It Figures

July 23, 2007

50%
The percentage of auto insurance shoppers who also shop for other types of insurance coverage. Nearly 40 percent of shoppers look for auto and homeowners insurance bundles, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Insurance Shopping Study.

$400,000
The amount New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine expects to pat out of his own pocket for medical care after he suffered 15 broken bones, lost half the blood in his body and spent 18 days in the hospital, much of it in intensive care, after an April 12 crash along the Garden State Parkway. He was not wearing his seat belt. Corzine, a multimillionaire, has said he would pay for his own medical expenses, which will spare the state health insurance plan from picking up the tab.

570
The number of data breaches reported in the news media between January 2005 and December 2006, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

87%
The percentage of New Jersey drivers who always wear a seat belt, according to a poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind. Three percent said they never wear a selt belt.

55%
The percentage of New Jersey drivers who think New Yorkers are the worst drivers, according to a poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind. Even South Jersey drivers pointed to New Yorkers over Pennsylvanians by a 49 percent to 20 percent margin.

174
The number of times in a two and one-half year period that Pennsylvania hospitals reported making serious mistakes in the operating room — using the wrong procedure, operating on the wrong body part or even the wrong patient, according to a report released by the state’s patient-safety agency. The state Patient Safety Authority said that between June 2004 and December 2006, it also received reports of 253 incidents that could have resulted in wrong-site errors but were corrected before an operation began.

75%
The percent of price-shoppers who switch car insurance carriers because they have experienced poor customer service, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Insurance Shopping Study.