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narcimund

Insurance

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Personally I think it's every jumper's responsibility to have the financial resources to cover the costs of injuries or death that might occur in skydiving. For most of us that means buying health insurance and possibly life insurance. I pay every month for both and I pay extra to have my voluntary hobby covered.

How does everyone else feel? Is it reasonable to not have insurance and leave it to chance or charity?


First Class Citizen Twice Over

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Health insurance, yes...I think it's irresponsible not to have it in general, especially for skydivers. Life insurance OTOH, depends on your situation. I'm single with noone else dependent on my income. I have enough assets that if I died my funeral expenses, etc. will be covered, but I don't need to make sure someone is taken care of.

FYI...I just got a letter from USPA yesterday that they are offering AD&D coverage for members that specifically includes skydiving.

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I have bc/bs $5 million medical coverage with lifetime disability worth another $2.5 million . The benefits dude at work says it costs them around $250.00 a month . I think if you are going to skydive it should be required that you have insurance . I don't like having to pay higher Dr. bills to cover the people that don't have it .


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Young boy, health insurance I pay for dearly every month. Would not leave home without it.
Now you mentioned "death insurance"? Personnaly when I buy it, I don't give a s**t what happens to me. Dump my body into the retention ditch and let koyotees and byzzards eat me.
jraf

Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui.
Muff #3275

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Is it reasonable to not have insurance and leave it to chance or charity?


Depends on if you can afford it or not. If I didn't get medical insurance as a job benefit, I wouldn't have it... if I did pay for it I wouldn't be able to afford to jump.

And yes, I would still jump without it - I jumped for several years, including working as a tandem instructor, without any insurance at all. Had I been injured, I'd be paying the medical bills for the rest of my life - but that was a risk I was willing to take.

imho, "requiring" that jumpers have medical and/or life insurance is economic discrimination, just like "requiring" jumpers to have AAD's on their rigs would be.

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Health Insurance - Yes

Life Insurance - optional - way too expensive for skydivers - selling my gear should cover the cremation. I have life insurance - 2 policies. One I have through work which I've had before I started skydiving and one I got after I started skydiving. The second will cover me skydiving as long as I am out of the airplane.

Judy
Rabbits eat lettuce...
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

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FYI...I just got a letter from USPA yesterday that they are offering AD&D coverage for members that specifically includes skydiving.



Yeah, I got that in the mail too. I was reading over it, and noticed it doesn't cover flights in private aircraft other than Jump planes engaged in skydiving operations (or something like that). Thought that was kindof funny.

As for myself, I have no insurance :$ I think I got a $1000 life insurance policy free with some credit card though.

--
Hook high, flare on time

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I have an in depth professional opinion, but I'll give you the reader digest version.

Health insurance should not be "rated". We are no more at risk of getting hurt than lots of other sports, driving on the freeway or slipping in the bathtub.

Life Insurance however deserve a rate. We are at more risk of unrecoverable injuries than most other sports.

btw, Im licensed in Life and Health, but I'm a Property Insurance Sales Manager.

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Even if I didn't jump, I'd have to have health insurance. Otherwise my doctor dad would smite me like a vengeful god.

Sometimes it feels like a leash, though. I feel like I can't ever have a non-corporate job because I need the bennies. Getting health insurance on your own is very, very expensive.

Anyway, I assume this post is a reaction to taking up a collection when an uninsured skydiver gets hurt. My feeling is if you don't like it, don't donate any money. I would never tell someone they shouldn't skydive because they don't have health insurance. This sport has veered into enough of an elitist direction without BS like that.

Just my opinion, natch.
Skydiving is for cool people only

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I think it is crazy to jump without at least health insurance. Hospitals are expensive as hell. I can't imagine having one major wipeout and being bankrupted because of it. With a family, I can't take that chance. As for the life insurance, depends on the individual's situation.

Personally, I currently have:

Health insurance (through wife's work) would cover skydiving injury
Short-term disability insurance (through my work)
Long-term disability insurance (through my work)
Accidental death & dismemberment ins. (through USPA, for $360/yr)
Skydiving liability insurance (from USPA dues)
Whole life insurnace - covers skydiving (was started when I was 16)
Term life policy that does NOT cover skydiving
Term life policy that DOES cover skydiving (I pay extra $2.50/$1000)


I have a wife and baby daughter, and I have a bigger salary than my wife. Her father was killed in a car accident when she was 16. What allowed her mom to keep a roof over the heads of her 3 kids? Insurance. It wasn't her job as a social worker.

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Getting health insurance on your own is very, very expensive.



It is? I pay less than $150/month for health insurance that covers everything I could want including skydiving injuries.

I have "non-corporate job" and no corporate benefits.

Cheap.


First Class Citizen Twice Over

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That's cheap if you're talking about full HMO type coverage with prescription benefits, etc. A few years ago I had to buy my own and it was closer to $300/month.

I don't think you need the full dr. visit, prescription etc. if you can't afford it. But you can definitely at least get hospitalization for pretty cheap.

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I pay $35/month for coverage that is pretty much casualty. Basically, there's a big deductible, and coinsurance up to a point. But the out-of-pocket maximum is like $3k. It's pretty much useless for minor stuff and office visits. But if I end up really messed up or get gravely ill, I'm covered. It is, in my view, much better than spending $3600 a year, every year. I'm sure it makes sense for some, but not for me. I think not having some sort of catastrophic coverage is really risky, though.

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i've read mosts of these posts, and i hope that you people are speaking from what you know, and not what you "assume" read your policies carefully. my insurance dropped me when i started sky diving, and the insurance i have now will not cover a sky diving related injury. i'm no insurance professional, but i know people who are, and i don't understand if ya'll are getting this protection, why i can't? even if i get killed sky diving, my life insurance won't pay off, they claim that would be considered "suicide" serious business.
--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

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You are responsible for you.

If you hook yourself in, I'll feel sad because you're gone, but I won't give you any pity. You made the choice.

If you get hurt and have huge medical bills, I might buy you a beer, but you made the choice to be insurance-liberated, so deal with it.

That's my cold, harsh opinion.

In a world full of people, only some want to fly... isn't that crazy! --Seal

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That's my cold, harsh opinion.



no matter how you feel, if something happened to you, i'd help out, no doubt in my mind. we, as sky divers are a "family" unit. if we don't look out for each other, who will? if i could buy insurance that would cover me, i would. there's a lots of folks out there who don't have insurance, not because they can't afford it, but because it's not offered. i guess if you had an automobile accident, and was (god forbid) a quadraplegic, you wouldn't want the insurance coverage? simply because it was your decision to get behind the wheel? c'mon dude! show me some love! :)
--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

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Are you talking health, life or both? I checked with the underwriters of my health (blye cross/shield) and it is covered.

The key to understanding insurance coverage is knowing if you have a policy that covers everything except what's specifically excluded (if that's the case unless skydiving or related activity is excluded you WILL be covered), or if you have coverage that lists what is included (in that case you would only be covered if it IS listed).

Either way, I can't see how they could rule a skydiving accident as suicide unless it was determined to be that by whoever investigates it.

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Richard,

That's an excellent point. Many coverages might limit certain casualties without being obvious about it.

I'm glad to say that I've personally checked in to mine and even though I have to pay more, I'm covered. I hope everyone else does the same.


First Class Citizen Twice Over

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