Fears Regarding Life Insurance After The London Bombings Disaster

 Fears Regarding Life Insurance After The London Bombings Disaster

In the wake of the London tube train and bus bombings, a number of UK insurance companies took steps to reassure victims that their claims would be handled "quickly and sympathetically." Concerns that many blast victims would not be covered by their current health and life insurance coverage led to this demand for reassurance. In addition to losing a loved one, this would put the families of the bombing victims in a difficult financial situation since life insurance companies would not honor their policies.

Axa-PPP, Norwich Union, and Standard Life all declared that their policyholders will be insured for events on July 7. According to Standard Life, the organization did not want to "cause more distress" for the victims and their relatives.

Reuters has been informed that certain companies, including Churchill, Endsleigh, and Direct Line, may exhibit empathy towards individuals who have sustained injuries or had their vacation plans interfered with. Nevertheless, these insurers have not declared full coverage.

Churchill declared that it would "provide cancellation and personal accident coverage in the event that clients sustain physical harm while traveling for their vacation...Additionally, we will make it easier for any of our clients to come home if they are injured or lose a close member while they are on vacation.Missed departures resulting from delays in downtown London will also receive considerate treatment. This is true even though Churchill incorporated exclusions for "acts of terrorism" into their rules. This implies that plans will typically not reimburse losses incurred as a result of terrorist activity. This is only one of many generic exclusion provisions that are frequently added to numerous plans to avoid paying out for specific, potentially expensive, circumstances for the insurers.

Despite the Terrorism Insurance Program's establishment in 1993, which offers reinsurance cover to most U.K. insurers, the terrorism exclusion is still frequently included in policies and is anticipated to cover a sizable amount of insurance claims coming from the July 7th attacks. A mutual reinsurance pool will cover losses exceeding the 75 million pounds that the insurance industry as a whole is responsible for per terrorist "event" under the program. The UK Treasury will step in to cover the remaining expenditures if the costs exceed the monies made available through the pool.

Workers in the emergency services are another category that has been brought to light as potentially being excluded by this rule. Representatives from Unison have cautioned that if emergency personnel are hurt or killed, this exclusion clause may leave them and their families completely uninsured. The potential loss of income from an injury combined with the exclusion of mortgage cover could make it difficult for the affected workers' families to make future mortgage payments. This would prove especially disastrous for families with personal insurance policies that cover accidents and provide mortgage protection.

Some Somerset fire crews have already threatened to walk off the job because they believe they might not be covered by insurance if they were hurt responding to a terrorist assault. Although this action has now been canceled, many emergency personnel are still understandably concerned for their own safety as well as the safety of their families in the event that they are injured while responding to a catastrophic catastrophe like the ones that have already occurred in London.

Unison (http://www.unison.org.uk/) urged other insurers to follow suit by pointing out that its own insurance policy, which is available to members, offers complete coverage.

"We are asking all insurance companies to look at their policies and if they have such exclusion clauses to drop them," Unison's Sam Oestreicher stated.

In an effort to reassure emergency personnel and other clients, the Association of British Insurers has stated that "the majority of insurance types are readily available without terrorism exclusions." The majority of personal insurance policies, including life, home, and comprehensive auto insurance, provide coverage for terrorist incident losses as a basic feature.

Nowadays, consumers can search through all available insurance policies and find guides to assist in their decision-making process through the abundance of online comparison sites like Moneynet (http://www.moneynet.co.uk) and Moneyfacts. Nevertheless, it is more important than ever for consumers to check with their providers to make sure they are not left unprotected.

The insurance industry has acknowledged the existence of exclusion clauses in certain contracts and is recommending policyholders to carefully review the fine print or get in touch with their insurance provider or broker to ascertain their coverage levels.

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