Do you know what your insurance policies cover?
Most people have lots of insurance. They have policies that cover some or all of the following:
- Home
- Vehicles
- Health care
- Business
- Life
- Computers and other equipment
- Pets
But do you know what your policies actually cover?
Consider the COVID-19 pandemic. Most companies that were forced to close expected their business-interruption insurance to cover losses due to the forced community shutdowns.
However, business interruption insurance only offsets the loss of income when operations stop due to an event listed explicitly in a policy. Pandemics and contagious illnesses weren’t part of most insurance plans. Although, that’s likely to change.
Many homeowner insurance policies don’t cover damage from floods, including rain damage. What’s worse, many policyholders don’t know a lot of essential details listed in their policies like these:
- Coverage exclusions
- Replacement costs
- Actual cash value of their property
- Liability coverage for injuries that occur on their property
The same lack of knowledge and understanding exists for health care coverage and automobile insurance.
Hiring an attorney to help with your claim, regardless of your coverage, can ensure a better chance of receiving compensation for your losses. And if a claim has already been denied, an experienced lawyer has the best chance of achieving a reversal.
Here’s how an attorney can help with your claim process:
- Communicate with your insurer and the defendant’s insurer.
- Obtain the necessary evidence to prove your case.
- Organize your records and bills.
- Communicate with your healthcare providers and others to obtain missing records.
- Work with your doctors, contractors, insurance adjusters, police, etc., to ensure you have all the necessary information to prove damages in your claim.
- Organize and present the evidence to prove liability and damages.
- Negotiate with lien holders on your claim (such as health, disability, or workers’ compensation insurers) to potentially reduce the amount of those liens.
- Negotiate a satisfactory settlement with the insurance adjuster or defense attorney.
Consider hiring an attorney to manage your insurance claim when you have large expenses due to an accident, mother nature or something else. Their experience, negotiation skills and knowledge of laws and procedures could benefit your case and the outcome.
