The most common varieties of insurance are home, health, automotive, and life. There are other types of insurance available for almost any need, such as travel, antique, and sports and can be purchased as needed. Specialized insurances are designed to meet the consumer’s need for security.

Home Insurance

There are seven varieties of home insurance for home owners and renters. HO-1 is a limited policy covering only the items specifically listed within the policy. HO-2 is a limited policy covering only specific damages to the home that occur due to certain events, these specifications are listed within the policy. The most common policy is HO-3; it covers everything about the home; the structure, contents, and injury liability. For renter’s there is the HO-4 policy, it covers items that are not covered by the landlord’s policy and can be upgraded to include injury liability. HO-5 is like HO-3 except that it is structured to accommodate higher dollar values and reimbursements. HO-6 is a bridge policy for condominium owners define what will be covered by the property owner and what will be covered by the condo owner. HO-8 is for people who own older homes allowing them to insure the home at market value as opposed to replacement cost.

Specialized insurance may be necessary depending on where you live. Some specialized insurances are wildfire, flood, earthquake, wind damage, hurricane, tornado, and volcanic activity. These are varieties that you can ask your insurance agent about to determine whether or not they are needed f or your home.

Health Insurance

There are over 2100 varieties of health insurance all defined for targeted needs, diseases, and conditions. Most people maintain general care health insurance that covers everything from well-being check-ups to emergency room visits. General health care policies are often designated as traditional health insurance, Home Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPO), and Point of Service (POS). Traditional health insurance is the most current and the most flexible allowing for doctor visits without a predetermined network. There can also be restrictions limiting hospital visits and treatment without pre-authorization. HMOs require that doctors are members of a specified network and services are limited to the confines of that network. PPOs are less flexible than former health insurance but more flexible than HMOs, they offer small co-payments within their network with higher co-payments for providers outside of their network. An EPOs is similar to HMOs except they are regulated by the California Department of Insurance and will not authorize healthcare outside of the network unless it is an emergency. POSs are also similar to HMOs; a person can work within the network with small co-payments or outside of the network paying a percentage of the entire fee.

Automotive Insurance

Automotive insurance is mandatory nationwide. The coverage varies from state based on basic requirements for liability. Most financed vehicles are required to maintain burly replacement coverage until the vehicle is paid in full. Liability coverage is also recommended to protect a vehicle owner from lawsuits due to personal injury and death. There are other automotive insurances to cover recreational vehicles, motorcycles, ATVs, and marine vehicles such as boats, pontoons, and jet skis. For automotive collectors there are also a variety of antique and vintage insurances to cover replacement in the event of loss to rare cars and trucks.

Life Insurance

Life insurance covers accidental death ad natural causes; most life insurances do not cover suicide. Life insurance is offered in whole-life and term varieties. Term insurance is designed for coverage during a specific amount of years, usually 10, 15, and 20 years. The caution with term life insurance is that with one missed payment, the insurance is null and void. Whole life coverage is a policy that covers a person’s entire life with premiums that are payable throughout the life of the policy.

Burial insurance falls under life insurance needs. Burials, cremations, and memorial services are often costly expenses in death. Burial insurance provided the means to cover those costs and can often be issued to the funeral home directly, depending on how the policy was organized.

The reality is that most people do not reflect beyond home, health, and car even though they should. When a spouse or parent passes away, death can leave financial devastation in its wake. Extra insurance can often keep a family from losing a home or income. Extra insurance on the everyday variety that everyone remembers about will also succor in the case of unforeseeable events and provide reassurance that everything will be okay and survivable should the worst happen.

All information was provided by USA.gov and the Department of Commerce.