Thousands of insurance policies are bought each day in America, and the people who have purchased those policies usually feel some semblance of peace of mind, believing they will be protected if they are victimized by an event such as an accident, fire or weather disaster, including a hurricane or flood.

After completing the purchase, most of the new policyholders most likely tuck away the policy in a safe place, determined that they’ll read it “when they have the opportunity to sit down with it” — an opportunity window that, for many, never becomes available amid the hustle and bustle of daily life.

If they’re lucky, they’ll pay their policy premiums when due and never have to file a claim. But if filing a claim becomes necessary for whatever reason, that semblance of peace of mind can take on a very different dimension.

Consider what the Wall Street journal had to say in a report in its June 1 edition headlined “Growing home-insurance risk: claims that don’t get a payout.”

“Home insurers pitch policies as a peace-of-mind financial safety net. But customers can find the apparent guarantee of compensation for disasters evaporates when they come to claim,” the Journal said.

“When disaster strikes, many Americans face a near flip-of-the-coin chance that their home insurer will pay a claim,” the newspaper said.

According to the Journal, more troubling than that is that the problem is getting worse, which imposes a necessity for policyholders.

Especially those who live in a “tornado alley” or, otherwise, in a state prone to such potential disasters as hurricanes, floods or wildfires, good advice is to always read every word of your policy and re-read the policy in that way periodically, so you’re well-informed and prepared to file a claim if one is needed.

This editorial will provide some of the statistics uncovered by the Journal as well as mention specific insurers, but it should not be construed as criticizing any of those companies. The Mirror is not an evaluator of insurance coverages, but facts are facts and statistics are statistics and insurers should consider, as a responsibility of theirs, to be informative — transparent — about those numbers if a person or family shopping for coverage asks for that data and relevant explanations about what the numbers mean.

According to the Journal’s June 1 report, based on an analysis by the newspaper, the five biggest home-insurers as a group didn’t pay out on more than 44% of claims resolved last year, forcing homeowners and renters to fund repairs out of their own pockets.

Also, according to the analysis, the risk that a claim would result in no payment among the group — State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, United Services Automobile Association and Farmers Insurance — shot up from 36% a decade earlier.

“Customers are typically told little, if anything, about an insurer’s record on claims when buying a policy,” the Journal said. “Insurers say comparisons of no-payment rates aren’t apples to apples: Regulators allow companies to define claims very differently, which can skew the data.”

Meanwhile, if you do have to file a claim, there are steps to consider if you believe your claim has been denied unfairly — and you should familiarize yourself with what those steps are in dealing with your insurer.

Insurers are raising deductibles or applying higher deductibles to specific risks, and making other changes as well.

Policyholders, then, need to commit themselves to knowing everything they need to know — nothing less.