Pet Insurance pays the veterinary costs if one's pet becomes ill or is injured in an accident. Some policies will also pay out when the pet dies, or if is lost or stolen.

Many pet owners believe pet insurance works like human health insurance. Actually, pet insurance reimburses the pet owner after the owner submits a claim to the insurance company. The claim is paid according to the terms of the policy purchased by the pet owner.

UK Policies usually pay 100% of vets fees. Policies in the USA usually offer to pay 80-90% ^[4] of the costs minus a deductible depending on the company and the specific policy. The owner will usually pay the amount due to the Vet, and then send in the claim form and receive reimbursement, which some companies and policies limit according to their own schedule of necessary and usual charges. In the event of a very high bill, some veterinarians will allow the owner to put off payment until the insurance claim is processed. Some insurers pay veterinarians directly on behalf of customers. Most U.S. policies require the pet owner to submit a request for fees incurred. (Note How do I file a claim)^[5]

Traditionally, most pet insurance plans did not pay for preventative care (such as vaccinations) or elective procedures (such as neutering). Recently however, some companies in the UK and US are offering routine care coverage, or some times called comprehensive coverage.

In addition, companies often limit coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, thus giving owners an incentive to insure even very young animals who are not expected to incur high veterinary costs while they are still healthy.

Some insurers offer options not directly related to pet health, including covering boarding costs for animals whose owners are hospitalized, or costs (such as rewards or posters) associated with retrieving lost animals. Some policies also include travel cancellation coverage if owners must remain with pets who need urgent treatment or are dying.

Source

Insurance is some thing for risk management mainly used for managing risk and for contingent loss.Now comming to the point insurance rate is the thing used to get the amont called as premium amount that should be charged for actually applying for insurance.
Now there are certain rules that share characteristics to apply for insurance.

ONE:A LARGE NUMBER OF HOMOGENEOUS EXPOSURE UNITS:
This is for individual members of very large classes like automobiles insurance and is covers lot for countries like united states and london and many more.

TWO:DEFINITE LOSS:
This means that there should be loss that is subjected to insurance,and it should follow the properties of insurance.these types include death of a individual under sertain conditions not all deaths are allowed like susides and all.

THREE:ACCEDENTAL LOSS:
The accidental loss in which the clame should fortuitous , or it should be off your control to clame the insurance this should also cover the loss that is caused and alsoneed to adjust the things and supply the capital needed to cover the costs.and the costs depend on the types of loss that is going to occur

FOUR:LARGE LOSS:As you can see from the heading itself this insurance relies to those who are or may be expecting major losses.hear insurance premium needs to needs to cover the expected cause of losses and supply the capital needed for the insurance.

FIVE: AFFORDABLE PREMIUM:
This comes into existance when the likeleness of an event that is insured is so high or the cost of the event is huge then the relative premium is also huge.It is not likely that any one will buy insurance.

SIX:CALCULATBLE LOSS:There are few elements that are or can be estimated by one that must be at least estimable,if cannot be foramlly calulable the propability of loss and the attendant cost.This can be estimated by any body.Hear a proof of loss associated with the clame presented under the policy.

SEVEN:LIMITED RISK OF CATASTROPHICICALLY LARGE LOSSES:
hear in this case risk level is oftedn aggregate and the same type of loss can happen to many individuals in the field and the ability of the insurers becomes constrained,not by the factors surrounding the individuals,but the factors holding the sum of the polacy holders.
now comming to the types of insurance.
TYPES OF INSURANCE:

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Travel insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses, financial and other losses incurred while traveling, either within one's own country, or internationally.

Travel insurance can usually be arranged at the time of booking of a trip to cover exactly the duration of that trip or a more extensive, continuous insurance can be purchased from (most often) travel insurance companies, travel agents or directly from travel suppliers such as cruiselines or tour operators. However, travel insurance purchased from travel suppliers tends to be less inclusive than insurance offered by insurance companies.

Travel insurance often offers coverage for a variety of travelers. Student travel, business travel, leisure travel, adventure travel, cruise travel, and international travel are all various options that can be insured.

The most common risks that are covered by travel insurance are:

Medical expenses
Emergency evacuation/repatriation
Overseas funeral expenses
Accidental death, injury or disablement benefit
Cancellation
Curtailment
Delayed departure
Loss, theft or damage to personal possessions and money (including travel documents)
Delayed baggage (and emergency replacement of essential items)
Legal assistance
Personal liability and rental car damage excess
Some travel policies will also provide cover for additional costs, although these vary widely between providers.

