Beyond Your House: Additional Coverage Available Through Home Insurance
Admin • July 30, 2019
Home insurance policies are so-named because they offer solid protection for a place of residence, but coverage for a house is hardly the only protection that these policies offer. There are many other coverage options that provide additional protections, which you can get through your home insurance policy.
Personal Property Coverage for Your Belongings
The dwelling coverage in your home policy applies to your home's structure only, and it doesn't protect belongings stored inside your home (or elsewhere on your insured property). Personal property protection is a standard coverage that's included in most home policies, though, and it does offer protection for belongings.
The personal property coverage you have may cover a wide range of belongings, depending on your policy's terms, conditions, and exclusions. Everything from clothes and books to furniture and rugs might be covered. In many cases, even outdoor lawn equipment, your basketball hoop, or patio furniture is protected.
An insurance agent can help you determine exactly what items are covered by your home policy's personal property coverage.
Scheduled Personal Property Coverage for Specific Belongings
While personal property protection extends to a wide range of possessions, there are some items that the coverage commonly limits protection for. Many home insurance policies' personal property coverage, for example, have certain limits on jewelry, firearms, antiques, artwork, and other expensive items.
If you own individual belongings that your home policy's standard personal property doesn't fully protect, a scheduled personal property coverage endorsement can add protection for these belongings.
This type of endorsement works much like your policy's standard personal property coverage; you get paid if the insured belonging is lost or damaged in a covered claim. The endorsement's protection applies to only the specific belongings that are listed (or scheduled), though, so premiums are quite affordable.
Scheduled personal property coverage endorsements normally aren't included in a policy's standard list of protections, but they can be added to almost every home insurance policy.
Additional Living Expense Coverage for Alternative Lodging
Dwelling coverage will pay to repair or rebuild your home if it's damaged or destroyed in a covered incident, but the recovery process following an incident is often lengthy. If a house is fully destroyed or rendered unusable, rebuilding from scratch takes an average of seven months
from the time of authorization to completion. During this time, you need another place to live.
Additional living expense coverage pays for the cost of finding alternative lodging while your home is being repaired or rebuilt after a covered incident. The money is often used to rent another residence until your home is again inhabitable.
Medical Expense Coverage for Others' Healthcare Costs
Medical expense coverage pays other people's healthcare costs if they're injured in an accident that you're responsible for, and it's frequently added to a home insurance policy.
Although most health insurance policies will cover some healthcare costs, not everyone has health insurance and those who do usually have to pay copays and deductibles.
Anyone who's injured because of your actions or negligence might seek compensation from you for their out-of-pocket costs, which is where the protection offered by medical expenses coverage comes in. With the coverage, you wouldn't have to pay any costs (up to your policy's limit) if someone sought compensation for these expenses.
Medical expense coverage can cover a wide range of accidents, including accidents occurring on your property, accidents you cause elsewhere, and dog bites. This last protection is particularly important if you have a dog, for there are about 4.7 million dog bites
each year in the United States and around 800,000 require treatment.
For help selecting home insurance
with the protections that are appropriate for your particular situation, contact S.N. Anthony Inc.
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