Coverage Comparisons

Replacement cost pays to rebuild or replace with new; actual cash value subtracts depreciation first, paying what the item is worth today. The gap can be thousands after a total loss.

Neither is in a standard homeowners policy. Flood covers rising external water (a separate policy); water backup covers water coming up through drains or a sump pump (an endorsement).

Homeowners covers an owner-occupied home; a landlord policy covers a home you rent out (building and your liability, not the tenant's belongings); renters covers a tenant's belongings and liability, not the building.

Collision pays for damage from hitting a car or object; comprehensive pays for non-crash events like theft, fire, hail, vandalism, and animal strikes.

The HOA master policy covers the building and common areas; your HO-6 covers the interior "walls-in," your belongings, upgrades, and personal liability. The HOA bylaws set where one stops and the other starts.

Standard homeowners policies exclude earthquake damage entirely. Quake coverage is a separate policy or endorsement — important in California.

Homeowners caps payouts on categories like jewelry, art, and watches. Scheduling (a floater) itemizes those valuables for full value, usually with no deductible.

For a classic car or boat, an agreed-value policy pays a pre-set amount you and the insurer settle on; a standard actual-cash-value policy depreciates the item, often paying far less.

Raising home or auto limits adds protection on those policies only; an umbrella adds a layer of liability across all of them at once, usually more cost-effectively at high limits.

A business owner's policy bundles general liability with property and business income; general liability alone only covers third-party bodily injury and property damage. People assume a BOP is just GL.

General liability covers physical harm — a slip-and-fall or damaged property; E&O covers financial harm from your professional work, advice, or mistakes.

An umbrella extends limits and can add broader coverage that drops down over several policies; excess simply adds more limit on top of one policy, following its terms.

Commercial auto covers vehicles the business owns; hired & non-owned covers rented vehicles and employees' personal cars used for work.

An occurrence policy covers incidents that happen during the term no matter when the claim is filed; a claims-made policy only responds if the claim is filed while the policy (or its tail) is active.

Workers' comp pays statutory medical and wage benefits regardless of fault; employer's liability defends the business against injury lawsuits that fall outside the no-fault system.

Property covers physical damage to your building and contents; business interruption replaces the income you lose while you can't operate because of that covered damage.

General liability covers your premises and operations; product liability covers harm caused by a product you made, sold, or distributed after it leaves your hands.

Crime/fidelity covers theft by employees and certain fraud; cyber covers data breaches, ransomware, and social-engineering fraud. Which one pays for a tricked wire transfer is a real gray zone.

Property covers items at your fixed location; inland marine covers movable property — tools, equipment, and goods in transit or off-site.

Builders risk covers a structure while it's under construction; commercial property covers a completed building; general liability covers harm to others — three different jobs on one project.

A certificate proves coverage exists; an additional insured is actually granted protection under the policy; a waiver of subrogation gives up the insurer's right to recover from a partner. Contracts often require all three.

Directors & officers covers claims over management decisions; employment practices liability covers claims from employees — discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination.

D&O protects leaders and the entity over governance and business decisions; E&O protects against claims that your professional services were negligent or wrong.

Tech E&O covers a failure in the technology product or service you deliver to clients; cyber covers your own network breach and the data you hold. They overlap but are not the same.

Management liability is the package — typically D&O plus employment practices and fiduciary coverage; D&O is one component of it.

A surety bond is a three-party guarantee that you'll perform an obligation, and you repay the surety if it pays out; insurance protects you against your own losses. A bond is not coverage for you.

Malpractice covers claims arising from clinical or professional care; general liability covers ordinary premises risks like a patient slipping in the waiting room.

Term covers a set number of years with no cash value; whole life is permanent with guaranteed cash value; universal life is permanent with flexible premiums and cash value tied to interest or an index.

Own-occupation pays if you can't do your specific job, even if you could do another; any-occupation only pays if you can't do any job suited to you — a much harder bar.

Short-term bridges weeks to a few months after a brief waiting period; long-term starts later and can pay for years, even to retirement.

Long-term care pays for help with daily living and nursing care; long-term disability replaces income you lose because you cannot work. Similar names, opposite purposes.

Workers' comp covers on-the-job injuries; disability insurance covers illness or injury that happens off the job, which workers' comp will not touch.

Fixed pays a guaranteed rate; variable rises and falls with investments you choose; indexed ties growth to a market index with limits on both gains and losses.

Advantage is an all-in-one private plan with networks and often extra benefits; Medigap keeps Original Medicare and its nationwide access while covering the deductibles and coinsurance it leaves you.

Original Medicare (Parts A & B) is the government program you can pair with separate drug and supplement plans; Advantage (Part C) is a private plan that bundles it all with network rules.

They differ in whether you need referrals and how far your network reaches: HMO is the most restrictive, PPO the most flexible, with EPO and POS in between.

A deductible is what you pay before the plan helps; a copay is a flat fee per service; coinsurance is a percentage you share after the deductible. All three can apply to one visit.

An HSA is yours to keep and roll over, paired with a high-deductible plan; an FSA is employer-run and usually use-it-or-lose-it; an HRA is funded and owned by the employer.

ICHRA and QSEHRA reimburse employees for individual coverage they buy themselves; a group health plan is one policy the employer sponsors for everyone.

In a fully-insured plan the carrier takes the claims risk for a fixed premium; in self- or level-funded plans the employer takes on some of that risk in exchange for potential savings and claims data.