Insurance World

Are your house contents insured? Really? Are you absolutely certain? If you’re under insured, from a legal point of view, you may as well not be insured at all. Your insurer may well simply scale back your claim by the amount you’re under-insured, but they would be within their rights to reject the claim totally.

Many people under-estimate the value of their personal possessions. If you go through your home, room by room, and make a rough mental note of the contents, you may be very surprised at the result. Don’t forget to include portable electrical items, jewellery, designer clothes and paintings and even photograph frames. It’s often the smaller items that are easily stolen in a “smash and grab” type of burglary and these can be the very items which you overlook in your valuation.

When working out the premium for your policy, insurers use your postcode, the size of your home and the claims history of the area. Contents calculators are often available online, which are useful in deciding the level of cover required. There are steps you can take to help to cut premiums and stay safe.

In addition to the normal alarm system, you could think about installing motion-activated lights at the entrances to your house, not only are they a deterrent for the burglar but they’re convenient for your own use too. A security cover inside a letterbox makes sure a thief can’t gain entry by putting a hand or instrument through it to open the door. Fitting all outside doors with efficient key-operated locks and bolts is a good idea.

Inside the house, valuables could be kept in a safe and security fittings could secure any precious works of art. It’s a good idea to use some kind of marking or security code and record serial numbers, where this is relevant. Photographs of your valuables are useful too.

There’s a wide range of policies available. The majority of standard household policies will cover contents of up the Ј75,000. It is normal for items valued at over Ј1,500 to be listed separately. These will be covered inside the home, but would need “personal belongings insurance” if they are to be insured away from home. It is possible to arrange cover for your offspring’s belongings whilst they’re away from home as long as they’re “temporarily” removed and would normally be in your home.

For those who find their contents exceed Ј75,000, there are specialist policies covering “high net worth” clients. The range of cover extends to second homes abroad, which is useful for personal items. On this type of policy there is no need to list items separately as all items are covered.

It is possible to get discounts on insurance if you cover both your home contents and take out buildings cover with the same company.

There are wide-ranging offers and discounts available, with lots of companies vying for your business. Remember you need to insure for the full value of your belongings to avoid the risk of a claim being reduced or rejected, whilst still getting the very best value for money. The easy way to do this is via an on-line insurance broker. They’ll be able to search a wide range of insurers and come up with the right policy to suit your own particular needs. Not to mention the (up to 10%) on-line discount.

Stay safe.

If you are between jobs or are awaiting another health insurance policy to come into effect you may find that you have a gap in your health insurance coverage. This period is a high risk as you are effectively uninsured when it comes to health insurance. So what are you to do in this interim period? Well one of the best options in such situations is to consider taking out a short-term health insurance policy. This will cover you for a limited or fixed term.

Usually, short-term health insurance policies last for periods of less than six months. There are policies that will cover you for up to twelve months also however. If you need coverage for periods longer than this, you should probably be considering standard individual or family health insurance plans.

Application is Simple

One of the benefits of short-term health insurance is that the application process is somewhat more straightforward. These policies are really designed to cover unforeseen accidents and other emergency situations and are not recommended for comprehensive health protection. They will therefore generally not cover such advanced features as preventive treatments, physical and diagnostic tests, immunizations, dental and vision expenses which you should try to avoid for the period under which you are covered by the short term plan.

The main concern, and something you should be aware of if you are considering a short term plan is that they will make you ineligible for guaranteed issue health plans. These plans are most commonly referred to as HIPAA plans. They can be very expensive and are used in cases where the insured has existing medical conditions, which would otherwise make it very difficult for you to obtain health insurance. If you think you will need eligibility for a HIPAA plan, you should not purchase short-term health insurance. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, and state health insurance rights are important protections and you should seek advice from a benefits advisor in these regards.

Are you covered?

Short-term health insurance plans will not cover existing medical conditions. While the exact definition depends on your circumstances and on state laws, what this means is that if you have been diagnosed in the last three to five years or have been receiving treatment for a condition, it will be a pre-existing condition and you will not get coverage for it under your short term plan. Therefore, if this applies to you, it is recommended that you extend your current comprehensive policy rather than switch to a short-term plan.