Tips you can use car insurance rates comparison

There are so many ways that you can use to keep your auto insurance rates down and some of them you can use at the same time as other discounts to maximize your savings.

Here are some things that you can ask your auto insurance company for:

- Ask if you can receive a discount if you have more than one type of insurance with their company. For instance, you may find that you can have your auto insurance and your homeowner’s insurance with this company and they will provide you with a combined discount. Carry all of your insurance policies with them, such as auto, home, and life and you may find that you can get even more money off.

- If the driver of the car is a student or is listed as a driver on the car, you may find that you can get a good student discount. This is where the student maintains at least a B average on their report card. You may be required to take that report card to the automobile insurance company each time it comes out, but it really pays off. If grades go down, the discount may disappear until the grades go back up.

- See if there are any safe driver discounts available. When you haven’t had a ticket or an accident, you may find that there are discounts available for you.

- If you are a senior citizen and you’ve not had any accidents in a specific amount of time, there may be discounts available to you.

- You can always raise your deductible to cheaper car insurance premium online from auto insurer. However, you need to keep in mind that doing so will result in a higher out-of-pocket expense if an accident does occur. The standard deductible is 0, but some individuals will go as high as ,000 to save some money on their premium. If you can pay ,000 if an accident occurs, then that will work fine. Just make sure your deductible is not higher than what you can afford in case damage is done to your car and you need to pay it.

- You may wish to shop around. You may find a company that offers the same coverage for a lower price. You always want to compare before you make a commitment.

You want to use all of these tips so that you can save yourself quite a bit of money.

How you can compare auto insurance quotes online?

When finding the right company to do business with, it is very important that you compare. You can do this by calling companies and recording the different rates that they quote you. You can also do this by going to their websites and filling out the forms on their websites to receive quotes for the auto insurance you want. This allows you to compare in a much easier way. Take all of that information and make an informed decision.

The American Cancer Society estimates doctors will diagnose over 1.4 million new cases of cancer in the U.S. in 2007, with more than 559,650 cancer-related deaths. If you are among the majority of cancer patients and survive for at least five years following your diagnosis, you may face another fight: buying life insurance.

Buying life insurance for cancer patients is challenging, but not necessarily impossible. Your chances for securing a policy depend greatly on the type, stage and grade of the cancer, and even on the treatment plan. There is a relationship between the rate you’ll receive and the curability of your cancer. Certain types of skin cancer, for example, are considered very low risk by life insurance companies and a skin cancer history may not even impact premiums.

Applicants with common and treatable forms of breast and prostate cancer may be able to get a “standard” rating under ideal circumstances. But patients with a history of leukemia or colon cancer may fall into a “substandard” or “high substandard” rating at best, or receive declines. Anyone with cancer that has metastasized likely won’t be able to obtain a policy.

Dr. Charles Levy, senior vice president and chief medical director of AIG American General Domestic Life Insurance Cos., says, “We’re better and better able to differentiate the risks of individual cancers.” Life insurers like AIG American General have sophisticated tables to determine premiums, where they can factor in cancer types and treatments. The end result is better premiums because applicants aren’t lumped together as an “average.”

Most insurers will not offer a policy to someone who is still undergoing treatment for cancer. Depending on your type of cancer, the life insurer may also want to add a surcharge, also called a temporary flat extra. For example, AIG American General sometimes charges temporary flat extras for two to five years, depending on the applicant’s cancer and treatment. The good news is that although these extra premiums can be expensive, they will automatically disappear after a set period of time.

Cancer insurance risk specialists

While a dedicated life insurance agent will search cancer insurance companies to find insurers that will sell you a life insurance policy, in some cases you may be better off seeking out a broker who specializes in finding life insurance for people who have a history of cancer.

These brokers will know the specific questions underwriters will want answered when considering your application. Many brokers have developed relationships with several insurers, so they know which companies offer the best-priced life insurance policies for cancer survivors. Some brokers have experts who specialize in gathering your medical records and organizing them.

