Understanding the Basics of Insurance: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Insurance, whether it’s for your health, car, home, business, or life, covers life’s largest and most sudden expenses so you don’t have to. No one, no matter how cautious, is exempt from disaster. Instead of having to suffer a financial blow, insurance will provide the funds to help you focus on moving forward instead of worrying about being able to pay for damages. Here, you’ll get a look into how insurance works and the basic terminology that you need to be familiar with.

What Kinds Of Policies Does Secure Insurance Group Offer?

The principles of insurance apply to any policy you choose. At Secure Insurance Group, you’ll find policies such as:

  • Medicare
  • Life
  • Long-term care
  • Auto
  • Final expense

What Are Terms To Be Familiar With At Secure Insurance Group?

The terms you’ll encounter frequently include:

  • Coverage
  • Waiting period
  • Premiums
  • Insurability risk
  • Claims
  • Deductibles
  • Coinsurance

What Is Coverage?

Coverage consists of the conditions in which a policy will offer a payout. A policy may cover certain items, but not others. For example, health insurance covers visits to the emergency room when you suffer an injury, but it won’t cover dental work. Likewise, home insurance covers damage to your home after a hurricane, but it won’t provide a payout if your home is damaged by an earthquake.

It’s important to assess what a policy’s coverage consists of before enrolling.

What Is A Waiting Period?

Not all insurance policies go into effect immediately. Some will require new policyholders to pay monthly payments for a given amount of time before the policy will begin to provide its coverage. If you have health insurance with a three-month waiting period, for instance, you’ll have to pay all medical costs out-of-pocket until those three months have passed.

How Do Premiums Work?

Insurance companies rely on premium payments from policyholders in order to stay afloat as a business. Companies do not have an endless pool of funds that they disburse in exchange for nothing. So, in order to keep the company running, insurance policies will charge premiums, which are monthly payments.

What Does Insurability Risk Mean?

Insurability risk is how a company determines how much a policyholder will pay in premiums. Companies will assess details such as the person’s age, gender, weight, lifestyle, overall health, and hobbies. The longer a person is expected to live, the more he or she will pay in premiums over the long-term. Someone who is at a higher risk for passing away sooner will have more expensive premiums to make up for the limited time that he or she will be able to pay premiums.

What Are Claims?

When you go through an event that your policy covers, you’ll send the company a request for a payout. Once you file a claim, your insurer will assess whether the event qualifies for a payout, and then provide funds after approving the claim.

What Is A Deductible?

Companies do not always automatically provide funds after approving a claim. A policyholder will then have to pay a deductible, which is a fee that must be paid before the coverage goes into effect. The amount you’ll have to pay in deductibles will vary depending on the policy you choose. For instance, with health insurance, you may have to pay a $500 deductible before the insurer covers 80% of your medical bills.

What Is Coinsurance?

Coinsurance is the percentage of the overall costs you’ll pay after you’ve paid your deductible. This is most commonly featured in health insurance policies. For example, a policy may have a 20% coinsurance. This means the company will cover 80% of the costs, while you pay the remaining 20%.

Get Expert Guidance Today

At Secure Insurance Group, you’ll be able to navigate the world of insurance without being overwhelmed. We will help you understand the policies you’re getting so that you’ll get the policy that’s right for you – all at an affordable price. You’re going to get the coverage you deserve, plain and simple. Call us today at 1-877-871-7328.