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Find great deals on auto/car insurance, health insurance, home insurance, life insurance, as well as renters insurance below.
Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Auto and Car Insurance, and Home Insurance
Health insurance, life insurance, auto/car insurance, home insurance, and more can be found in our insurance shopping category.
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Insurance Explained
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of
a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to
another, in exchange for a premium. Insurer is the company that sells the insurance. Insurance rate is a factor
used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage.
Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study
and practice.
Our insurance subcategories include
auto insurance, health insurance, home insurance, life insurance, and renter's insurance.
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Health Insurance
The term health insurance is generally used to describe a form of insurance that pays for medical expenses. It
is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care
needs. It may be provided through a government-sponsored social insurance program, or from private insurance
companies. It may be purchased on a group basis (e.g., by a firm to cover its employees) or purchased by
individual consumers. In each case, the covered groups or individuals pay premiums or taxes to help protect
themselves from high or unexpected healthcare expenses. Similar benefits paying for medical expenses may
also be provided through social welfare programs funded by the government.
Health insurance works by estimating the overall risk of healthcare expenses and developing a routine finance
structure (such as a monthly premium or annual tax) that will ensure that money is available to pay for the
healthcare benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization,
most often either a government agency or a private or not-for-profit entity operating a health plan.
A Health insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an individual. The contract can be
renewable annually or monthly. The type and amount of health care costs that will be covered by the health plan
are specified in advance, in the member contract or Evidence of Coverage booklet. The individual policy-holder's
payment obligations may take several forms:
Premium: The amount the policy-holder pays to the health plan each month to purchase health coverage.
Deductible: The amount that the policy-holder must pay out-of-pocket before the health plan pays its share. For example,
a policy-holder might have to pay a $500 deductible per year, before any of their health care is covered by the health
plan. It may take several doctor's visits or prescription refills before the policy-holder reaches the deductible and
the health plan starts to pay for care.
Copayment: The amount that the policy-holder must pay out of pocket before the health plan pays for a particular
visit or service. For example, a policy-holder might pay a $45 copayment for a doctor's visit, or to obtain a
prescription. A copayment must be paid each time a particular service is obtained.
Coinsurance: Instead of paying a fixed amount up front (a copayment), the policy-holder must pay a percentage of
the total cost. For example, the member might have to pay 20% of the cost of a surgery, while the health plan pays
the other 80%. Because there is no upper limit on coinsurance, the policy-holder can end up owing very little, or
a significant amount, depending on the actual costs of the services they obtain.
Exclusions: Not all services are covered. The policy-holder is generally expected to pay the full cost of
non-covered services out of their own pocket.
Coverage limits: Some health plans only pay for health care up to a certain dollar amount. The policy-holder
may be expected to pay any charges in excess of the health plan's maximum payment for a specific service. In
addition, some plans have annual or lifetime coverage maximums. In these cases, the health plan will stop payment
when they reach the benefit maximum, and the policy-holder must pay all remaining costs.
Out-of-pocket maximums: Similar to coverage limits, except that in this case, the member's payment obligation ends
when they reach the out-of-pocket maximum, and the health plan pays all further covered costs. Out-of-pocket
maximums can be limited to a specific benefit category (such as prescription drugs) or can apply to all coverage
provided during a specific benefit year.
Prescription drug plans are a form of insurance offered through many employer benefit plans in the US, where the
patient pays a copayment and the prescription drug insurance pays the rest.
Some health care providers will agree to bill the insurance company if patients are willing to sign an agreement
that they will be responsible for the amount that the insurance company doesn't pay, as the insurance company pays
according to "reasonable" or "customary" charges, which may be less than the provider's usual fee.
Health insurance companies also often have a network of providers who agree to accept the reasonable and customary
fee and waive the remainder. It will generally cost the patient less to use an in-network provider. |
Home Insurance
Home insurance, also commonly called homeowners insurance (HOI) or hazard insurance, is the type of property insurance that covers private homes. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of its use (additional living expenses), or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home.
The cost of homeowners insurance often depends on what it would cost to replace the house and which additional riders &38212; additional items to be insured — are attached to the policy. The insurance policy itself is a lengthy contract, and names what will and what will not be paid in the case of various events. Typically, claims due to earthquakes, floods, "Acts of God", or war (whose definition typically includes a nuclear explosion from any source) are excluded. Special insurance can be purchased for these possibilities, including flood insurance and earthquake insurance. Insurance must be updated to the present and existing value at whatever inflation up or down, and an appraisal paid by the insurance company will be added on to the policy premium.
The home insurance policy is usually a term contract — a contract that is in effect for a fixed period of time. The payment the insured makes to the insurer is called the premium. The insured must pay the insurer the premium each term. Most insurers charge a lower premium if it appears less likely the home will be damaged or destroyed: for example, if the house is situated next to a fire station, or if the house is equipped with fire sprinklers and fire alarms. Perpetual insurance, which is a type of home insurance without a fixed term, can also be obtained in certain areas.
In the United States, most home buyers borrow money in the form of a mortgage loan, and the mortgage lender always requires that the buyer purchase homeowners insurance as a condition of the loan, in order to protect the bank if the home were to be destroyed. Anyone with an insurable interest in the property should be listed on the policy. In some cases the mortagagee will waive the need for the mortgagor to carry homeowner's insurance if the value of the land exceeds the amount of the mortgage balance. In a case like this even the total destruction of any buildings would not affect the ability of the lender to be able to foreclose and recover the full amount of the loan.
The insurance crisis in Florida has meant that some waterfront property owners in that state have had to make that decision due to the high cost of premiums
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Life Insurance
Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees
to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual's or individuals' death or other event, such as
terminal illness or critical illness. In return, the policy owner (or policy payer) agrees to pay a stipulated amount
called a premium at regular intervals or in lump sums. There may be designs in some countries where bills and death
expenses plus catering for after funeral expenses should be included in Policy Premium. Anyone whose assets equal
more than the value of their primary residence should not be compensated beyond that value in case they cannot
sell their house. In the case of those whose lost their spouse should be compensated also for one full year the
wages of their spouse which would or should be included to avoid lawsuits.) However in the United States, the
predominant form simply specifies a lump sum to be paid on the insured's demise.
As with most insurance policies, life insurance is a contract between the insurer and the policy owner
(policyholder) whereby a benefit is paid to the designated Beneficiary (or Beneficiaries) if an insured
event occurs which is covered by the policy. To be a life policy the insured event must be based upon life
(or lives) of the people named in the policy.
Insured events that may be covered include: * sickness
Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of the contract describe the limitations of the insured events.
Specific exclusions are often written into the contract to limit the liability of the insurer; for example
claims relating to suicide (after 2 years suicide has to be paid in full)(in India after one year Suicide
is covered), fraud, war, riot and civil commotion.
Life based contracts tend to fall into two major categories:
Protection policies - designed to provide a benefit in the event of specified event, typically a lump sum
payment. A common form of this design is term insurance.
Investment policies - where the main objective is to facilitate the growth of capital by regular or single
premiums. Common forms (in the US anyway) are whole life, universal life and variable life policies. |
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