Homeowners Insurance Policies in the us

Home insurance policies from any insurer the the United States are basically the same. They generally all provide coverage for the dwelling, contents and liability to some extent. Many insurance carriers policies come with varying discounts that are designed to maximize profits for the insurer and save money for the insured.

Many insurers in the United States have some kind of coverage for the dwelling on their home insurance policies. The amount of coverage is generally based on the replacement cost value of the dwelling and not the actual appraised value of the house. This is an important distinction because not all homes are always insured for their full replacement cost value. Exclusions are another factor that can be different between insurance carriers in the United States. It depends on what the insurer thinks what is or is not an insurable risk based on their loss statistics.

Another coverage that is basic on polices from different insurance carriers in the United States is for the contents of a dwelling or outbuilding. Usually contents coverage is a specific dollar amount based on the actual cost value of the contents. That is is when an item is damaged or stolen the insured will get whatever the depreciated value of the item is when a claim is submitted. Another way contents coverage works is to have specific items such as jewelry and golf clubs scheduled or itemized on the policy. What this does is place a specific dollar value for each item that is scheduled.

Most if not all insurance companies in the United States offer some kind of liability coverage on their home policies. Liability coverage is generally designed to do a couple of important things. First, it provides for medical payments in the event that someone becomes injured while on the insured’s property. Second, it provides coverage for legal expenses in the event that the insured is sued as the result of an injury or some other event. Liability insurance generally does not cover negligence and carelessness on the part of the insured.

The idea behind insurance is to pay claims and that is the purpose of all insurance carriers that operate in the United States. However, this does not mean that they are not trying to make a profit on each of their policies. They generally won’t insure risks that they believe will be costly for them to insure. As a result they generally attempt to insure the same type of risks that allow them to provide savings in the form of discounts to their insureds.