The Average Cost of Texas Homeowners Insurance and How You Can Find Cheap Texas Home Insurance Rates
What is the average cost of a Texas homeowners insurance policy? How does the average cost of Texas homeowners insurance stack up as compared to other states? Is there any ways to reduce the cost of my Texas home insurance?These are all good questions and knowing the answers to these questions can mean all of the difference. After all, would you rather save a couple hundred dollars a month off of your Texas homeowners insurance rates and then use that money for a vacation at the end of the year or would you rather just needlessly pay that money to the insurance company in the form of extra premiums every month? Of course, we all want to save some money on our homeowners insurance so let’s read on to see how we can find truly low cost Texas homeowners insurance.According to the United States Census Bureau there were approximately 23 million residents in the state of Texas and with so many people it is important to discuss the average cost of a homeowner’s insurance in the “longhorn” state. Although premiums and rates may vary from company to company, researchers have tried to make it possible for every Texas resident to find out the average cost of getting a home insurance policy in Texas. Below you will be able to find out the average prices paid along with the reasons why.Average Cost Of A Texas Homeowners Insurance PolicySeveral studies have been conducted to try and find the average amount of every single state in the country and their respective ranking according to how much they pay for homeowners insurance. According to the study made by the 2007 National Association of Insurance Commissioners the average premium paid in the entire country in the year 2005 was approximately $764.According to that same study the average Texan resident saw average premiums of approximately $1,372. The study itself found the “longhorn” state to be the most expensive state when it came to homeowners insurance in the entire United States. After the state of Texas the survey found Louisiana (which increased dramatically after Katrina) with $1,144 and Florida with $1,083.Reasons For The Average Cost Of Texas Homeowners Insurance Being So HighMany aspects of the state of Texas can contribute to the high home insurance rates paid by the average Texan resident in the year 2005. Perhaps one of the most important things was the hurricane that hit New Orleans on August 28, 2005. Hurricane Katrina reminded home insurance companies that in states near the coast they should charge a lot of money for homeowners insurance to even stay in business. This is the reason why the first three states in the list included Texas, New Orleans and Florida which are main states in the Gulf of Mexico.
Perhaps the hurricane was the most devastating thing for home owners simply because the price of their insurance has nearly doubled. However, it is important to know that there are many other things that have to do with how expensive the rates are in the state of Texas. Many of them include natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms.One thing that just makes Texas so expensive to insure a home is that the size of the state is huge!! There are towns on the coast that should be protected for hurricanes, in the north they should be protected for tornadoes and hail and the whole state has been known to have horrible mole scares. These are just a few of the many things that can happen in the state, not to mention that some areas are likely to flood after heavy rains.Tips To Lower The Cost Of Your Texas Homeowner InsuranceLike in any industry, the homeowner’s insurance business has things that you can do if what you want is a low rate. It is important to put these things into practice if you want to be one of the many people that are now saving money due to the many chances that home insurance companies give you. Below you will see tips for lowering your TX home insurance rate that you should put into practice.Make your home better prepared for natural disasters: This is something that everyone can do and that will allow most people to lower their home insurance costs. If you have an older home you could start by putting in new heating and electrical systems so that they are least likely to end up in a home destruction due to fire or tremendous fire damage. Another thing you can do is put in storm shutters, and make window sills stronger so that damage due to storms can be prevented. Your roof can be reinforced to prevent water and storm damage.Stay with the same insurer: This is particularly a little thing that people don’t know about the home insurance business. Believe it or not companies can reward your for being a good customer in this industry. If you stay with the same insurance company they can drop your coverage up to 5% and after six years your discount can go up to being 10%. Of course you should still comparison shop Texas home insurance rate quotes every 6 months or so to weigh the benefits of getting the longevity discount versus switching to a cheaper policy with a different company.Raise your deductible: This is the most important thing that determines your rate. Most homeowner’s insurance policies start with a deductible of $250. However, if you want to save money by following this tip you must be able to afford it as soon as a disaster strikes. If you cannot afford raising your deductible then try and stay away from this tip. If on the other hand you could raise it a bit more up to $500 or even $1000 then do so. It is well known that if you raise your deductible up to $1000 you can save up to 25% of your home insurance policy.Bundle up different types of insurance: This is also not known by many people, but insurance companies will also reward you for being a good customer. If you are one of those people that have more than one insurance need, such as auto, health and life; then you could find a company that offers two or three of them and put all those under the same insurer. This will be able save you up to 10% overall for being a “preferred customer’ (depending on the company of course).Things That Determine The Cost Of Your Texas Homeowners Insurance PolicyAlthough there are many things that can determine how much in home insurance you will be paying monthly, there are a few that have more impact in your policy. These determinants are:Age of your House
Material of your House
Credit Report
Your Claim History
Market Value of your HomeYou Can Find Low Cost Texas Homeowners InsuranceThere are many ways in which a person can save money when it comes to getting a Texas homeowners insurance policy. Now that you have all the tools it is up to you to decide if you want to be the “average Joe” or lower the price of your Texas home insurance.