And in addition, often separate insurance can be purchased for specific costs such as:

pre-existing medical conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes)
high risk sports (e.g. skiing, scuba-diving)
travel to high risk countries (e.g. due to war or natural disasters or acts of terrorism)
Common Exclusions:

pre-existing medical conditions
war or terrorism - but some plans may cover this risk
pregnancy related expenses
injury or illness caused by alcohol or drug use
Travel insurance can also provide helpful services, often 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that can include concierge services and emergency travel assistance.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Self insurance is a risk management method whereby an eligible risk is retained, but a calculated amount of money is set aside to compensate for the potential future loss. The amount is calculated using actuarial and insurance information and the law of large numbers so that the amount set aside (similar to an insurance premium) is enough to cover the future uncertain loss. Self insurance is similar to insurance in concept, but involves either the payment of a self-insurance premium to a captive insurance company, cell captive or rent-a-captive insurer, or making an on-balance sheet provision and not paying a premium to an insurer at all.

Self insurance is possible for any insurable risk, meaning a risk that is predictable and measurable enough in the aggregate to be able to estimate the amount that needs to be set aside to pay for future uncertain probable losses. For a risk to be insurable, it must represent a future, uncertain event over which the insured has no control. Other characteristics which assist in making a risk self-insurable include the ability to price or rate the risk. If the insurable event is one in a large number of similar risks, the aggregate risk can be estimated according to the law of large numbers and the probability of that event occurring in the future can be quantified. Normally, catastrophic risks are not self-insured as they are highly unpredictable and high in loss-value. Catastrophic risks are normally underwritten by the re-insurance or wholesale insurance market. Any risk where the potential loss is so large that no one could afford to pay the market premium required to provide cover would not be commercially insurable. An example is that earthquakes cannot be fully insured against because an earthquake can cause more damage than any insurer or the combined insurance market is willing to risk in total assets. However, captives and self-insurance programmes are often designed to provide for a part of a risk that would be catastrophic to the business concerned, or catastrophic risks that are often commercially uninsurable, such as tobacco litigation liability risks.

Full or exclusive self-insurance is rare, as a combination of self-insurance and commercial insurance usually provides the best cover for the self-insured. Usually the predictable losses of the risk are retained and self-insured, forming a first or "working" layer of cover, and a stop-loss or stop-gap policy is purchased from the commercial insurance market. The commercial insurance market then pays for losses above the specified self-insurance limit per loss, thereby stopping the cost of losses to the self-insured above the retained values. Effectively the losses paid for by the insured before the stop-loss policy pays becomes the deductible layer. Depending on the level at which risks are stopped, commercial insurance cover should become less and less expensive the further away the commercial insurer moves from the working layer of paying claims each year.

A popular and cost-effective form of self-insurance can be found in various types of employee benefits insurance offered by corporations with many thousands of employees. Employee benefits self-insurance programmes are often underwritten by captive insurance companies formed, owned and managed by corporations in both on-shore and off-shore captive domiciles. The reason for this is that hundreds of thousands of employees constitute a large enough risk pool for the corporation to be able to predict and price the risk of losses from benefits offered to employees. In this way, corporations are able to manage their financial exposure to the self-insurance programme without buying commercial insurance.

The idea of self insurance is that by retaining, calculating risks, and paying the resulting claims or losses from captive or on-balance sheet financial provisions, the overall process is cheaper than buying commercial insurance from a commercial insurance company. Cost savings to the self-insured entity are usually realised through the elimination of the carrying-costs that commercial insurers are obliged to pass on to their insurance consumers.

Another example of this is a self-funded health care plan under which a smaller employer helps finance the health care costs of its employees by contracting with a Third Party Administrator (TPA) to administer many aspects of the plan. The employer may also contract with a reinsurer to pay amounts in excess of a certain threshold, in order to share the risk for potential catastrophic claims experience.

Self insurance is less readily available for individuals because individuals rarely gain sufficient cost-savings on small premiums to justify specialised self-insurance captives, interventions and negotiations with insurers. However, many small businesses are now using self-insurance mechanisms such as cell captives and rent-a-captives with considerable success.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Functions of reinsurance
There are many reasons why an insurance company would choose to reinsure as part of its responsibility to manage a portfolio of risks for the benefit of its policyholders and investors :


[edit] Risk transfer
The main use of any insurer that might practice reinsurance is to allow the company to assume greater individual risks than its size would otherwise allow, and to protect a company against losses. Reinsurance allows an insurance company to offer higher limits of protection to a policyholder than its own assets would allow. For example, if the principal insurance company can write only $10 million in limits on any given policy, it can reinsure (or cede) the amount of the limits in excess of $10 million.

