Many insurance companies have a maximum allowable payment for an insurance product. The insurer’s liability limit is the maximum possible amount of insurance compensation for one insured event and / or for the entire insurance period (Born et al., 2017). The payment by the insurer of the insurance indemnity to the policyholder is the responsibility of the insurer. Thus, by limiting the amount of insurance compensation, the insurer actually limits the amount of possible financial payments.
The payment limit plays an important role in insurance contracts, as it is associated with the risks of business activities. If the limit for the amount insured is not set, the company can suffer huge losses. This can happen if the insured person finds himself in a completely unforeseen life situation, in which payments will be not just several times, but tens, hundreds, or thousands of times higher than the amount insured.
In the absence of a liability limit prescribed in the contract, the insured or those who represent his or her interests can request from the company any amount that is related to the content of insured events. At the same time, the insurance company will not be able to influence the outcome of the lawsuit. There is no protection of interests if the insurance contract stipulates specific conditions under which the company must pay the insured any amount related to the specified incidents.
In conclusion, even considering insurance from the ethical point of view, when the insured gets into an unforeseen situation where he or she needs payments from the insurance company, any insurance company provides its conditions in advance, not at the time of the accident. The insurance business is a commercial business, so companies have an interest in profit. Setting a payment limit is a solution to the problem of losses for an insurance company in the event of force majeure.
References
Born, P. H., Karl, J. B., & Viscusi, W. K. (2017). The net effects of medical malpractice tort reform on health insurance losses: the Texas experience. Health economics review, 7(1), 1-16.