Education Secretary, Insurance Commissioner Announce 'Insurance 101', New Interactive Car Insurance Lesson For High School Students

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Education Secretary Pedro Rivera and Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller today announced a new, interactive lesson for high school students to learn about and better understand car insurance, titled "Insurance 101."  The lesson was debuted for educators and students at Central Dauphin East High School in Dauphin County, and is now available for teachers around the state.

"In Pennsylvania we're focused on ensuring when students graduate from high school they are college or career ready - financial literacy and practical life skills are important to helping students succeed when they leave high school," Rivera said. "Tools like Insurance 101 help demonstrate how every day choices can have a long term financial impact on a student's life."

"Financial literacy is vital for students to become productive citizens when they enter the workforce.  Understanding how insurance works to protect their family and possessions, and learning how to shop for coverage, what insurance they need, and how to get the best coverage for the price, are important aspects of personal and business financial success," Commissioner Miller said.

The Insurance 101 lesson presents several scenarios high school students could encounter and shows how these could impact their car insurance rates.  For example, the lesson shows how poor driving decisions, such as being distracted while changing radio stations or texting, and then hitting a parked car, can mean higher insurance rates.

In other scenarios in the lesson. students are given a choice of going out with friends after an extracurricular activity, or heading home to study.  Going directly home results in extra study time and a good grade on a test, with that good grade contributing to the student's overall high grade point average, resulting in a reduction in auto insurance.  Lower auto insurance premiums for good grades are not mandated, but many companies offer this discount.

"Insurance 101" is intended for high school teachers to use in such classes as Family and Consumer Science and Financial Literacy, where students learn to manage money in life situations they are likely to encounter in the next several years.  The lesson was developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) communications team, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, and has now been adopted as a model for other states by the NAIC.

The "Insurance 101" tools are available to every educator in Pennsylvania on the Department of Education's Standards Aligned System Portal (SAS Portal).

Information about auto insurance is available at www.insurance.pa.gov, under the Coverage tab, by clicking on Auto.  Consumers with questions can contact the Consumer Services Bureau on the Insurance Department homepage, by clicking on Ask a Question or File a Complaint, under Key Services, or calling 1-877-881-6388.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Insurance, Ron Ruman, 717-787-3289
Education, Nicole Reigelman, 717-783-9802

SOURCE Pennsylvania Insurance Department

Related Links

http://www.insurance.pa.gov