Fire safety and insurance tips for college students

Fire safety for college students

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety State Fire Marshal Division (SFM) reminds college students that fire safety needs to be extended to campus life.

In December 2010, an off-campus housing fire took the life of a St. Thomas University student. According to investigators, the fire was caused by a smoldering cigarette, and despite working smoke alarms, the student was unable to escape and perished.

“Almost every residential fire, including the ones that kill and injure college students, is preventable,” says Minnesota State Fire Marshal Jerry Rosendahl. “Often, we send our students off to college without educating them about how to protect themselves from fire.”

Lifesaving behaviors students must know when they begin living on their own include:

* Stay focused when cooking. Most residential fires start in the kitchen when someone walks away from the stove “for just a moment.”

* Use candles responsibly, or not at all. Unattended, candles can turn deadly fast.

* Don’t overload electrical sockets or misuse extension cords. Make sure circuit breakers are working and report frayed or dam-aged wiring.

* Make sure smoking materials are (1) used outside and (2) properly extinguished. Most fatal fires are smoking-related.

* Make sure smoke alarms are properly placed, and keep the batteries fresh.

* Know and practice fire escape routes.

If alcohol is in use, be aware that it may reduce ability to respond to alarms and escape a fire.

Safety tips and other tools are available online at sfm.dps.mn.gov under the public education tab.

Check insurance for college students

Remembering to pack everything a college student will need during the school year is a challenge. But understanding a student’s changing insurance needs is sometimes even harder.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) are teaming up offer consumer-friendly tips to help college students and their parents review and update their insurance policies.

“College students across Minnesota are moving into crowded dorm rooms, buying their books, and starting their classes,” said Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman. “But in the rush to begin the semester, students shouldn’t forget to review their insur-ance coverage needs.”

Health Insurance: Nearly all young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parent’s insurance, following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Prior to this, many health insurance policies covered dependents who were full-time students only until age 23.

Coverage with the new law extends benefits to adult children regardless of marital status, financial dependency, enrollment in school, or residency.

Before leaving home, students should obtain copies of their relevant insurance cards and know how to obtain referrals and ap-provals (if necessary) before seeking medical treatment.

If the student is insured by a provider network, check to see if he or she will be inside or outside the network service area while away at school. This will make a difference in out-of-pocket payments.

If your student’s health care coverage has ended because of the maximum coverage age, or if coverage is limited by the network service area, another option is a student health insurance plan. In general, these plans have more limited benefits and more exclu-sions than traditional health insurance plans. Many such policies will also exclude routine examinations and injuries sustained while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Renters Insurance: Many students bring thousands of dollars worth of personal items with them to school, including electron-ics, textbooks, clothes, furniture, bicycles, and more. With an enrolled student living on or off campus, check with your insurance agent to determine whether your family homeowner’s policy extends to children away at school. If not, consider a renters policy.

Many renters mistakenly believe that a landlord’s insurance policy on an apartment will protect them in case of a disaster. A landlord’s policy doesn’t cover a renter’s personal belongings. A personal renter’s policy will pay to replace stolen or destroyed property with items of the same type and value up to the coverage limit of the policy.

A comprehensive list of a student’s possessions – including purchase prices, model numbers, and serial numbers – will help par-ents and students decide how much renters insurance is needed. It is also a good idea to have a detailed inventory in case of a disas-ter, as it will help parents and students in filing insurance claims following a catastrophe. Make sure to take photos or video of the possessions, and store the inventory in a secure, off-site location.

To learn more about how to take a home inventory, check out these tools and tips on the Minnesota Department of Commerce website. There is also a student-friendly mobile app that consumers can use to quickly and easily complete a home inventory.

Auto Insurance: A significant move away from home can have a big impact on an auto insurance policy. If a student is taking a car to school, check with your local agent about the existing vehicle insurance policy. Ask about the rates for the college’s city and state before deciding whether to keep the student’s car on the family’s auto policy.

In addition, the insurance company should be notified each semester if the student maintains good grades. Maintaining a certain grade point average (GPA) might make your child eligible for a good student discount.

Identity Theft: Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States, costing victims more than $5 billion annually.

College students are more likely to be hit by identity thieves because they are generally unprepared to protect themselves when the steady stream of requests for personal information begins.

