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1. Getting help overseas

Thousands of Australians experience some kind of trouble when holidaying overseas each year.

Having the right level of travel insurance cover is critical when travelling. If you fall ill or have an accident while overseas, travel insurance can ensure that you get the best quality of care and you can be moved, either back home or to a better medical facility, if needed.

2. Travel insurance provides you with protection from medical costs

• If you require medical attention while travelling, you may be liable for the cost of your treatment if you don’t have travel insurance.
• In many countries, medical treatment for visitors can be incredibly expensive; daily hospitalization costs in Southeast Asia regularly exceed $800; the cost of medical evacuations from the United States regularly range from $75,000 to $95,000 and, in extreme cases, up to $300,000.
• Medicare will not pay or reimburse you for any medical expenses you incur overseas.

3. Travel insurance can cover disruptions to your trip

It’s no secret that when you travel, there is much that’s out of your control. Flights can be delayed or you might need to return home if an emergency occurs.

Without travel insurance, disruptions to your trip can end up costing you a fortune. In many cases, you lose the money you’ve already paid, and have to pay for new bookings too.

Many travel insurance packages will cover you for incidents that are out of your control, so that you don’t have to spend your own money if something goes wrong.

4. You can be reimbursed for your losses and expenses

If your luggage is stolen, lost or damaged overseas, you can end up significantly out of pocket – and if you don’t have travel insurance, you will be responsible for replacing your items.

If you take out the right insurance, however, you can be reimbursed for your losses and expenses, meaning that you won’t lose money due to an airline or hotel blunder, or a thief’s wrongdoings.

How much is your luggage worth?

1. What is Health Insurance?

Health insurance is an agreement whereby insurance company agrees to undertake a guarantee of compensation for medical expenses in case the insured falls ill or meets with an accident which leads to hospitalization of the insured. Generally, insurance companies have tie-ups with the leading hospitals so as to provide cashless treatment to the insured. In case the insurance company has no tie-ups with the hospital, they reimburse the cost of expenses incurred by the insured. The government also promotes health insurance by providing a deduction from income tax.

2. Importance of Health Insurance

Buying a health insurance policy for yourself and your family is important because medical care is expensive, especially in the private sector. Hospitalisation can burn a hole in your pocket and derail your finances. It will become even tough, if the person who brings in the money, is now in a hospital bed. All this can be avoided by just paying a small annual premium which would lessen your stress in case of medical emergencies.

A good health insurance policy would usually cover expenses made towards doctor consultation fees, costs towards medical tests, ambulance charges, hospitalization costs and even post-hospitalization recovery costs to a certain extent.

3. Benefits of having a Health insurance Policy

1. Cashless Treatment: If you are insured, you can get cashless treatments as your insurance company would work in collaboration with various hospital networks.

2. Pre and post hospitalization cost coverage: Insurance policy also covers pre and post hospitalization charges up to the period of 60 days, depending on the insurance plans purchased.

3. Transportation Charges: Insurance policy also covers the amount paid to ambulance towards the transportation of insured.

4. No Claim Bonus (NCB): This is the bonus element which is paid to the insured if the insured does not file a claim for any treatment in the previous year.

5. Medical Checkup: Insurance policy also provide options for health checkups. Free health checkup is also provided by some insurers based on your previous NCBs.

6. Room Rent: Insurance policy also covers room expenses depending on the premium being paid by the insured.

7. Tax Benefit: Premium paid on Health insurance is tax deductible under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

4. How to Select the Right Insurance Policy

It’s difficult to select the best insurance policies as all insurance company provides a similar type of insurance plan. Hence some of the important points that any Person should look before purchasing any plans are:

1. Sum Assured

2. Minimum Entry Age and renewability clause

3. Room Rent Capping

4. Inclusion and Exclusion

5. No Claim Bonus

6. Other Benefits

5. Eligibility Criteria

In India, people under 45 years of age are not required to undergo a mandatory health checkup when obtaining a health insurance policy. They are, however, required to disclose any pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or hypertension. It is, therefore usually advised that one should get a health insurance when young so that the premium would be less.

Insurance is tricky. It’s not like buying a chair or a shirt or groceries. When you buy insurance, you’re buying a promise. It’s a promise that if something catastrophic happens to your business, your carrier is going to assist you to make your business whole again. Sometimes, though, it’s tempting to question the value of insurance because it is an intangible product.

Let’s back up and take a big-picture view of why insurance matters. Here are seven reasons why insurance is important. What more would you add?

1.) Insurance Keeps Commerce Moving

In the days after the 9/11 attacks, there were many worries about insurance coverage. Acts of war are not covered by insurance. Was terrorism an act of war? The big question was, How would the 9/11 attacks be classified? Fortunately, the insurance industry decided the attacks were not an act of war.

However, after 9/11, some insurers began excluding terrorism. But the federal government stepped in and required coverage in the name of keeping commerce moving. In this case, insurance likely prevented many businesses from avoiding terrorist-targeted operations, such as refineries and chemical haulers.

2.) Lenders Require Insurance

This reason is tied to No. 1. Lenders require that you have insurance. Think about it: Mortgage lenders want proof of insurance before you buy or build a new building. In short, to get the money your business needs to keep going, it’s likely you enjoy the benefits of insurance. Without insurance, your winning business model can’t get the funding it needs to take its first step, or your established business model can’t get the funding to evolve and better compete.

3.) Insurance is Compulsory in Some States

Insurance is important because sometimes it’s the law! A great example of this is auto insurance. Auto insurance is compulsory in Wisconsin (home of HNI HQ). Auto insurance helps mitigate the risk of life on the road (of which there are many!). Workers’ compensation is a form of compulsory insurance that’s required in most states.

4.) Insurance Grants Peace of Mind

Insurance, an intangible, provides another intangible: peace of mind. Business owners can take on certain business ventures because they can shift the risk —thanks to insurance. This reason is the counterpart to No. 2 — lenders require insurance. Insurance is the required (by lenders) safety net that lets entrepreneurs explore opportunity.

5.) Insurance Ensures Family and Business Stability

Insurance is a safety net for when risks go wrong. Life insurance can support the life of a family, should a member be lost. It’s similar for a business. Should a key member or piece of equipment go out of commission, the business can carry on, thanks to insurance. This reason why insurance is important dovetails nicely with peace of mind (No. 4). It all goes back to the idea that insurance, when activated, makes policyholders whole again.

6.) Insurance Protects the Small Guys

When you look at your industry, you see the “big guys” and the “small guys.” If a risk goes wrong, the big guys will be able to survive. They can take a hit. But the little guys can’t take a hit. As a result, they are more risk averse, and in some cases, they sell out to the big guys. If enough little guys leave the industry (and one big guy swallows them up), you’re left with a monopoly. With insurance, however, the little guys have support if they want to take a risk, which means they stick around longer. What it comes down to is that insurance helps prevent monopolies from forming.

7.) Insurance is the Right Thing to Do

A sobering example of insurance in action is the West Fertilizer Co. explosion in Texas this spring. The explosion did $100 million in damage to the community, including schools and hospitals. The fertilizer company had only $1 million in general liability coverage.

Now the city is suing West Fertilizer and likely will win all of the company’s remaining property and assets that were not damaged by the disaster. This is because the fertilizer company did not have enough insurance. What’s more is the city also is suing the suppliers to the fertilizer plant, claiming they knew they were supplying inherently dangerous materials. In the case of the West, Texas, plant explosion, insurance could have helped a community to recover after a crisis.

Insurance is something many business owners don’t want to think about. But whether they think about insurance, with hope it’s there, allowing for transfer of risk and providing a safety net for new opportunities.