Types Of Insurance

Types Of Insurance

1) Life Insurance

2) Health Insurance 

3) Home Insurance 

4) Car Insurance

5) Travel Insurance

Life Insurance

What is Life Insurance, how does it work and why do I need it?

Life insurance is works in the same way your car insurance or home insurance works – when you take out a life insurance policy, you pay a monthly premium to your insurer and if something goes wrong, your life insurance provider helps you cover the financial side. Life insurance can also make sure you have enough money to maintain your lifestyle if you become ill, suffered a serious injury or became permanently disabled.

Do I need life insurance?

When it comes to deciding if you need life insurance you need to think about the things you currently pay for and who you support – even in the smallest way. What would you be leaving behind? Also remember that life insurance isn’t just in the event of your death – it also covers you if you become permanently disabled, or suffer a debilitating illness and can no longer work.

How much life insurance do I need?

The easiest way to work out how much life insurance you need is to start with a list of all the things you currently pay out, for yourself and/or your family and all your debts. Things such as:

• Your home mortgage
• Your personal loans
• Your credit cards debts

Then consider the things you pay for that your family would still need if you are no longer there to provide for them, such as:

• Education costs – how much will it cost to education your children right through to high school?
• Rent
• Food, groceries
• Health Insurance
• Car Insurance
• Home Contents Insurance
• Petrol and car maintenance

Make a list of all these things and tally up the cost – the next step is to subtract the things you, or your family, would be willing to do without – such as an investment property, stocks, cash. The total amount will give you an idea of the level of life insurance cover you need.

If you’re comfortable with your life insurance requirements and know what you need, you can go right ahead and get quotes and apply online today. As life insurance is such an important purchase, you may want to discuss your needs with a professional – at Suncorp we offer you both options - our Life Protect Insurance can give you an instant quote and allows you to apply online - giving immediate coverage.

If you would like more tailored advice, or just the peace of mind knowing you have the best policy to suit your needs, you can have a chat to one of our Financial Advisors, who would happy to help you find a solution to suit your situation.

Health Insurance

What is Health Insurance?

Health insurance is a way to pay for health care. It protects you from paying the full costs of medical services when you’re injured or sick. Just like car insurance or home insurance, you choose a plan and agree to pay a certain rate, or premium, each month. In return, your health insurer agrees to pay a portion of your covered medical costs. Payments by your health insurance are typically based on discounts they negotiate with doctors and hospitals.

Each plan is different, but you can usually find a plan to cover preventive care, like doctor visits and screenings, as well as hospital visits, ER trips, and even prescription drugs. Some plans cover vision and dental, but you may need to purchase these plans separately.

Why Do I Need Health Insurance?

Health Care Can Be Expensive

Most people cannot afford to pay the high cost of health care on their own. That’s where health insurance comes in. You pay a premium each month, and your insurer pays for a portion of the covered medical costs. The insurer may be able to negotiate better rates from the doctors and hospitals. So instead of paying hundreds of dollars in out-of-pocket costs for a doctor visit, or thousands for a surgery, you pay a lesser amount depending on your plan.

Health Insurance Can Help You Stay Healthy

Many people think of health insurance as something you use when you’re sick, but it’s much more than that. You can take advantage of the preventive services your plan offers. By visiting your doctor regularly for check-ups and getting your recommended screenings, you’re more likely to prevent more serious conditions later on. Plus, many health plans offer wellness programs and discounts on health products and services.

Home Insurance

What is home insurance?

Home insurance cover comes in two parts – buildings insurance and contents insurance. You can choose either one or both of these based on your needs.

Buildings cover insures your bricks and mortar for events like fire and weather damage, while contents cover could protect your belongings against problems like theft, damage and loss.

Buying a combined policy from the same insurer can often be cheaper than getting two separate policies.

Why we need house insurance ?

If you’re a homeowner, most mortgage lenders insist you have buildings cover in place to protect their investment.

You don’t usually need buildings cover if you’re renting, but you may want contents insurance to help cover the cost of replacing your things if you suffer a loss.

What's cover what's not

Most homeowners insurance policies will cover damage caused by such perils as fire, windstorms, hail, lightning, theft or vandalism. There are other homeowners policies that cover additional perils as well. Typically, floods and earthquakes are excluded. It's important to talk to your agent or Travelers representative to learn what your policy may and may not cover. And for those perils that are not covered, there may be supplemental insurance you can purchase.

Car Insurance (Auto Insurance)

What is Auto Insurance?

It is an agreement between you and your insurer in which you pay the insurance company a certain amount of money and, in return, the company will help protect you from major financial losses due to an accident for a given period of time.

