Cavalcade of Risk #64

Welcome to the Cavalcade of Risk #64. As the name indicates, this Carnival is about risk - e.g. insurance, health, financial, and other types. While every post submitted was a great article, I only included those submissions I judged primarily related to risk management.

My thanks to Hank Stern for the opportunity to host the Cavalcade of Risk a third time. Besides being fun and educational, hosting a Cavalcade leads to a nice traffic increase for the week:-) It's easy to become a host. Just contact Hank at the Cavalcade of Risk site or send him an e-mail.

And now to the Cavalcade ...

Insurance

Wenchypoo presents Uninsured By Choice--Are They Nuts? posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, which links to an article at MSN Money describing reasons people turn down their employer sponsored health insurance. Similarly, Bob Vineyard, CLU presents I Want Care, I Want it Now, and I Want it Free posted at InsureBlog. What's the risk of going without health insurance? Here's the true story of one man's experience, and what can be learned from it.

If you prefer to be insured, Silicon Valley Blogger presents Get The Right Coverage! Insurance Policies You Need and Those To Avoid from The Digerati Life. In case you're thinking of moving to Singapore, KCLau presents some insurance options in Case Study: Financial Goals of a Malaysian working in Singapore posted at KCLau's Money Tips.

Interested in reducing car insurance costs? LAL presents Keeping on top of insurance posted at LivingAlmostLarge, noting "it made sense to keep the insurance company aware of our newer, improved driving records." For other ways to reduce premiums, see Clearing Up Insurance Myths by Khan at Higher Education and Career Blog, who interviewed Dick Hospital, the Vice President of Underwriting for GEICO Insurance, to help dispel some of the most commonly held insurance myths.

Unfortunately, health insurance keeps getting more expensive. In a recent poll 41% of those surveyed blamed insurance carriers for the rise in health care costs. Louise Norris at Colorado Health Insurance Insider and Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters provide their perspective on the reasons in their respective posts of Who Americans Blame For Rising Health Care Costs and What's that light in the tunnel? Also along the lines of higher costs, FMF presents Five Insurance Traps posted at Free Money Finance, noting five risks that can cause insurance premiums to increase or even loss of coverage.

Finally, has the risk not being able to self fund long term care expenses recently increased, especially after retirement savings have taken a major hit (as in the past few weeks)? In What About Long Term Care Protection, the Long Term Care (LTC) Blog recommends long term care insurance as one way to minimize that risk.

Health Care and Health

Jason Shafrin presents Insured use emergency room more often for primary care issues than uninsured posted at Healthcare Economist, saying insured individuals are more likely to use the emergency room than uninsured individuals.

David E. Williams presents Will credit crisis reduce health care spending growth? at Health Business Blog. The credit crisis also poses serious risks for hospital finances, but may spell good news for health care cost control efforts.

Marc Onigman, of the aptly named Sleep blog, discusses recent research in Daylight saving time affects heart attack risk: study suggesting a causal link between changing to daylight savings time and the increased risk of a heart attack. On the other hand, Dr Isis from On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess subjects that same study to a royal fisking in The Transition to Daylight Savings Time and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction..., reaching some very different conclusions.

Financial and Business

Nancy Germond presents Don't Forget Management By Walking Around saying "I went 'old school' on risk and took a walk down memory lane. I think with Excel and e-mail and wikis and teleconfering, managers have forgotten one key component."

Sun presents How Safe Are My Banks? posted at The Sun's Financial Diary. "In most cases, money in the banks is safe as long as the banks are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the total amount of money with a specific bank is under the FDIC insurance limit."

Raag Vamdatt presents Equity Investment is Risk Free - Here's the Proof posted at RaagVamdatt.com. "The riskiness of stocks depends on how long you keep invested. If you invest for the long term, equities are virtually risk-free. This is a very bold statement to make. So, let's analyze past 18 year's data, and see how risky stock investment actually is."

This concludes this edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. I hope you enjoyed reading these posts as much as I did. The next CoR will be hosted at Managed Care Matters on November 19, 2008.

This is not financial or risk management advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2008 Achievement Catalyst, LLC