Reinsurance’s highly refined uses in recent years include applications where reinsurance was used as part of a carefully planned hedge strategy.


[edit] Income smoothing
Reinsurance can help to make an insurance company’s results more predictable by absorbing larger losses and reducing the amount of capital needed to provide coverage.


[edit] Surplus relief
An insurance company's writings are limited by its balance sheet (this test is known as the solvency margin). When that limit is reached, an insurer can either stop writing new business, increase its capital or buy "surplus relief" reinsurance. The latter is usually done on a quota share basis and is an efficient way of not having to turn clients away or raise additional capital.


[edit] Arbitrage
The insurance company may be motivated by arbitrage in purchasing reinsurance coverage at a lower rate than what they charge the insured for the underlying risk.


[edit] Types of reinsurance

[edit] Proportional
Proportional reinsurance (the types of which are quota share & surplus reinsurance) involves one or more reinsurers taking a stated percent share of each policy that an insurer produces ("writes"). This means that the reinsurer will receive that stated percentage of each dollar of premiums and will pay that percentage of each dollar of losses. In addition, the reinsurer will allow a "ceding commission" to the insurer to compensate the insurer for the costs of writing and administering the business (agents' commissions, modeling, paperwork, etc.).

The insurer may seek such coverage for several reasons. First, the insurer may not have sufficient capital to prudently retain all of the exposure that it is capable of producing. For example, it may only be able to offer $1 million in coverage, but by purchasing proportional reinsurance it might double or triple that limit. Premiums and losses are then shared on a pro rata basis. For example, an insurance company might purchase a 50% quota share treaty; in this case they would share half of all premium and losses with the reinsurer. In a 75% quota share, they would share (cede) 3/4 of all premiums and losses.

The other form of proportional reinsurance is surplus share or surplus of line treaty. In this case, a retained “line” is defined as the ceding company's retention - say $100,000. In a 9 line surplus treaty the reinsurer would then accept up to $900,000 (9 lines). So if the insurance company issues a policy for $100,000, they would keep all of the premiums and losses from that policy. If they issue a $200,000 policy, they would give (cede) half of the premiums and losses to the reinsurer (1 line each). The maximum underwriting capacity of the cedant would be $ 1,000,000 in this example. Surplus treaties are also known as variable quota shares.


[edit] Non-proportional
Non-proportional reinsurance only responds if the loss suffered by the insurer exceeds a certain amount, called the retention or priority. An example of this form of reinsurance is where the insurer is prepared to accept a loss of $1 million for any loss which may occur and purchases a layer of reinsurance of $4m in excess of $1 million - if a loss of $3 million occurs the insurer pays the $3 million to the insured, and then recovers $2 million from its reinsurer(s). In this example, the reinsured will retain any loss exceeding $5 million unless they have purchased a further excess layer (second layer) of say $10 million excess of $5 million. The main forms of non-proportional reinsurance are excess of loss and stop loss. Excess of loss reinsurance can have three forms - "Per Risk XL" (Working XL), "Per Occurrence or Per Event XL" (Catastrophe or Cat XL), and "Aggregate XL". In per risk, the cedant’s insurance policy limits are greater than the reinsurance retention. For example, an insurance company might insure commercial property risks with policy limits up to $10 million and then buy per risk reinsurance of $5 million in excess of $5 million. In this case a loss of $6 million on that policy will result in the recovery of $1 million from the reinsurer. In catastrophe excess of loss, the cedant’s per risk retention is usually less than the cat reinsurance retention (this is not important as these contracts usually contain a 2 risk warranty i.e. they are designed to protect the reinsured against catastrophic events that involve more than 1 policy). For example, an insurance company issues homeowner's policies with limits of up to $500,000 and then buys catastrophe reinsurance of $22,000,000 in excess of $3,000,000. In that case, the insurance company would only recover from reinsurers in the event of multiple policy losses in one event (i.e., hurricane, earthquake, flood, etc.). Aggregate XL afford a frequency protection to the reinsured. For instance if the company retains $1m net any one vessel, the cover $10m in the aggregate excess $5m in the aggregate would equate to 10 total losses in excess of 5 total losses (or more partial losses). Aggregate covers can also be linked to the cedant's gross premium income during a 12 month period, with limit and deductible expressed as percentages and amounts. Such covers are then known as "Stop Loss" or annual aggregate XL.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Insurance companies may be classified as

Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.
Non-life or general insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance.
General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories.

