What are Some Types of Insurance?

Insurance is one of the essentials of life today for many people. All kinds of insurance are designed to offer some degree of financial protection when a particular set of unfortunate circumstances take place. Most people choose to establish various types of insurance coverage with the hope they never have to actually use the coverage. Here are some examples of the types of insurance most people are likely to utilize.

One of the most common types of insurance coverage is health insurance. Sometimes provided as a benefit of employment, health insurance helps to offset the costs of medical care. Many health policies cover such costs as routine medical care, including office visits to a doctor and partial or complete coverage for any type of prescription medications ordered by the physician. While it is very unusual for a health insurance plan to cover all the costs associated with any medical condition, many do provide significant coverage that leaves only a small percentage of the total cost for the insured party to pay. As more people choose to work for themselves or work for companies that do not provide health insurance, the number of providers offering individual policies have increase significantly since the latter 1990’s.

Home insurance is one of those types of insurance coverage that every homeowner should secure. In some jurisdictions, carrying home insurance is not an option; the homeowner is legally obligated to maintain home insurance coverage that is more or less in line with the value of the property. Home insurance helps to protect the homeowner from a number of situations like natural disasters, fire and water damage, or other damage that is not the result of negligence on the part of the owner. There is a great deal of diversity in the coverage and quality of home insurance polices. Events that are considered to be highly probable in the area where the home is located, such as hurricanes or flooding, may not be covered, or coverage for these high risk events may be available only for an exorbitant premium.

Auto, or car insurance, is another example of types of coverage that are considered a necessity. In fact, some jurisdictions do not allow the sale or operation of a vehicle unless the owner has secured car insurance. This literally means that it is necessary to insure the vehicle before driving it off the car lot after purchasing the vehicle.

Like most types of insurance, car insurance is available with different levels of coverage, and various levels of deductibles associated with each coverage amount. Many jurisdictions today require that specific types of insurance for cars and trucks be in place. The range of coverage may be simple liability coverage in some locations, while others will require the owner to carry full coverage on the vehicle.

Life insurance is also one of the essential types of insurance offered today. However, it is also usually the last kind of insurance coverage that people choose to secure. Essentially, all forms of life insurance provide some degree of coverage that ensures the beneficiary of the policy will receive monetary compensation upon the death of the insured party. Some types of life insurance also provide partial benefits in the event that the insured party is permanently incapacitated by an accident of some type. Life insurance is usually identified as either term life or whole life coverage.

Other types of insurance also exist and provide peace of mind for many people. Various forms of travel insurance help to cover people traveling to other countries in the event that medical care is needed or it becomes necessary to return home quickly due to an emergency situation. Burial insurance helps to defray the costs associated with funerals and related burial expenses. Tenant’s insurance, or renter's insurance, helps to protect people who rent or lease a living space from theft or damage to their personal belongings. In all cases, insurance helps to offset financial loss at critical points in the lives of the people carrying the coverage.