Advocacy & Safety - Insurance ?

I've heard the stories of hit and runs or uninsured motorist, and the bicyclist incurring $25K in medical bills on day one.

So, putting aside medical insurance you may or may not have, has anyone cracked the code on supplement collision coverage for riding accidents? My auto insurer, Liberty Mutual, offers some supplements keyed of my medical insurance or an independent policy that works like medical insurance would but independently, i.e. "accident insurance', should you get injured bike riding or as a pedestrian. It's like $400 a year additional to your auto premiums, and pays out up to $25K in reimbursed medical, chiropractor, etc. it doesn't pay any disability though.

Otherwise, you're bare...you're stuck with whatever med. coverage you have unless you have an insured and liable driver. Your auto insurance probably doesn't cover you getting hit on your bike. :mad:

I also looked on some association sites, like USA Cycling. What they offer is competition insurance for selected events. So it seems like .... you either have great comprehensive health insurance - or - you are screwed..and even under a supplemental plan if you seriously enough hurt to bust the supplemental policy caps - or - you tangled with a car and the driver at fault hangs around to give you his/her insurance card.

It would help to indicate where you are located since insurance regulations vary between states/provinces (and certainly between countries).
In California you are covered by any uninsured/underinsured coverage you may have on your auto insurance policy even if the collision occurs while you are a cyclist or pedestrian. Raising the coverage limits on this is usually pretty cheap and may well be worthwhile for cyclists. See:
http://www.geklaw.com/news_uninsured_motorist.htm
for some more information.

In some states you can get supplemental medical insurance in addition to the basic medical that comes with your auto coverage. In Florida, you need to have 10k of personal injury protection, which pays medical bills and wage loss. When you have a serious injury, that money gets eaten up fast. Supplemental medical is a very good idea.

Some folks think that if they have good health insurance, they don't need supplemental auto medical coverage. That true to a point, but here's the hitch: When your health insurance pays your medical bills caused as a result of someone else's negligence and you have a claim against that person, your health insurer will have a lien against your recovery. So, here's a hypothetical: You get hit by a car and run up a $30,000 bill (which is extremely easy to do - an ambulance ride to the ER, a few tests, and a few visits to the orthopedist will do it. If you spend the night, you'll probably be over $50k.) You miss work and lose $2,000 in pay. Your own auto coverage pays $10k to the hospital. Your own health insurance pays $10k and the docs write off the rest. You are out $2k and you have a personal injury claim against the person who ran into you. If you settled that claim for the $2k you're out, your insurance company would take it all to reimburse them for the $10,000 they paid. You'd need to settle for $12,000 just to get back to even, let alone any compensation for all the grief the accident caused (although the insurance lien usually can be negotiated down, if you know what you're doing). If Medicaid pays your bills because you don't have any health insurance, you will have a lien from hell, and it takes lots of time and aggravation to get it resolved.

The trouble with a health insurance lien can be solved by having supplemental medical auto coverage. The money they pay typically does not get secured by a lien. However, your auto insurer also won't have the same kind of contract with the hospital that will allow them to negotiate down the bill.

This is a short version of how insurance works. I suggest you read Steve Magas' chapter about insurance in Bob Mionske's book about cyclist's rights. It is very good and a good explanation about how these things work in most states.

when my wife was hit and run, my auto insurance covered the bills. no extra riders on the policy. I was an NYC teacher-- I forget the company that we had.

In Nevada, auto insurance coverage does not apply to accidents while riding a bicycle, even commuting. At least not with Allstate. So I did take out accident insurance and it does cover many medical expenses and it covers lost wages. I can't remember how much it cost, but it was less than $50/month, which considering I've commuted 28 times this year and have a Suburban as a vehicle, I more than save that amount in gas savings.

I work in a physical rehabilitation hospital and have for 8 years. No, the usual 2 wheel patients we have are motorcyclists, BUT, trust me, a head injury for ANY reason is a generally life changing incident and never for the better.
Be honest. How smart are you now?

Do you really desire to be noticeably LESS smart than you are now?

I don't.

Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

In Hawaii, No-fault insurance laws require the motorist insurance to cover the medical bills for pedestrians and cyclist, regardless of fault. If the motorist runs, then the cyclist auto insurance has to cover medical and then they can go after the motorist if/when found.

In addition, look into uninsured motorist insurance. In many states, your uninsured motorist insurance on your car will cover you when you're riding a bicycle, the catch is that it only pays when you are not at fault in the accident, which in most cases, is usually the case. So it's not supplemental no-fault medical insurance, but in the situation where you are hit by an uninsured at fault motorist or hit-and-run, your UM insurance will pay for your medical bills.

Sit down with your insurance agent and you may be pleasantly surprised. It's a little advertised fact that uninsured motorist protection with a very high limit, say $500000-$1000000, is actually very cheap. In many cases, the uninsured motorist premium for a $1 million policy is not even double the uninsured motorist premium for a $10,000 policy.

If you are covered, get the highest limit uninsured motorist insurance you can afford.

Good advice, and this not what the insurance co. customer service groups says...and expect they are simply told to sell more insurance. Frankly, I don't believe I've received a complete and truthful answer from Liberty Mutual any time in the last 15 years.

But UM or UIM insurance does you no good if you take a header into a tree because of an ostacle, malfunction or whatever - a non-motorist claim. I guess this is where accident insurance comes in.

As far as Leo H.'s comment, I don't think insurance protects against head injuries; helmet's do that. Hey, I see a future for you working in my insurance company's customer service department!

In some states you can get supplemental medical insurance in addition to the basic medical that comes with your auto coverage. In Florida, you need to have 10k of personal injury protection, which pays medical bills and wage loss. When you have a serious injury, that money gets eaten up fast. Supplemental medical is a very good idea.

Some folks think that if they have good health insurance, they don't need supplemental auto medical coverage. That true to a point, but here's the hitch: When your health insurance pays your medical bills caused as a result of someone else's negligence and you have a claim against that person, your health insurer will have a lien against your recovery. So, here's a hypothetical: You get hit by a car and run up a $30,000 bill (which is extremely easy to do - an ambulance ride to the ER, a few tests, and a few visits to the orthopedist will do it. If you spend the night, you'll probably be over $50k.) You miss work and lose $2,000 in pay. Your own auto coverage pays $10k to the hospital. Your own health insurance pays $10k and the docs write off the rest. You are out $2k and you have a personal injury claim against the person who ran into you. If you settled that claim for the $2k you're out, your insurance company would take it all to reimburse them for the $10,000 they paid. You'd need to settle for $12,000 just to get back to even, let alone any compensation for all the grief the accident caused (although the insurance lien usually can be negotiated down, if you know what you're doing). If Medicaid pays your bills because you don't have any health insurance, you will have a lien from hell, and it takes lots of time and aggravation to get it resolved.

The trouble with a health insurance lien can be solved by having supplemental medical auto coverage. The money they pay typically does not get secured by a lien. However, your auto insurer also won't have the same kind of contract with the hospital that will allow them to negotiate down the bill.

This is a short version of how insurance works. I suggest you read Steve Magas' chapter about insurance in Bob Mionske's book about cyclist's rights. It is very good and a good explanation about how these things work in most states.

If (hypothetically) you settled and released for $2K and forgot about the rights of subrogation & liens - that's a real problem. It's not so much the need for supplemental insurance, it's understanding your rights and those of insurers and lien-holders in such a scenario.