Health Insurance Buyer’s Guide
Buying Shopping for health insurance can leave many people confused. Knowing which insurance company to choose or which insurance plan is the best may seem daunting impossible. But once you know the basics of health insurance, choosing the right health insurance plan is simple easy.
This article will provide some of the most basic and helpful tools and explanations for health insurance shoppers. First, it is important to learn about helps to understand the different types of health insurance plans and their benefits and drawbacks. Plans differ in the amount you pay out-of-pocket, which doctors you can visit, and how the your insurance bills are paid. Besides just helping you choose the most efficient and cost-effective plan, we’ll teach you about another way you can save on health insurance: a Health Savings Account. Additionally, it is important to learn about dental insurance as well. Many health insurance plans do not include dental insurance under their benefits, so we’ll go over how to shop for and obtain separate dental coverage. Then it is important to learn about ways you can save on health insurance. There are several ways you can save including Health Savings Accounts and Discount Cards. LastlyAnd finally, don’t forget to compare plans before you make your decisionwe’ll explain why it’s so important to put your new knowledge to good use by comparing health insurance plans.
Types of Health Insurance Plans
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Plans
Generally, HMOs have low or even no deductible and the co-payments will be relatively comparatively low as well. You pay a monthly premium that gives you access to coverage for doctor appointments, hospital stays, emergency care, tests, x-rays and therapy. You will have to choose a primary care physician (PCP) within your insurance provider’s network of physicians, and in order to see a specialist you need to receive a referral from your PCP. Under an HMO plan, only visits to doctors and hospitals with the insurance company’s network of providers are covered; you’ll have to pay for visits if you go to an out-of-network doctors or hospitals your insurance will not cover the costs.
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)
Plans Under a PPO plan, you will use the insurance company’s network of doctors and hospitals for any services or supplies you need. These healthcare providers have been contracted by the insurance company to provide services at a discounted rate. Generally, you will be able to choose doctors and specialists within this network without having to choose a primary care physician or get a referral. Before the insurance company will start paying for your medical bills you will usually need to pay an annual deductible. Also, you may have a co-payment for some services or be required to cover a percentage of the total medical bill.
Point of Service (POS) Plans
A POS plan is a combination of the features offered by HMO and PPO plans. You are required to choose a primary care physician, whose services are not usually subject to a deductible, but your PCP can refer you to out-of-network specialists whose services will be partially covered by your insurance company. Additionally, POS plans usually offer coverage for preventive healthcare, which includes regular checkups. Your PCP will be able to give you referrals for any specialists. If these specialists are out-of-network you will need to pay out-of-pocket and then apply for reimbursement from the insurance company. With a POS plan you will benefit from some of the savings of an HMO and will have greater flexibility in choosing healthcare providers, similar to PPO.
Dental Insurance
It is important to get a dental insurance plan along with your health insurance plan. In order to keep your teeth and gums health you need regular visits to the dentist. Without dental insurance, the cost of dentist appointments will be much higher making it difficult to keep up with the payments. Dental insurance is similar to health insurance in that each month you pay a premium, which entitles you to certain dental benefits. Benefits include checkups, cleanings, x-rays, and other dental services. There are plans that may cover dental implants, oral surgery and orthodontia, but they will be more expensive. Like health insurance, plans are categorized into indemnity and managed-care plans. If you choose an indemnity plan you will have a broader choice of dental care providers to choose from. You won’t have to choose one primary dentist and generally, you won’t need to acquire referrals. In order for the insurance company to cover your dental expenses you will need to send them a claim before they reimburse you for covered services. As a result, you will have to pay more out-of-pocket with an indemnity plan, but you will have more flexibility in choosing which dentists you visit. On the other hand, managed-care plans will provide you with a dental provider network and you will need to visit dentists within this network in order to get coverage for these services. With a dental care network, the insurance company has arranged pre-negotiated rates that you will receive when you visit these dentists. With a managed-care plan, the dentists will submit the claim for you, lowering your out-of-pocket expenses.
Save on Health Insurance
Health Savings Account
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are tax-free savings accounts designed to help consumers pay for healthcare services while limiting premium expenses for unwanted benefits. The plans have lower premiums and higher deductibles than other insurance plans because they offer fewer benefits and require you to use the money in your HSA to pay for certain qualified medical services. However, if you don’t need to visit the doctor frequently and don’t anticipate requiring regular medical attention, HSA plans are a cost-effective method of insuring against the worst without paying for coverage you won’t use. In order to open an HSA, you’ll need to have an HSA-compatible health insurance plan. You may only use the funds in your HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses. Usually, your HSA plan will have a deductible that, once met, requires your insurance company to pay for any additional qualified medical expenses for the rest of the year.
