Insurance World

Amanda was 42 when she was given the difficult news that she had ovarian cancer.

The West Yorkshire woman received chemotherapy treatment after diagnosis, but Amanda became one of the unlucky ones. She had a bad reaction to the chemotherapy and because of this she was unable to work.

So when a tax bill arrived in the post for a large sum of money, re-mortgaging her house felt like the right thing to do. The building society with whom she had the mortgage asked her to bring along her life insurance papers to support the mortgage application.

But to Amanda’s surprise, what she thought was a life insurance policy was in fact critical illness insurance instead. She had been paying out Ј80 per month for two separate insurance policies with Scottish Provident and Norwich Union and had absolutely no idea that those two policies covered her for critical illness.

As a result, Amanda claimed back a staggering Ј100,000, which paid not only the tax bill but her mortgage as well.

Many of us haven’t got a clue about the exact sum we’re paying on insurance each year or the details of what we are in fact covered for. Not only are we shocked to find out that we are actually covered for more than we in fact realise, but that we’re doubling up by paying for various types of insurance that actually cover the same thing.

You’ll find that it’s areas such as loss of income, legal expenses, theft and death which most often people wind up paying out twice for when there is no need - mainly because they haven’t carefully read the insurance policy or because it has been the case that some insurance has been put on to some policies as an added bonus.

In a recently released Financial Services Authority survey, it shows that car insurance policies also come with added extras like breakdown recovery and legal expense cover. Paying out for these added extras when you do not want them is an easy mistake to make, according to the survey, because you actually have to physically ring the insurance firm and tell the staff that you do not want them before these ‘options’ are removed from your agreement.

Take permanent medical insurance (PMI) for example. Many aspects of this policy cover you for the same things that Payment Protection Insurance covers you for. But few people realise this and so they take out both.

The FInancial Ombudsman is very aware about the situation surrounding insurance duplication. They say that “people often do not realise until they make a claim that they have been paying for a policy that provides very little, if any, benefit”.

Take a look at your Critical Illness Insurance, as this is one area in which you sometimes get cover from your employer. Find out whether you have this type of insurance with your work before you make the purchase on this policy. Do the same with life insurance, because if you have a company pension scheme, life insurance is something you do not actually need. The reason? Because most company pension schemes have a death-in-service benefit. What this means that should you die while you are still an employee at that particular firm, then large, a tax free payment will be made - a payment which could add up to four times your annual salary at the time of your death, or more.

Other types of insurance you might not need includes mobile phone insurance. The consumer watchdogs will tell you this is something that’s often a waste of money because you have to pay the first Ј50 of the claim and if you already have home insurance, that insurance might provide you with some protection.

Others include car insurance extras such as legal expense cover. If you are a member of a trade union, then you could have some legal cover anyway.

Some companies trying to get people to take out ID theft insurance. A waste of money? The consumer watchdogs think so because if it is the case your ID gets stolen you are only responsible for the first Ј50 and most of the time the banks are prepared to waive charges.

Physician Expense Insurance – sometimes called the regular medical expense insurance - is a form of health insurance that covers the expenses incurred on the services of a physician other than surgery.

No human has ever lived on the earth without even a bout of illness and a subsequent stay in the hospital. On the other hand, healthcare expenses has always been at the higher end and an extended stay in a hospital due to some ill health is going to set one back by thousands of dollars if not higher. True, one cannot check destiny. The best thing one can do is to remain prepared for any such occurrences. It is where healthcare insurance – here physician expense insurance – offers one a helping hand. It has been explicitly conceived to take care of all physician related expenses minus surgery.

The physician expense insurance pays for doctor’s hospital visits or number of visits to a doctor’s office. The policy reimburses a definite amount per visit and also specifies the number of visits possible for a particular illness or injury.

Most of the physician expense insurance requires the customers to pay a set-amount called the deductibles on the covered expenses before the company starts paying back for the medical costs. If higher the deductible in your policy, the lower will be the premium amounts. But, as the healthcare costs sky rocket by the day, the premium is also bound to climb the upward spiral, both offering no solace for the common man.

As there are many players vying for their share in the physician expense insurance pie, customers may find themselves in a dilemma regarding whom to select from the competing lot. This requires a bit of common sense as well as brain scratching. Every insurance provider will boast that they are the best in the business. But it is the customer who should use his/her discerning senses to pick the right physician expense insurance provider.

Hence, before deciding on the physician expense insurance provider, one should do a bit of research regarding the advantages of a particular player and the physician expense insurance coverage details. Information regarding various schemes and premium can be obtained from the physician expense insurance company website. Also, one can go by reference; sometimes one could get a more practical review from a person who is a current client of the particular physician expense insurance policy.

The amount that a customer may have to shell out to pay the physician expenses depends on the type of physician expense insurance policy he/she has. The more coverage your physician expense insurance policy provides, the less the customer need to pay from his/her pocket. And this has a direct bearing from the screening you have done while selecting your physician expense insurance policy. It is all about being smart and rational.