What is insurance?

What is insurance? Insurance is a legal agreement reached by two parties (the insurer and the insured). In this sense, the insurance company undertakes to repair the losses of the insured when a contingency occurs.

Contingency is the event or loss that can cause a loss, either the death of the insured, as well as the destruction or damage of a material good. It is called this way, since there is uncertainty about when this event happens.

The insured in turn must pay a premium in exchange for the promise made by the insurer.

The legal document or contract that is established for this process, which is signed and agreed by both the insured and the insurer, is called an insurance policy. It sets out the details of the conditions for the insured person and the nominees.

Insurance itself is a way of personal and family protection against any financial loss. Typically, a premium that provides more coverage is lower in terms of money finally paid.

The way it works is that the insurer will take the risk of providing high coverage for a small premium, since few people end up claiming insurance.

Anyone can apply for insurance from an insurance company, but the decision to provide this benefit will be at the discretion of the insurer, in turn it is responsible for evaluating the claim request to make a decision; Rarely do these insurers typically provide insurance to high-risk applicants.

What is insurance, definition
What is insurance, definition

Social insurance

Social insurance is a social protection program that is established by law or any mandatory arrangement, which provides people with some degree of income security in the event of survival, disability, old age, disability, unemployment, etc.

This type of insurance also offers preventive and curative medical care. Social insurance includes social assistance programmes, mutual service schemes, universal programmes, national provident funds and other agreements in market-oriented directions that are in accordance with the laws and form part of a country’s social security.

Social Security Benefits for Businesses

Companies that are subject to fulfilling the duties in terms of social insurance, in the same way become creditors of large benefits, among which are:

  • It allows them to create an image that characterizes the efficient way they have in relation to the social security of their workers.
  • Employees feel protected and safe.
  • It allows the work environment to be more proactive and staff to perform better.
  • It prevents employees from having job dissatisfaction, and they manage to create spaces that make workers feel comfortable.
  • Excessive labor turnover is avoided.
  • The relations between the company and its workers are strengthened, creating links that favor the performance of work activities.

Social Security Benefits for Workers

There are many benefits that are obtained by having a social security, additionally with these advantages the worker can feel a sense of tranquility and well-being, since he does not feel unprotected against any eventuality, which is why among its benefits stand out:

  • They have insurance in case of maternity, especially for working women who become pregnant or in case of illnesses not caused in the exercise of work and who are covered by this insurance.
  • They have an occupational risk insurance that manages to cover all accidents that occur in the exercise of work to which any worker is exposed.
  • Another insurance available is disability or life, which usually covers all risks due to the death of the worker, pensioner or insured.
  • They have traffic accident insurance, which covers events arising from a car accident.
  • Hospital medical care and service.
  • Mental and physical rehabilitation, both for the worker and for his family.
  • Savings system to withdraw funds.
  • Availability of childcare service for the care of minor children.
  • Social benefits
  • Pension in case of death or disability of the holder.

Life Insurance

This insurance is defined as a contract stipulated between an insurer and an insured, where the insurance company agrees to pay a certain sum of money in exchange for a premium, after a certain period of time or the death of the insured.

The insurer is responsible for providing life coverage in exchange for premiums paid by the policyholder for a specific period. This life coverage ensures the future of the holder’s relatives, through a lump sum payment in the event of the death of the insured.

Some policies usually pay an amount of money called a benefit when the end of the policy term expires.

Types of Life Insurance

Term guarantee: it is the most basic life insurance, it is also known as term insurance, there the holder selects the amount for which he wants to be insured and the period of time for which he wants coverage.

If you die within the stipulated period, the policy will automatically be paid to one of your beneficiaries, if you do not die within that period, the policy will not be paid and the canceled premiums are not returned.

For this type of policy there are three subtypes of term guarantee that should be considered: fixed-term insurance; decreasing term and increasing term.

Family income benefit policies: This type of insurance can be said to be a decreasing type of policy. However, instead of paying a lump sum to the beneficiaries, it pays a regular monthly income, until the expiration date of the policy if the holder dies.

Lifetime policies: as the name implies, this type of policy is continuous and is paid when the holder dies at any time. Motivated that the policy guarantees that the holder will die at some point, and that sooner or later it will have to be paid, it is an expensive policy. Compared to the above.

