A promise of compensation for specific potential future losses in

exchange for a periodic payment. Insurance is designed to protect the

financial well-being of an individual, company or other entity in the
case of unexpected loss. Some forms of insurance are required by law,
while others are optional. Agreeing to the terms of an insurance policy
creates a contract between the insured and the insurer. In exchange for
payments from the insured (called premiums), the insurer agrees to pay
the policy holder a sum of money upon the occurrence of a specific
event. In most cases, the policy holder pays part of the loss (called the
deductible), and the insurer pays the rest. Examples include car
insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, and
business insurance.

The meaning of insurance: Insurance is a policy from a large financial

institution that offers a person, company, or other entity reimbursement
or financial protection against possible future losses or damages.

The meaning of insurance is important to understand for anybody that

is considering buying an insurance policy or simply understanding the
basics of finance. Insurance is a hedging instrument used as a
precautionary measure against future contingent losses. This instrument
is used for managing the possible risks of the future.

Insurance is bought in order to hedge the possible risks of the future

which may or may not take place. This is a mode of financially insuring
that if such a incident happens then the loss does not affect the present
well-being of the person or the property insured. Thus, through
insurance, a person buys security and protection.

A simple example will make the meaning of insurance easy to

understand. A biker is always subjected to the risk of head injury. But it
is not certain that the accident causing him the head injury would
definitely occur. Still, people riding bikes cover their heads with
helmets. This helmet in such cases acts as insurance by protecting
him/her from any possible danger. The price paid was the possible
inconvenience or act of wearing the helmet; this ie equivalent to the
insurance premiums paid.

Though loss of life or injuries incurred cannot be measured in financial

terms, insurance attempts to quantify such losses financially. Insurance
can be defined as the process of reimbursing or protecting a person from
contingent risk of losses through financial means, in return for relatively
small, regular payments to the insuring body or insurance company.

Insurance can range from life to medical to general

(residential,commercial property, natural incidents, burglary, etc).

 Life Insurance
It insures the life of the person buying the Life Insurance
Certificate. Once a Life Insurance is sold by a company then the
company remains legally entitled to make payment to the
beneficiary after the death of the policy holder.
 Medical Insurance
This is also known as mediclaim. Here, the policy holder is entitled
to receive the amount spent for his health purposes from the
insurance company.
 General Insurance
This insurance type involves insuring the risks associated with the
general life such as automobiles, business related, natural
incidents, commercial and residential properties, etc.
 

Principles of Insurance
Insurance - Definition

The contract of Insurance is a promise of compensation for certain potential future losses in
exchange for a periodic payment [known as premium]. Insurance is intended to protect the
financial well-being of an individual or a company or any other entity in case of unexpected loss.
An agreement to the terms of an insurance policy creates a contract between the insured and the
insurer. In exchange for the premiums paid by the insured, the insurer agrees to pay the policy
holder a certain sum of money upon the occurrence of a specific event or on maturity. In most
cases, the policy holder pays part of the loss (called the deductible), while the insurer pays the
rest. Examples include health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and
business insurance.

Main principles of Insurance:

 Utmost good faith

 Indemnity
 Subrogation
 Contribution
 Insurable Interest
 Proximate Cause

Utmost Good Faith (Uberrimae Fides)

It is the duty of the client to disclose all material facts relating to the risk being covered. A
material fact is a fact that would influence the mind of a prudent underwriter while deciding
whether or not to accept a risk for insurance and on what terms. This duty to disclose operates at
the time of inception, at renewal as well as at any point mid term.

Indemnity

When the event that is insured against occurs, the Insured will be placed in the same monetary
position that he/she occupied immediately before the happening of the event.

In the event of a claim the insured must:

 Prove that the event occurred

 Prove that a monetary loss has also occurred
 Transfer any rights that he/she may be having for the recovery from another source to the
Insurer, if he/she is fully indemnified.

