Life Insurance

October 12th, 2008

With life insurance, the insured is transferring the risk of death on to the insurer. It is not always the case that the insured is insuring their own life. Therefore there are three parties in a life insurance contract, the insurer, the insured person, and the owner of the policy. The other vitally important party is the beneficiary; this is the person who receives the insurance money if the insured’s death does occur. One or more of these parties could be the same person, for example, if I insure my own life and make my spouse the beneficiary, then I am the insured and the owner. Likewise, if my wife insures my life and makes herself the beneficiary, then she is the owner and the beneficiary.

An important concept in this regard is insurable interest. You must have what is known as an insurable interest in the life of the person you are insuring. Believe it or not there was a practice in the nineteenth century whereby people would take out speculative insurance policies on the life of another.

For example, if I knew you were going on a dangerous voyage, I might take out a life insurance policy on you in the hope that you wouldn’t make it and I would get a big payout. These days you cannot insure anybody’s life. You must show that you have an interest in that person being alive. You are presumed always to have an interest in the life of your spouse and guardians, if you are a minor, but all other relationships will have to prove the insurable interest. If employers have a very highly valued employee, or sports teams have a star player, or a famous actor contracts to make a film, their employers will be able to insure their lives.

Most life insurance policies will have a suicide clause stating that if the insured commits suicide, usually within a period of two years, the policy will not pay out. There is also a contest period. This will also be approximately two years and if the insured dies within this period, the insurance company has greater rights to investigate the death before deciding whether or not to pay out.

The value of the insurance policy will be subject to the principle of insurable interest also. For example, if your spouse provides you with $10,000 per year in support, you probably will not be able to take a $50 million insurance policy on their life. The premium will be calculated based on the amount to be paid out and the assessed risk of the insured’s death

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of insurance in the UK. If you found this article interesting you may find more articles of the same nature in the insurance guide located on site.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HMO Or PPO - Which One Is Right For Me

July 26th, 2008

Rising healthcare costs force us to need to use an HMO or a PPO. Which is the right choice for you, though? These plans are somewhat different and it all can be relatively difficult to understand. Here is a breakdown of the differences between the two so that you can make the right decision overall.

What You Need To Know About HMO:

The HMO is rated slightly higher by Consumer Reports over the PPO. But, the difference in scores is relatively low. These plans are a good choice for those individuals and families that need to keep their out of pocket expenses low as well as those who are okay with allowing the insurance company to choose their doctors. Believe it or not, going with this type of coverage can also help you to keep your bills coming in more smoothly as well.

The average cost per family is about the same or lower than that of a PPO. But, the deductible is significantly lower. It also has a low rated co payment that is due at the time of service, in most cases.

The problems that can occur with the HMO though are several. For one, you may have more trouble getting the help and care that you need and you may have to wait longer to get it as well. Often, when you need to seek the assistance of a specialist or another doctor, you will need to seek approval for the care first.

What You Need To Know About PPO:

On the flip side is the PPO. Those who have chronic pain often do better on this plan. If you would like the ability to choose any doctor that fits your tastes and preferences, the PPO is the way to go. You choose the doctor in this plan. The deductible in this coverage often varies depending on who the doctor is and what role he or she plays in the plan. For example, you will pay more for a non-preferred provider as opposed to going with the preferred provider.

The bad side to the PPO is that there are often a number of problems with billing. In fact, it is rated that the PPO will face upwards of three times as many problems getting the right bills to you than with the HMO. You will also have more problems getting hold of the plan as well.

So there you have it, an overview of the pros and cons of HMO & PPO. If this is the starting point of your research, we recommend that you talk directly with people enrolled in the plans that you are considering.

Mike Singh is the successful webmaster and publisher of health insurance website - http://www.health-insurance-made-ez.com . On his website he provides more information about what type of health insurance you should get, health insurance claims processing and related insurance issues.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Life Insurance, the Facts

June 3rd, 2008

Insurance involves transferring a risk that you bare, onto an insurance company, so that you no longer have to worry about the event occurring. While you pay a fee, or premium for this, what you get in return is peace of mind. So what is the risk that you are transferring with life insurance? Well, quite simply, it is the financial risk of your own death. It should also be remembered that it is in certain circumstances possible to insure the life of another person, such as your husband or wife, or an important employee. The insurance company will then pay out to the named beneficiary once the event occurs, and this is usually a family member or business associate of the insured.

The thing that insurance companies will be looking for is insurable interest. It may come as a surprise but in the early days of aviation, there were some clever entrepreneurs who would hang around at airports and buy life insurance policies on the passengers. Since plane crashes were very common, a good proportion of the insured passengers died and the insurance companies were faced with the prospect of paying out vast sums to these men.

This is not the reason insurance was developed and the system was not designed to cope with this kind of speculation. Therefore the rule developed that you could only insure the life of someone you had a real interest in surviving. There is also the public policy issue that it would be tempting to some people to insure strangers and then make sure they died soon.

The insurance policy will have two important details defined right at the outset. The first is who is to be paid out under the policy. While this seems obvious, it is important to think carefully about it as, unlike in most insurance contracts, the purchaser of the policy is rarely the beneficiary under a life insurance policy.

The second is the amount to be paid out on to occurrence of the event. It must be remembered that this is also subject to the rule of insurable interest and therefore you cannot have a policy on your life for more than your life is reasonably financially worth. Since the premium is partially calculated on the amount of the payout, you will simply be paying for more insurance than you can receive. Therefore be honest with how much you earn and how much support your providing to your family so that the premium will be accurately assessed.

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of insurance in the UK. If you found this article interesting you may find more articles of the same nature in the insurance guide located on site.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Close
E-mail It