By directing your application to life insurers that will view your application most favorably, these brokers will help you find the most accurate price quotes and the lowest premiums for life insurance. Always check the financial strength of the insurer before you buy any policy and be sure that the agent or broker you choose is licensed in your state.

Life insurance strategies for cancer survivors

If you are a healthy cancer survivor, life insurance is even more feasible. There are things you can do to ensure you’re getting the best premium offers possible for your situation.

1. Gather all possible medical records before you apply, from the first pathology report to medical records to treatment records. That ensures medical underwriters have the most complete picture of you, your health, and your cancer history. Having all those records before you apply for cancer insurance will reduce delays in your application process, because your life insurer is going to request them and will wait for them. The information you provide can garner you better premiums in the end: The less life insurer underwriters knows about you, the more likely they are to have to assume you are the highest risk and offer you high premiums accordingly. According to Levy, “If it’s fuzzy, we’re more likely to err on the side of conservatism.”

2. Make sure you have complied with your doctor’s treatment plans. For example, says Levy, if your doctor asked to see you back in one year and you haven’t been back in four years, get to your doctor for your check-up before you apply for life insurance. Your life insurer is not going to offer you a policy without before seeing the results of that check-up. Similarly, if you’ve had breast cancer and you’re due for a mammogram in December and you apply for cancer insurance in October, your life insurer will likely wait for the results of your next mammogram.

3. Get prices from several companies. Policy costs can vary a great deal among companies.

4. See if you can get group life insurance through a professional, fraternal, membership, or political organization to which you belong.

5. Consider a “graded” policy (one with limited benefits) if you cannot get full death benefits. In the first few years of a graded policy, the company pays only the premiums and part of the face value if the insured person dies of a condition, such as cancer, that existed before the policy took effect. If the insured person dies after the specified grading-in period, the company will pay the full face amount of the policy.

If your cancer has been successfully treated, and you are otherwise in good health, you can likely obtain a cancer life insurance policy. If you can show that you are healthy and your treatments have gone well, several insurers may compete for your business.

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American Life Insurance  the most trusted company which has a reputation of about 87 years. This company is one of the globally recognized life insurance companies and it has a number of branches all over the world which has a vast customer line following. American Life Insurance gives various tax benefits to all its insurance policy holders and it also takes care of all your life insurance related policies like retirement insurance policy, wealth management policy, medical insurance, health insurance etc.

Life insurance basic terms as you know is an important factor in every person’s life and when it comes to life insurance age is not the main criteria when it comes to get your life insured. American Life Insurance also known as AIG insurance company and majority of Americans has insured themselves with this life insurance company. The market value of this company is high and you can find the companies ratings in the financial books due to their vast financial transactions with other financial institutes.

There are two major life insurance policies that this AIG Insurance Company deals with i.e. the Term Life Insurance and Whole Life Insurance. In case of Term Life Insurance the policy taken is for a short period of time and Whole Life Insurance is where you get yourself insured for your whole life.

AIG insurance company is one such life insurance company that charters to the needs of the common person. One of the benefits of getting insured in this life insurance company is that you reap a rich harvest of life insurance benefits on all your life insurance policies which no other life insurance company provides you as this company provides you with the benefits when you are still alive.

This life insurance company in order to increase its relationship with their vast flowing customer’s have started life insurance online services which has made it easy and convenient for them to get themselves and their family members insured staying within the very comforts of their own house. AIG Insurance is one of the most sought of companies and it is a tough competitor to other life insurance companies.

A relative has just died. He had a life insurance policy with you listed as the beneficiary. There’s just one problem: the life insurance policy is missing. You have no idea which insurance company wrote it.

If you find the missing life insurance policy in the future, are you still eligible to receive the death benefit?

Hope they paid their insurance bills

If you’re a beneficiary and you find the lost life insurance policy shortly after the insured dies (within six months to a year, for example), claiming the death benefit should be trouble-free.

