcy cases were filed in federal courts in that period, compared to 1,306,315 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009. This is the highest number of bankruptcy filings for any period since many of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 took effect.

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Bankrate Updates Closing Cost Survey

Source: Bankrate

In last year's closing costs survey, Texas was most expensive and New York was second. This year, the order was reversed. In four of the past five years, the two states have occupied the two top spots.Utah, California and Alaska round off the top five most expensive states.

Arkansas was the least expensive state in this year's closing costs survey, followed by North Carolina, Iowa, Montana and Wisconsin. There was no consistency at the bottom of the rankings; in 2009, five completely different states occupied the least-expensive rungs.

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