Let’s face it; emergencies are bitter truths. Throughout our lives, unforeseen expenses creep up and disorient our financial security. And depending on the circumstances, such emergencies might leave you debt-ridden – unless you’ve invested in the best home and family insurance cover.
Sadly, these risks are everywhere: your home can get damaged, you or your loved one could get sick, and your car can get damaged, to name a few.
And while you cannot plan for such eventualities, family and home insurance covers provide a semblance of support that minimizes the financial liability resulting from unprecedented occurrences.
Insurance policies are available for many aspects of life. Broadly, insurance covers are categorized into two:
- Life insurance
- General insurance
These two are further split into specific categories, including motor, health, property/ home, travel, long-term disability, education, and business insurance, among others.
All these insurances are fundamentally important, but no one wants to spend more than they should. Therefore, while there’s no single insurance policy that’ll cover the aspects of your life, the best way to choose the appropriate one should be based on your specific situation.
Factors including your employment, age, lifestyle, children and property play a considerable role.
Nevertheless, simply knowing the different types of insurance covers doesn’t help. Instead, it’s equally important to understand how individual plans work.
Here are 5 best home and family insurance covers you should know:
1. Home Insurance
Buying a home is one of the most significant investments you could ever make. However, many people tend to neglect to secure it.
A house is a single-most important asset that requires utmost security – and this is where Home insurance comes in.
Unlike other covers required by law, this insurance policy is optional. And this simple fact is one of the many reasons why Kenyans neglect purchasing home insurance.
Home insurance plays a critical role in your life since any damage to your house can easily break your bank. Sounds too far-fetched?
Picture this, you own an expensive property where your family lives, you also rent out some apartments within it, and you are just sitting pretty – until that giant tree in the front yard falls on the house, causing severe damage.
Now you will have to consider the cost of repairing such damages and actually fork out cash to tend to the cause. This will eat into your retirement nest egg and your other savings. It will also lead you into debts, significantly affecting your life and family.
If you had home insurance, it’d have paid for it, partially or in whole, and your home would be fixed, repaired, or replaced, sparing you the unexpected emotional turmoil. Such is the importance of property insurance.
What Does Home Insurance Cover?
Many homeowners are usually at a loss regarding what home insurance covers. Well, it largely depends on the provider. Some companies offer, for instance, property insurance and flood and earthquake insurance policies separately.
However, getting the best home and family insurance cover that encompasses everything related to your home is essential.
Home insurance usually covers your house, its contents and domestic workers. But this is dependent on the perils, which include:
- Natural disasters such as fire, lightning, windstorm, or hail
- Vandalism and theft or any malicious mischief
- Damage due to riots or civil commotions
- Vehicle or aircraft damage
- Volcanic eruptions
In some cases, the property insurance coverage will not provide compensation for damage resulting from:
- War, terrorism, nuclear reaction or radiation
- Wilful act or negligence of the Insured or his representatives.
- Consequential loss
- Wear and tear, corrosion, oxidation, deterioration.
- Theft by domestic workers; and others
Before settling on a particular home coverage insurance plan, the bottom line is to ensure that it covers everything of value and what you hold dear. You can always reach out to your provider to better understand your policy and what it doesn’t cover.
2. Medical Insurance
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic made many people realize the importance of a health insurance policy. The high infection rates and costly hospitalization took a toll on many.
Sadly, there’s no telling when such outbreaks occur. Coupled with the hectic lifestyles people lead today, poor nutritional diets and more are necessitating the need for frequent medical attention.
Over the coming years, the demand for healthcare will increase due to the increase in cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and respiratory illnesses. This has already been worsened by the high cost of medical care in Kenya.
According to a study, most Kenyan population is already impoverished by exorbitant out-of-pocket healthcare payments.
These statistics, therefore, stress the importance of having medical care for you and your family. And while at it, find one that covers all the family members under a single plan.
What Does Medical Insurance Cover?
Under the medical insurance cover in Kenya, there are several policies targeting you and your loved ones. The most popular include inpatient covers for hospitalization costs, maternity covers for pregnant women, and outpatient covers for liabilities associated with regular visits to outpatient facilities.
Other health insurance providers offer the best home and family insurance covers with additional policies such as low-cost, medium and high-cost covers.
Under the various policies under your medical insurance, you and your family are covered for any costs of:
- Consultation
- Seeking specialized treatment
- Purchasing medicine
- Laboratory procedures
- Hospitalization (including the number of days)
- Ambulance services
- Hospitalization of a family member
The best part about having medical insurance in Kenya is that you can complement it with mandatory government cover. Plus, you have complete control over who to include in your family insurance policy and what to insure.
Helpful Tip: It is important to remember that not all medical insurance policies cover aspects such as surgery (often offered as a separate cover), pre-existing or chronic conditions, congenital defects, intentional injury, or dental and conditional optics. Find out from your insurer if this is offered under your plan.
3. Life Insurance
Life insurance, like medical insurance, is one of the most important home and family insurance covers you could ever get. In Kenya, the uptake of life insurance has maintained an upward trend since 2015. It totalled 514 billion Kenyan shillings in 2022.
Compared to other insurance policies, it is among the top covers many people prefer – all for a good cause.
Purchasing life insurance is a brilliant way of guaranteeing that your family is protected in the unfortunate event of your date. It ensures that your loved ones receive the continued financial support they require after you die.
Suppose your life insurance policy is active at the time of your death. In that case, your insurer will pay out a lump sum, often referred to as a death benefit, to your beneficiaries, i.e., your spouse, children, or other indicated dependents.
