Open enrolment season is upon us, so take a moment to consider whether your health plan lines up with what you need. Individual and family health plans are categorised as Silver, Gold or Bronze based on the share of costs they cover.
Preferred provider organisation (PPO) health insurance plans allow greater access to health care providers than HMOs, but they generally still require referrals from your primary care physician to see a specialist.
Homeowners Insurance
Homeowners insurance – also called property insurance – covers damage or destruction of your private residence and your personal property, and also provides liability coverage for legal costs or judgments against you should a visitor to your property be injured as a result of your negligence.
These are just a few of the possible homeowners insurance policy forms, which cover your home and its contents to varying degrees. An HO-3 Special Form policy, for example, protects against all perils except those explicitly excluded from coverage (such as earthquake or flood).
Your options include an HO-4 apartment owners policy (yes, renters have options here too), and more protection for homeowners with an HO-5 comprehensive policy. Regardless of the policy type you choose, add either an endorsement for ordinance and law or a flood (or earthquake) policy as extra coverage for added protection against future expenses you might incur for rebuilding according to new codes or laws that have been passed since your original build. Endorsements cover costs for rebuilding to comply with current building codes or laws passed since your original home was built – protecting you from expenses you might incur for updating construction codes or laws after the original builder has moved out.
Auto Insurance
The amount of coverage your state requires is good to start with, but buy much more than the minimums. It’ll insure bodily injury and property damage that your car causes to another vehicle in an accident, no matter who was at fault – and the legal fees that may arise to that policy limit.
Some of these policies have an optional benefit for accidental death and dismemberment (AD D) coverage, which would pay a benefit if you die or become severely injured in an accident. Your personal auto policy will not cover your vehicle if it is used for business purposes such as a ride-sharing service hired on Uber or Lyft. Some insurance companies offer discounts such as low annual mileage allowance; the use of safe driving devices such as airbags, automatic seatbelts and anti-lock brakes; mature driver credits; and lower premiums for bundling home and auto policies together. Some insurance companies offer discounts for having certain safety devices on your vehicle, such as airbags, automatic seat belts and anti-lock brakes, which are installed after your car purchase. Other discounts may be available for taking a defensive or other driving course, or raising your deductible to reduce the amount you pay for premiums.
Life Insurance
Beyond car insurance, health insurance is also mandatory if you want to protect yourself or your family against medical bills, should one of you get sick, injured or meets in an accident.
Life insurance guarantees a death benefit payable to your beneficiary upon your death. The beneficiary has the discretion to use the death benefit how he or she chooses: paying off debt, or living expenses if a working spouse dies, or funeral costs are a few examples. There are two main types of life policies term and permanent policies.
Term allows for a death benefit only for a selected period of time, and with a permanent policy you get both. Additionally, depending on the policy purchased you will have more options and could also be able to add certain riders or endorsements to the policy to add on such benefits as accidental death coverage, premium waiver or income replacement coverage. Ultimately the type of policy purchased will be based on need, budget and health status.
Disability Insurance
Property and auto policies cover losses. Disability insurance replaces lost wages paid to people whose incomes are cut by injury or illness. Whether through an individual policy or a group policy offered by an employer, it’s an essential coverage option for everyone – but especially for small business owners, self-employed credential holders, and workers whose pay-cheques take other forms such as commissions and bonuses.
A private disability insurance policy will provide expenses coverage for years or decades, until retirement, and protects you from having to use savings or borrow money to pay those expenses.
There are individual policies that could be written to offer this kind of own-occupation disability insurance coverage. Here the definition of disability refers to being unable to perform the material and substantial duties of one’s occupation as a result of injury or illness. Of course, such a policy, more than theModels of Care policy described above, would be the most costly but would offer the most protection.