First, determine if the insured had term or permanent life insurance. If the insured held a term policy, you’ll receive the death benefit if he died before the end of the policy term. If he died after the policy expiration date, you would get nothing.

If the insured had a permanent life policy, you’ll receive the money if the death occurred while the policy was “in force,” meaning all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death was a while ago, you’ll receive the benefit with interest from the date of death.

If the life insurance policy lapsed — meaning the insured stopped making premium payments before he died — there’s a chance you might get nothing. When a permanent life insurance policy lapses, most insurance companies switch its status from permanent insurance to one of two options:

“Extended term” — The insurance company uses the cash value of the policy to buy a term life insurance policy for the same death benefit using the cash value of the policy. The death benefit will continue for the longest period the cash value will purchase.

“Reduced paid up” — The insurance company will keep the policy in force permanently, but will reduce the death benefit.

Gerry Brogla, an actuary for State Farm, says in the majority of the cases at his company, the permanent policy continues as extended term if it lapses. At State Farm, extended term is the default option for most permanent policies.

If the policy lapses, and the extended-term period expires before the insured dies, the policy is worthless and the life insurance beneficiary will get nothing. If the insured dies before the extended-term period is up, the beneficiary will receive the death benefit. If the policy lapsed because the insured died (thus ending premium payments and causing the insurance to be placed in extended-term status), the beneficiary will still collect the full death benefit, regardless of when the extended term was up. The beneficiary always needs to supply the insurance company with a death certificate to verify the date of death.

There is no time limit during which a life insurance beneficiary must step forward to collect the money, according to Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers. “If a person shows up 30 years after [the insured's] death, the company still makes good on it,” Dolan assures.

What happens if no one ever reports the death?

If the insured dies and the insurance company does not learn of the death, the policy lapses. Insurance companies will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments.

When an insurance company stops getting payments, it sends letters to the insured informing him the policy may lapse as a result of unpaid premiums. If the letters go unanswered, the company might initiate a search to find the insured. If that comes up empty, the company will then lapse the policy.

If a beneficiary to a policy never steps forward, it unfortunately means the insured paid money to a policy throughout his life and his beneficiaries never see a penny. This is why its a good idea to make sure beneficiaries are aware of any life insurance policies you have.

If you’re lucky, the state may have your money

In some cases when a beneficiary fails to claim a death benefit for several years, the money is transferred to the state where the insurance policy was purchased under the escheat laws.

If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state comptroller’s department within three to five years of the insured’s death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered “unclaimed property” and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller’s department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost life insurance beneficiaries.

Many states will try to contact life insurance beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. In Texas, for example, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries are published annually in each county in the state. In New York, the Web site of the New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds has an online search to find any unclaimed death benefits owed to you. You can find out the procedures in your state by contacting the office of your state comptroller or treasurer.

Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with the state are slim. The insurance company has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it’s unaware the insured died. In most cases, it’s the beneficiary who contacts the insurance company.

Also, the insurer only transfers the money to the state three to five years after it cannot find the beneficiary but knows the insured died. If the state doesn’t have the death benefit, it’s likely the insurer is still looking for the beneficiary or doesn’t know the policyholder has died.

Unclaimed death benefits are rarely transferred to the state. Dave Potter, a spokesman for Hartford Life, says less than 1 percent of his company’s death benefits go unclaimed.

Del Chance, a life insurance claims manager at State Farm, says, “Turning over life policy benefits to an individual state after the death of an insured is extremely rare. State Farm utilizes their own search techniques as well as outside vendors to locate lost beneficiaries in the event of the death of one of our insureds. By and large these procedures have always located the beneficiary.

Tips for making sure your life insurance beneficiaries get your death benefit:

1. Give your beneficiaries your policy information. It can be a difficult and awkward conversation, but an important one.

