How insurance is priced and what policies really cover: premiums and deductibles, life, health, home and contents, car and travel insurance — including the exclusions people find out about too late.
3 articles in this category, updated regularly.
Premiums, deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximums decide who pays each part of a medical bill. A worked example, plus how public systems with private top-ups differ.
Term life covers a fixed period cheaply; whole life lasts a lifetime and costs far more. How the two are priced, what cash value really is, and how to tell whether you need cover at all.
A premium is your share of a pool's expected losses plus costs and margin. Here is how underwriters price risk, and how to judge the trade-off between a higher deductible and a lower premium.