Subrogation

With regards to insurance, subrogation is a feature of principle of indemnity and therefore only
applies to contracts of indemnity and hence does not apply to life assurance or personal accident
policies. It aims to prevent an insured to recover more than the indemnity that he receives under
his insurance (where that represents the full amount of his loss) and enables the insurer to
recover or reduce the loss.
Contribution

The right of an insurer to call on other insurers similarly, but not necessarily equally, liable to the
same insured to share the loss of an indemnity payment i.e. a travel policy might have an
overlapping cover with the contents section of a household policy. The principle of contribution
permits the insured to make a claim against one insurer. The insurer then has the right to call on
any other insurers liable for the loss in order to share the claim settlement

Insurable Interest

If an insured wants to enforce an insurance contract before the Courts he must have an insurable
interest in the subject matter of the insurance, which means that he benefits from its preservation
and suffers from its loss. In case of non-marine insurances, it is necessary for the insured to have
insurable interest when the policy is taken out and also at the date of loss giving rise to a claim
under the policy.

Proximate Cause

An insurer is liable to pay a claim under an insurance contract only if the loss that gave rise to
the claim was proximately caused by an insured peril. This means that the loss should be directly
credited to an insured peril without any break in the chain of causation.

CONSUMER ADVICE
<<consumer advice section

Principles of Insurance : Utmost Good Faith

Is the duty to disclose all material facts relating to the risk to be covered. A material
fact is a fact which would influence the mind of a prudent underwriter in deciding
whether to accept a risk for insurance and on what terms.

Examples:
Motor: Age of drivers, licence status, details of any accidents, claims or convictions,
exact model of vehicle etc.
Household: Construction of house, location of house ie. close to river, any previous
claims etc.

Duty of Disclosure applies to both the Proposer and the Insurer. Duty of disclosure
operates at :

1. inception - until the date cover is confirmed by the Insurers

2. renewal - up to the renewal date
3. mid term alterations - until the Insurers confirm cover in respect of the
alterations

INDEMNITY
The principle of indemnity would signify that an insured who suffers a loss must be paid to the
extent of his loss and not be allowed to make profit or loss out of it

n Cash payment n Repair n Replacement n Reinstatement

Limitations: Ø Average Ø Excess and Franchise Ø Deductibles

An indemnity is an agreement by one person (the insurer) whereby he agrees to pay another
(third party), sums owed, or which may become owed, by the insured. An indemnity insurance
policy is usually taken out for the benefit of a mortgagee / lender when a high portion of the
purchase price for a domestic property is borrowed. In such cases the insurance indemnifies
against loss where the measure of loss is the measure of payment. These policies are generally
held by the court to be for the benefit of the mortgagee / lender and only he can make a claim
(Oxford Dictionary of Law). The contract of insurance contained in a marine or fire policy is a
contract of indemnity.

The Basic Principles

Subrogation is a common law right that exists independent of statute, or the provisions of an insurance
policy.

Subrogation is based upon the concept of indemnity — that is, making the other person whole.
Subrogation will not arise where the payment is gratuitous or does not necessarily reflect the loss
incurred by the insured. For example, accident sickness policies that pay a lump sum, regardless
of the actual loss incurred by the insured. Most subrogation rights arise pursuant to a contract of
insurance. The rights of the insurer to be subrogated can be modified or in fact eliminated by the
insurance policy. A most common example is where the insurer agrees not to take any
subrogated action against others named in the policy of insurance.

A large body of case law has developed around the concept of "unnamed insureds," and more recently
whether third parties (strangers to the contract) can rely upon waiver of subrogation rights in a contract
of insurance.

A common example is a situation where a tenant is obligated to provide fire insurance on the premises
or the landlord agrees to assume the obligation of providing such insurance. Under those circumstances,
the courts will find that the other party is an "unnamed insured" under the policy of insurance, thereby
prohibiting the subrogation rights of the insurer.

Insurable interest exists when an insured person derives a financial or other kind of
benefit from the continuous existence of the insured object. A person has an insurable interest in
something when loss-of or damage-to that thing would cause the person to suffer a financial loss
or other kind of loss.

For example, if the house you own is damaged by fire, the value of your house has been reduced,
and whether you pay to have the house rebuilt or sell it at a reduced price, you have suffered a
financial loss resulting from the fire. By contrast, if your neighbor's house, which you do not
own, is damaged by fire, you may feel sympathy for your neighbor and you may be emotionally
upset, but you have not suffered a financial loss from the fire. You have an insurable interest in
your own house, but in this example you do not have an insurable interest in your neighbor's
house.

Principles of Insurance : Contribution

Although the Insured may effect more than one policy to cover the same property or interest,
he/she cannot recover in total more than a full indemnity.

