Required Discount

Insurers must provide discounts for hurricane-resistant shutters and hurricane-resistant windows and doors. Before making any upgrades, check with your insurer to ensure the materials and installation meet the requirements to qualify for a discount.

Additional Potential Discounts

Many insurance policies  offer additional discounts for theft prevention measures, fire prevention measures, climate-related measures, and more.

• Theft prevention measures: These include deadbolt locks, security systems, surveillance systems, perimeter fences/gates, motion detecting cameras, security personnel or property caretaker(s), and gated communities.
• Fire prevention measures: These include fire extinguishers, gas leakage detection devices, fire-resistive construction, electrical system renovation, sprinkler systems, power backup/generators, seismic detectors, electrical monitoring sensors, and masonry material, heating system, and seismic retrofits.
• Water damage prevention measures: These include smart/automatic water monitors and shutoff devices, water leakage detectors, plumbing renovation, master plumbing valves, and temperature monitoring/freeze alarms.
• Earthquake, lightning, and other peril prevention measures: These include lightning protection (including lightning rods, whole-house surge protection devices, and/or electrical grounding systems), seismic detectors, HVAC renovations, power backup/generators, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and masonry material, heating system, and seismic retrofits.
• Roof-specific reinforcements: These include roof renovations, hail resistant roofs, gable-braced roofs, high wind rated roof coverings, roofs with secondary water resistance, roof to wall connection, roof deck attachments, hip roofs, and reinforced exterior doors.

Updated Credit Information

If credit information was used in underwriting or rating your homeowners’ insurance policy, your insurer is required to inform you that it is using your credit information. You have the right to request that your insurer re-underwrite and re-rate your policy at least every three years based on your current credit information. Your insurer is only allowed to decrease premiums based on updated credit information, so a decrease in your credit score cannot negatively impact your insurance costs. Check with your insurer to learn more, including how to request that your insurer re-underwrite and re-rate your policy. 

Other Ways to Save

In addition to discounts, there may be other ways to save:

• Work with your insurance broker, or reach out to your insurer, to determine if you are eligible for any discounts and whether you have the best coverage for your individual circumstances. For example, they may suggest a higher deductible, which could lower your premiums, or recommend shopping around for a new policy with a different insurer.
• Let your insurer or insurance broker know about any recent improvements made to your home or any mitigation measures installed. For example, certain renovations, like the installation of a new roof, might entitle you to a lower premium.
• Consider bundling your homeowners’ insurance with other insurance policies sold by the same insurer. Some insurers offer discounts for maintaining other insurance policies with them, such as auto insurance.
• Many of these discounts may also apply to commercial property owners, so talk to your broker or insurer to understand your discount options for commercial properties.

For additional information on homeowners’ insurance in New York, please visit:

• Customer Homeowners FAQ | Department of Financial Services
• Help for Homeowners | Department of Financial Services
   

Required Discounts

All auto insurers in New York must provide premium discounts for certain vehicle features and driver safety classes. If your vehicle has the features listed below or you have taken a qualifying class, your insurer should automatically apply the discounts to your premium:  

• Qualified accident prevention course completion (a list of classes should be provided by your insurer, and are also available on the DMV website)
• Anti-theft devices
• Window glass etched with the vehicle identification number
• Anti-lock brakes
• Daytime running lamps
• Front-seat seat belts and air bags (required in all vehicles in the U.S. since 1990) 

Contact your insurer to confirm your premium reflects all applicable discounts.

Additional Potential Discounts

Many auto insurers offer additional discounts for safe driving, vehicle safety upgrades, and more. Some insurers will also offer discounts to certain groups of individuals such as military members or senior citizen/retirees. DFS maintains a list of discounts available from major auto insurers in New York.

Check with your insurer about additional discounts they may offer, including:

• Telematics: Mobile apps or plug-in car devices to monitor for safe driving behavior and/or low mileage. 
• Safety/collision avoidance systems: Vehicles equipped with a backup camera, lane assist, or brake assist. 
• Accident and driving history: A clean record with no accidents or traffic violations for a specified number of years. 
• Qualifying policyholders: Military members, senior citizens, retirees, and student drivers meeting certain academic requirements. 
• Driver training course completion
• Low annual mileage or carpools
• Combat Auto Theft Program: Vehicles participating in the program and displaying an official decal may be stopped, without other cause, by law enforcement officers if operated between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., the prime vehicle theft period. Contact your local police precinct to talk to your Crime Prevention Officer and your insurer to see if you are eligible for this program.

Updated Credit Information

If credit information was used in underwriting or rating your personal auto insurance policy, your insurer is required to inform you that it is using your credit information. You have the right to request that your insurer re-underwrite and re-rate your policy at least every three years based on your current credit information. Your insurer is only allowed to decrease premiums based on updated credit information, so a decrease in your credit score cannot negatively impact your insurance costs. Check with your insurer to learn more, including how to request that your insurer re-underwrite and re-rate your policy. 

