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niolosoiale

Skydiving injuries and medical insurance

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My current insurance and even BCBS in the state that I live in (when I looked at them) exclude any injuries that may happen due to skydiving.
Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

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My current insurance and even BCBS in the state that I live in (when I looked at them) exclude any injuries that may happen due to skydiving.



***

So does that mean you have 'no' coverage, or are you somehow covered another way?










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I've got coverage. I won't jump without it for the "just in case" issue.

I had looked into switching to BCBS but they changed their policies after there was a death in the state skydiving related. [:/]
Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

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I've got coverage. I won't jump without it for the "just in case" issue.

***

another question then..

Do you have an 'additional' policy or a rider to your main existing policy?

I'm curious because I really don't know WHERE I stand. I need to do some addition checking as well.










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I've got coverage. I won't jump without it for the "just in case" issue.

I had looked into switching to BCBS but they changed their policies after there was a death in the state skydiving related. [:/]



Kind morbid, but you would think they wouldn't care so much about the deaths.

Regardless, I have med ins through work and I'm trying to find my paperwork to review the stipulations on skydiving. Seems like I may be in luck, and even then, the monthly premiums on hazardous activity insurance aren't all that bad... relatively.

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Make sure you're covered before going up.




Easier said than done. My policy clearly excludes anything related to aviation. With that said, I do know someone who used the policy on a small skydiving related injury at the emergency room and stated that when being admitted.

At my age, getting any insurance is not easy. I'll be on medicare in a year. I really don't know whether they would pay or not and asking would be senseless. It likely would evoke a negative response and assure non payment should anything happen.

I could pay my bills if I had to, but that would probably be more painful than the injury. ;)

Ed



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Make sure you're covered before going up.


Easier said than done. My policy clearly excludes anything related to aviation...


You know, I could comment on that but that would be a subject for Speakers Corner. ;)
HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

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I just wondered if there was ever an incident where someone's insurance didn't pay because the injury occurred while skydiving.



Yes, I know of at least one person who was seriously injured in a skydiving accident. He found out after the fact that his policy had a "dangerous sports" exclusion, and they did not pay a dime. (And we're talking significant medical bills- airlifting, intensive care, several surgeries, rehab, etc.) The real kicker is his wife worked for the insurance company and neither of them had any idea the exclusion was on the policy until they tried to file their claim.

Since then, I've actually tried more than once to get a copy of my employer provided health insurance policy to see if there is any such exclusion, and I've found the process to be extremely difficult, so much so that I gave up.

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I was injured skydiving.The insurance company paid.If I had to go again I would probably tell them I fell off a ladder.



I broke a leg and tore my ankle all to pieces and my health plan paid up. There was a snag or two, but they got cleared up. They also wanted to know if anyone was liable, who I might sue. I told them no, I did it to myself, skydiving, and they said "oh then it wasn't anybody's fault" and let it go at that. They were very nice about it to tell the truth.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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Depends on your policy(ies)...

I have a $28,000+ right tib/fib.
Search my post for 'crash and burn' and 'xrays and pics of bad swoop' for the nitty gritty details, there are some great gross pics.:P
Anyways...
I was upfront from the git-go with the doctors/hospital and my BCBS insurance, to lie about how a injury was sustained could negatively affect treatment decisions and if your insurance has policy/activity limitations leave you open to litigation for a fraudulent claim.
I have no limitations on activities and had zero (0) problems with my BCBS, I'm very pleased to say that my insurance is excellent and my out of pocket was less than $3,000.
I was very happy to have purchased a very good short term disability policy too, $1,000 benefit per month made paying the bills alot easier for 4.5 months of recovery.;)

Cover yourself in-depth, major/catastrophic medical and short/long term disability, if your gonna participate in this sport.
Not having atleast basic coverage is irresponsible and asinine, not too mention potentially becoming a leech on society.
If you have a family...
Get some good term life policy with a rider policy to cover this normally excluded activity.

Cover your and your families arse people!

ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414
Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868

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***Since then, I've actually tried more than once to get a copy of my employer provided health insurance policy to see if there is any such exclusion, and I've found the process to be extremely difficult, so much so that I gave up.


It's my understanding that anytime you are covered by a group policy ... such as what you would have with your employer ... the insurer cannot deny coverage to individual members even for "high risk" sports injuries. The rationale for this is that they insure the "group." That group will have lots of couch potatoes in it ... it will have loads of "average" folks in it ... whose worse injury may be a sprained ankle sustained at a local softball game ... and then it will include a few "nuts" ... those extreme sports addicts who have a higher than normal risk for serious injury.

So, if you are insured through your employer's group plan, you should have nothing to worry about.

For what it's worth, I was badly injured in 1999 ... two broken femurs and a few other minor injuries ... in a landing accident. My medical bills easily topped $100,000 ... and I think my out of pocket expenses amounted to $500 tops. Everything was picked up by Blue Cross Personal Choice ... including air transfer back to Philly from Florida via a private medical charter. My employer's sick leave plan also made sure I received my full paycheck for each week of the 5+ months I was out of work recuperating.

Blue skies ...

--rita

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Im in the army so i can pretty much wreck my body and theyll fix me at no charge although i have heard of people getting in quite a bit of touble for injuring themselves, and as far as the medical care goes, i would be truthful or at least state your mechanism of Injury(MOI) as soething that at least resembles that type of injury, as it is any fall from above 15 ft or 3 times your height gets you a cervical collar and a ride to the hospital immobilized on a spineboard, and thats standard protocol everywhere in the states
Fly it like you stole it

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They did not give us any trouble but it was not a large claim either.



I have a set of $1 million-plus legs, and my insurance company paid fully with no questions asked. It was pretty obvious to everyone I had done it skydiving (EMTs got me out of my gear and cut off my jumpsuit), and it never occurred to me to lie about it.

It was a group insurance plan through my mom's company (I was in college at the time), but they never questioned whether or not I would be covered.

Bottom line: Check with your insurance company first.

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