2. Keep all your financial records (especially your life insurance policies) in one place. Don’t force your beneficiaries to search your house from top to bottom after you die.

Tips for looking for lost life insurance policies:

1. Go through canceled checks or contact your relative’s bank for copies of old checks. Look for checks made out to insurance companies.

2. Ask those who may have known about your relative’s finances. Speak with the relative’s lawyer, banker or accountant. Also contact the relative’s insurance agent.

3. Contact your relative’s past employers. They might know of possible group life insurance. The insured might have also purchased supplemental life insurance through work.

4. Check the mail for a year. Premium bills and policy-status notices are usually sent annually.

5. Look at income tax returns for the past two years. Check for interest income from policies or expenses paid to life insurance companies.

6. Contact the Medical Information Bureau. If your relative bought life insurance fairly recently, there might be a trail of the companies to which he applied. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) maintains a database that might show if insurers requested your relative’s medical information within the past seven years. Record searches can be requested through the MIB’s Policy Locator Service and cost . The MIB says that nearly 30 percent of searches turn up leads.

There are a number of ways you can cut down the expense of being a car owner, many of which are simple things that could have a significant effect over the course of your premiums.

First of all – why pay more than you have to for your car insurance? There are a number of potential discounts available to you which could save a considerable amount of money. Buying your car insurance online could save you as much as 25% off the premiums.

Also, do not get sucked in by unnecessary optional extras that you do not think you need – make sure you know what you’re paying for and that there are no boxes ticked which shouldn’t be.

Be sure to give your car insurance provider accurate details about the way you use your car so that you don’t end up paying for cover that doesn’t reflect your personal circumstances. For example, if you do not use your car to commute to work, and do not drive many miles each year, then giving this information to your insurance company could shave pounds off your car insurance quote.

The same goes for your car’s features, such as airbags, anti-lock brakes, and anti-theft devices such an immobiliser of alarm, which could all help to save you money on your car insurance. If you don’t already have these things, then you could consider getting some of them installed if you would save enough to make it worth your while.

You could also save money by telling your insurer if your car is stored in a garage or driveway instead of on the roadside – in a driveway it is safer from damage by other cars, and in a garage it has additional protection from thieves and your insurer will often reward you for this.

Some insurance companies offer a discount for drivers who have taken additional testing, such as Pass Plus test. If you do not have a no claims bonus, then this might help to bring your premiums down a bit while you build one up. There are also some car insurance providers that offer accelerated no claims discount deals, where you can build one up faster than usual.

Most important of all when trying to save money on your car insurance is to compare quotes – just because you have been with your car insurance provider since you started driving, doesn’t mean that they represent the cheapest cover on the market – shop around and find a policy which offers both the cover you need and good value for money.

Before the Internet became a popular form of communication, insurance agents had a harder time finding clients. Indeed, they often resorted to cold calling potential customers, or even traveling door to door in hopes of meeting a prospective client. Of course, both of these techniques result in fairly low sales. This isn’t so much because people aren’t interested, but more because these methods feel invasive and uncomfortable to the average person. If a salesman was lucky enough to catch someone at home, it was usually during their leisure time when being hassled by a sales call or visitor is highly undesirable. This made finding potential leads much more difficult than it needed to be.

Today this has all changed. We live in technological times and even the average individual is quite tech-savvy. Today it is possible to find quality life insurance leads without cold calling or going door to door. The Internet provides the easiest alternative to traditional approaches. However, there are other offline approaches that prove beneficial too.

Although some of these newer methods can seem slightly intrusive too, they are definitely less invasive that home visits. They also provide much better results. Insurance Leads are often generated through search engines such as Yahoo, Google, or Bing. These search engines provide an effective way to directly reach customers in a seemingly unobtrusive manner. More importantly, advertising opportunities are targeted, which allows an agent to reach people that have some sort of interest in finding out more about life insurance. This increases the sales rate significantly.

