By Lorie Ham
As we said last month, insurance can be confusing! But it doesn’t have to be, you just have to ask the right questions and not be afraid to ask about anything that you don’t understand. That’s what your agent is there for-they want to help.
This month we will look at the term Med Pay or Medical Payments in regards to home and auto coverage. This term shows up in both homeowner liability coverage and auto liability coverage. Before liability insurance will pay, there has to be a determination that the insured is liable through some fault or wrongdoing of their own-whether intentional or not. However, insurance companies decided long ago it would be better to reimburse medical expenses for small claims without fault.
So let’s say that you are having a pool party for your kid’s birthday and one of the kids slips and hurts himself and has to go to the hospital, your homeowner insurance will pay the medical bills up to the med pay limit (usually $5,000 but sometimes more). Or maybe your dog gets scared by all the party noise and suddenly bites one of the kids at the party, their medical bills would be covered up to the limit.
Same basic idea with your auto insurance policy except that it covers the policyholder as well as the passengers in the vehicle. After the party, you are taking some of those kids home and someone runs into you and you all get hurt, your auto policy would pay the medical expenses for all of you up to the limit.
I hope that makes more sense now, if not, please pick up the phone and ask your agent questions until you are sure you understand. Better to know now, then wait until things go bad at your pool party and you don’t know what to do!
For some pool safety tips check out our other article this month.
