Term Lookup Archive

This archive exists as a secondary direct-lookup tool while the site migrates toward stronger section-based insurance guides.

Use this page when

  • you already know the exact term you want
  • the term has not been rebuilt into a newer section guide yet
  • you want to compare an older archive page against the new topic-based structure

Start with the main guides when you want the strongest current content

What to expect here

  • some archive pages are still inherited pages that need rewriting
  • some pages will be moved, merged, redirected, or deleted over time
  • the archive remains useful for lookup, but it is no longer the primary structure of the site
Appurtenant Structure
Appurtenant structures are separate buildings or facilities on insured premises, such as garages or sheds, that are covered under specific property policy terms.
Automatic Reinstatement Clause
A clause that restores policy limits or values automatically after certain partial losses without waiting for a full underwriting restart.
Average Semi-Private Rate
The usual semi-private hospital room charge benchmark used in coverage calculations, usually based on region and provider data.
Average Weekly Wage
The wage rate used in many disability and workers compensation calculations to set benefit levels and duration.
Aviation Exclusion
A policy exclusion that removes coverage for specified flight-related injuries or deaths, often for certain classes of aviation activity.
Bailment
A temporary transfer of possession of personal property without transferring ownership.
Bailor
The owner or lawful possessor who entrusts personal property to a bailee.
Basic Limits of Liability
Minimum liability limit amounts that a policy must provide under law, endorsements, or market standards.
Basic Mortality Table
A basic mortality table shows observed ages of death in a population without smoothing or adjustment.
Beneficiary Clause
The policy provision that lets the owner designate who receives benefits and update that designation under contract terms.
Blanket Bond
A fidelity bond that covers all or most employees for losses caused by dishonest acts, unless specifically excluded.
Brokerage Business
The organizational model that sources, advises, and services insurance clients across multiple carriers and products.
Brokerage Department
A structured team within a brokerage that handles quoting, servicing, renewals, compliance, and client support functions.
Builder’s Risk Coverage Forms
Builder’s risk coverage forms protect property under construction by insurers against physical loss, theft, and specific construction-related perils.
Burning Cost Ratio
A loss-to-premium measure used in underwriting to gauge claims severity versus collected revenue in a portfolio.
Business Life and Health Insurance
Business life and health insurance combines personal risk protection for owners or key employees with workforce support goals.
Care, Custody, and Control
Care, custody, and control identifies property for which the insured may not cover liability because it holds only temporary possession.
Cargo Insurance
Cargo insurance protects goods in transit against loss, damage, theft, or delay-related exposure.
Carrier
In insurance, a carrier is the insurer that underwrites and issues policies.
Cash Accumulation Method
The cash accumulation method compares life insurance premiums by accumulating premium differences with an assumed interest rate.
Casualty
Casualty in insurance refers to accidental loss, harm, or damage that can trigger liability and indemnity obligations.
Catastrophe Futures
Catastrophe futures are exchange-traded contracts used to transfer large-scale catastrophe risk exposure.
Ceding Company
The insurer that passes risk to a reinsurer through a reinsurance arrangement.
Choice No-Fault Plan
A choice no-fault plan lets certain drivers elect a no-fault auto-insurance option in which their own policy pays first-party injury benefits after an accident.
Claim
A formal request by an insured party for payment or benefits after a covered loss.
Claim Agent
An insurer representative who manages claim intake, investigation support, and settlement support under policy authority.
Claim Provision
The policy clause that sets out how claims are reported, documented, and resolved.
Class
In insurance, a class is a group of similar risks used to set actuarial assumptions and premiums.
Clear Space Clause
A clear space clause requires certain materials to be kept separate to reduce risk, especially for fire and hazard losses.
Coinsurance
A policy mechanism that sets how insured losses are shared between insurer and policyholder.
Coinsurance Requirement
The minimum coverage amount a policy must carry under a coinsurance clause to avoid reduced claim payment.
Coinsurer
An insurer that participates with other insurers on the same policy and shares part of the risk.
Commercial Blanket Bond
A bond with a single aggregate limit for multiple employee or operational loss exposures.
Commercial Crime Coverage Form
A policy form that defines business crime protections such as employee dishonesty and related losses.
Commercial Insurance Company
A for-profit insurer that provides policies and risk management services to individuals, employees, and organizations.
Commercial Package Policy
A commercial package policy combines multiple commercial coverage parts under one policy structure for a business insured.
Commercial Property Floater
A commercial property floater covers movable business property that may travel or be used at multiple locations, often on a scheduled or blanket basis.
Commissioner's Values
Commissioner's Values are regulator-recognized securities values used in insurance statutory reporting to help measure an insurer's financial position.
Comparative Negligence
A legal rule that allocates fault among the parties to an accident and reduces damages according to each party's share of responsibility.
Completed Operations Insurance
Completed operations insurance covers liability claims arising after a contractor's or business's work has been finished and put to its intended use.
Comprehensive Insurance
Auto physical-damage coverage for losses other than collision, such as theft, fire, vandalism, weather, and falling objects.
Compulsory Insurance
Insurance that law requires, with minimum coverage and payment rules that exist before a loss occurs.
Concurrent Causation
