I like the article and agree that ‘wording’ is so important, to both the insured AND the insurer, BUT… with that said, it’s also CONFUSING to all parties, sometimes even the insurer themselves. That’s why lawyers are paid so highly to decipher the insurer’s own policy!
My concern, from an agency perspective, is that most policyholders don’t ‘read’ their policy for two main reason – [First] there is too much confusion between what’s insured, and what’s excluded… because the exclusions themselves have ‘exceptions’ …etc., etc. – three paragraphs in you are already over your head trying to understand what you just read – was it an exclusion? or was it covered? [Second] the shear number of ‘disclosures’ attached to the front of any policy mailing, or emailed .pdf copy, is enough to distract the policyholder from continuing to turn page after page of minutiae, to even get to the Declarations page!
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mi·nu·ti·ae
məˈn(y)o͞oSHēˌē,məˈn(y)o͞oSHēˌī/Submit
noun
the small, precise, or trivial details of something.
“the minutiae of everyday life”
synonyms: details, niceties, finer points, particulars, trivia, trivialities
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William, thanks for your comments. I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier.
I agree. Living in Florida, we have a series of disclosures that end up on homeowners’ policies. They even distracted me from reading my policy.
When it comes to policy language, that’s a harder one. I’ve always cautioned people about how they try to read policies. I like to tell people it’s kind of like reading a choose your own adventure book (remember those?), rather than a normal book. This is one of those areas where an agent can provide additional value to their customers by helping them wade through those exclusions and exceptions to exclusions and definitions, etc.
Great comment!
I’ve always found absolute to be an interesting word, that and claim, keep me on my toes!
Janis, thanks for that comment. My apologies for missing that it came in. Those are great (and sometimes misleading) words!
I like the article and agree that ‘wording’ is so important, to both the insured AND the insurer, BUT… with that said, it’s also CONFUSING to all parties, sometimes even the insurer themselves. That’s why lawyers are paid so highly to decipher the insurer’s own policy!
My concern, from an agency perspective, is that most policyholders don’t ‘read’ their policy for two main reason – [First] there is too much confusion between what’s insured, and what’s excluded… because the exclusions themselves have ‘exceptions’ …etc., etc. – three paragraphs in you are already over your head trying to understand what you just read – was it an exclusion? or was it covered? [Second] the shear number of ‘disclosures’ attached to the front of any policy mailing, or emailed .pdf copy, is enough to distract the policyholder from continuing to turn page after page of minutiae, to even get to the Declarations page!
———————————————–
mi·nu·ti·ae
məˈn(y)o͞oSHēˌē,məˈn(y)o͞oSHēˌī/Submit
noun
the small, precise, or trivial details of something.
“the minutiae of everyday life”
synonyms: details, niceties, finer points, particulars, trivia, trivialities
————————————————————
William, thanks for your comments. I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier.
I agree. Living in Florida, we have a series of disclosures that end up on homeowners’ policies. They even distracted me from reading my policy.
When it comes to policy language, that’s a harder one. I’ve always cautioned people about how they try to read policies. I like to tell people it’s kind of like reading a choose your own adventure book (remember those?), rather than a normal book. This is one of those areas where an agent can provide additional value to their customers by helping them wade through those exclusions and exceptions to exclusions and definitions, etc.
Great comment!