Standard Lines
Excess Lines
In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year.

In the United States, standard line insurance companies are your "main stream" insurers. These are the companies that typically insure your auto, home or business. They use pattern or "cookie-cutter" policies without variation from one person to the next. They usually have lower premiums than excess lines and can sell directly to individuals. They are regulated by state laws that can restrict the amount they can charge for insurance policies.

Excess line insurance companies (aka Excess and Surplus) typically insure risks not covered by the standard lines market. They are broadly referred as being all insurance placed with non-admitted insurers. Non-admitted insurers are not licensed in the states where the risks are located. These companies have more flexibility and can react faster than standard insurance companies because they don't have the same regulations as standard insurance companies. State laws generally require insurance placed with surplus line agents and brokers to not be available through standard licensed insurers.

Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or stock companies. This is more of a traditional distinction as true mutual companies are becoming rare. Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while stockholders (who may or may not own policies) own stock insurance companies. Other possible forms for an insurance company include reciprocals, in which policyholders 'reciprocate' in sharing risks, and Lloyds organizations.

Insurance companies are rated by various agencies such as A. M. Best. The ratings include the company's financial strength, which measures its ability to pay claims. It also rates financial instruments issued by the insurance company, such as bonds, notes, and securitization products.

Reinsurance companies are insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies, allowing them to reduce their risks and protect themselves from very large losses. The reinsurance market is dominated by a few very large companies, with huge reserves. A reinsurer may also be a direct writer of insurance risks as well.

Captive insurance companies may be defined as limited-purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers. In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100 percent subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices.

The types of risk that a captive can underwrite for their parents include property damage, public and products liability, professional indemnity, employee benefits, employers liability, motor and medical aid expenses. The captive's exposure to such risks may be limited by the use of reinsurance.

Captives are becoming an increasingly important component of the risk management and risk financing strategy of their parent. This can be understood against the following background:

heavy and increasing premium costs in almost every line of coverage;
difficulties in insuring certain types of fortuitous risk;
differential coverage standards in various parts of the world;
rating structures which reflect market trends rather than individual loss experience;
insufficient credit for deductibles and/or loss control efforts.
There are also companies known as 'insurance consultants'. Like a mortgage broker, these companies are paid a fee by the customer to shop around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies .

Similar to an insurance consultant, an 'insurance broker' also shops around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. However, with insurance brokers, the fee is usually paid in the form of commission from the insurer that is selected rather than directly from the client.

Neither insurance consultants nor insurance brokers are insurance companies and no risks are transferred to them in insurance transactions.

