6 Reasons Why You Need A Personal Accident Insurance
The only thing that is certain about life is uncertainty! Even with all the technological progress, the truth is that nobody can predict the future (yet!). In such an environment of risk and uncertainty where nobody knows what lies ahead of them, it becomes essential to safeguard yourself against any accidents that might lie ahead.
And that is precisely what a personal accident cover or accident insurance was created for! This unique insurance protects you and your loved ones against all the unforeseeable circumstances of life so that you can live care-free!
What is a Personal Accident Cover?
A personal accident cover ensures that in the event of your accident, you do not have to beg, borrow or steal money to be able to pay your hospital bills. This is because a personal accident covers all costs from transporting you to the hospital to your room rent. So, once you’ve got yourself personal accident insurance, you can relax as it covers all the possibilities from your injury to disability to death. So, let’s say you incurred an unfortunate accident, and you can’t make it to your office or workplace, don’t worry, because your policy has got you covered and protected!
Why Should You Get a Personal Accident Insurance?
- Your Savings are most likely not enough to fund the cost of Accidents!
Let’s say you save 10 percent of your salary each month for health expenditure and unforeseen accidents. In this 10 percent, you will have to shelve out the expenses on the health of all of your family members, which may not be enough in itself. To add to that, what most savers usually forget is the concept of inflation. Inflation simply means that just like INR 10 cannot buy you as much as it did for your grandfather, your savings might not amount to much in the future when an accident might happen because the inflation would’ve risen! To save yourself from a situation like this, personal accident covers help fight the rising cost of medical bills for you! They will cover all your hospital room rents and treatment costs, so you need not worry about them.
- You are more vulnerable to accidents than you initially thought.
In India, the number of accidents is expected to be even higher than most developed countries with unsafe roads, hygiene and improper law and order situation. This can claim the lives of many Indians, and hence you are more vulnerable to accidents than you thought, irrespective of what sort of lifestyle you live. Thus, a personal accident cover helps you fight these uncertainties face-on!
- A Personal Accident Cover can cover all your transport costs!
One of the worst things about having an accident apart from the injury itself is the fact that you can be anywhere on the planet, even hundreds of kilometers away from your family or the nearest hospital! In this state of mind, you might not know immediately where to head for help or whether or not that hospital is covered in your health policy or not! You might not even have enough money to get to the nearest hospital! Well, this is precisely why you need an accident cover. An accident cover will help you bear all the costs of transportation. Some accident covers even offer to cover the costs of air ambulance using a helicopter or an airplane to the nearest hospital! What more can you ask for?
- An Accident Cover helps to pay those unexpected hefty hospital bills!
Imagine getting to the hospital already wounded and getting plastered with long bills for diagnosis, treatment, room rents and food! Even if you would want to, you would simply not be in the correct state of mind to take all of these decisions! No matter how much of a miser you might be, you’d not want to cut costs on X-Rays or Brain scans! The good news is that most good accident covers protect not only treatment costs but also diagnosis bills. This means that you won’t even have to pay for X-Rays out of your pocket and that you can have as many tests done as advised by the hospital without having to worry about the size of your pocket! So, an accident cover helps you lay back and leave the hospital without any doubts & worries when its time!
- Your loved ones will be taken care of, even in the event of your death.
Love doesn’t end when life does. The harsh truth is that families all across the world have to deal with not just the loss of a family member but also his debts or hospital bills he left behind. Moreover, they also have to fill the economic and emotional void he/she has left behind. One way to prevent this ugly situation is to get a personal accident cover, which provides a portion of the Sum insured to your family, in the event of your death. This will ensure that your parents/ spouse/ children live comfortably even after your death, they would always remember you as a caring loved one. This is like defeating the concept of time, enabling you to provide for your family even when you cease to exist. How beautiful!
- Pay loss? Disabled? Don’t dread it! Your Accident Cover protects you!
An accident cover helps you against all possibilities of an accident. This includes the possibility of you being disabled or the case of you losing out on the part of your income because of some injury. The accident cover will act as your savior against these unfortunate possibilities. This means that you won’t have to dread all these issues. And remember what they say? Nobody can put a price on a peaceful mind.
Things You Must Consider Before Buying Personal Accident Cover
Now that you know how imperative it is to be covered by personal accident insurance, you must also keep certain things in your mind before going out to buy the perfect personal accident policy! With the ever-expanding range of available activities, it is normal to be confused. Here are the top 3 considerations you must keep in mind before buying a personal accident cover:
- The Sum Insured: Generally, the larger the Sum insured, the better. You never know what the hospital bill might end up being. If you’re a risk-lover, make sure your policy reflects that!
- Bonuses: Some accident plans also provide their customers with some additional benefits of not claiming the Sum insured or a reward for your dependents in case of your accident or compensation for not working due to injury bonus. These bonuses allow you a more comfortable recovery without an urgency to get back to work.
Claims Process: You must look into the process of claiming the policy. Check reviews online. Talk to peers who might have the same policy that you’re looking to buy. Check the ICR ratio online for your policy. Make sure that the process of claiming it is hassle-free so that you can focus on recovering only!
FAQs: Buying Personal Accident Insurance
Can I also claim insurance sum insured for home and vehicle modifications after being disabled in an accident?
Some insurance companies also offer another much-needed benefit. What’s this bonus that we are talking about? If you happen to be involved in an accident and suppose you become partially or wholly disabled, the insurance company will allow you a sum of money to make changes in the infrastructure of your home and vehicle to allow you to live a more comfortable life. An excellent example of this is the personal accident cover provided by Tata AIG. These modifications would let you live an independent and happy life.
Will the insurance company cover the costs of my family’s transport to the hospital too?
While this may look like a far-fetched idea initially, more and more insurance providers are being more open to listening to their customers’ needs. This means while the majority of insurance providers still do not provide transport costs of your family while providing the costs of transport for only the injured, there are some evolving, attentive companies which have started to provide for your family’s transport to your hospital if they stay beyond a certain distance. After all, having a loved one beside your hospital bed certainly keeps the morale high and the recovery is faster!
In case of death due to an accident, will my family get the sum insured and some allowance for my funeral?
More and more insurance companies are now willing to provide your family a bonus funeral cost in the case of an insured person’s death, along with the apparent sum insured. This helps ease out some of the financial burdens a family faces just after losing an important family member. This also means your family can focus on healing emotionally after such a colossal loss, instead of being stuck worrying about petty money issues.
