How will you keep your business afloat if you’re injured? Learn how accident insurance is an affordable investment that can help sustain your business even when an injury occurs.
By Katie Navarra
Three months after starting his own business in 2008, Bud Lyon was effectively out of business. A 2-year-old flipped over on him and shattered his right arm. It required surgery, physical therapy, and several months of recovery. His stalls were filled with 2- and 3-year-old prospects, all of which required two hands to ride—a task he couldn’t complete.
Medical bills flowed in. Clients relocated to other barns. He understood that owners needed to keep their young horses in training; it was a difficult situation all the way around. Today, he has accident insurance, a service he wishes he’d had back then and came in handy when he found himself with a shattered leg more recently.
“It would’ve made things a lot less stressful back then,” he shares.
Accident insurance policies can provide a lump-sum payout directly to you. That payment can be used to cover a wide range of bills for the injury itself, from the initial care to surgery, transportation, lodging, and follow-up care. It can also be used for non-medical expenses.
Most often people think of it in terms of covering direct costs of injury. However, Megan Dante, an NRHA non pro who sells insurance policies to border patrol agents, explains that accident insurance can also be used to hire extra help after an accident.
“It can be used to hire someone so you can get horses longed, ridden, and exercised while you’re out recovering—without having to put expenses on a credit card,” she explains.
An Inexpensive Investment in You
“You can’t afford not to have it,” says NRHA Professional Martin Muehlstaetter about accident insurance.
When he was in Switzerland competing at a show, he received a call from a hospital in Arizona requesting his credit card information for a payment. One of his employees was working a new horse that had recently come in for training. The horse flipped over on the assistant trainer and shattered his femur. The two-week hospital stay generated a hefty bill, and the young trainer was out of commission for six months.
“We took as good of care of him as we could,” Muehlstaetter recalls. “Accidental insurance would’ve made everybody’s lives easier.”
Raised in Austria, which takes care of medical costs, Muehlstaetter hadn’t considered accident insurance prior to the incident. In his home country, medical bills are covered. When he returned to the United States, he called Dante and asked for more information on the plans she offered.
“We pay our employees pretty well, and we tell them they need to invest in themselves by signing up for accident insurance,” Muehlstaetter says. “They all jumped on it right away.”
Established trainers and young trainers alike know the pains of living on a budget. Skipping a lunch out once a week or making coffee at home rather than buying it out can equate the money needed to pay for the policy.
“I understand the reality of living on a budget,” Lyon says. “But it’s well worth the money and peace of mind.”
Broader Coverage
Accident insurance isn’t limited to catastrophic, career-altering injuries and is unlike workers’ compensation, which only covers on-the-job injuries. It can be used for regular trips to wellness providers such as the chiropractor. It can be used to pay down deductibles on health insurance and cover any gaps in insurance.
It also covers non-horse-related situations.
“If you’re hired to provide a clinic or judge a show in Canada and you decide to ski while you’re there and you get hurt, the policy covers it,” Dante explains.
Lyon recently submitted his first claim for reimbursement. When he traveled overseas in early 2018, he jumped into the barber’s chair and popped a mint in his mouth. The first bite broke his tooth. The accident policy covered the expenses associated with having the tooth repaired.
The amount of benefit you receive depends on the injury and associated costs. It’s important to read the policy for specific details.
As an illustrative example only, a policy might pay the following toward a trip to the emergency room: $300 for the ambulance, $500 for the ER visit, $1,200 for the surgery, $1,500 for the hospital admittance, and $50 for a physician follow up.
These payouts are completely independent from other insurances you may have. The policy pays based upon covered accidents and the corresponding treatments outlined in the policy. The benefits create a cushion and are tax-free.
“The money goes directly to you, and you can use the money however you want, even to hire help to get you through the recovery period,” Dante says. “It can mean the difference between keeping or losing clients.”
The paperwork to obtain a policy is painless. It’s as simple as providing a name, address, social security number, phone number, and a credit card. There’s no complicated qualifying physical or medical limitations to obtain basic coverage.
“The only exception is that the individual applying for accident insurance can’t be on Medicare,” Dante says.
The eligibility and waiting periods that are required before benefits can be disbursed vary, so it’s important to talk with Dante to learn more.
Invest in Yourself
When an accident happens, the last thing you want to think about is how you’re going to pay the bills. Accident insurance helps you pay for the medical and out-of-pocket costs that you may have after an accidental injury.
“You might never need it, but that one time you do and you don’t have it, you’re going to wish you had it,” Lyon cautions.
Training horses can be unpredictable. It only takes one incident to derail a career. Accident insurance even provides the flexibility to go to the doctor for minor situations that may often go unchecked, like a broken nose or finger.“There’s no good reason not to have it,” Muehlstaetter says. “If something happens and you don’t have it, shame on you.”