Note:
Cover can only arise when the policies:

 Cover the same peril

 Cover the same subject matter
 Are effected by or on behalf of the same Insured

Example:
An insured loses his/her watch whilst on holidays. He/she has holiday insurance which covers
the loss. But he/she also has the watch covered under his/her house policy. The cost of the claim
should be shared by both policies ie. the insured cannot claim twice.

The contribution principle of insurance states that if a risk is insured by multiple carriers, and
one carrier has paid out a claim, that carrier is entitled to collect proportionate coverage from
other carriers.

1. Example

o If you had taken out $1 million in fire insurance on a building from two different
carriers for $1 million each, and a fire destroyed the building, and you filed a
claim with only one carrier, the carrier would pay the claim. But it would be
entitled to go to the other carrier and collect $500,000, the other carrier's
proportionate share of the claim.

Restrictions

o The total amount insured should not exceed the amount of damage or loss
incurred. This is because of the insurance principle of indemnity: No one should
profit from an insurance claim after damages are taken into account.
 Applicability

o The doctrine applies primarily to property and casualty insurance claims, such as
fire and marine claims. It does not ordinarily apply to life insurance: When more
than one company covers a life, they underwrite that risk independently.
However, the applicant must typically disclose how much other coverage is in
force or applied for.

Insurable Interest:

This principle applies to all contract of insurance. We may only insure those things in which we
have insurable interest. For example I cannot insure my neighbours house and property since I
have no insurable interest in them. I can insure my own property, house etc. A creditor may
insure the life of his debtor up to the value of the amount of owed.

Utmost Good Faith:

This principle applies to all insurance contracts. The insured must disclose fully all-material facts
known in answering all question in the proposal form and in all dealing with the insurance
company.

Indemnity:

This rule applies to all insurance contracts except life assurance and personal accident insurance.
Indemnity means to restore the person to the position that he was in immediately before the event
concerned took place.

The First Corollary Indemnity Contribution:

This applies to all contracts except insurance of life risks. Contribution applies where a person
has insured identical risks on the same property with a number of companies, or when policies
overlapped. The amount of the loss is shared proportionately among the insurance companies.

The Second Corollary of Indemnity Subrogation:

This means that when the insurance company has the paid out the claims, it surrogates or steps
into the place of the insured and inherits all his rights and remedies agents third parties.
Ranajee82

Chapter 1: PRINCIPLES OF INSURANCE

Like all other Contracts, Insurance Contracts are also governed by certain Fundamental
Principles. At common Law, these Fundamental Principles are required to be observed in
every Insurance Contract. The Fundamental Principles applicable to all Insurance Contracts
are as follows :-
  Utmost Good Faith
 Insurable Interest
 Indemnity
 Subrogation
 Contribution
 Proximate Cause

Let us examine these Principles briefly :-

Utmost Good Faith

Under Common Law every Insurance is a contract of ’Uberrime Fidei’ i.e., one which
requires observance of Utmost Good Faith on the part of both the parties to the Contract – the
insurer and the insured.

As insurance Policy represents an agreement recording the term of insurance arrangement

between two parties its formation and operation is governed by the general risks of the law of
Contract. In addition to the above, insurance Contract is based on a Principle known as the
duty of Utmost Good Faith. This Principle requires from either party a full disclosure of all
material facts connected with the transaction. This obligation lies more heavily on a proposer
or policy holder than on the insurers, since the former alone will usually be aware of most of
the information about the risk. He is supposed to disclose all facts which can be material to be
the risk, and what is material or not shall not be judged by his standards but by those of a
prudent and experienced underwriter.

Section 20 of Marine Insurance Act 1906 throws some light on what is a material fact.

“Every circumstance is material which will influence the judgement of a prudent insurer in
fixing the premium or determining whether he will take the risk”.

Thus the insured is expected to disclose :

 Every material circumstance

 Which is known to the assured
 Which the assured is deemed to know
 Which the insured in the ordinary course of business is expected to know.

What need not be disclosed ?

In the absence of specific enquiry, the following circumstances need not be disclosed.
Circumstances which :

 Diminishes the risk

 Is Known or presumed to be know to insurer*
 Information is waived by the insurer.
  Is superfluous to disclose by reason of any express or implied warranty.

