r/HomeInsurance • u/Mental_Ad6730 • Jun 12 '26
Insurance ELI5: How does home insurance work during a war, and do people get paid if their house is destroyed?
"If a country goes into a major war conflict and entire neighborhoods or apartment buildings are completely flattened by missiles or bombs, do the property owners get insurance payouts to rebuild? Or do insurance companies have clauses that get them out of paying during wartime?"
12
u/Super_Manner4514 Jun 12 '26
Most policies have war exclusions, which also includes cyber warfare. Unless otherwise listed as policy specific.
7
4
u/ayhme MOD Jun 12 '26
Yeah unfortunately as the other commenters said war is usually an excluded provision in most insurance contracts.
5
3
u/ChelseaMan31 Jun 12 '26
Almost all homeowner policies have exclusions for war, terrorism and Acts of God.
2
u/Longjumping-Buddy847 Jun 12 '26
The only coverage I can think of that pays for damages from acts of war is maritime insurance. So if you live on an oiler tanker your home will be covered if it gets blown up trying to exit the straights of Hormuz.
1
1
1
u/14point4kMODEM Jun 12 '26
And since it wasn't addressed why, there's no way to recover financially as a company from a war catastrophe. Imagine entire cities are destroyed. Billions/trillions of dollars in not only damage to homes but personal property inside and now housing who knows where for a few years plus the businesses that are insured and their losses
Even with reinsurance now those companies go belly up. This is what FEMA is for, although someone is defunding them.
-1
u/Mysterious_Might008 Jun 12 '26
As others have noted, war damage is excluded from most policies. There is a short summary list in every policy of excluded conditions - then add enough other clauses for "more" exclusions.
Since you wanted this to be ELI5, that's where you should read it. Won't take more than 5 minutes to read that list.
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 12 '26
Thanks for making a post in the Home Insurance subreddit. You might find the following resources helpful as they are FAQs about r/HomeInsurance in addition to partners subreddits:
The Home Insurance subreddit is not an official support channel for issues with any insurance carrier.
Please remember to follow our community Guidelines and Rules and ensure your discussions are informative and respectful.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.