2012 Apocalypse: What if it all ended tomorrow?

Is there such a thing as 2012 insurance? No one really knows are is actually aware of what will will happen in 2012. As far as anyone can decern there is also no policy that covers a global cataclysm. That is until governments, make a real whole hearted effort to put it into law.

With changing climates and strange things happening to people's lives and property how can you not live with out some insurance of any type?

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured is the person or entity buying the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage, called the premium. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.

With the fate of our future in hand many wonder if Social security Insurance will survive by 2012. Or Hurricane and Torando insurance. The more claims filed it seems the morre companies no longer write. consider what occured to Louisiana and Mississippi because of Hurricane Katrina.

On June 5, 2006, then Commissioner Donelon issued Advisory Letter 06-04 to the approximately 100 companies with homeowners insurance policies in Louisiana. The letter requests their cooperation in extending from one to two years the prescriptive period for policyholders with Hurricane Katrina and/or Rita claims. In most cases, a Louisiana policyholder's right to file suit on a homeowners insurance claim is limited to twelve months.

"Given the unprecedented number of claims following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one year is simply not going to be enough time for many policyholders and insurance companies to work out a settlement that is in the best interest of both," Donelon said. He asked insurers to file with his department on or before August 1, the necessary paperwork to put the extension into effect.

Donelon conducted a month-long, statewide storm awareness tour: "As I talked to policyholders and insurance industry representatives throughout the state, I became certain that extending the prescriptive period is the right thing to do," Donelon said.

Wooley said that he had planned to resign prior to the hurricanes, "but when Katrina hit, we decided we had to try to get through at least the crisis part of it." Wooley said that he had accomplished most of his goals as commissioner prior to the hurricane, the most important of which was restoring the public image of the Department of Insurance.

2012 Earthquake loss estimation will probably be performed in terms of a Damage Ratio (DR) which is a ratio of the earthquake damage dollar amount to total value of a building.

Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake loss.

Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible, which makes this type of insurance useful if the entire home is destroyed, but not useful if the home is merely damaged. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake. Rates may be cheaper for homes made of wood, which withstand earthquakes better than homes made of brick.

As with flood insurance or insurance on damage from a hurricane or other large-scale disasters, insurance companies must be careful when assigning this type of insurance, because an earthquake strong enough to destroy one home will probably destroy dozens of homes in the same area. If one company has written insurance policies on a large number of homes in a particular city, then a devastating earthquake will quickly drain all the company's resources. Insurance companies devote much study and effort toward risk management to avoid such cases.

Earthquake insurance has become a political issue in California, whose residents purchase more earthquake insurance than residents of any other state in the U.S. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, nearly all insurance companies completely stopped writing homeowners' insurance policies altogether in the state, because under California law (the "mandatory offer law"), companies offering homeowners' insurance must also offer earthquake insurance. Eventually the legislature created a "mini policy" that could be sold by any insurer to comply with the mandatory offer law: only earthquake loss due to structural damage need be covered, with a 15% deductible. Claims on personal property losses and "loss of use" are limited. The legislature also created a quasi-public (privately funded, publicly managed) agency called the CEA California Earthquake Authority. Membership in the CEA by insurers is voluntary and member companies satisfy the mandatory offer law by selling the CEA mini policy. Premiums are paid to the insurer, and then pooled in the CEA to cover claims from homeowners with a CEA policy from member insurers. The state of California specifically states that it does not back up CEA earthquake insurance, in the event that claims from a major earthquake were to drain all CEA funds, nor will it cover claims from non-CEA insurers if they were to become insolvent due to earthquake losses.

The government of Japan created the "Japanese Earthquake Reinsurance" scheme in 1966, and the scheme has been revised several times since. Homeowners may buy earthquake insurance from an insurance company as an optional rider to a fire insurance policy. Insurers enrolled in the JER scheme who have to pay earthquake claims to homeowners share the risk among themselves and also the government, through the JER. The government pays a much larger proportion of the claims if a single earthquake causes aggregate damage of over about 1 trillion yen (about US $8.75 billion). The maximum payout in a single year to all JER insurance claim filers is 4.5 trillion yen (about US $39.4 billion); if claims exceed this amount, then the claims are pro-rated among all claimants

Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.

* Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured's vehicle itself. Throughout the United States an auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no-fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability to sue for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits. Credit card companies insure against damage on rented cars.
o Driving School Insurance insurance provides cover for any authorized driver whilst undergoing tuition, cover also unlike other motor policies provides cover for instructor liability where both the pupil and driving instructor are equally liable in the event of a claim.
* Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductibles, hull wear and liability risks.
* Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
* Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
* Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."
* Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home.
* A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
* Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the U.S. do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.
* Home insurance or homeowners' insurance: See "Property insurance".
* Landlord insurance is specifically designed for people who own properties which they rent out. Most house insurance cover in the UK will not be valid if the property is rented out therefore landlords must take out this specialist form of home insurance.
* Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of the cargo that may be on them. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
* Surety bond insurance is a three party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal.
* Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
* Volcano insurance is an insurance that covers volcano damage in Hawaii.
* Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones.

Most state's find insurance coverage so important that they mandate coverage, especially in the case of auto insurance. My home state recently enacted a law that also requires residents to hold their own health insurance. The importance of these two insurances pushed them to the top of our most searched lists.

Shopping for insurance can be difficult because there are so many things to consider. How much do you want to pay? How much protection will your coverage provide? Are you eligible for a discount insurance?

These are the types of questions that run through everyone's head when shopping for insurance. Luckily, you can compare insurance and get online insurance quotes to make your shopping easier. See which insurances AOL Search users are researching most on our top searched list.

Top Searched 2012 Insurance Search:
1. 2012 Health insurance
2. 2012 Auto insurance
3. 2012 Life insurance
4. 2012 Dental insurance
5. 2012 Travel insurance
6. 2012 Pet insurance
7. 2012 Homeowners insurance
8. 2012 Unemployment insurance
9. 2012 Business insurance
10. 2012 Renters insurance

1. A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004. The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
2. Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to the insured, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
3. Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
4. Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
5. Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance. (See the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board standard number 113)
6. Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
7. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurer's appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and re insurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Order on April 1, 1979). The best-known purpose of FEMA is to coordinate the response to a disaster which has occurred in the United States and which overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurred must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. FEMA also provides these services for territories of the United States, such as Puerto Rico. The only exception is when an emergency or disaster occurs on federal property or to a federal asset, for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.

While on-the-ground support of disaster recovery efforts is a major part of FEMA's charter, the agency provides state and local governments with experts in specialized fields and funding for rebuilding efforts and relief funds for infrastructure, in conjunction with the Small Business Administration. FEMA also assists individuals and businesses with low interest loans. In addition to this, FEMA provides funds for training of response personnel throughout the United States and its territories as part of the agency's preparedness effort.

In an article some years ago, The Economist referred to FEMA as "A shadowy agency responsible for the survival of the U.S. Government", but provided few additional details. This comment probably pertains to the lesser-known missions of FEMA's National Continuity Programs Directorate, some details of which are of necessity classified.

FEMA does encourage disaster victims to reduce future losses by considering "taking steps to rebuild safer and smarter", advising them to:

* Take measures to reduce losses in the future;
* Encourage community to participate in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
* Consider buying flood insurance.

Since Hurricane Katrina, some critics have called for FEMA to be removed from the Department of Homeland Security, saying that its position in the department badly hindered the agency's response, and that FEMA is beyond repair. Sen. Joe Lieberman called for Congress to dissolve FEMA and rebuild it from scratch, but within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

A Senate panel has also come to the conclusion that it would be better to abolish FEMA. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who was the leader of an inquiry by the Senate said FEMA was in "shambles and beyond repair". The panel called for a new agency which will be called the National Preparedness and Response Authority if FEMA is abolished. The rest of the Senate panel's recommendations included less dramatic changes, such as creating a Homeland Security Academy, which would better prepare FEMA officials.

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