Third party administrators are companies that perform underwriting and sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies. These companies often have special expertise that the insurance companies do not have.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Protected Self-Insurance is an alternative risk financing mechanism in which an organization retains the mathematically calculated cost of risk within the organization and transfers the catastrophic risk with specific and aggregate limits to an Insurer so the maximum total cost of the program is known. A properly designed and underwritten Protected Self-Insurance Program reduces and stabilizes the cost of insurance and provides valuable risk management information.
Retrospectively Rated Insurance is a method of establishing a premium on large commercial accounts. The final premium is based on the insured's actual loss experience during the policy term, sometimes subject to a minimum and maximum premium, with the final premium determined by a formula. Under this plan, the current year's premium is based partially (or wholly) on the current year's losses, although the premium adjustments may take months or years beyond the current year's expiration date. The rating formula is guaranteed in the insurance contract. Formula: retrospective premium = converted loss + basic premium × tax multiplier. Numerous variations of this formula have been developed and are in use.
Fraternal insurance is provided on a cooperative basis by fraternal benefit societies or other social organizations.[9]
Formal self insurance is the deliberate decision to pay for otherwise insurable losses out of one's own money. This can be done on a formal basis by establishing a separate fund into which funds are deposited on a periodic basis, or by simply forgoing the purchase of available insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Self insurance is usually used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses. Such losses, if covered by conventional insurance, mean having to pay a premium that includes loadings for the company's general expenses, cost of putting the policy on the books, acquisition expenses, premium taxes, and contingencies. While this is true for all insurance, for small, frequent losses the transaction costs may exceed the benefit of volatility reduction that insurance otherwise affords.
No-fault insurance is a type of insurance policy (typically automobile insurance) where insureds are indemnified by their own insurer regardless of fault in the incident.
Reinsurance is a type of insurance purchased by insurance companies or self-insured employers to protect against unexpected losses. Financial reinsurance is a form of reinsurance that is primary used for capital management rather than to transfer insurance risk.
Stop-loss insurance provides protection against catastrophic or unpredictable losses. It is purchased by organizations who do not want to assume 100% of the liability for losses arising from the plans. Under a stop-loss policy, the insurance company becomes liable for losses that exceed certain limits called deductibles.
Social insurance can be many things to many people in many countries. But a summary of its essence is that it is a collection of insurance coverages (including components of life insurance, disability income insurance, unemployment insurance, health insurance, and others), plus retirement savings, that mandates participation by all citizens. By forcing everyone in society to be a policyholder and pay premiums, it ensures that everyone can become a claimant when or if he/she needs to. Along the way this inevitably becomes related to other concepts such as the justice system and the welfare state. This is a large, complicated topic that engenders tremendous debate, which can be further studied in the following articles (and others):
Depending on the jurisdiction, the insurance premium can be either mandated by the government or determined by the insurance company in accordance to a framework of regulations set by the government. Often, the insurer will have more freedom to set the price on physical damage coverages than on mandatory liability coverages.

When the premium is not mandated by the government, it is usually derived from the calculations of an actuary based on statistical data. The premium can vary depending on many factors that are believed to have an impact on the expected cost of future claims.[4] Those factors can include the car characteristics, the coverage selected (deductible, limit, covered perils), the profile of the driver (age, gender, driving history) and the usage of the car (commute to work or not, predicted annual distance driven).[5][6]


[edit] Gender
Men average more miles driven per year than women do, and have a proportionally higher accident involvement at all ages. Insurance companies cite women's lower accident involvement in keeping the youth surcharge lower for young women drivers than for their male counterparts, but adult rates are generally unisex. Reference to the lower rate for young women as "the women's discount" has caused confusion that was evident in news reports on a recently defeated EC proposal to make it illegal to consider gender in assessing insurance premiums.[7] Ending the discount would have made no difference to most women's premiums.


[edit] Age
Teenage drivers who have no driving record will have higher car insurance premiums. However young drivers are often offered discounts if they undertake further driver training on recognised courses, such as the Pass Plus scheme in the UK. In the U.S. many insurers offer a good grade discount to students with a good academic record and resident student discounts to those who live away from home. Generally insurance premiums tend to become lower at the age of 25. Senior drivers are often eligible for retirement discounts reflecting lower average miles driven by this age group.


[edit] Distance
Some car insurance plans do not differentiate in regard to how much the car is used. However, methods of differentiation would include:


[edit] Reasonable estimation
Several car insurance plans rely on a reasonable estimation of the average annual distance expected to be driven which is provided by the insured. This discount benefits drivers who drive their cars infrequently but has no actuarial value since it is unverified.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Credit insurance repays some or all of a loan back when certain things happen to the borrower such as unemployment, disability, or death. Mortgage insurance is a form of credit insurance, although the name credit insurance more often is used to refer to policies that cover other kinds of debt.
Mortgage insurance insures the lender against default by the borrower.

