Insurance Claims

It is important to have insurance policies in place for your home, auto and your health, just in case an accident occurs and you have to collect on the policy. If you are involved in an automobile accident or if you have a fire in your home, an insurance policy will provide you with the money to get a new home or car or to have the repairs done. In health insurance, you can have the coverage you need just in case you get sick and can’t work. The policy will help cover your medical expenses and may even provide you with an income while you are recuperating. Like insurance provides for the expenses your family will incur in covering the cost of your funeral.

However, there is a process that you have to go through to collect on these insurances. When something happens, you have to make an insurance claim. This means that you have to apply for the benefits provided for under the terms of your policy before the insurance company can disburse any money, either to you or a third party. First you have to check to make sure the incident is covered under the policy.

In the case of an automobile accident, you first have to contain your insurance agent who will start the process. This involves having an adjuster assess the amount of damages. If there was a police report filed, the insurance will want to see a copy of this report to ascertain whether or not you were driving while impaired. In some cases, you will not receive any insurance benefits if you were drunk while driving. The insurance company also has to determine which driver was at fault. If the accident was your fault, then it is likely that your future insurance premiums will increase. Once you have the repairs complete, the insurance company will send a check to the garage that carried them out.

Home insurance claims work the same way in that an adjuster has to assess the cost of the damages. However, you do have to read the fine print before submitting a claim because there are a lot of things that are not covered in home insurance. Floods and hurricanes are two such examples that are considered “Acts of God” and for which you cannot collect any benefits, unless you have separate coverage for these extraordinary events.

Health insurance benefits requires submitting claims on paper or electronically detailing the specific costs you incurred and the receipts showing that you paid for it. In some cases, the physician or pharmacy can direct bill the insurance company saving you this trouble. If you have illness coverage, the insurance policy will state the specific illness and will require regular doctor’s updates about your condition. To make a claim on life insurance, the family of the deceased has to submit an application for the benefits along with a certified death certificate.