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Chris Wellerdon

Health insurance is designed to protect against loss of income

and expenses for medical care. There are two broad categories of

health insurance policies: disability income policies and

medical expense policies.

Disability income policies can also be referred to as loss of

income, loss of time or replacement income. This type of policy

will pay benefits to an insured who is disabled and can no

longer work to earn a regular income. Payments can be weekly or

monthly depending on the policy.

Medical expense policies are represented by a wide range of

coverage from very minimal to comprehensive packages with

multiple coverage. Some include both accidents and illnesses,

various hospital expenses and other costs pertaining to medical

care such as accident and sickness policies, hospital-stay

policies, basic medical expense policies and major medical

expense policies.

Any of these policies might cover various combinations of the

above and may be paid in a lump sum.Some policies cover only

accidents and not illness. As you might imagine, policies like

this are very specific about what is considered an accident.

It is important to understand what is defined as an accident as

it pertains to the health insurance industry: an accident is an

event that is unforeseen and unintended.

Keep in mind that any discussion of this type of policy also

applies to any type of policy that includes accidental coverage,

not just accident specific policies.

Accident benefits are most commonly paid for accidental loss of

life (also called accidental death), accidental loss of limb or

sight (dismemberment), loss of time and/or income, hospital

expenses, surgical expenses, and medical expenses like visits to

the doctor.

Accidental death benefit can also be referred to as "principal

sum." This type of coverage should not be confused with life

insurance. There is a world of difference between the two. Life

insurance policies will generally be paid regardless of the

cause of death. An accidental benefit is paid ONLY if the death

is accidental as opposed to a death by natural causes or illness.

The person who receives the death benefit is called the

beneficiary. The policy owner has the right and responsibility

of naming beneficiaries. Usually there is a primary beneficiary

however he/she can assign a second and even a third beneficiary.

The primary beneficiary is the first person in line to receive

the benefit in the event of the death of the policy holder. The

policy owner can also name a second beneficiary who would

receive the benefit in the event the primary beneficiary dies

before the insured. Some policies can include a third

beneficiary who would be in line after the first two.

There is another important element in regard to accident

policies: An accidental death may not be instant. A person can

die as a result of an accidental injury months after the

accident occurrence. Read your policy carefully because most

stipulate that the accidental death benefit will only be paid if

death occurs within three months of the accident.

About the author:

Lance Roberts offers lots of resources and information about

finding health insurance at http://www.myhealthinsuranceman.com

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