What all household items are covered under a home insurance policy and how is the premium arrived at?
? Swarup Kumar
A home insurance policy covers damage to or loss of household items due to specific natural, man-made or social perils and burglary. The household items covered under ?contents? include durables, furniture, fixtures and fittings, clothes, utensils as well as jewellery and other precious stones. The premium is calculated as a percentage of the total sum insured, which, in turn, is arrived at by totalling the value of the content insured subject to depreciation due to wear and tear.
Can insurers give discount on the premium for car insurance if one gives a post-dated cheque to the company?
? Pinaki Majumdar
The premium on your car insurance policy won?t change if you were to pay through a post-dated cheque in advance. The same depend on the condition of the vehicle and your claim history. You can handover a post-dated cheque 45 days before the date of renewal. Once accepted, your policy would be renewed for a year from the original date of renewal and not from the date when the cheque was collected.
Do insurers charge ?loading? at the time of renewal on car insurance if there is a claim for a particular year?
? Deepak Sharma
Insurance companies do offer a no-claim bonus (NCB) on renewal of car insurance policy if no claim has been intimated or paid in the previous year. The quantum of no-claim bonus increases with every year if no claim is intimated on a continuous basis. However, even if you were to intimate a claim in a particular year, you will not be charged an extra premium on renewal of the policy, though you will lose the no-claim bonus.
I have a personal mediclaim as well as group medical from my office. Can I claim expenses from both the polices for the same treatment?
? Narayan Srinivasan
You can claim the expenses towards medical treatment from either or both the insurance policies. If you decide to claim the expenses from both policies, the claim paid out of each policy will be in proportion to the sum insured under the two polices. Suppose you have a group medical policy and a personal mediclaim of R2 lakh each, and you make a claim of R1 lakh, then you will be paid R50,000 from each policy.
How do I get a insurance cover for post-operation medical cost?
? Gopal Saxena
Most health insurance policies provide post-hospitalisation cover as part of the policy benefits. This means that the health insurance policy will take care of treatment expenses after discharge from the hospital. Certain policies also cover domiciliary treatment as an additional coverage. Generally, health insurance policies cover post-hospitalisation expenses for a period ranging from 30 days to 90 days after discharge. You should check with your insurance company regarding availability of post-hospitalisation cover and the duration for which the treatment expenses will be considered.
* The writer is executive director, ICICI Lombard
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