* The insurer is presumed to know matters of common notoriety or knowledge and matters
which an insurer in the ordinary course of his business as such, ought to know.

The duty of utmost good faith is reciprocal.

This principle applies equally to insurers. An insurer is required to :-

 To issue the Policy in unambiguous terms

 To make no untrue statements in negotiations with the Proposer.
 Not to accept an insurance which they know is unenforceable at law.

Duration of the duty of disclosure :-

The duration of duty of disclosure :-

 Operates upto the moment the negotiations for the contract of insurance are
completed.
 Operates at the time of renewal of a Policy.
 Operates where an insurer seeks to reinsure a risk he holds.
 Operates during the entire currency of policy when there is an alteration in risk
requiring insurers consent.

So far the Principle of Utmost Good Faith has been considered. This Duty exists even in the
absence of any express conditions agreed upon by parties.

INSURABLE INTEREST

Who has insurable interest ?

Every person has an insurable interest in the property liable to be damaged or destroyed
where he stands in any legal or equitable relation to that property in consequence of which he
may benefit by the safety of the property or may be prejudiced by its loss or by damage there
to or may insure liability in respect thereof.

The value of the insurable interest

Where the insured is the owner of the Property, the value of his interest is the value of the
Property itself.

Where the insured is not the owner his right to indemnity depends on the value of his interest
in the particular circumstances.

Nature of Insurable Interest in Property

Insurable Interest in Property may arise through :-

 Ownership
 Possession
 Contract

Ownership

An owner has an insurable interest in his own property, even when it is not in his possession.
Not only sole owners but also joint owners.

Examples : A Partners have an insurable interest in the whole of the property, he jointly owns.

Similarly, the property of a deceased person could become legally owned by his legal
representatives, known as his executors (if appointed by ‘will’) or his administrators (if
appointed by Court). The property is held by the legal heirs on behalf of such
executors/administrators. Both the legal representative and the executors/administrators have
an insurable interest once the estate is due to be administered.

Possession

Possession of property without Ownership may be enough to support insurable interest. The
insurable interest of a possessor who is not also a owner normally arises because the
possessor may in certain circumstances be liable to the owner for loss of or damage to the
goods he holds.

Thus a bailee has an insurable interest in the bailer’s goods.

Contract

Insurable interest may also arise under Contract. For example, insurers have an insurable
interest in an insurance which they have granted, which enables them to effect re-insurance.

Similarly, husband and wife have an insurable interest in each other’s property, if they live
together and share its use. A mortgagee (Creditor) has interest on property he has financed, to
the extent of the value financed.

When Insurable Interest must attach :

Insurable Interest must be present :-

 At the time of entering into an insurance Contract

 During the currency of the Policy
 At the time of expiry and subsequent renewal.
 INDEMNITY

When a loss takes place, the sum which the assured can recover is called the ‘measure of
Indemnity’. The dictionary meaning of the word indemnity is compensation for loss or
injuries sustained.

All property and pecuniary insurance are Contract of Indemnity i.e., the amount payable on
the happening of an event insured against is limited to the extent of Insured’s pecuniary loss
only. Thus the intention of the insurers following a loss is to place the insured in the same
pecuniary position as he occupied immediately before its occurrence, subject to adequacy of
Sum Insured, other restrictions etc.

Consequences of this Principle

The consequence of the Principle of Indemnity in insurance are summarized as follows :-

                                     Before Loss                                                                 After Loss



                                                   Same Financial Position

The insured can claim to be indemnified only for the material loss sustained, i.e., sentimental
losses or consequential losses of any kind are excluded. Moreover the insured cannot make a
fortune from the misfortune suffered by him.

Where the damage is partial, the insured is not entitled to claim a total loss, but is entitled to
claim only for the amount of damage.

Where the insured has been fully indemnified he must transfer to the insurers all his rights
against third parties; the insured cannot obtain a further indemnity from such third parties.
(This concerns the right of Subrogation and is dealt with later).

The Insured is not entitled to recover his loss more than once, irrespective of the number of
policies he holds; he may not obtain more than the full amount of the loss from various
insurers. (This concerns the Principle of Contribution and is dealt with later).

Indemnity fixes the maximum payable under an Insurance, subject to the limit of Sum
Insured. The Sum Insured is the limit of insurer’s liability.