Defense Base Act Workers' compensation or DBA Insurance insurance provides coverage for civilian workers hired by the government to perform contracts outside the US and Canada. DBA is required for all US citizens, US residents, US Green Card holders, and all employees or subcontractors hired on overseas government contracts. Depending on the country, Foreign Nationals must also be covered under DBA. This coverage typically includes expenses related to medical treatment and loss of wages, as well as disability and death benefits.
Expatriate insurance provides individuals and organizations operating outside of their home country with protection for automobiles, property, health, liability and business pursuits.
Financial loss insurance protects individuals and companies against various financial risks. For example, a business might purchase cover to protect it from loss of sales if a fire in a factory prevented it from carrying out its business for a time. Insurance might also cover the failure of a creditor to pay money it owes to the insured. This type of insurance is frequently referred to as "business interruption insurance." Fidelity bonds and surety bonds are included in this category, although these products provide a benefit to a third party (the "obligee") in the event the insured party (usually referred to as the "obligor") fails to perform its obligations under a contract with the obligee.
Kidnap and ransom insurance
Locked funds insurance is a little-known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorized parties. In special cases, a government may authorize its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. The terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. Therefore it is used only in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.
Nuclear incident insurance covers damages resulting from an incident involving radioactive materials and is generally arranged at the national level. (For the United States, see the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act.)
Pet insurance insures pets against accidents and illnesses - some companies cover routine/wellness care and burial, as well.
Pollution Insurance. A first-party coverage for contamination of insured property either by external or on-site sources. Coverage for liability to third parties arising from contamination of air, water, or land due to the sudden and accidental release of hazardous materials from the insured site. The policy usually covers the costs of cleanup and may include coverage for releases from underground storage tanks. Intentional acts are specifically excluded.
Purchase insurance is aimed at providing protection on the products people purchase. Purchase insurance can cover individual purchase protection, warranties, guarantees, care plans and even mobile phone insurance. Such insurance is normally very limited in the scope of problems that are covered by the policy.
Title insurance provides a guarantee that title to real property is vested in the purchaser and/or mortgagee, free and clear of liens or encumbrances. It is usually issued in conjunction with a search of the public records performed at the time of a real estate transaction.
Travel insurance is an insurance cover taken by those who travel abroad, which covers certain losses such as medical expenses, lost of personal belongings, travel delay, personal liabilities, etc.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Liability insurance is a very broad superset that covers legal claims against the insured. Many types of insurance include an aspect of liability coverage. For example, a homeowner's insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which protects the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property; automobile insurance also includes an aspect of liability insurance that indemnifies against the harm that a crashing car can cause to others' lives, health, or property. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of willful or intentional acts by the insured.

Environmental liability insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
Errors and omissions insurance: See "Professional liability insurance" under "Liability insurance".
Professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, protects professional practitioners such as architects, lawyers, doctors, and accountants against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called malpractice insurance. Notaries public may take out errors and omissions insurance (E&O). Other potential E&O policyholders include, for example, real estate brokers, home inspectors, appraisers, and website developers.
Directors and officers liability insurance protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from mistakes incurred by directors and officers for which they are liable. In the industry, it is usually called "D&O" for short.
Prize indemnity insurance protects the insured from giving away a large prize at a specific event. Examples would include offering prizes to contestants who can make a half-court shot at a basketball game, or a hole-in-one at a golf tournament.

Product
Product liability insurance is not a compulsory class of insurance in all countries, but legislation such as the UK. Consumer Protection Act 1987 and the EC Directive on Product Liability (25/7/85) require those manufacturing or supplying goods to carry some form of product liability insurance, usually as part of a combined liability policy. The scale of potential liability is illustrated by cases such as those involving Mercedes-Benz for unstable vehicles and Perrier for benzene contamination, but the full list covers pharmaceuticals and medical devices, asbestos, tobacco, recreational equipment, mechanical and electrical products, chemicals and pesticides, agricultural products and equipment, food contamination, and all other major product classes.

Employers
New policies have been developed to cover any liability that might be imposed on an employer if an employee is injured in the course of his or her employment. In many states, the insurers are prohibited from including conditions within their policies that seek to impose any unreasonable conditions precedent to liability, or require the insured either to take reasonable precautions or to comply with current legislation and regulations. In those countries where such insurance is not compulsory, smaller organizations are often driven into bankruptcy when faced by claims not covered by insurance.

Many of the public and product liability risks are often covered together under a general liability (or "umbrella") policy. These risks may include bodily injury or property damage caused by direct or indirect actions of the insured.

INSURANCE HOME PAGE
Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.

Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.

Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured's vehicle itself. Throughout the United States auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no-fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability to sue for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits. Credit card companies insure against damage on rented cars.
Driving School Insurance insurance provides cover for any authorized driver whilst under going tuition, cover also unlike other motor policies provides cover for instructor liability where both the pupil and driving instructor are both equally liable in the event of a claim.
Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductible, hull wear and liability risks.
Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.
Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."[8]
Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home.
A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
Fire insurance: See "Property insurance".
Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the US do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.
Hazard insurance: See "Property insurance".
Home insurance or homeowners insurance: See "Property insurance".
Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of the cargo that may be on them. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
Political risk insurance is a form of casualty insurance that can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political conditions will result in a loss.
Surety bond insurance is a three party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal.
Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
Volcano insurance is an insurance that covers volcano damage in Hawaii.
Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones.