In your daily life, there’s always the risk of an accident happening. Accidents – not just car accidents – have varying consequences, some of them minor and others have a big impact on daily living. Some accidents may leave you with huge medical expenses or the inability to work for a period of time. Your health insurance, disability insurance coverage, or auto insurance, may not fully cover the expenses related to an accident. That’s where personal accident insurance can help you.
What is Personal Accident Insurance?
Personal accident insurance is a type of supplemental insurance that covers the insured person in the event of an accident. Any person might get personal accident insurance to supplement another type of insurance – life, health, or disability. Personal accident insurance may even cover you if you have an accident while you’re traveling.
Since personal accident insurance is a supplemental insurance, it only pays those expenses that aren’t covered by your primary insurance. If your primary insurance doesn’t leave any gaps in coverage, personal accident insurance won’t kick in. When you do have uncovered expenses, your personal accident insurance plan will typically pay a cash benefit to cover those expenses that were missed by your primary coverage. The cash benefit may be paid as a lump sum payment or periodic payments, depending on the terms of your policy. You can use the cash to pay for medical expenses related to your injury or to cover everyday expenses if you have to miss work because of your accident.
Coverable incidents vary for personal accident insurance. Some policies cover only severe injuries like the loss of a limb. Other policies might cover simpler injuries like a broken leg or back injury.
Some personal accident insurance policies haveexclusions. For example, a policy may not cover death due to suicide or substance abuse. The policy may not cover a car accident if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the accident occurred. You may be able to customize your policy to fit the type of accidents that are most likely to happen to you. For example, if you live in an area that’s frequently hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes, you may get an insurance to cover accidents related to those events. Personal accident insurance is even available with family coverage.
Who Needs Personal Accident Insurance?
You might need travel accident insurance if you travel for work, you’re in the military and deploy to war zones, you work in underground mines or with explosives, your daily commute takes you through high-crime areas, you work with hazardous chemicals, or you work with heavy machinery. In essence, if your work involves an element of danger, you might need accident insurance coverage.
People who work in higher-risk jobs, as determined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, may have to pay higher insurance rates than those in low-risk fields. Insurance rates are based on the likelihood and severity of an accident happening. If you work in a low-risk field, personal accident insurance coverage will be fairly cheap – possibly under $1 per month.
Other Types of Accident Insurance
Accidental death insurance is a type of personal accident insurance that pays beneficiaries if you die in an accident. The insurance is similar to life insurance, except that it only pays when your death results from an accident, not from an illness or disease. Accidental death insurance may be cheaper than life insurance, which is why some people would consider it over traditional life insurance.
A personal disability accident insurance plan covers you if you’re unable to work because of an accident. While your employer may have a disability plan, this plan will only cover you for a maximum of 26 weeks. After that time, your only other option would be Social Security disability, which is often difficult to qualify for. That’s where a personal accident disability plan would be beneficial. The plan would kick in after your employer’s disability plan expires.