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What's all the quaking about?
 You
may have health and motorcycle insurance, but is that enough?
We’ve all heard the old cliché about there being only two types
of riders: those who have crashed and those that will. Whether this
is true or not, it points to an obvious fact of riding a motorcycle:
motorcycling is an inherently risky mode of transportation,
especially when compared to commuting while surrounded by three
thousand pounds of steel (okay, mostly plastic these days, but you
get my point).
If you’re lucky, you have quality health insurance, and if you’re
smart you will have plenty of motorcycle insurance, but is that
enough? There are a number of riders who have no health insurance,
some with just catastrophe cover (i.e. $1,500 deductible) and even
if you do have full insurance there is surely some sort of
deductible you'll need to pony up along the way.
Health insurance will hopefully cover your hospital bills,
and motorcycle insurance may fix your bike or any damage you happen
to inflict to other persons and property. But, what would you do if
you couldn’t pay your bills or work for a week, a month or even a
year? This is where a personal accident indemnity plan, such as the
one offered by AFLAC, comes into play.
So, what is that duck quacking about in all those commercials?
The big difference between what AFLAC does and what your standard
health insurance is that instead of paying the doctors and the
hospitals as your health insurance does, ALFAC pays you. You choose
where the money goes, whether it be your health insurance
deductible, uncovered medical expenses or even your car payment,
mortgage or cell phone bill.
AFLAC is not medical insurance, and it works best in conjunction
with a typical health insurance plan. This is because instead of
paying a percentage of your medical bills, it pays a pre-determined,
lump sum depending on the type of injury, cost of treatment, and
recovery time. There are no deductibles or co-pays. AFLAC’s personal
accident plan covers all types of mishaps, whether they be
motorcycle related, work related or occur around the house.
From severe life threatening injuries to stitches in a cut
finger, you can file a claim. The pay-out depends on the accident,
so a cut finger claim may only pay you $50, while a severe accident
claim could pay-out in the thousands of dollars. AFLAC does not
cover your routine medical bills, prescription meds, and the like.
But, they do pay some of the costs associated with an accident such
as MRI’s, ambulance rides, hospital stays, and doctor visits.
We’ve all have heard about and felt the pinch from the costs of
health insurance. AFLAC is surprisingly affordable, especially if
you can get it through work. As of this writing the basic accident
plan for an individual costs $24 a month (that comes to just over $5
a week), while family coverage is around $40 a month. The costs do
go up considerably if you are self-employed with no employees
working for you, or if your workplace does not offer AFLAC, by about
40%.
The good news about AFLAC is that it is price-locked and
portable. What this means is that the rates will never be raised,
and if you quit your job or retire, the plan comes with you and the
rates don’t change. Does your health insurance offer that?
Hopefully with responsible, intelligent riding you will prove the
cliché wrong, but accidents happen, on and off the road. Even if you
know you will never have an accident, do yourself a favor and
see if your employer offers AFLAC or a similar accident plan.
Patrick Duff/Fall 06
Special thanks to
Patty Fuentes of Aflac for assistance in this story. If
you are interested in more information about Aflac products contact
Patty at (206) 228-4120 |
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