General Insurance safeguards you from all types of risks that you will encounter in life except death. This includes your home, your car or bike, traveling, legal liability, business loss, professional liability, etc. It protects you from natural calamities like storms, earthquakes, floods, and such, theft and burglary, accidents, frauds, and illnesses. It is a one umbrella cover for all that can go wrong in your life. You only need to choose the right plan which covers all the risks that you require. Compare general insurance plans online and buy in a hassle-free manner to protect yourself and your business today.
In this article, we will try to give you a basic overview of general insurance in India.
Health Insurance covers your medical, surgical and diagnostic expenses due to illness, accidents or disease.
If the treatment is done in a hospital that is affiliated to the network of the insurance provider cashless treatment facility is available – which means that the insurer pays directly to the hospital and you don’t have to spend money out of your pocket. If treatment is done in a non-affiliated hospital then you will be eligible to claim reimbursement from the insurer after you have first made payment to the hospital.
In health insurance, you are not only eligible to get benefits in case of hospitalization, but you can claim for expenses incurred in doctor visits, medicines, diagnostic scans, etc. Hospitalization bill may be broken up into room rent, doctor visits, diagnostics, medicines, and miscellaneous. Your policy may prescribe maximum limits payable for each category separately, called, and thus it is important to peruse the document carefully. Some other important thing to notice is if your policy has a co-pay clause which means that regardless of the claim amount you must pay a percentage of some amount yourself. While people sometimes voluntarily opt for co-pay clauses in policies to lower the premium amount payable, it can cause inconvenience in situations where the bill amount is substantial but still less than the permissible maximum claim amount.
Motor insurance as the name suggests covers all vehicles owned by your such as a car, bike, or truck. Auto insurance will cover damage to your vehicle, to another vehicle you have damaged in an accident, injuries sustained by you, your pillion rider (in case of two-wheeler) and co-passenger (in case of a car), and injuries sustained by the third person. It is important to note that your personal general insurance policy will not cover circumstances in which you were using the vehicle for commercial purposes. If the vehicle is used for business purposes a separate commercial insurance policy has to be taken.
The two main types of coverage are (a) third-party liability cover and, (b) comprehensive cover.
A third party liability cover is mandatory under the law as laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act. In case you get into an accident that has been caused by your fault, third party cover would protect you from the liability owed to that person in terms of medical injuries caused to him and damages caused to his vehicle or property. According to a directive issued by the Supreme Court in 2018, first-time riders or drivers must purchase a long term third party insurance cover for a minimum of 3 years for car and 5 years for a bike. However, it is important to remember that the third party insurance does not cover injuries suffered you personally or damages suffered by your car. Further, the quantum of the maximum claim amount is so low, it rarely satisfied the full amount of liability owed by the third party, except in the case of very minor accidents.
Due to the above limitations of third party liability cover, you must almost always look to purchase a comprehensive cover. A comprehensive cover has all the benefits of third party liability and also covers personal injuries and vehicular damages suffered by you. Further, it gives you the freedom to purchase some valuable add-ons which increase the value and usefulness of your policy. Some add-ons are emergency roading assistance where a mechanic will be sent to your location if your car malfunctions or you are involved in an accident, with towing facility available if your vehicle has been totally destroyed and needs to be taken to a garage. Engine cover add-on as damage to engines is not covered under the basic policy. Alternative vehicle or daily transport allowance when your vehicle is under repair in the garage for a long time. And much more.
Most people don’t bother to purchase travel insurance, but it’s one of those things you will be glad you have if you need it, and thus it is better that you purchase it even if the chances of a claim are slim. Travel insurance protects you against things like a lost passport, theft or misplacement of luggage, emergency medical services, and delay or cancellation of the flight. It is true that these things occur rarely but when you are the victim, especially in a foreign land, your relaxing holiday quickly becomes a harrowing experience. Not to mention that in First World countries, things like medical expenses and hotels are prohibitively expensive which can quickly burn a hole in your pocket. If you lose important documents like your passport, visa or other travel documents, your insurance company can also help you manage the bureaucratic red tape with the authorities. Repatriation services back to India for medical emergencies or for your dead body, if you happen to pass away abroad are also available.
Depending on your circumstances, you can purchase an individual policy for a single traveler, family plan and senior citizen plan. If you are a frequent traveler, the corporate policy will be very attractive to you. International tourists rarely restrict their visit to one country but rather tour all the neighboring countries in the region as well, that is why plans are also available based on regions of travel, such as the South Asia plan, Schengen Plan for Europe, the USA plan, etc.
A house is the most expensive thing most of us will ever buy. Thus, it is very important to secure it with the right kind of insurance.