SUBROGATION

This is a corollary of the Principle of Indemnity. Subrogation is the right of an insurer who
has granted an indemnity to receive, after payment of a loss, the advantage of every right of
the insured, against a third party who has caused a loss.

This right is implied in all contracts of indemnity. It need not, therefore, be expressed in such
contracts, although in practice it almost always is.

Before the implied right of Subrogation operates in favor of the insurers, two conditions must
be fulfilled :-

i. The insurance contract must be one of indemnity. Therefore, Subrogation does not
apply to non-indemnity policies like personal accident insurance etc.
ii. The insurer must have settled the claim. In practice, the insurers by expressly stating
this condition in the policy, usually obtain these subrogatory rights before the payment
of claim.

CONTRIBUTION

Contribution is another corollary of indemnity. It is also an implied condition in a contract of

indemnity whereby, if any other contract (or contracts) of indemnity is in existence covering
the same interest in the same subject matter against the same peril, any claim must be
apportioned amongst all the insurers.

IMPORTANT FEATURES

The following should be noted :-

ü Contribution applies to contracts of indemnity only.

The Insurers’ called into contribution must have covered:

 The same interest (i.e., applied only when the same person insures the same interest
with more than one insurer)
 The same subject matter interest (i.e., both the policies must cover the same item in
respect of which a claim is made)
 The same peril (i.e., contribution arises only if both policies include the same perils
which caused the loss)

By expressly incorporating a condition of contribution in the Insurance policy, the Insurers

will not be liable to pay or contribute more than its ratable proportion of any loss damage
compensation or expense.

If this conditions is not expressed in the policy, the insured will have a right to claim against
either of the insurer. Subsequently, the insurer who has paid the loss, proceeds against the
other insurer and recovers his ratable proportion.

PROXIMATE CAUSE

Proximate Cause is the active, efficient cause that sets into motion a chain of events that bring
about a loss. If the Proximate Cause is an insured Peril, the loss will be payable, otherwise
not.

It must be noted that there must be direct relationship of cause and effect, of which the cause
must be Proximate in efficiency though not necessarily in point of time.

This doctrine applies mainly where a loss is produced by a succession of causes. In these
cases, it is necessary to consider whether :-

a. There is a single cause or an unbroken chain of events or

b. There is an interrupted chain of events; and if so, whether a new and independent
cause exists
c. The predominating event, or peril (i.e., the Proximate Cause)
d. One of the causes is an expected peril; if so, whether the exception is unqualified and
therefore relates to direct operation only or whether it excludes loss directly or
indirectly caused by excepted peril.

Under (a) above, Policy liability arises where

The single cause or

One of the natural serious of causes (not necessarily the last of them) or

The last of a series,

is an insured peril.

Under (b) there can be various contributions of events.

If there is a break in the chain of causation by an uninsured peril, the proved amount of loss or
damage before or after an insured peril would be covered.

Under (c) the insurers are liable

if the predominating event is caused by an insured peril. If there is an excepted peril

concerned and it is possible to separate the damage caused by insured peril and the excepted
peril, then the former damage is covered, but if not, there is no liability whatsoever.

Under (d) the position depends on policy wording .

If the words directly or indirectly are used, the operation at any stage of the peril so excepted
invalidates the claim. If however, these words do not appear, the following rules apply :-

 If there is direct chain of events from an excepted peril, there is no liability. If the
sequence starts with an insured peril, and the excepted peril is merely a link, policy
liability exists.
  Where the chain is broken, and a new and independent cause intervenes, the position
depends on the nature of this new cause. If it is an insured peril, policy liability exists
otherwise not.

2``````````````````

Generally speaking, the following factors are considered imporant among insurers when
considering potential reinsurance partners; (i) the financial security/solvency of the reinsurer, (ii)
the third-party rating of the reinsurer, (iii) the reinsurer's reputation and history of willingness to
pay claims in a complete and timely fashion, (iv) the reinsurer's reputation and history of
willingness to resolve disputes in a fair, timely and cost-efficient manner, (v) the price (as
measured in Rate-On-Line) of the reinsurance product, (vi) the breadth and potential cost of
items excluded from coverage, (vii) the reinsurer's willingness to develop bespoke solutions for
its client's risk management needs.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and other factors may be considered as well.