In the meantime, although life insurance works mostly the same way, various companies have their definition of parameters included in their plans. Such differences may include how long the cover will last if the policy contains your investments and whether you can claim some of the funds before your death.
What Does Life Insurance Cover?
Compared to other insurance policies, life insurance covers many expenses. Primarily, this type of policy typically replaces your regular income, helping your family meet the daily or monthly financial obligations, including:
- End-of-life expenses, like funeral and burial expenses
- Mortgage instalments
- School fees and or tuition payments
- Personal loans and credit card bills
- Daily expenses, such as grocery shopping
While life insurance covers many causes of death – natural and accidental causes – some caveats apply, and they may prevent your beneficiaries from claiming the premium benefits. These includes:
- Misrepresentation/omitting vital information about your health
- Homicide (if a beneficiary is responsible or is involved in a victim’s death)
- The suicide clause, voids coverage if a policyholder dies by suicide within a few years of purchasing the policy
- Death while engaging in high-risk activities such as skydiving or bungee jumping
It is, therefore, important to understand the coverage terms of your policy first to understand better everything it covers.
That said since a life insurance policy is a cover you make contributions to until your death, some providers will allow you to use your contributions to manage other expenses while you are alive.
For example, you can borrow against it to pay for your child’s college or to make a down payment for a house.
Helpful Tip: If you borrow against your life insurance, the full debt benefit may not be available when you pass on before paying back the funds.
4. Comprehensive Motor Insurance
Comprehensive insurance is a type of motor vehicle policy that covers the cost of damage to your vehicle resulting from anything other than a collision.
If you and your family own a vehicle, this policy can help pay the damages for any claims resulting from theft, natural disasters, vandalism, or when you hit an animal on the road.
This cover is not mandatory or required by law. However, as an individual, no matter how careful you are, accidents are bound to happen, and wouldn’t it be great to have a plan on how to pay up for the damage costs?
The only instance where a comprehensive cover isn’t an option is when you are leasing or financing a vehicle. The financing company may require you to purchase this cover to compensate for any damages. When you eventually pay off your car, the comprehensive policy becomes optional.
What Does Comprehensive Insurance Coverage Cover?
As aforementioned, comprehensive insurance covers everything that isn’t incurred in a collision. It pays for the following incidences:
- Vehicle theft
- Vandalized car
- Damage to a vehicle as a result of fire
- Natural disasters, including hailstorms, and harsh winds, among others
- Damage resulting from objects falling on your vehicle
- Damage from public disturbances such as riots
- Damage incurred from hitting an animal
- Windshield damage
While comprehensive coverage pays for everything else, it is often bought with liability and collision insurance. As such, it is essential to note that the comprehensive policy does not cover some things. For example, you can’t use it to pay for:
- Any collision damages
- Medical expenses
- Legal costs tied to your incidents/accidents
- Loss of income due to being unable to work after an accident.
- Damage to another vehicle in the case of a collision
- Any property or belongings were stolen from your car.
Whenever you or your family is at fault in an accident, your liability insurance (if you have one) will sometimes cover the repair costs for the other vehicle – including medical care. On the other hand, your collision insurance covers the repairs to your damaged vehicle.
5. Educational Policies
The best gift you can give your children is education. But it is also costly and a long-term commitment. Seeing them through their junior, high school, and university years requires a solid financial plan.
As education costs rise, parents are often left to borrow, which further dents their financial security. Luckily, your child’s educational needs can be met with an educational insurance policy.
An education policy is a type of life insurance that ensures that your children continue pursuing their education in case of an unfavourable situation, such as your demise.
What Do Educational Policies Cover?
Taking out an educational policy allows your child to receive a lump sum cover for university or college tuition when they reach 18. You, as a parent, are the policyholder, whereas your child is the insured.
This policy makes the list of the best home and family insurance covers in Kenya, as it serves as a safety net for your children’s educational needs.
Your child will receive the lump sum amount at maturity or upon an unfortunate event such as your death or an accident that renders you unable to work. This way, your child’s educational continuity is guaranteed.
Better yet, the education policy you choose offers protection and an opportunity for you to save and invest money for your child’s future.
Helpful Tip: It is challenging to figure out what works best for you and your child. However, with the right provider, you can determine how much you want to be insured for, how much, and how frequently you are willing to contribute.
Ready to Choose the Best Home and Family Insurance Cover in Kenya?
Are you looking for the most affordable home insurance in Kenya? Sitiri Home Insurance by Nellions allows you to protect your family and property with the most comprehensive home insurance cover in Kenya.
Sitiri Home Insurance is ideal for homeowners, landlords, and tenants looking for protection against losses or damage to property and liabilities accruing with owning or occupying a residence.
With a comprehensive home care package, this cover offers a wide range of benefits covering your property and its contents. It also covers owners, occupiers, personal liability, work injury, consequential loss, and all other risks.
Sitiri Home Insurance transcends other providers by offering insurance against the loss of phones, jewellery, tablets, laptops, watches, or golf equipment while in use outdoors. Plus, unlike other policies, it protects your home against earthquakes, political risks, and terrorism.
However, Sitiri will not indemnify you in respect of loss, damage or liability directly or indirectly caused by:
- Nuclear reaction, nuclear radiation or radioactive contamination
- The willful act or willful negligence of the Insured or his representatives.
- Deductible / Excess.
- Wear and tear, corrosion, oxidation, deterioration.
- Liability that would not have been attached in the absence of an agreement
- Add cash is excluded.
- Theft by domestic workers
- The mysterious disappearance of items
Ready to get started with Sitiri Home Insurance Cover? Fill out this form or reach out to Nellions Moving and Relocations company today for more information.