Identity theft insurance cannot protect parents or students from becoming victims of identity theft, and it does not cover direct monetary losses incurred as a result. Instead, this insurance provides coverage for the cost of reclaiming you or your student’s financial identity – such as the costs of making phone calls, making copies, mailing documents, taking time off from work without pay (lost wages), and hiring an attorney.

Check to see if your homeowners policy includes identity theft insurance, and ask your insurance agent if this extends to your student living away from your primary residence. If not, you might be able to purchase an endorsement to amend such coverage.

If a student is renting an apartment, ask if his or her renters insurance covers identity theft, or if that could be added to the policy.

Read more: Chaska Herald - Fire safety and insurance tips for college students

Critical window for children’s health insurance highlighted

SACRAMENTO – On Friday California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and Assembly man Mike Feuer held a media conference call to highlight the critical open-enrollment period for kids’ health insurance that began on Jan. 1 and ends next Tuesday, March 1.




Jones and Feuer were joined on the call by Novato resident, Julie Walters, the parent of a child with a pre-existing condition.




During the open enrollment period, parents can sign up their children for more affordable health insurance.




As a result of President Obama’s federal health care reform plan and AB 2244 by Feuer, children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage – they also cannot be charged rates that are more than double the rates of healthy kids.




Parents of healthy children without insurance should also sign their kids up during this period; kids who don’t sign up during open enrollment periods may be subject to a 20 percent surcharge on their insurance rates for a full year.




“One of the most important changes that federal health care reform has initiated is allowing for children with pre-existing conditions to attain health coverage,” Commissioner Jones said. “This initial open enrollment window is critical and there are only a few days left before it closes, so parents should take full advantage of it by signing their children up for coverage.”




“Under my new law, kids can receive the health care they need, even if they have a pre-existing condition,” Feuer said. “But it's crucial that parents act during this open enrollment period by signing up their children for health insurance. If they don't act by March 1, covering their kids could be much more expensive.”




Feuer authored legislation, AB 2244, that helps to implement this component of federal health care reform in California.




The new law, which has been in effect since January 1, gives California children access to affordable care and a healthy future by ensuring that certain children cannot be denied coverage or priced out of the market.




It also prohibits insurers that sell individual market policies in California from refusing to sell or renew coverage to children with pre-existing conditions – it also bans insurers from the individual market for five years if they do not sell policies to children.




“Parents need to take this opportunity seriously and enroll their kids immediately, because this is a unique chance to make sure children – especially children with pre-existing conditions – have health coverage at very affordable rates they may not be able to find later on,” Julie Walters said. “Even though my daughter does have health coverage, if anything should happen to that coverage through job loss or other circumstances, it is a tremendous relief to know that she cannot be denied coverage, even with her pre-existing condition.”

Bill requiring autism insurance coverage signed into law

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Gov. Mike Beebe will sign into law a bill requiring insurance companies to cover autism diagnosis and treatment.

There is new support for autistic children in Arkansas. Tuesday, Governor Mike Beebe signed an autism bill into law. It requires most health insurance companies to cover autism diagnoses and treatment for children under 18.

It's a signature with the power to lift a financial weight. Ten-year-old Briar Miller with his mom Dayna were in the center of it all. "I'm glad the law passed we've been trying to pass it for two years," says Briar Miller.

Most major health insurance companies can no longer deny Arkansas families coverage for treatment for children with autism. "I just truly believe that children in Arkansas deserve the same right as children across the United States especially when it was a research proven approach," says Dayna Miller.

Miller estimates she borrowed $100,000 to pay for applied behavior analysis. It's treatment using positive reinforcement recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Miller says for Briar it works. " He went from a nonverbal child, he's in the fifth grade getting straight A's although he brought home a B last week that's we're going to get up," says Miller.

The CDC estimates that 1 in 110 children are diagnosed with autism and that ABA treatment ranges anywhere from 30 to 60 thousand dollars a year.
Veronica Tess Myers says in 1996, when doctors diagnosed her son Alexander with severe to moderate autism.

You definitely feel alone, there's a lot of tears being cried there's a lot of frustration there's a lot of sitting alone trying to figure out what the next step is going to be to help you child to succeed," says Myers.

They told her told her it was either ABA or a group home for life. "And that's the part that breaks my heart that so many families want to help their child and couldn't get therapy," says Miller.