JP66

The question came up this weekend when discussing my future racing hopes with my wife as to whether or not my employer sponsored medical insurance covers accidents that happen while racing.

I searched and found nothing on this topic on Rennlist. I did find companies advertising supplemental policies.

Obviously I will call my insurer (Aetna) on Monday and inquire as to the specifics of my policy, but what have the good folks on this forum learned about their own policies? Are you or were you covered?

Thanks as always,

JP

Coochas

I know nothing about insurance but even if you tried to kill yourself your medical insurance will pay the bills.
Obtaining life insurance on the other hand can be expensive with habits like racing and skydiving. I don't personally know because I am never going to die.

LuigiVampa

You get life insurance locked in BEFORE you go racing. DE is not racing. I've actually left some explicit instructions to my heirs on how to fight this should it ever be an issue.

HoBoJoe

What these guys said, but I would refrain from contacting insurance companies and mentioning the word racing.

d15b7

I have some personal experience with this; two years ago I was involved in an incident racing at Summit Point with NASA. I was airlifted to Fairfax and was in the hospital for 5 days, had surgery, and had 3 months of therapy also. the way it worked was that I was required to submit everything to my personal health insurance (HMO); they paid some (I'd say about 30-40%) of the costs, and denied many of them. BUT -- NASA carries a special $1M policy that covers all racers, so every single bill that wasn't paid in full I forwarded along to their insurance company and it was paid up no questions asked.

I don't know how many organizations carry the additional policies, but in my case the NASA policy saved me many tens of thousands of dollars.

JP66

Thats great info. Thanks.

That led me to go poke around the PCA website where I found the following:

Porsche Club of America Insurance Plan 2003

Don't know how current the numbers are, but it appears the limits for PCA Racing are much less than $1M.

Circuit Motorsports

SCCA is the same.

RSRRacer

Your employer sponsored insurance will almost certainly cover you for this but they may want you to verify that you were not doing this for some sort of financial gain or as another job.

I would simply ask your employer VP of HR or benefits director to send you an email on this. Also this will be addressed in the summary plan description (the big book with all health plan details).

Self insured group health plans (which you are probably covered by if your company has more than say 500 ees) have to cover this as "hazardous hobby" exclusions are not permitted.

On a personal note however I don't think it's your employers job to cover the costs of your medical bills if you are injured racing. This shifts the risk of your hobby into every one employed by your company.

Racerrob

I have been through this with my insurance. The terms of your policy and your state's laws control. In my case, I broke my wrist at a pca race and my carrier paid the bills. Most insurance is primarily interested in whether someone was at fault against whom they can assert subrogation. Often when I submit claims I get a questionnaire from the carrier as to whether a third party was at fault.

I would not rely on what some drone tells you on the phone. Read your policy and or ask HR or corporate counsel. Be safe out there.

Sir5n

Immigrate to Canada, problem solved.

jrgordonsenior

Although it became unnecessary you also have the option of suing your insurance company for the denied coverage.....

Kein_Ersatz

I'm a DE'er not a racer, but then what about employees who are over weight, smoke, drink, ride bicycles or dirt bikes, quad runners (w or w/o helmets), have dogs / exotic pets, have a backyard pool, snow or water ski, own a boat, run / jog / mud run / hike, camp, play golf, softball, basketball, football, soccer, rugby, hang glide, rock climb, have a home with stairs, have a tub, climb a ladder, do woodworking, garden / mowing / trim bushes / tress, grill outside, own guns, have a family history of disease, have 19+ kids ... why just single out employees who race in a car on a track? I think you will find the expense for the above elective activities to the collective far exceeds the rare racing inncident. Just ask an ER Dr what they see in the course of a day.

It is rare that someone wants to get hurt doing a leisure activity, but s**t happens. I bet Health Insurance has spent more $s on knee replacements from "sports" enthusiast / weekend warriors then it has ever paid out in racing accidents. Exclusions from health coverage (vs Life Insurance) can be very subjective as to what is the "preventable" risk or a personal choice resulting expense being shared by every employee.

Steve113

Medical coverage from work will cover you

RickBetterley

'Should cover' and 'does cover' are 2 way different things. But absent language in the policy excluding track driving (or similar wording) I'd be surprised to see it excluded.
It's a shame insurance policies aren't easier to read.

RSRRacer

I agree with all of the above. Unfortunately the govt makes sure those who are responsible pay the costs fort who aren't.