A claim scenario where multiple causes combine to produce one loss event and trigger coverage questions.
Consequential Loss
Secondary losses that follow a covered event, such as business interruption or spoilage from loss of use.
Conservator
A court or regulator-appointed manager of a troubled insurer focused on stabilization and policyholder protection.
Contents
Portable personal property inside an insured premises that is covered separately from the real property.
Contingent Commission
A performance-based reinsurance commission paid when profit or loss criteria are met.
Contingent Liability
A potential obligation that depends on a future event, such as a lawsuit or contract outcome.
Continuation
Coverage that continues when eligibility and enrollment conditions are met, protecting members through policy transitions.
Contributory
In insurance, contributory usually describes a group plan where covered employees pay part of the premium.
Control Provision in Life Insurance: What You Need to Know
Understanding the control provision in life insurance policies, particularly how it provides control to someone other than the insured, usually noted in contracts for underage individuals.
Controlled Insurance
Insurance arranged or administered under structured conditions to maintain policy and service consistency.
Conversion Privilege
A clause allowing a policyholder to convert a policy form without full new underwriting under defined conditions.
Convertible Collision Insurance
An add-on structure that can shift from one collision-related form to another while preserving prior underwriting continuity.
Corridor Deductible
A life insurance concept where surrender value and death benefit move within predefined corridors.
Cost Contract
A provider or payer contract that caps reimbursement at a pre-set reasonable cost.
Countrywide Rates
Standardized premium tables and minimum rates used across broad markets in commercial underwriting manuals.
Countrywide Rules
Common underwriting and rating rules used across classes and territories as a baseline for commercial policy issuance.
Coverage Part
An insuring module inside a policy that defines one block of risk, such as a liability or property coverage section.
Coverage Trigger
The policy event that starts coverage for a claim, such as when an injury occurs or when a claim is reported.
Covered Loss
A loss or damage that meets a policy’s coverage terms and is payable by the insurer.
Credit Card Insurance
An insurance add-on that helps pay off balances if the cardholder cannot meet obligations due to covered events.
Credit Insurance
Insurance that helps repay outstanding consumer debt obligations when the insured cannot meet them due to covered hardship.
Cross Purchase
A cross-purchase life insurance structure lets business co-owners fund a buyout if one owner dies.
Decedent
The person who has died and whose death triggers certain insurance and legal processes.
Decreasing Term
A decreasing term policy has a death benefit that declines over the coverage period.
Deductible Carryover Credit
A deductible carryover credit applies certain late-year eligible claims to the next plan year’s deductible.
Defamation
A false statement that harms reputation and can create defense and coverage questions under insurance policies.
Defendant
The party being sued and may be protected by insurance policy defense and indemnity terms.
Deferred Vesting
Deferred vesting delays when a person or beneficiary obtains full right to a benefit until conditions are met.
Degree of Risk
Degree of risk expresses how likely an adverse insured event is, and how severe its impact could be.
Delay Clause
A policy provision that limits or excludes coverage when claims involve delayed performance or timing-related loss events.
Delivery
The formal act of giving the final policy document to the insured and marking policy effectiveness.
Dental Insurance
Dental insurance covers part of the cost of preventive, basic, and major dental care based on a defined dental benefit schedule.
Deposit (Pensions)
In pension and annuity contexts, a deposit is a scheduled or required contribution that funds future retirement entitlements.
Deposit Administration
The process of pooling, tracking, and accounting for contributions before they become covered annuity assets.
Deposit Administration Group Annuity
A deposit administration group annuity accumulates contributions for participants before annuity purchase or retirement income conversion.
Depositor's Forgery Insurance
Depositor’s forgery insurance protects against financial loss from forged or altered negotiable instruments.
Deviated Rate
An insurance premium rate that departs from a standard reference because of specific risk or business factors.
Deviation
The pricing difference between an applied policy rate and a benchmark or manual rate.
Diagnosis-Related Groups
Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) are classification groups used for standardized hospital payment and claims processing.
Direct Selling System
In insurance, a direct selling system is a distribution model where the insurer sells policies directly to customers instead of relying mainly on outside agencies or brokers.
Disability Buy-Sell
Disability buy-sell coverage funds a business buy-sell agreement when an owner becomes disabled and can no longer continue in the business.
Disability Insurance Training Council Inc. (Health Insurance)
Learn how the Disability Insurance Training Council Inc., a branch of the National Association of Health Underwriters, supports education and administers university and executive seminars.
Discrimination in General Insurance Terms - Understand Legal Prohibitions
Learn about the concept of discrimination in general insurance terms. Discover why the law prohibits the refusal to insure individuals with the same characteristics as others who have been insured.
Dollar Limit
The stated maximum amount an insurance policy will pay for a particular coverage, class of property, or loss.
Domestic Insurer
An insurance company organized under the laws of the state in which it is being described by that regulator.
Dram Shop Laws
Dram shop laws can make alcohol-serving businesses liable when service to an intoxicated or underage person contributes to injury or property damage.
Dread Disease Policy
A health insurance form that pays benefits when the insured is diagnosed with one of the serious illnesses specifically named in the policy.