Other Ways to Save

In addition to discounts and rebates, there may be other ways to save on your auto insurance:

• Work with your insurance broker to determine if you are eligible for any discounts and whether you have the best coverage for your individual circumstances. For example, they may suggest a higher deductible, which could lower your premiums, or recommend shopping around for a new policy with a different insurer.
• Consider bundling your auto insurance with other insurance policies sold by the same insurer. Some insurers offer discounts for maintaining multiple insurance policies with them. 
• Check your policy and verify your information is accurate, including that:
  • Your mailing address and/or place of garaging address, if different than your mailing address, is correct.
  • Each vehicle has the correct driver, mileage, and primary use listed.
  • All discounts to which you are entitled have been applied.
  • The make and model of your vehicle(s) is/are correct.
  • The age/birthdate(s) of the driver(s) is/are correct.
  • The dates of any chargeable accident(s) and conviction(s) identified are correct.

For additional information on auto insurance   in New York, please visit:

• Auto Insurance Information for Consumers
• Shopping for Auto Insurance and Saving Money
• Auto Insurance Discounts Offered by New York's Major Insurers
• Auto Insurance Coverage Checklist
   

Understanding your health insurance coverage before receiving care can help you avoid unexpected costs and ensure that treatment is covered. 

There are three payments your insurer might have you pay for treatment: money towards your deductible, copay, and/or coinsurance. 

• Deductible: The amount you must pay for a covered health care service before your insurance plan begins to pay benefits. 
• Copayment (Copay): A fixed dollar amount you are required to pay for a covered health care service. This is typically paid at the time a service is received.
• Coinsurance: A cost-sharing requirement under which you pay a specified percentage of the cost of covered health care services after a deductible has been paid.

Check your health insurance policy to understand your coverage, and follow these steps before receiving a non-emergency service or treatment from a provider.

Preventive Care

Certain policies* will not require you to pay a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance for most preventive care, including:

• Preventive screenings for conditions such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, maternal depression, osteoporosis, and HIV
• Well-child visits
• Well woman preventive visits and prenatal care
• Breastfeeding services and supplies
• Immunizations

*If your health insurance ID card says, “fully insured coverage,” then your policy should fall into this category.

Savings on Medications

Certain policies* will not require you to pay, or will limit the amount of, a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance for some medications or devices, including:

• Insulin
• Asthma inhalers (beginning in 2027) 
• EpiPens and epinephrine nasal sprays ($100 limit on cost-sharing)
• Contraceptives
• Prenatal vitamins
• PrEP
• Smoking cessation drugs

*If your health insurance ID card says, “fully insured coverage,” then your policy should fall into this category.

Wellness Incentives

Your health insurance policy may include financial rewards and incentives, like gift cards or cash, for participating in wellness activities or for obtaining preventive services. In addition, your policy may provide discounts on wellness activities, like gym memberships.  

Out-of-Network Cost-Sharing

Using an out-of-network provider may result in significantly higher out-of-pocket costs. Before receiving care, verify with your health insurer – not your provider – whether your provider is in-network. You can confirm a provider is in-network by visiting your health insurer’s website and searching the provider directory. For the most accurate results, enter your plan ID number or specific plan name where possible. You can also contact your health insurer directly to receive a list of participating providers.

You have a right to obtain a referral to an out-of-network provider at the in-network cost-sharing rate, if:

• your insurer does not have an in-network provider with the appropriate training and experience to meet your health care needs; or 
• in-network providers cannot meet required appointment time frames for mental health and/or substance use disorder services.

If your insurer’s provider directory mistakenly lists a provider as being in-network, you are only responsible for the in-network deductible, copayment, or coinsurance if you obtain services from the provider.

Options for Affordable Coverage

• Child Health Plus coverage: Free or low-cost health insurance for children up to age 19 with no annual deductible or co-payments. Monthly premiums depend on household income and family size. Click here to learn more.
• Essential Plan coverage: Comprehensive health insurance with $0 premiums for adults meeting income and other eligibility requirements. Click here to learn more.
• Healthy NY coverage: Program offering more affordable health insurance for small businesses. Click here to learn more.

Benefits to purchasing the above commercial health insurance coverage on the New York State of Health marketplace include:

• Advanced premium tax credits for individual or small group coverage
• Cost-sharing reductions for individual coverage
• Additional cost-sharing waivers for diabetes care and care during and after pregnancy for individual coverage

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

Depending on your employer and insurance plan, you may have the option to open an FSA or HSA. FSAs and HSAs allow you to contribute pre-tax income to pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs, thereby reducing your taxable income.

For additional information on health insurance in New York, please visit:

• Health care in New York
• Health Insurance Premiums and Rate Increases