You also have to consider the background of the insurance company. After all, this is the
institution where your insurance policies would come from. So it does help to know if they could
really provide you with what you need and what you want.

When it comes to researching about the background of your preferred insurance company, here
are some important factors you can use:

 Price – Of course you need to know if the policy prices of the insurance company
complement your budget. This is also the reason why you need to have insurance quotes
first before you make your decision. Experts' advice that you at least get three different
insurance quotes from three different companies and have them compared. This is the
best way for you to analyze the pros and cons of each policy.
 History – You need to check how long the insurance company has been conducting its
business. When you look at the profile of insurance companies, you can observe that
most of them present how long they've been in the insurance business. This is key to
knowing if you can trust them with your coverage and if they have been stable enough to
withstand lots of financial meltdowns happening throughout business history.
 Services – When it comes to business insurance, you need an on-time and quick support
system in the event that the unpredictable happens. Check out the customer support
system of your preferred insurance company and try to evaluate if they are offer you with
a quick and easy responses when something goes wrong. It's best if they can be contacted
through phone, email, and all types of communication possible. If they also have a
specialized account executive to handle your queries then that would definitely one good
point to consider.
 Registration – Check if your insurance company is duly registered within the local state.
This is important and sometimes it's not enough that they are registered on the country.
There may be more defined policies covered when your insurance company is registered
in that particular state.
  Legal Counsel – Business insurance is very diverse. It spans sometimes complex policies
that may be a concern when you begin to claim it. To eliminate complexities, there are
some insurance companies who assign a particular legal counsel for every account. They
may also give you the option to choose your own legal counsel.

Importance of insurance quotes and the factors affecting them

Home Articles Importance of insurance quotes and the factors affecting them

Insurance is a contract between you and your insurance company. When you purchase a policy,
you agree to pay the premium and your insurance company promises to offer financial protection
in case of losses that are listed in the specific policy. In order to weigh the premium rate against
the coverage offered, you need to compare insurance quotes offered by several companies. This
helps you to choose a policy that offers adequate coverage at an affordable cost.

Types of insurance quotes

The insurance companies usually offer 2 types of quotes – a personalized quote and a ballpark
quote. In order to offer a personalized quote, the companies require specific details, such as, your
address, your Social Security Number along with exact details related to what you’re trying to
insure. For example, the company may ask you about the type and model of your car if you’re
looking for a suitable car insurance policy. Personalized quote helps to compare actual rates of
different policies. In comparison, ballpark quotes are approximate estimates offered by insurance
companies.

Importance of insurance quotes

As already mentioned, insurance quotes help you to compare insurance coverage against the cost
of a policy. As for example, if you’re shopping around for a suitable term life insurance policy,
then you need to compare the term life quotes offered by different insurance companies so that
you can compare how much you need to pay for the required coverage.

There is great importance of term quotes for insurance professionals, too. This is because
insurance agents and brokers sell term life insurance policies on behalf of insurers. In order to
sell the policies, they need to offer competitive insurance quotes so that the customers purchase
policies through them. The agents are either salaried employee of insurance companies or get
paid for the amount of policies they’re able to sell.

Factors affecting insurance quotes

An insurance company takes several factors into consideration while offering you an insurance
quote. Some of the factors are given below.

Risk of offering a policy – An insurance company calculates the risk of offering a policy to you.
Like any other businesses, the insurance companies also want to make profit by offering you a
policy. So, you need to pay a higher premium if you’re at comparatively high risk to file a claim.
Financial condition of the consumer – While offering you insurance quotes, the insurance
underwriters considers your financial condition to assess whether or not you’ll be able to pay the
premium on time.

The insurers also consider your insurance scores while offering you a policy.  You can get
suitable terms and conditions on your policy if you have a high score.

What is an insurance proposal form?

An insurance proposal form will be sent to a prospective insured

by an insurer to ask questions in relation to a risk concerning
matters that they consider to be material (a material fact is a fact
which would affect an underwriters decision to accept a risk or
not).
Contents:
SECTION 1 – Applicant details

SECTION 2—Cover required

Section 3- Statement of health by applicant--- Medical questionnaire.

Section 4- Medical Practioner

Section 5- Beneficiary information

Section 6- mode of payment

Section 7- Representations,Authorizations and acknowledgements

Signature of life to be insured