Additionally, agents can buy quality leads that often lead to sales. These leads are generally generated by online forms filled out by those interested in learning more about life insurance. Most forms include a variety of information relevant to a person’s insurance needs. Information collected includes: sex, age, family size, type of insurance desired, etc. Upon purchasing leads like this, and agent already knows quite a bit about each prospective client, and most importantly he knows the individual is already thinking about buying life insurance.

With the Internet, it is possible for agents and insurance companies to get in touch with potential clients like never before. There is a host of different methods available. Online advertising, free newsletters, website pop-up ads, search engine advertising, and free reports with opt-in newsletters have all been used with success by some professionals. Of course, no matter how you get your leads, actual sales will be a result of your own ability. Nonetheless, today’s technology makes life insurance leads easier than ever.

As always, there are people who will advise you to drive carefully. This is because by driving carefully, it will benefit you in many aspects. If you still haven’t realize it, constant speeding and reckless driving will put you at a much higher risk of getting yourself in car accidents and hurting yourself and others. They will also eventually lead you to pay a very high car insurance rate as the traffic citations mount. Therefore, slow down your speed and drive carefully to prevent accidents form happening. You will then be able to secure cheap car insurance rate.

The type of car that you have will also determine your chance of getting cheap auto insurance rate. If you have a car which can be considered as old, consider dropping collision coverage on your car. Collision coverage is the one that pays to repair your car if it meets with accidents. Usually, old cars have very low value and you risk paying more insurance than what you really need by taking up collision coverage. Drop this coverage and you will get cheaper car insurance rate. However, if you decide to take up this method to get cheap car insurance rates, you will most likely need to buy another car if your car is ruined in an accident. Check the value of your car and decide it yourself whether to drop this part of coverage.

Next, you can also try to reduce your mileage to get cheap car insurance rate. You can reduce your car’s mileage drastically by carpooling with your friends or taking public transport. Ask your insurance company if they have discounts for drivers who drive low mileage and you will find most of them do.

Besides that, you should also know your rate is actually affected by your credit rating. It is the best thing if you can keep your credit rating as high as you can. More insurance companies are using your credit factor to determine your overall amount of your car insurance rate. Try to keep any errors that come up off your credit record and you should also pay your bills on time. All these will not only help you to maintain a good credit record but also let you have higher chances to secure cheap car insurance rate.

Finally, insurance companies normally cut down your rate when you purchase more than one insurance policy from them. For example, if you haven’t got any policy for your home yet, get your homeowners policy from the same company. Sometimes, these discounts can help to reduce your car insurance rate significantly.

It is true, that if you are having a car with high performance then you need to pay comparatively high amount of premiums on the insurance policy of your car. This is unlike with Prestige Motorsport. When it comes to Prestige then, as per their profession they used to provide import car insurance. It offers insurance coverage to a large number of imported cars. The insurance cover provided to the Prestige Motorsport customers is always flexible in nature. It can be offered as per the demand and the requirement of the customers on different models of car.

The high street insurers are quite cautious regarding the performance car insurance. This is because the repairs and replacement of the service tools consumes a huge amount of bill. You can visit all the available companies online but it is for sure that you will not find a single company that is capable of offering coverage and features as offered by Prestige Motorsport P/L. Most of the companies do not have flexible software with which they can offer modified quotes. You will not counter such sort of hassles if you are dealing with Prestige for import car insurance. They have the potential to offer a competitive quote within a short period of time. The success of Prestige lies in the fact that they give precedence to each and every customer. An underwriting team of experienced members assist each customer and discuss regarding their individual necessities personally. Which brand is ideal with imports, offering limited mileage, used for daily purposes? All the views will be shared with the customers.

