Insurance Reporter
Alyssa reports on the coverage most people buy without reading: health plans, auto policies, renters, and life insurance.
She writes for someone who is smart, busy, and already annoyed at the paperwork. That means concrete dollar figures rather than ranges, the exclusion that actually matters rather than all of them, and a clear answer about which policy wins for which buyer.
It arrives by September 30, it is fifteen pages, and it is the one piece of mail that tells you exactly how your plan gets worse in January. The premium, the drug tiers, the doctors still in network. Skip it and you find out at the pharmacy counter in February, which is the worst possible place to learn.
October 27, 2026 · 8 min read
Doing nothing during open enrollment is a choice, and this year it is an expensive one. The plan renews at whatever it costs in 2027, on a drug list that was quietly rewritten while you weren't reading. The letter that told you lives in the pile with the takeout menus.
October 6, 2026 · 9 min read
Your renewal letter blames rising costs, and gas is up to $4.10 a gallon this August, so the story checks out. It just isn't the real one. Repair costs climbed 36 percent since 2021, total losses hit a record 23.1 percent of claims, and the number that actually moves your premium has almost nothing to do with what you pay at the pump.
September 11, 2026 · 10 min read
That little shipping-protection add-on at checkout is sold like insurance and often isn't. A lot of merchants self-insure it, keep the premiums as revenue, and pay out only the rare lost package. You are buying a coverage the store profits from you not needing.
August 29, 2026 · 8 min read
The 2022 law killed most surprise medical bills. It left out the one almost nobody chooses and everyone assumes is covered: the ground ambulance. More than half of those rides come back out of network, and the average balance runs about $450.
August 23, 2026 · 8 min read
Two-thirds of large employers cover these drugs for weight loss today. Only 72 percent say they will keep doing it next year. The decision is happening this quarter, in a benefits meeting nobody invited you to.
August 11, 2026 · 9 min read
No-exam life insurance means three completely different products, priced from a small premium bump to five times the cost. Here is how to tell which one you are being sold before you sign.
August 8, 2026 · 10 min read
You can stay on the family policy longer than you think, the address you list matters more than the car you drive, and the DoorDash shift you picked up last weekend may have voided your coverage entirely.
August 5, 2026 · 10 min read
Forty-five percent of renters don't carry renters insurance. Most of them think their landlord's policy protects their stuff. It doesn't. Here's what you're actually exposed to, and what $15 a month fixes.
August 4, 2026 · 8 min read
A $1 million umbrella policy costs roughly what you pay for Netflix Premium. One streams movies; the other keeps a single lawsuit from draining your savings, your 401(k), and your kid's college fund. Here is why 80% of households are skipping the cheapest meaningful coverage they can buy.
August 3, 2026 · 8 min read
New cars lose 20% of their value in year one, but your loan balance barely budges. If you total a car that's worth less than what you owe, you're writing a check for the difference. Gap insurance fixes that for as little as $40 a year, but the dealer wants $700 for the same coverage.
August 2, 2026 · 8 min read
Your card advertises $2,700 in annual value against a $795 fee. Here is the line-by-line on what those credits are worth to a person who lives a normal life, and the flat-rate card that quietly beats most of them.
August 2, 2026 · 10 min read
Online banks won the interest rate argument years ago. This is about the eleven days you'll wait for a cashier's check, the cash you can't deposit, and the signature guarantee that requires a building.
July 31, 2026 · 10 min read
Root, Snapshot, Drivewise, DriveEasy, SafePilot - every major auto insurer offers a driving-behavior discount. Here is what they actually measure, how Root now reaches more than 80% of the U.S. through 37 states, and when the tradeoff is worth it.
July 25, 2026 · 9 min read
HMO and PPO plans look similar on paper but operate very differently. The wrong choice can mean surprise bills, restricted care, or premiums you cannot afford. Here is how to decide.
July 7, 2026 · 8 min read
The enhanced premium tax credits ended on January 1. Marketplace premium payments are up 114 percent on average, and if you earn over roughly $63,000 on your own, your subsidy did not shrink. It went to zero.
May 5, 2026 · 9 min read
