What you don't know about how your insurance works

Experiencing a calamity only to find you do not have the insurance coverage you thought you had is a problem for anyone at any age. It can be a greater problem for a retired person of older age. Generally speaking, older people have less ability to recoup their losses as they have less time to live and/or their nest egg isn't large enough to cover the cost of the misfortune. Insurance is difficult to understand. Although paper with print on it is mailed to the policyholder, how many truly understand what it says and how it works? I suspect not many. This is learned when the policyholder tries to use their insurance by submitting a claim to cover the cost of a major home repair, car accident, death or some other mishap for which a person is liable. In speaking with an attorney, Ryan Garman, and an insurance agent, Brent Gardner, I learned of common real-life examples of mistakes made with insurance policies: • Life insurance — A man purchased a life insurance policy as a newlywed. Later he divorced and remarried. When he died, his ex-wife remained the beneficiary of his life insurance policy. His wife, at the time of death, did not receive any money from his life insurance policy. • Auto policy — The person named on the title of the car has to match the name of the person on the auto policy. For example, a mother gave her son her old car when she purchased a new car. He drove it without changing the title of the car to his name. The car insurance was on the mother's policy without the son being named. The title remained in her name. He drove the car. When he had the accident, he learned how insurance worked. He was not insured to drive his car. • Homeowners policy — The home is in a trust, and the home is insured. But the homeowner's policy is not in a trust. From a liability standpoint, if there is a lawsuit, the trust — or owner of the home — is not covered. On Thursday, Serving Our Seniors is hosting a consumer beware forum, What You Don't Know About Your Insurance: Home, Auto, Life, Umbrella. Note: Health insurance will not be discussed. It takes place from 1:30-3 p.m., at the Erie County Senior Center, 620 E. Water St., Sandusky. The panelists are Garman, an attorney with Flynn, Py & Kruse; and Gardner, an insurance agent with Gardner-Strayer Insurance Agency. Both businesses are located in Sandusky. Seating is limited to 70 people. Serving Our Seniors invites anyone age 60 and older to attend. To ensure there is seating, contact Serving Our Seniors 419-624-1856 or mail@servingourseniors.org before Thursday. Tell us your name, phone number and the name of this event. If the event is canceled, you will be notified by phone.