We do our best to look both ways when crossing the road, make sure to buckle up when driving, and carefully catch the railing when climbing down the stairs. Yet, accidents can still happen and often leave you with big injuries and even bigger medical bills. Having a personal accident insurance policy helps you to stay covered against such situations in life.
Now, when we think of accidents, we mostly picture adults involved in the calamity. But, we need to remember that children too can get involved in mishaps. So, do they need personal accident insurance coverage too? Let’s delve a little deeper and find out.
What does personal accident insurance cover?
First, let’s begin by taking a look at the benefits of a personal accident insurance plan. Under this plan, you receive coverage for accidental death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability, and temporary total disability. The coverage for each of these varies – for instance, if the insured individual unfortunately passes away in the accident, their nominee (policy beneficiary) gets paid the death benefit. However, if the person has sustained a certain level of temporary total disability, they will be paid a percentage of the capital sum insured per week as outlined in the policy.
In addition the benefits listed above, accident insurance policies also usually offer compensation for expenses involved in the carriage of the dead body, ambulance charges incurred for transporting the injured individual to the hospital, and clothes damaged in the incident.
If the insured individual passes away due to the accident or suffers total permanent disablement, the accident insurance policy also generally covers the education of the surviving dependent child or children up to the age and limits specified in the policy.
The coverage of personal accident insurance can also be enhanced with the help of riders (quite similar to how you would extend the coverage of your medical insurance policy). For instance, on the addition of a particular rider, your personal accident insurance policy will also cover the costs of medical devices such as crutches, prosthetic limbs, and so on as deemed necessary by the treating doctor. There is also a rider that covers the travel expenses incurred by a relative or friend when going to visit the injured person. The riders come at an additional cost to your personal accident insurance premium.
Do children need their own personal accident insurance coverage?
Now that we know the coverage that personal accident insurance offers, one might wonder whether children too require this form of coverage. To answer that, let’s first look at some statistics. A particular study by the National Crime Records Bureau showed that 43 children die due to road accidents each day in India. While those figures may only indicate fatalities from road accidents, we also need to remember that children often suffer many injuries due to more common mishaps. Falling down while running with friends, suffering a fracture while playing sports, or sustaining burns in a kitchen mishap – these incidents can happen at any time. And, the resulting injuries can prove to be quite expensive on the pocket of the parent. Yet, one cannot compromise on getting medical care for any reason – this is where the personal accident insurance policy can prove to be helpful.
A more serious injury might require one of the parents to stop working temporarily and stay at home while their child recovers. Or, they may need to hire house help for the same purpose. As one can imagine, any excess expenses thus incurred can add to the burden of your already heavy household bills. The compensation that you receive from personal accident insurance can prove to be a real life saver here. You can get your child the best in medical treatment and home care while they recuperate.
Now, you may already have your child covered under a family floater health insurance plan. In case of an accident, the family floater plan can serve to cover hospitalization expenses that arise due to the accident. The payout from the personal accident insurance policy may be used for all other expenses that go beyond your health insurance limits.
Remember that you can buy personal accident insurance as a standalone plan or opt to add it as a rider in an existing health insurance plan. Review the benefits and costs of buying personal accident insurance as a standalone plan or rioter and choose the one that is the best fit for your needs.
How to buy personal accident insurance?
These days, the top health insurance companies in the country offer their plans online for easy purchase. All you need to do is log on to the insurer’s website, fill up a simple application form, and pay your premium. Your personal accident insurance policy will get emailed to you. You can store the soft copy in your email safely or print it out and file it.
If you have never purchased insurance online before, you can always call up the insurer on their toll-free number and ask for guidance. Or, you may head over to their office and buy your coverage in person.
It is advisable to buy personal accident insurance for all your family members as you never know when mishaps can strike. Even family members who stay at home – such as your senior parents – can greatly benefit from the coverage of personal accident insurance. Leading insurance companies are known to offer their policyholders a ‘free look’ period when they buy a policy. If you are unsatisfied with your coverage, you may cancel your policy during this period and get a refund on your premium (provided that you made no claims). This refund may be subject to certain deductions as decided by the insurance company. The free look period generally lasts around 15 days.
We hope that this article has proved to be an insightful read for you. Do speak to an insurance advisor for further help in buying personal accident insurance for your loved ones. All the best!