Welcome everyone to the 168th edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. The Cavalcade of Risk (or Cav of Risk for short), as is implicated by the name, is a bi-weekly blog carnival that features the top articles regarding risk management. Several of the realms of risk management covered relate to finances, insurance, and health.

The Cavalcade this week is hosted and edited by My Personal Finance Journey.  

 Listed below are this week's Top 3 Editor's Picks! Enjoy!

1. Jeff Rose from Life Insurance by Jeff posted about Can You Get Life Insurance with a Depression History, saying, "When applying for life insurance, insurance companies take many things into consideration. One of the things they are most concerned about is the mortality rate of the applicant. What contributes to the mortality rate are the applicant’s lifestyle, health, pre-existing conditions, and mental health as well."


2. Insurance Coverage Law in Massachusetts posted about, Insurance as a kind of tax, and a foray into socialism and outside my area of expertise.


3. Jason Shafrin from the Healthcare Economist posted about, How does gaining Medicare coverage affect healthcare utilization?, saying, "Do the uninsured increase their utilization of health care services after becoming eligible for Medicare. The answer is yes, but not as much as you think."


Listed below are the rest of this week's submissions.


Emily Holbrook from Risk Management Monitor posted about, The Insurance Industry Needs More Dynamic Models, saying, "Simpler, but more dynamic capital models are what the insurance industry needs in order to avoid suffering some of the same problems it did during the financial crisis that began in 2008, according to the Willis Economic Capital Forum (WECF), a Georgia-State-University-based initiative from the academic and analysis arm of Willis Group."


Jeff Root from Root Life Insurance Blog posted about, Life Insurance with a DUI, saying, "Securing life insurance with a recent DUI on your record can be expensive. Here are some tips to find the most affordable life insurance with a DUI history."



Super Saver from My Wealth Builder posted about, My Health Insurance Premium is Up Again, saying, "Our health care insurance premiums have been up every year and are up 36.9% cumulatively since Obamacare passed. I wonder when I'll see the "lower costs" that President Obama promised."



Louise from the Colorado Health Insurance Insider posted about, Colorado Health Exchange Gets $43 Million Federal Grant, saying, "Senator Michael Bennet hailed the grant award and said that “Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who now don’t have insurance or who have insurance in the unstable, high-cost individual market will have a range of more affordable options through the new exchange.” It will be great if the exchange results in far more Colorado residents with health insurance to offset the risk of catastrophic medical bills. The federal premium subsidies that will be provided via the exchange should definitely help with that. But as to whether or not the actual premiums charged (which will have to be paid in full by any individual who doesn’t qualify for the federal subsidies) will be significantly lower, I think it might still be too early to know."



Michael from Financial Ramblings posted about,  Life Insurance: How Much Coverage Do You Need, saying, "This post looks at factors to consider when deciding how much life insurance to buy. My advice: skip the arbitrary rules of thumb that advise buying a multiple of your income and give it some real thought."



Bob from Christian PF posted about How to buy personal health insurance saying, "With more people being self-employed or working for employers who don’t offer health insurance coverage, the ability to buy personal health insurance is more important than ever. Having the right health insurance coverage — at the best possible price — is one of the most important financial decisions we can make."



Rebecca Shafer from Workers Comp Roundup posted about, An Independent Claims Audit Can Be The Answer To Poor Claims Handling, saying, "Self-insured employers can have a good safety program, an established return-to-work program and knowledgeable nurse case managers, and still pay way too much on their workers’ compensation claims. Ineffective claims management can wipe out most or all of the cost savings achieved through your efforts to control cost. Whether you have your own claims office, or have a third party administrator (TPA) handling your workers’ compensation claims, poor claims handling will always result in higher claims costs."

Hank Stern of InsureBlog posted about, Long Term Care and Life Insurance, saying, "What do you get when you combine *two* risk management tools – life and long term care insurance? InsureBlog's guest blogger is an expert in Long Term Care insurance and explains the pros and cons."



David @ Excess Return posted about, Hedging Risk Exposure, saying, "When investors assume risk in an asset class that has a premium above a risk free rate of return, the investor could consider hedging the exposure when the returns are better than expected and lock in profits."



I posted on My Personal Finance Journey about Insurance Agents: Obsolete Relics of the Past or Critical Players on Your Personal Finance Team?, saying, "Following in the footsteps of travel agents, are insurance agents the next casualty of the Internet age? Is there still is a large demand for personal, local insurance agents? Also, do insurance agents add value to individuals' lives, or do they simply drive up the cost of insurance products/services and will soon befall a similar fate to their travel agent relatives? This post explores these questions and more."



Well – that concludes this edition. Thanks for tuning in!