Types Of Insurance In Australia
There are various types of insurance in Australia, but they can be classified into three broad categories. Larger insurers in Australia usually concentrate on only one of these three categories. However, several companies have recently broadened their aims to cover general financial services.
* Life Insurance: This is one of the three broad types of insurance in Australia. Some of the life insurance products that are sold in Australia include term life insurance, which basically provides coverage at a rate of payments that is fixed, over a fixed period of time, which becomes the applicable term. After the expiry of this period, there is no guarantee of coverage at the previous rate of premiums paid. Thus, a person needs to forego the coverage entirely or they could acquire further coverage by accepting different terms and conditions. In case of the death of the policy taker, the death benefit goes to the person’s beneficiary. They also include permanent life insurance, which ensures coverage at fixed premiums for the lifetime of the individual who takes this insurance. Types of insurance in Australia pertaining to life insurance also include a disability income insurance, wherein the beneficiary’s income is insured against the risk of disability that prevents a worker from performing the core functions of their work. Such disabilities include particular psychological disorders, physical impairment and incapability to work.
* General Insurance: General insurance is the second of the three broad types of insurance in Australia. General insurance in Australia can be divided into two parts, on the basis of coverage of products. The liability insurance seeks to protect the insured from risks of liabilities, which could be imposed by lawsuits, and other similar claims. This protection is against suing of the insured, where the person is sued against claims covered by the insurance policy. The property insurance, on the other hand, seeks to provide protection against perils to property like fire, theft or even weather damage. This includes forms of insurance like home insurance, flood insurance, fire insurance and so on and so forth. Property insurance can be further subdivided into open perils and named perils. Open perils insurance covers all the sources of loss which are not precisely excluded in the policy, like insurance against harm from floods, nuclear incidents, terrorism, etc. On the other hand, named perils insurance covers all those sources of loss which are specifically mentioned in the list in the policy. Such sources of loss include explosion, theft, lighting, etc.
* Health Insurance: This is the third of the three broad types of insurance in Australia. The Australian government provides basic universal healthcare for all citizens, which is called Medicare. The private health insurance that exists in Australia covers all those aspects that Medicare does not. People with middle to high income in Australia are encouraged by the Australian Taxation system to opt for Private Health Insurance.
Thus, the types of insurance in Australia cover a wide variety of things to protect the people who take up insurance policies from various kinds of damages.
