Insurance Policies That Provide A Security Umbrella During Natural Catastrophes

Acts of nature like earthquakes, floods and fire outbreaks in forested areas can happen anytime, anywhere. These not only cause considerable damage to property and life, but the consequent losses can also wreak havoc with your finances. It’s always a good thing to be prepared for the unexpected while creating the best security umbrella for yourself and your family. Therefore, it’s best to opt for certain types of insurances that will safeguard you and your finances, in the best possible way. This
blog explores four types of policies that can help you deal with catastrophic situations in a better way.

Property insurance

When a disaster strikes, besides life there can be irreversible damage caused to one’s property like a home/office/factory/shop etc. The disaster can include accidents like a sudden outbreak of fire, flood, cyclone and any other disaster. Here, a certain premium is paid to cover losses that arise owing to catastrophes. This type of cover also includes sub-categories which attempt to maximize the cover for any risk or danger that may arise to your property. These include:

A Fire Policy: This cover extends to places of worship, homes, offices, businesses etc. The best part is that property insurance also covers what are known as Acts of God, e.g. landslides, floods, cyclones, hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, etc.

Umbrella Policies: Essentially, these are add on covers that give an extra buffer in times of need. The good news is that these policies can be clubbed in a single document, saving you extra paperwork and time. Umbrella policies include shopkeeper’s policy, office package policy, building insurance, householder’s policy.

Hydrostatic Lock Cover

While taking their car insurance, most people don’t know about a very useful add-on cover called “hydrostatic lock cover”. This add-on is especially useful in flood and water logging prone areas, where it can literally keep you afloat. This policy takes care of additional expenses like engine and also takes into account full replacement of engine and other parts, if the need arises.

Whether your car is parked in a waterlogged area or passing through a deluge, water will enter your car. Never turn the key in the ignition because it can lead to engine breakdown and damage not only to one or two parts but the entire electrical circuit. They might need replacement and this could escalate expenses.

Personal accident cover & life insurance policy

During the time of an earthquake, cyclone, flood or any other calamity a temporary or permanent disability or even loss of life can impact your family severely. If you have a personal accident cover and a life insurance policy then, most of your problems that may arise because of these disasters, may be sorted. A personal accident cover offers you financial aid in times of a disability which may be temporary or permanent. Depending upon the type of policy you opt for, a life insurance cover will also take care of the policy holder’s family in case of his demise, by offering a lump sum amount.

Because a catastrophe can happen anytime, its best to always stay protected against the unfortunate consequences of such events. It’s a good idea to compare your options online before taking a policy so that you can weigh the pros and cons before making a decision.

Insurance In India Gets More Innovative And Quirky

The insurance sector in India has boomed in the last two decades with more and more demand for insurance policies on life, health, personal accident cover, motor insurance, etc. But now the sector is expanding its horizons to unchartered territories which were traditionally, the bastion of their western contemporaries.

Taking cues from their Hollywood counterparts, our Bollywood stars too are not leaving any stone unturned. While reigning superstars like Aamir Khan and Rajnikanth have insured their films, India’s nightingale LataMangeshkar has insured her voice. Incidentally, Rajnikanth insured his voice too and even obtained a copyright for it, suggest reports.

Taking note of the fact that an unforeseen mishap can strike anyone, anything, anytime, insurance in India is slowly but surely coming of age as it is delving into unusual areas like art and antiques insurance, kidnapping insurance, wedding insurance, pet insurance, long term care insurance, disability insurance among others.

Most people harbour this erroneous belief that an art and antiques insurance policy would entail protecting their items from theft. While this is partially true, an insurance cover for these is much more than that. Here, a policy covers the antique or art work from everything like an accident, damage caused by fire and transportation risk among others.

Body part insurance is yet another segment which has caught the imagination of Bollywood celebrities. The latest to be bitten by this bug are starlets Mallika Sherawat and Minissha Lamba. The duo have spent lakhs insuring their assets while among male stars, John Abraham has jumped on the bandwagon.

Indian sports stars too are not far behind in this arena. There have been recent reports of tennis ace Sania Mirza getting her hands insured.

Wedding insurance is yet another unique policy that has found takers in India. Factors like theft/damage to wedding dress, jewellery, cancellation of wedding and damage caused by an unforeseen accident and fire are some of the primary reasons for which wedding insurance is done. Yet another segment is pet insurance where animal lovers are willing to pay a good premium to ensure the costs related to their pets in terms of accidents, maintenance and medical treatment are taken care of.

Long term care insurance is designed to keep the insured comfortable and happy in their sunset years. On the other hand, a disability insurance takes care of the insured where he may have incurred permanent or temporary disability that impacts his life.

Many of us have spent precious minutes or hours looking for the lost keys of our car or household. Now, it is the burden of the insurance company to provide a cover for these lost keys. What’s more is that in case your keys don’t get replaced in the first 24 hours then the insurer can provides you the cost of hiring a car.

The other interesting insurance policy is the personal identity protection. It covers your losses owing to a lost wallet, assault at an ATM and also a robbery at ATM after you’ve withdrawn the money from there. 

Health & Personal Accident Cover Micro Insurance is a boon for the low income groups in Rural & Urban India

Often, micro insurance cover is associated with only those low-income groups that reside in rural areas and remote locations. In fact these policies are actually designed to provide a security blanket and helping hand to low income groups regardless of whether they reside in urban or rural areas. In the urban context, micro insurance targets groups like construction labourers, domestic help, daily wage earners and other groups that face risks in earning their livelihood and in their day-to-day life. Two micro insurance policies: Health and Personal Accident Cover Micro Insurance are a blessing in disguise for these groups. Let us explore how they make their life easier. 

In India’s healthcare roadmap, access to adequate and quality health care services is a huge challenge. In this tumultuous scenario, micro health insurance is now being increasingly recognized as a preferred mechanism to finance healthcare provision. Any unforeseen health calamity is a huge setback to low income groups. This is because it impacts their finances drastically often depleting their every last resource to pay for hospitalization, cost of medicines, diagnosis, transport and most importantly, loss of wages.

Advantages of Micro Health Insurance

 

·         Peace of mind.

·         Financial burden because of an unexpected illness or injury, is not incurred.

·         The low income groups do not need to take a loan/debt in case they have health micro insurance.

·         There is accessibility to good healthcare facility.

·         It also provides social security in the long run.

·         It also leads to reduction in infant/child mortality.

·         Positive impact on the health of women.

·         Quality of life is enhanced.

·         Protection at old age.

·         Health risks related to hazardous working conditions are taken care of.

Personal accident cover for low income groups as a part of micro insurance is also a blessing, considering that the risk of accident is higher for those staying in urban areas, than their rural counterparts. This types of cover come with a low insurance premium.

Advantages of PersonalAccident Cover Micro Insurance

·         Hospital and hospitalization expenses are taken care of.

·         Affordability is a huge advantage.

·         Compensation is paid when the insured person has sustained bodily injury ‘resulting solely and directly from accident caused by external, violent and visible means.’

·         This is a 24x7 cover, which means if an accident occurs on or off duty, insurance still applies.

·         Some insurance companies offer this policy to those as young as 10 years and the maximum age limit is 70 years.

·         Compensation is given in case of the death of an insured person.

·         It covers permanent total and partial disablement.

·         This type of policy also covers total and irrecoverable loss of sight of one
eye or loss of use of one hand or foot.

·         The sum insured can be as high as Rs 2,00,000.