Dental Insurance
Health insurance typically does not cover dental services, but in order to keep your teeth and gums healthy, you need regular visits to the dentist. Without dental insurance, regular dentist appointments can prohibitively expensive. Make sure your mouth is covered by shopping for both health and dental insurance. Dental insurance is similar to health insurance in that each month you pay a premium, which entitles you to certain dental benefits. Benefits include checkups, cleanings, x-rays, and other dental services. There are plans that may cover dental implants, oral surgery and orthodontia, but they will be more expensive. Like health insurance, plans are categorized into indemnity and managed-care plans. If you choose an indemnity plan you will have a broader choice of dental care providers to choose from. You won’t have to choose one primary dentist and generally, you won’t need to acquire referrals for special services. In order for the insurance company to cover your dental expenses you will need to send them a claim for reimbursement. You’ll end up paying more out-of-pocket with an indemnity plan, but you will have more flexibility in choosing which dentists you visit. By contrast, managed-care plans limit you to the doctors and services within a dental services network, and you will need to visit doctors within this network in order to get coverage for their services. Within the dental care network, your insurance company has arranged pre-negotiated rates that you will receive when you visit dentists in the network. Your dentist will submit your insurance claim for you, keeping your out-of-pocket expenses lower than with an indemnity plan.
Compare the Plans
Comparing insurance plans is an important step in buying health insurance. It will save you money in the long run if you take the time to compare premium prices, out-of-pocket costs, plan benefits, the network of physicians available with different plans, and the quality of insurance providers. If you have a favorite physician, make sure your health insurance covers visits to him or her. If you don’t need to see the doctor very often, don’t pay a high premium for low office visit copayments. Health insurance plans are designed to address specific healthcare needs, and you’ll save money and get the most effective coverage by comparing plans to find the health insurance plan that best fits your budget and lifestyle.
Study to Investigate Perception and Role of Teachers,Parents,Management About Religious Education
Introduction:
One’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. The purpose of this study is to foresee the perception of teachers, parents and management about religious education at primary schools. Religion and beliefs gives awareness of our norms and values. Religious education teaches the ethics of living a peaceful and loving life. It teaches individuals, families, communities that how they should take decisions for living a better life full of peace and harmony. Patrick (2006) said that religious practice benefits individuals, families, and communities and thus the whole world.
Religious education is very important for students at early ages. It teaches them how to response others and tells them ethics of living a better life. Religion plays a significant role in history and society as well, study about religion is essential to understand both the nation and the world. It also makes great beneficence to other parts of school syllabus such as liberty, civil, crafts and disciplines for supportable development. John et al (2003) mentioned in his report that the curriculum needs to cater the child’s affective, aesthetic, spiritual, moral and religious needs in order to develop the individual’s full potential. RE plays specific role in developing spiritual and moral values of a child as well as to be aware to knowledge of God.
Literature Review
Religious education make student broad minded but it happens when teachers teaches them with these clear concepts and practices about how to practice these thoughts as well as to communicate and deal with others in adverse community. Religious Education teachers need to have in depth knowledge of content and pedagogy as well as need to have quality assessment skills to deliver effective instructions as they are the pillars of teaching process. Dinama et al. (2016)
Liagkis (2016) supported the concept that pedagogically, all instructions are determined in the curriculum sequentially but religious education teachers are responsible to deliver effective teaching to learners to make them able to practice
Geoff Teece (2009) proposed an article on learning about religion and learning from religion or religious education. In this article researcher said there is a lack of clarity in terms of learning and actually mean from the religion. Researcher also argued that the term religion is understood by applying a second order explanatory frame work that actually refers to the concept of study of religion such as rituals and myth. Religious education or religious instruction was a serious concern in education system.
To figure it out Gardner (1980) gave a solution that, not to make students committed towards any of the religion and instead of this teach about the events and lifestyles guided in different religions. The question arises after this given solution that is it appropriate to grow students up with the brought minds in sense of their beliefs in educational scenario? Or is it better not to go against the grain and follow the traditional style accordingly? The explorers of these questions were Gardner (1993) & McLaughlin & Hare (1994)
Leahy & Laura in 1997 gave their notion that religion is not restricted to be taught in inflexible environment. Religious concepts can be integrated in other subjects of curriculum to enhance knowledge (P.329).
Leahy (1998) considered that should the parents be allowed to take decision about their child’s learning method of religious education by censoring the curriculum of school but she herself deny it because it will spoil the rights of other religious groups and kill the ways for different groups producing social imbalance.
According to John M.Hull there is a part for the school in preparing pupils to take an informed and thoughtful part in a pluralistic culture. When the society contains not one but several religions, the necessity for a thoughtful study of religion becomes greater, not less. (1984, p. 48.)