Health Insurance

When talking about health insurance, it refers to coverage against medical expenses incurred due to an accident, injury, or illness. In this case, the holder of a health insurance policy may make use of it against monthly and annual premium payments, for a certain time.

During this period of time if the holder is diagnosed with a serious illness or suffers an accident, the expenses will be borne by the insurance company. Additionally, the holder may enjoy certain benefits, which are determined by each insurance company and according to the policy contracted.

Types of Health Insurance

Each person is different and has a series of needs that are also different. Sometimes a single health insurance product is not enough to cover the individual needs of each person, so different health insurance plans are specified such as:

Individual health insurance: This type of policy only covers the holder, spouse, children and parents. They generally cover all types of medical expenses, including: hospitalization, daycare procedures, rental of hospital rooms, among others.

Under this insurance plan each member of the policy will have their own sum insured. Then it can be said that the holder has taken an individual plan, as well as the spouse, parents and children for an insured sum.

Floating Family Health Insurance: The family flotation plan allows coverage to all members of a family under the same policy, where everyone shares the sum insured. They are more affordable than individual plans, since the sum insured is shared.

An example is for the holder to purchase a floating family plan for their coverage and that of their spouse with a certain insured amount. In just one year you can make the claim for the value of that amount. Usually, this type of policy is highly recommended for young couples.

Senior Health Insurance : This is insurance with plans that have been specifically designed to meet the medical needs and requirements of seniors. This type of policy mostly offers seniors additional coverage, such as: home hospitalization and even psychiatric benefits.

Because people of legal age are more likely to have health problems, this type of policy may require a very complete prior medical check-up and are usually much more expensive than the usual insurances.

Serious illness insurance: there are many serious illnesses that are related to the lifestyle that is growing every day. Some health problems, such as cancer, kidney failure, stroke, or heart disease, are often very costly to treat or control in the long term.

It is for this reason that these policies have been designed for serious illnesses. Which can be purchased as an additional clause or to complement another usual health insurance plan, or separately as a plan of its own.

These policies actually provide coverage for very specific problems and usually offer claims payments as a lump sum payment, after diagnosing a serious illness.

Group medical insurance: Unlike individual, family and floating policies, a group administrator can purchase health insurance plans on a group basis, aimed at a large number of people.

As, for example, a company or company that buys group insurance for all its employees, or a building manager that acquires this type of plan for all residents of the property.

These are fairly affordable plans, which only provide coverage for basic health problems. In the case of companies, they often acquire this type of policies with plans that benefit their employees.

Health Insurance Benefits

Acquiring health insurance is essential for different reasons, below, we will mention the most important benefits offered by health insurance policies to the holder and their families.

  • They help you cope with rising costs for medical expenses.
  • They have coverage for serious illness.
  • All claims are made in an easy way.
  • They provide additional protection.

Personal insurance

Personal insurance is the group names that have different types of insurance products that are available from insurance companies, which are aimed at covering certain personal assets owned by a person.

Among the different goods can be: a vehicle, (auto insurance); a home and personal property (home insurance) or holiday activities (travel insurance).

Additionally, it can cover different variations within the categories, which are stipulated by each insurance company and which is selected by the holder at the time of contracting the policy with the insurance company, since some of these products are legally mandatory and others are optional.

General insurance

This type of insurance helps a person protect themselves and the assets they value, such as their home, vehicle, valuables from certain financial impacts of risks, whether small or large (floods, fires, earthquakes, storms, even car accidents, thefts, mishaps, travel and even costs of legal actions against the owner).

Likewise, each person has the opportunity to select the type of risk they want to cover by choosing the appropriate type of policy, according to the characteristics and needs they have.

Generally, insurance policies work when they distribute the cost of unexpected risks among a large number of people who share similar risks in the same area.

The holder at the time of contracting this policy must pay an annual or monthly premium. Such money is added to the premiums of other policyholders and goes into a large amount of funds.

Hopefully the holder will never require to make use of the funds of that group. In the event that the holder has the bad luck of presenting a claim that has occurred due to bad weather or an accident, that group fund can be used to help in this contingency, up to the limit that he himself has chosen in his policy.

