Insurance is a broad field with a variety of options. You can insure almost all areas of your life, be it your health, your house, your vehicle, or your business. You can even insure your life itself!
With more and more awareness on the usefulness of a good insurance as being a backup plan in case of unwarranted emergencies and as an ideal investment to go tax-free, insurance companies are also coming up with several policy types within each insurance category to help customers invest for more specific needs.
When it comes to most insurance policies, you are investing in something that you wish you would not have to claim. You wish you wouldn’t fall sick, but if you do, you are backed up by your health insurance. You wish your vehicle wouldn’t be in an accident, but if it is, you are backed up by your vehicle insurance. In the same way, the insurance company is dealing with you in the hope that you wouldn’t make a claim and that they wouldn’t have to pay you. However, in the real world, unexpected occurrences are inevitable, and so are insurance claims.
The most common types of insurance claims fall under the following categories:
Vehicle Insurance Claims
Accidents – major and minor keep happening on a daily basis. Moreover, with the law making it mandatory for every vehicle owner to possess a valid vehicle insurance, the number of claims are also more commonly made for two-wheeler and four-wheeler insurances.
Home Insurance Claims
In case there has been a mishap such as fire in the house, or if damage has been caused by a natural disaster such as a flood/storm/earthquake, a home insurance claim is made. Moreover, a home insurance claim can also be made if there has been a theft; where the claim can be extended to cover silver articles, jewellery and other valued items under the condition that these were kept within a locked safe in the house.
Health Insurance Claims
The rising cost of quality healthcare, the inevitability of unhealthy lifestyles and the frequent emergence of new and unheard-of diseases and illnesses – all of these factors, combined, are causing more and more people to rely on health insurance as a way to deal with their ever-rising health concerns.In the recent years, many employers have also taken up the responsibility of investing in the health of their employees and their dependent family members. This, too, has been a cause for the rise in the number of health insurance claims.
Maternity Insurance
Sold separately or as a subset of health insurance, maternity insurance has slowly but surely become a necessary element of the family planning process in most families. This has become especially useful to cover pre and post-hospitalisation expenses, in addition to the delivery charges, and any health complications identified with the infant at birth.
Life Insurance Claims
Life insurance claims are made either when the insured individual dies or when the insurance period ends (and the insured person becomes eligible for an endowment pay). As life insurance offers tax savings, it is often used as a way to make savings for the future. In case of a death, the insurance claim is made by the beneficiary assigned to receive the sum as designated by the insured person.
Flood Insurance
Although still an emerging trend in India, there are flood insurance policies that are provided and covered by the National Flood Insurance Program in the USA. This is a fifty-year old policy which has been providing affordable insurance to property owners and also to renters and businesses. In disaster-prone regions of the world, people also rely heavily on natural disaster insurance policies such as these to cover damages caused to property due to hurricanes, earthquakes and so on.