While standards such as admiration, acceptance, and treating people with kindness are clearly important plus constantly have been, new public currently furthermore prerequisite to understand the causes of, and possible solutions to, complex and global issues. (Nord and Haynes, 1998, p. 36)
Ethical reflection contributes to that understanding by helping young people see that tolerance of others is not enough; that a global, interconnected world calls for harmony by others whose outcomes and futures are intertwined, and that they want to be prepared to turn, not just personally, but also collectively and politically. (Freiler, 2009, p.15)
Susan D. Holloway in his article “The Role of Religious Beliefs in Early Childhood Education: Christian and Buddhist Preschools in Japan”. Off and on in western writing the Japanese are mark out as a non-religious people apart from it Japanese are considered the faithfulness that conflict with Americans. Japanese show up more prepared to put together and meet the doctrine that often appealing Shinto at the beginning and wedding whereas the Buddhism stand with silence/external rest through in spite of circumstances that work to darken the noticeable philosophical contribution of different doctrine, definite direction of Christians ideology and Buddhism are observed that pressure the school of Japanese.
Objectives of the study:
To find out teacher’s perception about religious teaching as an aspect of education.
To identify the role of teachers for children character development.
To find out parent’s perception about religious teaching.
To explore the role of school management for teaching religious subjects in curriculum.
Methodology of the Study:
A quantitative research design was selected to conduct this study. In this study questionnaires were used as a research tool. In the educational research field questionnaires are worthily considered as a popular technique mostly used for investigating the opinions, attitudes, perceptions and preferences.
Questionnaires constitute an important and popular technique that is widely used to study the attitudes, opinions, perceptions and preferences in the field of educational research. Muijs (2004), Reid (2006)
Oppenheim (1992: 100) described questionnaires as: “The questionnaire is an important instrument of research, a tool for data collection. It is considered a set of questions arranged in a certain order and constructed according to specially selected rules”.
[Creswell (2008), Cohen et al (2007), Raid (2006)] all categorized questionnaires information as there are three types of data that may be collected about respondents through using questionnaires including Factual, Behavioral and attitudinal. Demographic characteristics of respondents are covered in factual questions; behavioral questions are used to investigate about the actions, habits, and experiences of participants; and to know about interest, belief, values, opinions and attitudes investigator uses attitudinal questions. In this study research tool is consisted on two elements from mentioned categories including factual and attitudinal questions.
Three questionnaires were designed for each category of respondents. Respondents of the study were teachers, parents and management belongs to primary schools of Karachi. Total number of statements was 10 for each category of respondents. 30-40 minutes time duration was decided to fill questionnaires after the pilot study. Closed ended statements were used in questionnaires and respondents were asked to give their point of view by chosen rubrics of Likert Scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, to some extent, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree).
1. Pilot testing of Questionnaires
Oppenheim (1992: 48) mentioned this “everything about the questionnaire should be piloted; nothing should be excluded, not even the type face or the quality of the paper”. 50 respondents were selected for pilot testing of questionnaires (20 teachers, 20 parents and 10 management staff). Piloting the questionnaires was aimed to ensure the layout of questionnaires, to cater the language difficulties, to check instructions needed to improve and to improve validity and reliability of questionnaires. The feedback received through pilot testing provides the clarity about statements of questionnaire, layout, instructions and validity as well.
2. Sample selection
Teachers, school management of primary schools and parents of primary grade children of Karachi, Pakistan were selected as a population of this study. Sample was selected district wise; there are 6 districts in Karachi namely Central Karachi, East Karachi, South Karachi, West Karachi, Malir Karachi and Korangi Karachi. By using convenient quota sampling technique 4 districts out of 6 were selected including East Karachi, South Karachi, Malir Karachi and Korangi Karachi. Total 200 sample size was selected for conducting this study. 50 samples were intended to select from each district approximately. For desired sample primary schools were selected through searching on internet and developed communication with concern authorities of all schools for asking their willingness to fulfill research needs.
3. Data collection procedure
Researcher visited schools district wise one by one and distributed 250 questionnaires to participants more than actual sample size to get maximum return rate. 30 out of 250 participants did not return their questionnaires. 220 participants returned questionnaires on time.20 questionnaires out of 220 were excluded due to incomplete responses. So finally researcher got desired sample size 200 out of 250. Remaining questionnaire responses was 40 (principals, wise principals), 100 teachers and 60 parents selected collectively. Whereas, 10 (principals, wise principals), 25 teachers and 15 parents were selected from each district.
5. Analysis of Data:
SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis procedure. 5-Likert scale responses were converted into numeric scale 1-5 to enter the data in SPSS. Through using SPSS researcher calculated the frequencies and percentages. After calculation, result is presented through generating graphs showing frequencies and percentages of responses of each category.