In the event of an accident involving the material goods, the insurer is responsible for covering the costs of repair or replacing the items that have been damaged or lost, according to the terms described in the insurance policy.

Similarly, the holder of this type of policy will also have the opportunity to receive a cash settlement for the amount of money agreed in their insurance policy.

Insurance and bonds

This type of financial insurance works as a form of insurance policy to the party requesting a bond, who is known as an obligor (usually this obligor is a government entity) and is usually implemented to protect said institution and its citizens from losses.

These bonds function as a form of insurance, when the bail requirements are not met, the contracted work is not performed or the sellers or suppliers are not paid, then a claim can be filed against the bond.

This type of insurance can be seen as a form of credit to the principal; Whether claims made by the obligor or public, they must be reimbursed by the principal to the guarantor.

Although bail is supported, it is necessary to sign an indemnity agreement, which is known as a general indemnity agreement that includes a business and all its owners.

Such indemnity agreements compromise a company’s corporate and personal assets in order to reimburse bail for any claims and legal costs that may arise.

Insurance and bonding benefits

There are many benefits related to obtaining insurance and bonds. Beyond complying with legal requirements established by the obligor.

Obtaining a bond means that as a business owner or professional you are granted a form of credit, which is a cost-effective way to meet the obligor’s requirements compared to other alternatives.

Medical Insurance

This type of coverage is usually part of an auto insurance policy. It can help cover certain medical expenses of the holder or passengers if they are injured due to a vehicle accident. This is optional coverage that may or may not be available depending on the insurance company.

Claim that covers medical expenses insurance

When a person is injured in a vehicle accident, coverage for medical expenses can help pay for certain expenses for both the holder and passengers and these are:

  • Health insurance copays and deductibles.
  • Visits to the hospital or medical specialist.
  • Surgery, prostheses and x-rays.
  • Ambulance fees and emergency medical technician.
  • Professional nursing services.
  • Dental procedures that are required as a result of an accident.
  • Injuries that occur as a pedestrian or from riding a bicycle when struck by a vehicle.
  • Funeral expenses.

Savings Insurance

When referring to savings insurance, it relates to life insurance plans that allow you to save and create a basis for meeting future needs. This type of insurance is designed to help a policyholder develop a regular savings habit and also provide significant earnings when required.

Additionally, savings plans offer insurance coverage, which means that the financial needs of the family nucleus are met, even if the holder is not present to support them.

These savings insurances usually provide certain benefits due when the term of the policy ends. Some insurances also manage to guarantee a regular income while the policy is in force or as part of the maturity income.

These savings insurances essentially help the holder achieve goals in his life, protect his family in case of unforeseen events and help lay a foundation to pay future obligations.

The important thing is to select a suitable savings insurance that provides flexible features and adapts to the needs of the holder. It is one of the best investments a person can make.

Also, savings insurance is traditional life insurance that can be combined with other coverages that provide additional benefits in case of an unforeseen emergency.

Such additional coverages may include benefits for death, critical illness, etc. Savings insurance can be a very useful tool that helps you start saving with low-risk plans, which also offer insurance coverage.

Financial insurance: What is insurance?

Financial insurance is a type of policy that companies frequently acquire and that provides a degree of coverage that protects the insured from losses, when a partner stipulated in the contract does not fulfill their obligations. It also protects against other business financial losses.

It is also called financial guarantee insurance, it is a type of coverage that helps minimize the losses that can suffer any financial transaction that is covered in terms and conditions within a contract.

Different financial institutions usually use these financial insurances on a regular basis. For example, investment bankers offer this type of hedge to back the values of the assets they sell.

As well as municipal bond issuers, who provide this type of security to their investors.

Similarly, there are financial insurance contracts available for other investments, with possibilities based on regulations applied in places where the insurance provider is governed by the local jurisdiction.

It should be noted that most financial institutions are in an environment full of risk and uncertainty and face certain unique exposures.

Whether it requires liability coverage for officers and directors, for labor practices, fiduciary or needs more specialized coverage to protect the business.

Read also: Infrastructure Meaning; What is a business model?; What is Financial Freedom?

This post is also available in: English Français (French) Deutsch (German) Español (Spanish) Dansk (Danish) Nederlands (Dutch) Svenska (Swedish)