Have you ever compared insurance rates with a friend or a family member only to discover your premiums are different? 

Why Do You Need Auto Insurance?

Auto accidents can happen – even to the best drivers. Insurance can help cover repairs to your vehicle and medical costs. Insurance is your firewall against economic disaster should you cause an accident and there is property damage or injuries to other people.

What is Auto Insurance Coverage?

An auto insurance policy is a package of several primary coverages. The coverages may vary depending on the state where you live. Your premium payment is the total of these separate coverages for a given period of time.

What are the coverages?

• Bodily injury liability coverage – pays for bodily injury or death resulting from an accident for which you are at fault and in most cases provides you with a legal defense.
• Property damage liability coverage – provides you with protection if your car accidentally damages another person's property and in most cases provides you with a legal defense.
• Medical payments, no-fault or personal injury coverage – usually pays for the medical expenses of the driver and passengers in your car incurred as a result of a covered accident regardless of fault.
• Uninsured motorist coverage – pays for your injuries and, in some circumstances, certain property damage caused by an uninsured or a hit-and-run driver. In some cases,
•  underinsured motorist coverage is also included. This is for cases in which the at-fault driver has insufficient insurance.
• Comprehensive physical damage coverage – pays for damage to your car from theft, vandalism, flood, fire, and other covered perils.
• Collision coverage – pays for damage to your car when it hits or is hit by another object.

Travel Insurance 

What  is Travel Insurance?

Many different people loosely understand travel insurance to mean many different things. However, travel insurance primarily falls into two broad categories :

• Package plan that includes trip cancellation insurance
• Package Plan that does not include trip cancellation insurance but primarily focuses on travel medical insurance

What does trip cancellation insurance include?

Trip cancellation insurance is a package policy that includes various items such as :

• Trip Cancellation:

In case you need to cancel your trip for valid reasons prior to your departure, it will reimburse you your pre paid non-refundable portion of your trip cost

If you have purchased the travel insurance sufficiently in advance of your trip and very close to your initial trip deposit, many travel insurance plans, most at higher premium, will let you upgrade to cancel for any reason.

• Trip Interruption:

In case you need to return back home from your trip early due to covered reasons such as your house is on fire or flooded or your close relative passed away, it will help you pay for additional expenses to make arrangements to return home early

• Emergency Medical Expenses:

If you were to get sick or injured while you are on trip, travel insurance will pay for the expenses. Your domestic health insurance you have may not cover you outside your home country, or may provide limited coverage or it may be subject to higher deductible and higher coinsurance and higher out of pocket maximum.

• Emergency Medical Evacuation:

If you were to get sick or injured while on your trip, it would transport you to the nearest medical facility where adequate medical care can be given. Once you are stable enough to travel back home, it may also pay for you to return home under the ‘Repatriation’ benefit

• Repatriation of Remains:

God forbid, if you were to pass away while on your trip , this benefit would pay to send your remains back home.

• Baggage:

Various policies may cover things such as loss of checked luggage, baggage delay up to various amounts. Some policies may just pay for the additional expenses you incur due to the fact that you lost your luggage and pay for reimbursement of those items (up to their stated maximum amount) and ask you to collect the payment from the travel provider (such as airline) because they lost your luggage.

• Accidental Death & Dismemberment:

This coverage would apply in case you were to pass away in an accident or were to lose one or two limbs (dismemberment) in an accident

• Other:

There may be other benefits such as travel delay, assistance services, emergency cash transfer, concierge services, ID theft protection, rental car coverage, flight accident etc. They may vary among various policies.

What is travel medical insurance ?

Travel medical insurance mostly does not trip cancellation benefit but focuses primarily on medical benefits. It may provide better medical coverage than the trip cancellation insurance would provide. It may not limit the coverage strictly to major emergencies. These type of coverage are generally more suitable for people who are traveling for a longer duration outside their home country.

Should I really buy travel insurance?

Yes.

Unlike car insurance, as it is not mandatory to purchase travel insurance, many people think of that as unnecessary expense. However, if you are traveling away from home, especially outside your home country, medical and/or emergency medical evacuation expenses can be significantly higher. It is extremely difficult for most people to pay $50,000 for emergency medical evacuation. Even if someone has that kind of money handy, it would still be difficult to make the arrangement for evacuation. Let the travel insurance companies handle that for you in such unfortunate events as you would have enough things to worry about.

Many people incorrectly assume that their domestic health insurance, or homeowner’s insurance or insurance through credit card company would take care of everything and they don’t need additional travel insurance. Make sure to carefully review what they cover so that you are adequately covered.