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Liability & Guest Medical Coverage For Homeowners Insurance

Liability & Guest Medical Coverage For Homeowners Insurance
What if someone is injured on my property and I’m sued for tens of thousands of dollars? This is a real fear in today’s litigation-prone environment, and the end result could be financial ruin or even losing your home due to inability to pay.
Homeowners insurance anticipates this problem, and most standard policies include at least basic liability coverage to protect against it. Some policies also add guest medical coverage for even more protection. Below, we’ll look at the basics of how these coverage types work.

The Liability Component Of Homeowners Insurance
There are over 30 million ER visits per year in the US for accidental injuries, and many of these occur in the home. When someone visits your property, you can be held legally responsible for their injuries under many scenarios, if any fault or negligence of any kind or degree is found to attach to you – or to anyone who resides in your home with you.

That’s where home insurance liability cover comes in. If someone falls down the stairs, gets bit by your dog, steps on a nail, or otherwise suffers serious injury on your premises, it will likely be covered by your policy.

You are covered only up to the limits of your policy, which is often $100,000, but you can increase this if you like. There will also be exclusions that are not covered, and the coverage is not applicable to those who actually live in your home or to the policyholder him or herself. In other words, the liability cover in your homeowners policy is an important part of liability protection but shouldn’t be your entire plan.

What Is “Guest Medical Coverage?”
Guest medical coverage may be a rider attached to your homeowners insurance at your request. It is similar to personal liability coverage but applies only to medical expenses, whereas, liability can apply to damage done to others’ property as well.

Since medical expenses are usually the bulk of liability suits, it may be smart to add guest medical on top of basic liability. You can start at $1,000 per person coverage and increase the limits from there if you think you need more.

Another difference is that this type of coverage applies regardless of whether or not you are held legally responsible for the injury – while liability in home insurance normally applies only where you would be legally responsible. The range of situations where guest medical can help is wider, but the coverage limits are lower, so these two types of coverage can actually complement each other.

The bottom line is that you need to discuss the details of liability and guest medical coverages with your homeowners insurance agent so you will be aware ahead of time of exactly what is and is not covered. You don’t want to be surprised after an accident occurs and find out you aren’t covered or your limits were set too low.

To learn more about how these two elements of homeowners insurance work, to customize your policy with an experienced agent, or to get a free quote, do not hesitate to contact Flagler County (FL) Insurance Agency today!