Whether you’re shopping for Car, Home, Health, Life or any Insurance - learn the lingo or you will pay too much and get the wrong coverage. Here are the more common insurance terms to help you get the right insurance.
General terms:
Deductible - Deductibles reduce the price of insurance because you pay a predetermined amount of the loss or expense BEFORE the insurer pays. You select the deductible and the higher you choose, the lower your premium.
Premium - This is simply the amount you or your company pays to the insurance company in exchange for their coverage and benefits provided.
Property and Casualty - this describes a part of the insurance industry that covers damage to property or persons injured in an accident. Auto, home-owners and business liability insurance fall under this category.
Life and Health - This is the other section of the insurance industry that doesn’t fit under the property and casualty category.
Umbrella Policy - This is a general term implying broader coverage than a basic policy would typically offer can. For example, homeowner insurance that includes coverage for general lawsuits would be considered umbrella insurance.
Auto Insurance:
Collision - Collision insurance covers the damages to your vehicle from a collision or accident.
Comprehensive - Comprehensive insurance covers the “non-collision” types of losses to your vehicle like fire, flood, vandalism or theft.
Liability - this is the part of your coverage that pays for damage done to a third party such as bodily injury, property damage or pain and suffering. Homeowners policies also typically have liability provisions to protect you against various types of personal injury lawsuits.
No-fault - About fifty percent of the states require “no fault” insurance which pays for impairments to vehicles, property and individuals irrespective of who is at fault in the accident.
Medical Insurance:
Ancillary Care/Coverage - Ancillary is a term for “extra” or “additional” or “associated.” It is for insurance policies that not only cover common health benefits but also have additional (ancillary) insurance coverage for prescription medicine or eye care, etc.
Cobra - Cobra is a U.S. law that compels organizations to offer extended health-care insurance coverage to dismissed employees for a specified time period. This insurance coverage is generally paid for by the ex-employee but at group rates.
Co-payment - An amount much your insurance requires you to pay for each visit to the doctor’s office, or for other care. The insurance company then pays the remainder of the bill assuming the deductible has been met.
Fee for Service - With this health Insurance you to select any doctor and the insurer will pay an agreed percentage of “reasonable and customary” fees for that type of doctor in your area. You then pay any remainder.
H,M.O. - “HMOs” are created to deliver complete health coverage for a predetermined fee. But, these organizations generally call for you to use their MD’s and hospitals thus restricting your selection.
P.P.O. - “PPOs” are networks of physicians who offer their services at a discount negotiated by the insurance company. Thus insurers will normally pay a bigger portion of your expenses when you use these “preferred providers.”
Life Insurance:
Annuity - These are policies that pay while a person is alive for a specified period of time. They are usually offered by life insurance companies.
Term Life - Term life is life insurance in effect only for a specified period (term) of time. If death occurs during this period, the insurance is paid. If not, the coverage must be renewed or it expires.
Universal Life - A Life policy connected to an investment account and market rates. The benefits are not set but change based on the returns achieved.
Whole Life - A standard life policy that accrues cash value over the life of the policy and with preset premiums. The insurance benefit is also a set at an assured amount.
Chris Carbukel enjoys helping internet users get the lowest cost insurance policies for their needs. If you’d like to learn more visit his new website Insurance Price Quotes where you can learn how to get the best deals on all kinds of insurance including finding the best Home Insurance Comparison.