If you are going for performance car insurance with Prestige Motorsport P/L then you need to disclose some of the details about your imported car. The year of manufacturing of your car plays a very vital function in providing necessary coverage to your car. It should not be a very old model or being manufactured quite a long time ago. In such cases, either your car will not get the insurance or will get it with high premiums. The rate of premiums will vary according to the year of manufacturing. For getting import car insurance the security device fitted to your vehicle will also play a key role. If the device is of standard quality then you will certainly get the required coverage. If you are importing a specific car model from Prestige Motorsport and along with that you are going for an import car insurance then you can surely get a very profitable deal.

Some of the car brands along with you can enjoy high performance car insurance include Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru. All these brands are imported by the Prestige Motorsport P/L.

What condition is your car in?

The answer to this question will help you decide how much collision coverage you need on your car. Collision auto insurance is the coverage that takes care of repairing or replacing your car if you are in an accident.

If you have a newer car, or a very special older car (such as an antique), you may want to have a higher level of collision car insurance on that vehicle. You want to know you can replace or repair the car were it to be damaged or totaled in an accident.

If you have an older car that mainly does it’s job of getting you around, you may want to go easy on the collision insurance and save the extra money to buy another car if you should need to.

Are you in a no-fault state?

While you may think you are a safe driver and you won’t be responsible for any damage to your car, you need to know if you are in a no-fault state. If you are, that means your insurance will have to pay for your car’s damage even if the accident was not your fault. In this case you will need to make sure your comprehensive insurance is enough to pay for the replacement of your car were the worst to happen.

What amount of medical coverage do you need?

If you regularly have people in your car, you will want to make sure you have medical coverage for passengers worked into your auto insurance policy. If, however, you are alone and almost never have anyone else in the car with you, you may be able to limit this type of coverage and save yourself a couple of dollars on your car insurance premium.

Are you insuring more than one car?

If you have more than one car that needs auto insurance, you may be able to save some on the overall cost by having all of your cars insured by the same company. Most companies offer loyalty discounts for having more than one policy with them.

This Week in Health Care Reform     

Health care reform legislation passed the House this week on a party-line vote. Late Sunday night, House Democrats approved the Senate health care reform package, sending the legislation to President Obama for his signature. On Tuesday, President Obama signed the underlying bill into law, yet the House has yet to finalize the package of “fixes” that will alter the final implications of the legislation.

Health Care Reform Negotiations

House Democrats Pass Health Care Reform Package: The House of Representatives approved the Senate health care reform bill Sunday night by a vote of 219 to 212. The vote marks the climactic finale to a year-long debate over health care reform. In the final vote, 34 Democrats joined all House Republicans in voting against the measure. Shortly thereafter, the House also passed a package of “fixes,” by a vote of 220-211, that was sent directly to the Senate for its approval through reconciliation. On Tuesday, President Obama signed into law the Senate health care reform bill, called the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

Republicans Force Senate to Send the Reconciliation Bill Back to the House: Shortly after the President signed the Senate bill into law, Senators began deliberations on the reconciliation bill. Reconciliation protocol restricts Senators to 20 hours of debate on the measure, but it does not limit the number of amendments that can be filed. In an expression of opposition to the bill, Republicans filed 29 amendments to the reconciliation package.

After 10 hours of continuous debate, Republicans were successful in eliminating two provisions related to college financial aid in the non-health care portion of the bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled early Thursday morning that those two provisions violated the chamber’s rules, sending the legislation back to the House for a new vote. As a result, on Thursday afternoon, the Senate voted on the reconciliation bill without those two provisions and sent the bill  back to the House for a vote on final passage. The House vote will likely come Thursday evening.

What Does This Health Care Reform Legislation Mean: While the health care reform bill extends insurance coverage to 32 million more Americans by 2019, the legislation has other far-reaching implications that will be phased in sooner, during a multi-year implementation period.

Several features of the new health care overhaul bill that would take effect in 2010 under the measure passed Sunday include:

* New product requirements beginning 6 months after enactment, including:
o Coverage for dependents up to age 26
o No lifetime maximum benefit limits
o And no cost sharing on preventive care for certain policyholders
* Temporary federal high risk pools;
* Tax credits for small employers; and
* Prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions for children (beginning 6 months after enactment).

