What is the difference between a policyholder and insurer?

Question

I don't understand what the difference is between the two, as I need to know for my personal finance class. I've gotten many definitions but all I get is that 'a policyholder owns the policy and is not always the insurer'. Maybe a few situational examples would help me out.

Answer 1

The policyholder is the person who is being insured.  The insurer, is the insurance company.  The company that will insure the policyholder.  A policyholder can also be called an 'insured'.

Answer 2

The policy holder is the one who is insured.. he holds a policy for his car, say. The insurer is the one who wrote the policy - they're the company or individual who will pay if there is an insured loss.

Answer 3

Life Insurance?  The insured is the person whose life is insured.  The policyholder is the party that bought the policy.  The insurer is the insurance company.

Answer 4

This is not an uncommon misunderstanding; The INSURER is the company that issues the policy; they have taken on the "shared" risk of covering expenses for a large group of people, called the INSURED. Here is where there is typically a bit of confusion; the Insured is not always the POLICYHOLDER, nor vice versa. For example, If I buy a life insurance policy on my children, then I am the policy holder, and my children are the insured. Big catch here, though; if the insured is an adult, PARTICULARLY with Life Insurance, they must be party to the purchase of the policy; meaning, they must be present, sign the document freely, and know all of the terms of coverage.

Another excample would be with group life or group health through a business. In this case, the company purchasing coverage for the employees would be the overall policy HOLDER, and the employees would be the insured. They would not get a copy of the policy per se, but would receive an explanation of policy benefits, or a benefits summary.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

you buy say an auto policy to insure your car, you are the policyholder, the one insured, if you make your payments or pay for the entire term cash or check,   the Insurer is the insurance co you selected to insure you at a fair price, say Progressive Ins co or Allstate, or state farm  etc. Got it

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Answer 6

The insurer is the company.  State Farm.  The policyholder is the guy that bought the insurance from them.  John Smith.

The insured, as in life insurance, is the guy that gets to die, in order to pay out.  So the policyholder can be Mrs. Smith, but John has to die, in order for the policy to pay out.  And the insurer is still the company - STate Farm.