Family insurance: how to insure your loved ones

Protecting your family

When you start a family, you're no longer responsible for just you alone. Having a baby raises new questions – including questions about insurance. How do I take out cover for mishaps and accidents without overstretching the household budget?

Insure your baby early

Basic insurance is mandatory and covers all the statutory benefits in the event of illness, accident and maternity. It’s important that parents-to-be enrol their baby for health insurance before the little one arrives. Prenatal admission has significant advantages:

1. The child enjoys general health insurance cover from the moment it’s born. Even if it arrives prematurely or has a congenital condition.
2. The child will be admitted to the provider’s supplementary insurance without any health reservations attached. Congenital defects especially can prove costly, and these costs aren't all covered by Federal disability insurance.
   

Take out dental insurance before age 3

It makes sense to take out supplementary dental insurance for your baby as soon as it gets its first milk teeth. Dental insurance provides contributions to the costs – from the very first check-up, to braces, right through to the treatment of wisdom teeth.

Did you know? Children under 3 don’t need a medical certificate to take out dental insurance.

Greater security if your salary stops

Illness, accident or maternity: being unable to work usually means a loss of earnings. At the same time, your fixed living expenses, such as rent, mortgage and lease payments or the cost of your children's education, continue to mount up. Individual Daily Indemnity Insurance lets you supplement the benefits from your employer's Daily Indemnity Insurance, up to your full salary.

Financial provision for death or disability

There are some things in life we don’t like to think about. But any of us can suffer a stroke of fate like an accident or a serious medical condition. The right insurance cover helps protect your family members and lessen the financial consequences if one parent becomes disabled or dies suddenly.

Protect others and property

Oops! Your kids’ football has gone straight through your neighbour’s window. Personal liability insurance takes the sting out of the financial damage. It also covers everyone else living in your household.

And third-party damage is included too. If, for example, your neighbour is accidentally injured by something your child does and has to be taken to hospital, you'll be required to foot the bill for the hospital costs, necessary aids or rehabilitation measures.

Damage by pets

Do you have pets? Here too, having liability insurance pays off: if the family dog bites someone and causes long-lasting injury, the costs can be very high indeed.

Protect possessions and furniture

Things often get broken and need to be replaced, especially when there are small children around. Household contents insurance protects your furniture and personal possessions against glass breakage, theft, fire and more.

Insured on the go

Your bike has been stolen or your luggage lost? Additional “Simple theft away from home” cover ensures that things you take with you when outside the home are also replaced.

Check the sum insured

You should regularly check the sum insured and adjust it whenever you make major purchases like bikes or mobile phones. If the sum insured is too high, you’ll end up paying more in premiums than necessary, but if it’s too low, you’ll have to cover the costs of the claim yourself.

Legal protection for worst-case scenarios

Whether it’s buying something online without permission, spray painting graffiti or theft: young people like to test their limits, but sometimes go too far. If your children have already reached that age, you might be interested in legal expenses insurance. As a parent, it gives you competent backup in a worst-case scenario and can protect you against high legal and court fees.