Umbrella Insurance Protects Your Assets

By: Jim Pretin

At some point, you have probably heard of umbrella insurance, but have no idea what it is. Well, first off, it does not cover the umbrella you protect yourself from the rain. It is a figure of speech. An umbrella policy is designed to shield you from almost everything that your home and auto insurance does not, as well as fill in gaps in coverage when the limits of your regular policy are exhausted.

Every day, there are personal lawsuits filed against ordinary citizens, with the reasons ranging from the frivolous to the justified. When and if this happens to you, you need to be prepared. More often than not, people are sued and have no extra protection to block the plaintiff from going after their personal assets in the lawsuit. To protect yourself from such a quandary, you need to have umbrella insurance.

An umbrella is often referred to as excess liability. This excess liability coverage kicks in when the underlying limits on your home or auto policy have been exhausted, or if you are sued personally for something that neither your home nor your auto insurance covers. Depending on the company, you can purchase anywhere from 1 to 5 million dollars worth of excess coverage, sometimes as high as 10 million.

The amount of coverage you select really depends on how much you are worth. If you have 5 million dollars worth of personal assets, you should get a 5 million dollar umbrella. It is not uncommon for someone to buy a 5 or 10 million dollar umbrella policy even if that number far exceeds their net worth, because the coverage is so cheap to buy.Most insurance companies will not offer you the coverage unless you have both your home and auto already insured with them. Also, the insurer will require that you maintain a certain level of liability on the home and auto policies in order to qualify for the excess policy. Usually, you must maintain at least $250,000 of bodily injury liability per person, $500,000 per accident, and $100,000 for property damage for your autos, and $500,000 of liability for your home.

The coverage is cheap. It is possible to obtain 1 million dollars worth of excess liability for as little as $120 dollars. The more cars and homes you have, the higher the price for the insurance, but the cost is still low. In addition to your home and cars, liability associated with any other conveyances you may have, such as boats, motorcycles, and other recreational vehicles, may also qualify for coverage under the umbrella, depending on the insurance company.

You are probably wondering when the umbrella would actually come into play. Here is an example: If you are involved in an auto accident where you crashed into a pedestrian who was walking on the sidewalk, resulting in medical expenses for that person that costed more than what your auto policy covered, the umbrella would be used. Or, if that pedestrian then decides to sue you for negligence and seeks punitive damages, your umbrella can be utilized to cover your legal expenses and to pay any judgements levied against you.

It is also important to understand that the excess liability covers you for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with your cars or homes. Things such as personal injury protection are covered. This includes false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, invasion of privacy, wrongful entry, or eviction.

Also, some umbrella policies provide coverage for you if you are sued in connection with any charitable boards or organizations of which you are a member. You may have to contact your insurance company and pay an extra premium for this type of coverage.

I hope this has helped illuminate to you the importance of having umbrella insurance. Without it, your personal assets are totally vulnerable in any lawsuit or legal action. Talk to your agent about it and ask how much it costs. Even though multi-million dollar lawsuits are not common, they can happen. So, an umbrella is probably worth it.

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How Dental Plans Differ from Dental Insurance

By: S. Geetha


It is unfortunate that people do not give the required attention to their teeth and dental care as they do for other kind of diseases and illnesses.

In order to minimize the costs on dental treatments and to prevent dental diseases it is good to have a dental plan to take care of all such problems.

Dental plans differ from the dental insurance by the type and feature. Almost all the dental plans take a membership fee which varies from one plan to another plan. Also, dental plans can be either offered to individuals or to the family on the whole.

The family dental plans offer higher discounts than the individual dental plans.

Before selecting the appropriate dental plan it is good to check the rates charged under different plans. Also the type of coverage provided to the dental services matters a lot while selecting the dental plans.

Dental services covered under the dental plans:Normally most of the basic dental procedures like the regular dental check ups, treatments like the cleaning procedure, oral examination, teeth filling, fluoride treatment and teeth extraction are covered by dental plans.

But, the dental plans do not cover major dental treatments like oral surgeries, restorative dental care, root canal treatments, dental implants, braces etc.

Under such circumstances the dental plans allow the policy holder to get reimbursement for the amount spent on the basic dental treatment and the other expenses should be born by the patient himself.

Certain dental plans may not allow selecting a dentist of the policy holder’s choice and the patient has to undergo dental care treatments from the dentist mentioned in the dental plan.

Hence, the policy holder before selecting the dental plan should check for a dentist present in his area and also for any schedule is mentioned in the dental plan or not. Dental plans can be availed either monthly or annually.

The annual dental plan is supposed to be more cost efficient than the monthly dental plan.

Discount dental plans:Discount dental plan is considered to be an affordable option. This dental plan offers discounts on all dental care treatments ranging from 10 – 60 percentages. It also covers dental works like braces, bridges, dentures, root canal treatments etc. This is possible by showing the membership card to the dentist while taking the dental treatment of any kind.

Reasons for choosing discount dental plans: The main reason for choosing discount dental plan is that, it is very cost effective. The premium to be paid towards the dental plan is very low in spite of the coverage being much better. The money paid up front is also very low.

Discount dental plans can be availed for even pre existing dental diseased conditions and there is no exclusion. Discount dental plans help people when they are needed and for the purpose they avail it.

There is no hassle of filling forms as the person has to present the discount card and avail discounts from the dentists. Even the dentists are happy about discount cards as their time and energy is saved. It also offers a large list of dentists to choose from. The very important aspect is that even cosmetic dentistry is covered under dental plans making them very lucrative.

S. Geetha regularly writes informative articles on dentistry, tooth whitening procedures and dental insurance.

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