Quora Answer: How Do People Shop for Life Insurance?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How do people shop for life insurance?”

Depending on where you are, there should be web sites that allow you to compare between different policies of similar type and coverage.  For policy portfolio, you need to shop around for a good financial services consultant, instead of the policies direct, because, unless you have some experience with finance, there is no way you can do a better job than a good consultant.

In general, most hospitalisation plans have standard coverage for basic claims across the industry.  The fine lines are found in claim procedure, hospitalisation payout and in how quickly your claim is processed.  Before you intend to make a claim, take a look at the schedule of waiting periods for various categories of claims.

For accident plans, you need to look at the area of coverage relative to where you are, and the depth of coverage.  Does it have coverage for hospitalisation benefit, meaning a payout because you are off work?  Does it cover separately for dismemberment and loss of limbs?

For whole life, you need to consider whether the death benefit pays out for accidental death, for suicide, or if there is a waiting period.  You have to consider what constitutes disability in your area.  You have to look at whether it is critical illness or terminal illness coverage, or both.  Terminal illness means you are expected to live weeks, or up to six months, in some cases.  Is the critical illness multiple claims for different categories of severity, such as early and late stage cancer?  What types of critical illnesses are covered?

This is all for base coverage.  There are also tailored plans, or plans specific to a particular condition, or even mental illness.