Schools and camps are places where children play, learn, and grow without worry. Students are full of energy and vitality, but they can get hurt sometimes too. Injuries in school are common, but some accidents can cause significant harm. When these accidents cause physical injuries, you will probably need help from insurance providers.
Without insurance, broken bones can cost thousands of dollars and even more depending on the extent of the injury.
Who Needs Student Accident Insurance?
School accident insurance is not an obligation in any state, but it has tremendous benefits for schools. It has become more of a common practice and a goodwill gesture. In addition, school districts, camps, clinics, athletic departments, and any establishment that oversees students can require student accident insurance.
What Is Student Accident Insurance?
Student accident insurance covers students and their parents from the cost that can arise from accidents and injuries from school events.
This coverage acts as a secondary insurance policy. It comes into action after the personal health insurance has covered most expenses, and if there are some leftover medical bills, the student accident policy will cover them. Usually, parents have to pay the leftover expenses, but no hefty bills are left to pay with this coverage.
Moreover, when parents have to pay such expenses out of their pocket, they come after school and file lawsuits against them for settlements. The insurance prevents escalation of the situation and creates a win-win situation for parents and schools.
What Plans Does Student Accident Insurance Have?
Student accident insurance mainly focuses on providing coverage for physical injuries. The coverage consists of the following three types of coverage:
- Class 1 coverage helps students in all activities supervised, sponsored, or conducted by the school;
- Class 2 coverage is for interscholastic sports and athletic events; and
- Class 3 coverage encompasses all types of sporting and extracurricular activities
Schools can have specific coverage requirements. Insurance companies can create custom plans depending on the risk and needs.
Medical technology and treatment methods have advanced with time, increasing the treatment costs. In worst-case scenarios, the expense can surpass the insurance coverage capacity if a student gets into a severe accident. School administration can ask for catastrophe insurance coverage.
It is an umbrella policy for school accident insurance and provides access payment for disastrous events. These are:
Catastrophic Accident Medical Policy
It has limits as high as $6 million/injury. This catastrophic accident medical coverage is the highest among all the medical coverage plans schools can have, and the benefit period can extend to 10 years from the date of the accident.
Catastrophic Cash Benefit
The catastrophic cash benefit can provide up to $1 million in cash payments. The cash is useful in conditions like comas and paralysis, and the funds are used to pay the ongoing medical procedure, accommodation, equipment, loss of income, and other expenses. The standard process is providing the cash in one lump sum payment, and then the annual payment continues for ten years after the injury.
How Student Accident Insurance Works
After the accident, the student undergoes medical treatment. The medical provider will send a bill to the regular health insurance provider. In an ideal situation, the parents and school administration must work together and complete the accident claim forms and send it to the student accident insurance administrator.
The school will begin the process by signing the form and passing it to the parents to fill in the required details. Once the paper is complete, parents will inform the medical provider that they have secondary insurance from the school, which will cover the remaining expenses.
Parents must work closely with the medical service and secondary insurance provider to provide all the necessary paperwork. Moreover, they also have to obtain the required documents, including EOB and other bills under the school’s policy.
What Does Student Accident Insurance Not Cover?
It covers additional medical expenses from school accidents and physical injuries. However, the student accident policy does not cover the injuries resulting from the following actions:
- Riots
- School fights
- Asphyxiation
- Illegal Activities
- Intoxication
- Mental disorders
- Infections (viral and bacterial)
Moreover, the policy only provides coverage for two years. It means the policy will only provide pay from two years of extra expenses, or the insurance for schools should have a catastrophic medical policy for long-term treatment.
Keep Your Children Safe With JMG Insurance Agency
We all want what is best for our students, so we need student accident insurance. It is affordable, straightforward, and necessary as it prevents contentious liability situations and protects schools from lawsuits. Through this policy, you protect the school’s reputation and safeguard the children and their parents.
Contact the John M Glover Insurance Agency and get your preferred school accident insurance. Give us a call and schedule your consultation today!