While a recent string of fires in Pineville and Alexandria this week have led officials to warn Louisiana residents about fire safety and the like, it also serves as a reminder about insurance coverage. Not knowing if your home or property is covered in the event of a fire can lead to, at best, a lot of stress. At worst it can lead to a complete loss in the event of devastation.
Precautionary tips on how to prevent fires in your home or property include:
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a wrap up of this blog’s glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter S to Z:
Screening. Physical examination and health history taken by an insurer before the applicant is given the policy applied for.
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter O to R:
Optionally renewable. An insurance policy renewable at the discretion of the company.
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter J to N:
Lapsed policy. A policy terminated for non-payment of premiums. Level premium life insurance. Life insurance for which the premium remains the same from year to year.
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter G to I:
Grace period. A period (usually 30 to 31 days) following the premium due date, during which an overdue premium may be paid without penalty. The policy remains in force throughout the period.
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter D to F:
Deductible. The amount of covered charges an individual must pay before the insurance company begins payments. Insurance company can only require individual to pay 50% of the basic health services.
In further developments to State Farm’s desired exit from providing insurance to customers in Florida, the state’s insurance regulators have begun investigating and questioning just how reasonable the insurer’s claims are.
Insurance regulators question State Farm’s dire claim
By Paige St. John
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms from the letter C:
Case management. An approach designed to provide effective treatment to meet the specific needs of people with serious medical problems. Benefits not traditionally covered (for example, medical equipment) may be provided to promote cost-effectiveness.
Understanding Terms Used in Insurance Claims
When going about shopping for the right policy or making sure your policy protects you in the ways you need, it is important to understand insurance terms used. In educating yourself about the legal jargon employed by the insurance companies, you can be better prepared to combat an unfair claim payment or prevent your policy from being hijacked by vague language.
Below, courtesy of the University of Illinois, is a glossary of insurance terms, ranging from the letter A to B:
Should an insurance claim go to court, there is a strict process and shifting burden of proof when damage comes to your property. Whether dealing with a questionable cause to damage or if an exclusion prevents you from making a claim, the court takes a different approach that is necessary to understand when building your case.
While an insurance company policy often means to people a specific protection that seems simple enough, this is not the case. It is in fact the responsibility of the insured to prove whether or not a policy affords coverage for an incident. This burden of proof is heavily relied upon by insurance companies because, if it is not met, the insured is left out in the cold, regardless of how expensive premiums were or how confident they were in the the policy’s protection.
With this basis of a burden of proof on the insured to demonstrate the damage incurred is covered by their policy, this is not the case for policy exclusions. In regards to exclusions, it is the insurance company’s burden to prove that the exclusion is applicable to the incident in question.
Here is an example of how these burdens can play out:
A homeowner in Lafayette has windstorm protection. A heavy storm rolls through and a tree branch knocks in the roof. As the storm rages, the kitchen begins to fill with water. In the aftermath, the insurance company refuses to pay for the water stains and various other rain-based damages that come from the storm. The burden of law falls upon the homeowner to prove, through expert testimony and a fact pattern, that the tree branch was knocked down by the wind and that the water damage would have never occurred had the wind not damaged the tree and so on. However, if the insurance company maintained an exclusion that they would not insure tree damage from branches that hang within 5 feet of the home, it would be their responsibility to prove that the tree was, in fact, within the prevented distance.
As you can imagine, it is essential to have the best legal team possible to meet the burden of proof or disprove that of the insurance company’s.
Insurance Dispute Lawyer Blog