We Know You Hate Your Insurance, But Here's Why You Should Show It Some Love

Sure, it's pricey, the policies are confusing, and the claims process can be slow, but insurance is essentially the friend who shows up to help you out during life's worst moments.

By Karl Susman, CPCU, LUTCF, CIC, CSFP, CFS, CPIA, AAI-M, PLCS

published 16 January 2026

in Features

A man's facial expression looks very annoyed.

Most people don't think of their insurance company as their best friend — unless your idea of friendship involves premiums, paperwork and hold music that sounds like it was recorded a hundred years ago.

But stick with me here: Your insurance, the right insurance, deserves a little gratitude.

Let's be honest. Insurance has a PR problem. Nobody throws a party when they renew a policy. People don't carve "I ❤️ My Homeowners Insurance" on a tree trunk or engrave "Best Policy Ever" on a trophy.

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When things go wrong, the first complaint is almost always, "Why is this so complicated?" or "Why is this costing so much?" or the classic, "Why did it take forever to get paid?"

There are real reasons to grumble about insurance. But before we throw the whole concept out like yogurt past its expiration date, let's look at this relationship through a realistic lens, rather than an emotional one.

What people complain about

Let's start with the obvious criticisms people have about insurance:

Insurance is expensive. Of course it seems like it is. Nobody signs up thinking, "I'm so excited to give money to an invisible service I'll use only if my universe collapses." Premiums are a cost you pay before anything happens. Wallets don't like that. Especially if you never actually have a claim. Money is going, going, going … gone.

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Policy language is confusing. Policies read like they were written by people who lost a bet about who could use the most semicolons in a paragraph. You need a translator just to understand what coverage A does vs coverage B. And don't look to AI for help. It'll probably just add to your confusion.

Processing claims takes forever. If you've ever filed a claim and felt like you were waiting for paint to dry on a glacier, you are not alone.

The fine print is annoying. Exclusions, sub-limits, endorsements … and it feels like you need a secret decoder ring to figure out what's covered. And yes, font sizes vary.

Those complaints are real, and they matter. But they tell us what people don't like, not why those perceptions exist.

More importantly, they gloss over what insurance actually does, which is step in when life smacks you upside the head (a hard smack, at that) and leave you in a better place than you would have been without it.

The friend you hope you never have to rely on

Think of insurance as the friend who shows up when your kitchen floods at 3 a.m. You're not thrilled you needed help, but that friend dropped everything (in this case, sleeping) and headed over to bail you out (literally).

Here's the part most people forget: The entire point of insurance is to avoid financial devastation when something bad happens. When you have a good policy and a company that stands behind it, it does that remarkably well.

Let's tackle the common complaints with a dose of reality and a little gratitude.

It costs too much. Yes, insurance costs money. A lot of money. And, sadly, you don't get a refund when you don't file any claims. But without it, you're self-insuring. That's code for "if anything bad happens, you'll have to pay for it all by yourself."

Imagine paying the actual replacement cost for your home after a fire. That's not a hypothetical. That's a real bill that lands in your inbox with zero regrets attached.

Policies include confusing language. Yes, policy language is dense. And yes, it often feels like it was written by a committee of people who really wanted everyone to not understand it. That's not the fault of the insurance company — it's a result of how litigious people can be.

Insurance policies are legal contracts that need to cover all possible outcomes, from the obvious to the bizarre. That requires precision, which often reads like an instruction manual for building a quantum computer.

Besides, you don't have to decode it alone. A good insurance agent or broker exists precisely to translate that language into English: "This covers X but not Y, and here's what that means for you."

If you still "don't get it," it's on you to ask for clarification. And if your agent can't clearly explain it, find one who can.

Processing claims takes forever. Or does it? No one enjoys a drawn-out claims process. Waiting for claims adjusters, answering documentation requests and making back-and-forth calls is about as exciting as reading a phone book with mittens on. (Show of hands — or mittens — do you even remember what a phone book looks like?)

But context matters. The claims process is an investigation. The carrier must verify what happened, how it happened and whether the policy applies. That takes time.

The better the documentation you provide — photos, receipts, timelines — the faster the process goes. That's more on us as consumers than the insurance company.

Fast claims aren't magic. They are the result of preparedness, cooperation and a company with the systems to pay what's owed without losing its shirt. Not all insurance companies are created equal, far from it.

And here's the kicker: Without an insurance company reviewing and paying claims, you'd be writing the checks yourself. No one wants that.

The fine print feels shady. Until you realize why it exists. I get it. People hate fine print. Really hate it. They consider exclusions personal insults rather than clarifications to prevent later misunderstandings.

But exclusions aren't designed to frustrate you. They are designed to define what is and what isn't covered. A policy can't cover everything everywhere always without becoming economically impossible. Translation: You would not want to pay the premium required for 100% coverage.

Good coverage actually works when you read and understand it before a claim

One of the funniest insurance phenomena is that some people have strong opinions about their policy without reading it. That's like criticizing a car for not having good brakes without ever test-driving it.

Entire websites have been built to complain about one insurance company or another.

Are the complaints real? Probably. Do they represent only a handful of problems out of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of claims? You betcha.

Insurance is only as good as the coverage you understand and maintain. If you don't know you need scheduled coverage for valuables, or flood coverage, or an earthquake policy, the policy isn't failing you, you're failing you.

Here's the part where the gratitude arrives, disguised as plain old logic

Insurance exists to protect you from the financial side of life's worst moments. Without it, you would be on the hook for losses that could wipe out your savings, destroy your retirement plans and bankrupt your family. It happens all the time.

That's not trivial. So insurance isn't optional if you want economic stability. It's not something to shrug off because a quote didn't show a dramatic price reduction this year. Good insurance coverage doesn't make bad things not happen. It makes bad things not destroy you.

So this is why insurance can be your best friend (even if it sounds weird): Friends protect one another. They show up when it matters. They help you when things get bad. They make you feel safe. Your insurance company, when chosen wisely and understood properly, does exactly that.

It's not perfect. It's not always fast, glamorous or intuitive. But it is reliable in the ways that count the most — financially and practically.

And if you can find an agent or broker who actually gets you, explains things without sugarcoating and has your back while filing a claim, then yes, your carrier becomes a partner. Not a faceless name on a document, but a real ally in the story of your financial life.

So take a moment to thank the insurance you do have, and if you still don't think it's good enough, shop for something that actually deserves your gratitude.

Because good insurance, like your best friends, shows up when you need it most.

Want to learn more about insurance? Visit icgs.org.

Disclaimer

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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Karl Susman is a veteran insurance agency principal, nationally engaged insurance expert witness and broadcast host who translates insurance from jargon to judgment. For more than three decades, he's helped consumers, courts and policymakers navigate coverage, claims and compliance. As Principal of Susman Insurance Agency, Karl works directly with households and businesses to compare options and make clear, defensible coverage decisions.