Most Americans will have until 2014 to purchase insurance or pay a penalty. Other elements of the bill that will not take effect until at least 2014 include insurance marketplaces called “exchanges”; rules requiring insurers to accept all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions, and an expansion of state Medicaid programs.

A number of experts question whether health care reform will really drive down insurance premiums. America’s Health Insurance Plans ( AHIP), the trade group representing health insurers, outlines a series of concerns related to the legislation including a lack of provisions that address underlying health care costs, improve quality of care or ensure a stable risk pool. In addition, AHIP expressed concerns regarding new taxes on health coverage, which will likely increase premiums.

Additional Activities

Obama’s Executive Order on Abortion Funding: On Sunday afternoon, prior to the final House vote on health care reform, President Obama agreed to issue an Executive Order that would uphold the ban on federal funding for abortion . In so doing, he secured about a half-dozen votes from anti-abortion Democrats, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who previously opposed the legislation. On Wednesday, President Obama signed the Executive Order banning the government from spending federal money to pay for abortions through plans offered on the insurance exchanges created under the measure.

States Filing Lawsuit to Fight Provision of Health Care Reform Bill: In response to the new health care reform legislation, states across the country have filed lawsuits asking the courts to declare the law unconstitutional and to bar its enforcement. On Monday,Attorneys General in 13 states, led by Florida, filed a joint lawsuit claiming that the new health care reforms violate state government rights in the U.S. Constitution and will force massive new spending on hard-pressed state governments. Joining Florida in the suit are Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.

At the same time, the Attorney General in Virginia filed a separate suit contending that Congress has exceeded its power in mandating that people buy health insurance. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli argues that the new law’s requirement clashes with Virginia law that exempts citizens from federal fines imposed for not having health insurance.

Senate Voting to Extend COBRA Until May 5:  Senate Democrats plan another short-term extension of unemployment aid this week, setting up a face-off with Republicans, who are vowing to fight the extension if the $10 billion cost isn’t offset with spending cuts. The bill, currently set to expire on April 5, would extend a series of emergency programs – including funding for unemployment insurance benefits and COBRA health coverage for the jobless  – and would hold off a deep cut in reimbursement rates for doctors who serve Medicare patients. The long-term extension has already passed in both the House and Senate, but the two measures are not expected to be reconciled and sent to the President’s desk until after the Easter recess.

President Obama Heads to Iowa to Speak on Health Care: President Obama headed to Iowa on Thursday to increase support for his health care legislation. This was President Obama’sfirst trip out ofWashington since signing health care reform legislation earlier this week. He spoke at the University of Iowa, in the city where he first announced his health care proposal during the Presidential campaign.

Public Opinion

Most Americans Want Republicans to Fight Health Care Reform Bill: In a recent CBS News poll, 62 percent of Americans said they want congressional Republicans to continue challenging the bill, while 33 percent said they should not. Disapproval of the bill has remained steady, with 46 percent saying they disapprove, including 32 percent who “strongly” disapprove. A majority of Americans continue to say that they find the bill to be confusing and do not understand what it means for them or their family.

American’s Split on Health Care Reform Passage: In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 42 percent of Americans said they were angry or disappointed with the recent passage of health care reform legislation. When asked to reveal party affiliation, 79 percent identified themselves as Republicans.

Polling Shows Support for State Lawsuits Against Government: National polling reveals significant opposition to the individual mandate. In a newly released Rasmussen report , 53 percent of those polled oppose the new mandate requiring every American to buy or obtain health insurance. Further, 49 percent of voters are in favor of their state suing the federal government to fight the mandate. Fifty-one percent say individual states should have the right to opt out of the health care plan entirely.

Looking Ahead

After this week’s final health care reform vote, President Obama plans to travel the country in the next few months to discuss the new law. Republicans have begun their own discussions of the law, with an eye towards the November elections.

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