Medical Payments Protection for Boaters

You want every boating excursion you take to be safe and fun. However, you can never guarantee that problems will not occur. Accidents or other mishaps might occur, and when they do, they might damage your vessel or someone else’s. Worse still, they might hurt you, your passengers or other boaters. What can you do when these accidents occur?

Boating insurance usually offers a few incentives to help those injured in boating accidents. You, your family, guests and those in other boats might be able to use your coverage to benefit medical needs. Therefore, everyone might be able to use protection to recover from their injury losses.

Boat Insurance and Injuries

A boat accident could happen at any moment. Of course, a primary result might be property damage. However, the immediate secondary concern is the safety and health of all involved. Just as with car wrecks, boat accidents could cause severe injuries. Plus, because accidents involve water, they might even prove more dangerous to land dwellers.

Some of the injuries that might arise in boating accidents might include:

• Burns from fuel spills or fire
• Exposure or frostbite risks
• Drowning risks

These risks, of course, fall alongside any other type of injury like broken bones, cuts, head injuries and so on. It might also take significant time for those injured to receive medical help, and that could even worsen injuries. Therefore, the costs and severity of these occurrences could rise significantly.

Health insurance might be able to help the injured parties. However, some victims might have no insurance, and must pay for their losses out of pocket. Others still might accumulate uninsured medical costs regardless. For those who need additional medical assistance, boat insurance might be able to help out. Your own policy will often be able to provide help for both you and other people.

Boat insurance is usually not mandatory, though some states require it. However, you need it nevertheless. For assistance with injury costs, consider two types of coverage the most-important—medical payments insurance and bodily injury liability coverage. These are different types of coverage that apply to different people. Still, they both provide significant assistance in case of boater injuries. Make sure your insurance agent includes both of them on your policy.

Bodily Injury Liability Insurance

Sometimes, you might be the party who is responsible for an accident. In other words, you will be the at-fault boater. If that accident injures the people on the other involved boat(s), then you might be responsible for covering their losses. Bodily injury liability insurance might apply in these situations.

A bodily injury liability insurance policy applies to the harm the insured boater (you) causes to others (those on the other boat). So, if the accident is your fault, the other boater can rely on your insurance to pay for their medical costs. Likewise, should another boat cause your injuries, you could file against their policy for your losses, if necessary.

A benefit of this coverage is that is it can usually provide well over $100,000 in coverage. Therefore, you have significantly less risks of having to pay for someone else’s medical bills on your own. Not only that, but also, should the other affected party sue you, liability insurance might help you pay for your legal costs. Your own financial security will therefore remain a lot more stable.

Please note, if you ever loan your boat to a friend to use, they will assume liabilities by using the boat. To cover them, you might need to get a guest passenger liability policy provision. It can extend your liability coverage to the losses caused by others who pilot your vessel. Therefore, if they cause an accident, third parties might still have help with their losses.

Medical Payments Insurance

Liability coverage applies to the injuries you cause to others. However, it will not apply to your own injuries. Nor will it apply to those on your own vessel. For your own injuries, you will likely need a medical payments insurance provision.

With medical payments supplements, your policy will pay for some or all of the injury costs of you or your passengers. Coverage might pay for surgeries, x-rays, hospital costs and other medical needs. Some policies will also include a death benefit if someone unfortunately dies. Keep in mind, however, that the policy will have limits. Therefore, you might not be able to cover 100% of your cost losses. Nevertheless, appropriate limits can help reduce your costs.

Please note, a medical payments policy does not replace your health insurance. Nevertheless, it can help you cover the costs that your health policy might not. As a result, you can still benefit from coverage even if you have health coverage in general.

All boaters who want to avoid injuries and accidents during excursions should, naturally, make safety a priority. Not only must you navigate and use the boat correctly. You must also protect passengers by enforcing safety measures, like the requirements to wear life jackets. Never neglect these steps, and you will create a safer environment for your passengers.

Contact us for a El Paso boat insurance quote today!