Wondering whether you’re getting the most insurance coverage you can at the best price?
The insurance division of the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs makes it easier to gauge prices, by listing premiums for sample policies from licensed companies that serve Hawaii customers.
The division’s 2017 comparison sheets include annual premiums for motor vehicle, homeowner (single-family homes and condominiums) and renters’ coverage, plus monthly premiums for individuals buying health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Consumers can use the guides to explore coverage options, and to see how prices for the same coverage vary among companies. The sample policies won’t fit the needs of every consumer, obviously, but they do provide a good starting point for comparison shopping. Comparisons are provided for Oahu and the neighbor islands.
The motor-vehicle insurance premium comparison guide has the bonus of including the number of Hawaii-based complaints against the listed companies in 2015.
For details, check the following links to the comparison sheets (in PDF format) on the DCCA website (note that the “0” in every “808” is a zero):
>>Single-family home owners: 808ne.ws/home808
>>Condominium owners: 808ne.ws/condo808
>>Renters: 808ne.ws/renters808
>>Motor vehicle: 808ne.ws/auto808
>>Health insurance (ACA individual rates): 808ne.ws/health808
Once you open any of the PDFs, you should be able to enlarge the text by simultaneously pressing your computer keyboard’s “command” and “+” keys.
You can also find the links on the insurance division’s website, at 808ne.ws/dccains. According to the site, the division oversees the Hawaii insurance industry; issues licenses; examines the fiscal condition of Hawaii-based companies; reviews rate and policy filings; and investigates insurance-related complaints.
Question: I don’t use a computer. I have an old-style phone. But I do get nuisance calls. Can I get on the “do not call” list you mentioned (808ne.ws/kokuafeb1) even though I can’t register online?
Answer: Yes. To register by telephone, call 1-888-382-1222 (or TTY 1-866-290-4236, for the hearing- and speech-impaired). You must call from the phone number that you wish to register.
Both cellphones and land lines (what you described as “old-style”) can be registered on the national Do Not Call list.
Once you register a phone number, it stays on the list until you cancel the registration or the telephone number is disconnected; there is no need to re-register, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which administers the Do Not Call Registry.
This is true of both land lines and mobile phones, the FTC said, emphasizing that there is not a separate registry for cellphones.
As we previously mentioned, registration may be done online at donotcall.gov.
Registering is not a cure-all for nuisance calls, but it should reduce unsolicited calls from telemarketers.
Be forewarned, though, that the Do Not Call registry does not prohibit political calls, charitable calls, debt-collection calls, informational calls and telephone survey calls — and it can’t prevent illegal robocalls, which don’t bother to screen the registry.
Mahalo
Thank you very much to the good Samaritan who returned my mother-in-law’s lost purse at Sam’s Club on Keeaumoku Street. You answered our prayers and allowed our family to salvage the day and still go out to dinner to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday. God bless you. — J.K., Honolulu
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
