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Thursday, January 1, 2009

ALL ABOUT INSURANCE

Insurance provides financial protection against a loss arising out of happening of an uncertain event. A person can avail this protection by paying premium to an insurance company. A pool is created through contributions made by persons seeking to protect themselves from common risk. Premium is collected by theese companies which also act as trustee to the pool. Any loss to the insured in case of happening of an uncertain event is paid out of this pool.It works on the basic principle of risk-sharing. A great advantage of insurance is that it spreads the risk of a few people over a large group of people exposed to risk of similar type.
DEFNITION:
It is a contract between two parties whereby one party agrees to undertake the risk of another in exchange for consideration known as premium and promises to pay a fixed sum of money to the other party on happening of an uncertain event (death) or after the expiry of a certain period in case of life insurance or to indemnify the other party on happening of an uncertain event in case of general insurance. The party bearing the risk is known as the 'insurer' or 'assurer' and the party whose risk is covered is known as the 'insured' or 'assured'.

BASICS OF INSURANCE

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating large loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice Human life is subject to risks of death and disability due to natural and accidental causes. When human life is lost or a person is disabled permanently or temporarily, there is a loss of income to the household. The family is put to hardship. Sometimes, survival itself is at stake for the dependants. Risks are unpredictable. Death/disability may occur when one least expects it. An individual can protect himself or herself against such contingencies through life insurance.
We face a lot of risks in our daily lives. Some of these lead to financial losses. Insurance is a way of protecting against these financial losses. For a payment (premium), an insurance company will take the responsibility of compensating your financial losses .

INSURANCE OVERVIEW

The timing or occurrence of the loss must be uncertain. The rate of losses must be relatively predictable: In order to set premiums (prices) insurers must be able to estimate them accurately. If the coverage is unique, the insured will pay a correspondingly higher premium. Lloyd's of London often accepts unique coverages. (e.g., the insuring of Tina Turner's legs and Jennifer Lopez's bum) The losses must be predictable on a macro level: Insurers need to know how much they would be required to pay when the insured-for event occurs. Most types of insurance have maximum levels of payouts, but not all do, notably health insurance. The loss must be significant: The legal principle of De minimis dictates that trivial matters are not covered. Furthermore, rational insurance uses existing insurance when the transaction costs dictate that filing a claim is not rational.The loss must not be catastrophic: If the insurer is insolvent, it will be unable to pay the insured. In the United States, there is a system of Guaranty Funds run at the state level to reimburse insured people whose insurance companies have become insolvent. This program is run by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). To avoid catastrophic depletion of their own capital, insurers almost universally purchase reinsurance to protect them against excessively large accumulations of risk in a single area, and to protect them against large-scale catastrophes

TYPES OF INSURANCES

1) GENERAL INSURANCE.
2) HEALTH INSURANCE.
3) AUTO CAR INSURANCE.
4) HOME INSURANCE.
5) TRAVEL INSURANCE.