Insurance is a means of providing protection against financial loss in a great variety of situations. It is a contract in which one party agrees to pay for another party's financial loss resulting from a specified event.
Insurance works on the principal of sharing losses. If you wish to be insured, against any type of loss, agree to make regular payments, called premiums, to an insurance company. In return, the company gives you a contract, the insurance policy. The company promises to pay a certain sum of money for the type of loss stated in the policy.
History
Insurance is thousands of years old. The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of Babylonian laws of 1700BC, is believed to be the first form of credit insurance. A borrower did not have to repay a loan if personal misfortune made it impossible to do so. Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings.
Types of Insurance
Insurance generally covers situations involving pure risk ? that is, situations in which only losses can occur. Such situations include fire, floods and accidents. People also buy insurance to cover unusual types of financial losses like, a dancer might insure her legs against injury. There are mainly three types of insurance policies sold:
1. Life Insurance
A life insurance policy provides that the insurance company will pay a certain amount when the person dies. This may be paid in a lump sum or in installments to the beneficiary [people named by the policyholder to receive the death benefit]. Some types of life insurance policies also enable policyholders to save money. Such policies have a cash value. A policyholder may borrow money against the cash value or surrender the policy for its cash value.
Annuities
These are savings plans sold by insurance companies to provide a fixed and regular retirement income. If the annuitant [owner of the annuity] dies before receiving the guaranteed number of payments, the insurance company must continue the payments to the beneficiary.
Dividends
Some insurance policies refund part of the premiums in the form of dividends. Such policies are called participating policies. An insurance company pays dividends if the money it collected in premiums exceeds the amount needed to pay benefits and administrative costs. Dividends may also include a share of the profits the company earned on investments made with premium funds. Dividends are most commonly paid on life insurance.
2. Private Health Insurance
Health insurance pays all or part of the cost of hospitalization, surgery, laboratory tests, medicines, and other medical care. The rising cost of medical care has increased the need for adequate health insurance. You could suffer a major financial hardship without such coverage, especially in case of a serious illness or accident.
Dental insurance is one of the fastest-growing types of health insurance. It helps pay for a wide variety of dental services.
3. Property & Liability Insurance
Individuals and businesses buy property and liability insurance to protect their assets against financial loss. Property insurance provides direct compensation if a policyholder's possessions are damaged, destroyed, or lost as a result of perils. Liability insurance protects individuals and businesses against possible financial losses if their actions result in bodily injury to others or in harm to property owned by others.
The main types of individual coverage are:
? Homeowners Insurance
This provides protection against losses from damages to an owner's home and its contents.
? Automobile Insurance
This is the most widely purchased and most important kinds of insurance. Drivers are legally responsible for any costs arising from accidents they cause. This insurance protects a policyholder against financial losses from accidents.
Financial viability of Insurance Companies
Financial stability and strength of the insurance company should be a major consideration when purchasing an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool with less attractive payouts for losses).
How Insurance Is Sold
Most insurance companies sell policies through agents. Exclusive agents are employees of an insurance company who sell only that company's policies. Independent agents sell policies for several companies.
All The Transformers Robots
When the news broke that President Bill Clinton had been accused of having "an improper sexual relationship" with a 21-year old White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, and that he supposedly asked her to lie to cover up the affair, I didn't quite know what to think. So, as I usually do in times of quandary, I let the little voices in my head fight it out.
The voting Republican in me did a little dance and said, "Aha, we've got him now! Slick Willy is going down! Somebody get Ronald Reagan on the phone!"
The pragmatist in me (he's the serious looking one with no friends) said, "Now hold on a minute, you guys. Let's not pass judgement until we have all the facts. Don't forget what we did to Michael Jackson and poor Tonya Harding!"
The Aaron Spelling in me said, "What an evil vixen this Monica Lewinsky must be! She probably concocted the whole ugly story because President Clinton, being the champion of morality that he is, spurned her sleazy attempts at seduction. What a feather in her Gucci cap that would have been, seducing the President of the United States! I'm surprised she didn't try to sing at his birthday party!"
And that little part of me which is a member in good standing of the "I'm A Guy So Sue Me Club" said, "Why, Bill Clinton, you old son of a gun..."
What I find surprising about these allegations is that the focus is not on whether there was an improper sexual relationship, but on whether Billy Boy told Miss Monica to lie about it if questioned. Telling her to lie under oath could lead to charges of obstruction of justice and perjury, offenses punishable by fines, imprisonment, and forced exposure to Janet Reno's Panama City vacation video.
In other words, it's okay to have sex with someone other than your spouse, just don't lie about it if an independent counsel happens to stop by with a six pack of beer and a briefcase full of subpoenas.
A recent network news poll showed that 58% of women surveyed felt that, even if the sexual allegations against Clinton are true, it has no bearing on his ability to run this country. The respondents called Clinton's behavior, "typically male," which means: he's a man, that's what they do. I'm personally insulted by such generalizations because I know the typical male couldn't get himself embroiled in a sex scandal with a 21-year old woman if he tried! Uh, so I hear.
Having lost all faith in the network news polls, I contacted my old friend and mentor, Dr. Beechwood A. Jing, Professor Emiritis at the South Hampton Institute of Technology's Hammond-Eggar Anthropological Department, and asked him to conduct a little survey of his own. (You may remember Dr. Jing as the inventor of the much-maligned, sponge toilet seat in the late seventies.) Always willing to do his part for science and an old drinking buddy, Dr. Jing surveyed 12 coeds who attend his freshman Apolitical Ethics class, 4 lunchroom ladies he found unloading a dog food truck out back of the cafeteria, and 3 female colleagues who were smoking Virginia Slims cigarettes and drinking International Coffee in the teacher's lounge. Dr. Jing asked these women a series of carefully-researched questions concerning the allegations against the President. Of the women surveyed:
89% believe Clinton is guilty of sexual misconduct, but if he promises to never play the saxophone again, they will forgive him.
53% found Bill Clinton sexually appealing in a "used car salesman sort of way."
71% think the only woman in Washington Clinton isn't sleeping with is his wife.
And 99% said that if Bill Clinton did have sex with a woman other than his wife and did ask her to lie to cover his behind, his behavior is not surprising because it was... typically male. Damn.
As a man who has painted himself into more corners than Wile E. Coyote, here's my advice for Bill Clinton: Interrupt the last episode of Seinfeld with a live, televised press conference, then step up to the microphone and say: "Okay, America, you got me. I admit it. I had sex with Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky and I asked them both to lie about it. And I tried to have sex with Paula Jones, but her nose kept getting in the way! So now that you know the truth, America, I say to you, ?So what?? You want to impeach me? You want me to step down? Well, before you do, let me say just two words: Al Gore."
"Mr. President! Mr. President! Sam Donaldson, ABC News!"
"Hold your water, Sam. I'm not answering any questions tonight. I'm already late for quarter beer and wings night at Hooter's and after that I'm being made an honorary member of the Kennedy family. So good night, all, and God bless America."
Perhaps Secretary of Defense William Cohen put it up best when he told Larry King: "I would have to say he (Clinton) is one of the smartest people I've ever met. His grasp of complex situations is incredible. He stays on top of everything. I like a hands-on president."
Both D. David Dugan & Timknox are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
D. David Dugan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Life Insurance, Computers and The Internet and Networking. David Dugan is a contributing author to the insurance information site , a site that. D. David Dugan's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Timknox has sinced written about articles on various topics from Hair Styles, Life Insurance and Investments. Tim Knox, Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Radio HostFounder, The Insiders Club, Giving You The Power To Start Your Business TodayBestsell. Timknox's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.
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