A comprehensive home insurance policy has coverage for many different kings of perils., Fire cover insures damages caused by fire due to earthquakes, lightning, electrical failure, gas leak, etc. Natural calamities cover insures against damages caused by floods, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, and other types of natural disasters. A man-made calamities cover insures against things like mass scale riots, thefts, and burglaries.
Home insurance not only covers the outside structure that is your home but articles inside your houses such as furniture, fittings, decorations, and appliances also. However, you must provide a comprehensive list of articles inside your home to your insurance provider to get them covered. As you purchase more and more articles, you must update the list annually, but beware that this will cause a rise in premiums as well.
It is a misconception that one needs to be a homeowner to purchase home insurance. In fact, tenants may only purchase cover for household articles inside that they own, and whereas the landlord only purchases insurance for the structure of the building and the underlying land only.
This kind of insurance is available for businessmen and industrialists for their various business-related needs. Many industrial sectors are covered like telecom, manufacturing, construction, logistics, etc. The aim of commercial insurance is to mitigate risks that come up while operating a business.
Commercial insurance plans may include
- Property insurance to protect your office from natural calamities, fire, theft, and burglary, etc.;
- Shopkeeper’s insurance to protect your shop against theft, fire, accident, protect signboards outside, electrical and water damage, etc.;
- Marine insurance in industries like oil and gas, hydel power, paper mills, for infrastructure and machinery upgrades and damage due to malfunction or depreciation, etc.;
- Liability insurance for businesses covering liability to employees and workmen; product liability, clinical trial liability, etc.;
- Employee benefits insurance for providing group health and life insurance;
- Aviation insurance for damage to aircraft, machinery, hijack, and total loss due to crash;
- International insurance for MNCs for protection against cross-border legal disputes arising out of miscellaneous domestic laws and international business;
- Banker’s indemnity insurance for robberies, forgery, embezzlement by employees, loss of hypothetical goods, etc.;
- Automobile insurance for vehicles being operated for a commercial purpose.
Rural Insurance is a special kind of insurance provided through Gramin Banks to families engaged in farming or livestock cultivation. It includes risks such as loss of livestock, agricultural pumps and other machinery, beneficial insects such as honeybees, earthworms, etc., loss of crops due to floods, fires, droughts, etc.
Exclusions in insurance policies are circumstances where the insurance company will deny your claim as such circumstances will be an exception of liability under your policy. Here are the most common exceptions to your general insurance policy.
These are the factors that affect your general insurance premiums and here is what you should do to reduce premium amounts.
Filing an insurance claim is not that complicated as people make it out to be. As soon as possible after a claimable incident, you need to call up the office of your insurance provider or TPA office in case of medical claims and explain the situation to them. Your insurance provider will email or fax you some claim forms which you will have to fill up and submit along with some additional documentation as proof and due diligence of the claim. But before this, if the incident requires you to alert the police, such as in case of theft or accident, then you should lodge an FIR with the Police before calling up your insurer.
Here are the different documents required for lodging your claim –
For cashless claims, you need to visit a hospital affiliated to the insurance provider and show your health card at the time of admission. Your hospital will coordinate with the insurer/TPA automatically without much hassle on your part.
For reimbursement claims, the following documents will be required.
- Duly filled claim form
- Police Report and FIR if the accident required police intimation such as vehicular accidents
- Medical documents such as diagnostic reports, test reports, hospital emergency reports, X-Ray, and MRI plates, etc.
- Doctor’s prescriptions
- Full itemized bill available upon discharge
- Discharge summary
In medical insurance claims, Third-Party Administrators (TPA) are organizations who possess a license from IRDA to process insurance claims to provide cashless treatment to policyholders on behalf of insurance providers. The concept was introduced by the IRDA in 2001 to ease the administrative burden on insurance companies.
They assistance insurance providers in many vital ways
- TPAs are essential to process claims with agility in case of discharge of patients availing cashless treatment.
- They have their own infrastructure and team of doctors and legal experts to peruse through claim documents and verify the authenticity of claims.
- They negotiate with hospitals on behalf of insurance providers on matters of empanelment.
- They connect with hospitals to book appointments for planned hospitalizations.
The Insured Declared Value (IDV) allows you to declare your vehicle’s value to your insurer less than the original actual value of the vehicle. As premiums are decided on the value of your vehicle, you can bring down premiums by declaring a low IDV. However, beware that you will get a lesser amount in case of a claim.
If you are unsatisfied or feel like the claim has been unfairly rejected, or deliberately delayed, then there are a few avenues to explore for redressal.
- A grievance may be lodged with the designated grievance redressal officer of the insurance provider itself, who is usually a member of the senior management.
- A formal complaint may be lodged with the insurance ombudsman of the Executive Council of Insurers of the concerned state whose decision is binding on the insurance provider.