Claims & Disputes
A yearly insurance review across everything
One afternoon covering every policy, catching the gaps that open quietly as circumstances change.
Grace Mbeki
31 articles by Mbeki
Claims & Disputes
Choosing an insurer, not just a price
The policy is a promise to pay in circumstances you cannot predict, and who makes the promise matters as much as what it costs.
Home & Property
Homeowners coverage: the annual check
Construction costs have moved, your contents have changed, and the limits set when you bought the house are almost certainly wrong now.
Auto Insurance
The annual auto policy review
Twenty minutes with the declarations page, once a year, catching the coverage drift that nobody notices otherwise.
Health Insurance
Reading your health plan documents
Three documents describe your coverage, they say different things, and only one of them is the contract.
Claims & Disputes
Public adjusters: what they do and when to hire one
A licensed professional who represents the policyholder rather than the insurer, paid a percentage, useful in some situations and not others.
Home & Property
Valuables, collections and scheduling items
Standard policies cap certain categories at amounts far below what people own, and the fix is specific and inexpensive.
Home & Property
Home security, mitigation and the discounts that follow
Physical improvements that reduce the chance of a claim, several of which also reduce premium enough to pay for themselves.
Health Insurance
Telehealth, and how it is covered
Coverage expanded substantially, then contracted in places, and the rules now differ by plan, by state and by type of service.
Home & Property
Condominium and co-operative insurance
Two policies covering one building, with a boundary between them defined by documents most owners have never read.
Auto Insurance
Shopping auto insurance without losing coverage
Rates vary enormously between insurers for identical drivers, and comparing them properly requires holding the coverage constant.
Health Insurance
Dental and vision coverage, and whether it is worth buying
Two benefits sold as insurance that function more like prepaid discount arrangements, with low caps and a specific arithmetic.
Health Insurance
Preventive care, and why it sometimes generates a bill
A defined set of services must be covered without cost sharing, and the boundary between screening and diagnosis is where charges appear.
Home & Property
Umbrella policies: the cheapest large protection available
Liability coverage above your other policies, priced low because the underlying policies absorb almost everything.
Auto Insurance
Classic, motorcycle, boat and recreational vehicle coverage
Vehicles that do not fit a standard auto policy, and the specialist coverages that handle them properly.
Auto Insurance
Total loss: how a vehicle is valued and how to challenge it
When a car is written off, the settlement is a number produced by a valuation report, and the report can be wrong.
Health Insurance
Health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts
Two tax-advantaged accounts with similar names and very different rules, one of which you can keep forever.
Claims & Disputes
Documenting a claim so the record supports you
Claims are resolved on the file. Building a good file is a skill, and it is mostly about doing dull things consistently.
Home & Property
Home inventories and proving what you owned
After a total loss you will be asked to list everything you owned, from memory, while displaced. Doing it in advance takes an afternoon.
Auto Insurance
Teen drivers and what they do to a policy
The largest premium increase most households experience, with several legitimate ways to reduce it.
Health Insurance
Prescription drug coverage and the formulary
A list, maintained by the insurer, that determines what your medications cost and whether you can get them at all.
Home & Property
Renters insurance, and why nobody buys it
Inexpensive coverage that most tenants do not carry, covering risks most tenants assume are someone else’s.
Auto Insurance
After an accident: the first hour and the next month
What to do at the scene, what to say, and what determines how the claim resolves.
Auto Insurance
How auto insurance rates are actually set
The factors that move your premium, in rough order of weight, including several that have nothing to do with driving.
Health Insurance
Choosing a health plan during open enrollment
A decision made in twenty minutes once a year that determines several thousand dollars of exposure, usually made on premium alone.
Claims & Disputes
How to file a claim so it gets paid
From someone who spent eight years on the other side of the phone: what actually determines whether a claim goes smoothly.
Home & Property
Replacement cost versus actual cash value
The single most consequential distinction in a homeowners policy, decided by a phrase most people never read.
Auto Insurance
Comprehensive, collision and what a deductible really buys
The coverages for your own vehicle, where the right answer depends on the car’s value and your ability to absorb a loss.
Auto Insurance
Liability limits: the number that actually protects you
State minimums were set decades ago and have not kept pace with what a serious accident costs.
Health Insurance
Networks: HMO, PPO, EPO and POS
The network structure determines which doctors you can see and what happens when you see someone else, which is where most large bills originate.
Health Insurance
Deductible, copay, coinsurance, out-of-pocket maximum
Four terms that determine what you pay, defined in every policy and understood by almost nobody until a bill arrives.