Accident-Only Health Insurance?

June 27, 2010 6:17 PM

Can anyone recommend an "accident only" health insurance plan? i.e, it will cover doctor/hospital costs only in the case of accidental injury? I already have a high deductible BCBS plan --- I'm looking for something even more spartan.
posted by blargerz to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

I assume you're in the US... This may be difficult to find, as most states have minimum coverage requirements for even high-deductible plans. Can you tell us where you live?
posted by decathecting at 6:22 PM on June 27, 2010

Response by poster: Illinois
posted by blargerz at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2010

AFLAC pays you cash in the event of accidents or cancer.
posted by amethysts at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2010

What you're looking for is probably a limited benefits plan. Illinois has very specific regulations of those sorts of plans, more stringent than many other states. I'm not an expert in this area, but a little research leads me to believe that it may be illegal for an insurer in Illinois to offer an accident-only plan. I'd recommend calling a licensed insurance broker in your state to get details about what's available and the regulations governing it.
posted by decathecting at 6:44 PM on June 27, 2010

For a few months, I had the Empire BC/BS Hospital Plan, which might be what you're looking for. This appears to be the IL version.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:05 PM on June 27, 2010

You may be looking for what is called a catastrophic illness policy.
posted by HuronBob at 7:21 PM on June 27, 2010

I had a plan like this from Assurant Health. Sadly, I'm not going to recommend them since, while I had no problems with them since I didn't use one iota of my coverage, I heard (long after having the policy) that they're impossible to deal with and frequently do everything in their power not to pay out claims. And since the claims are for exactly those catastrophic medical problems with their associated catastrophic costs, really sucks for those left holding a $30,000 or higher medical bill.

So count this as a recommendation against them, even if they do have (cheap) policies which appear to meet your needs.
posted by zpousman at 8:41 PM on June 27, 2010

Yeah, go with AFLAC.
posted by infinitywaltz at 9:33 PM on June 27, 2010

I also have a plan from Assurant Health, mostly to protect myself from being denied coverage for a pre-existing condition should I get a job with benefits in the near future. Like zpousman said, there are a lot of stories out there about the difficulty of getting them to pay out claims.

Additionally, if you do file a claim on your policy with Assurant, they can then prohibit you from renewing that policy the next time around. So avoid Assurant if you can, and check any policy you're considering for similar restrictions. A spartan policy will end up screwing you if it becomes useless once you've filed a claim.
posted by Fui Non Sum at 6:45 AM on June 28, 2010