The best homeowners insurance policy typically helps pay for fire damage, hail damage and theft of your belongings, among other problems covered by your policy. But you might not be aware that your homeowners insurance policy normally also covers medical expenses for a visitor who’s hurt on your property, no matter whose fault it was. It also helps pay for some injuries to others that happen away from your home, for example if your dog bites someone in a park.
What Is Medical Payments Coverage?
As its name suggests, medical payments coverage pays the medical bills of people who are accidentally hurt on your property—not including members of your own household. It is usually included in a standard homeowners insurance policy.
It doesn’t matter whose fault the incident is. Ultimately, medical payments coverage can act as a financial shield for small injuries, and it might prevent an injured person from suing you for monetary compensation.
Plus, it can lend a helping hand to an injured person if they’ve been hit with medical bills but lack health insurance.
This coverage applies to minor injuries that happen anywhere on your property, as well as property that adjoins your home, such as alleys and sidewalks. It also pays if you or a family member unintentionally injures someone away from your property, and if a pet injures someone away from your home.
The coverage limit for the medical payments section of your homeowners policy is usually $1,000 to $5,000. It’s a small amount intended for smaller injuries. You might be able to pay extra to raise the limit within your policy.
Typically, medical payments coverage pays for “reasonable and necessary” medical expenses within a year of the accident, but that period might be longer.
Limits for medical payments coverage normally apply to each person who’s hurt in an accident, rather than simply offering blanket coverage for one accident.
What Does Medical Payments Coverage Pay For?
Items paid by medical payments coverage can include:
- Ambulance rides
- Emergency room visits
- Funeral services
- Hospital stays
- Physical therapy
- Surgeries
- X-rays
But keep in mind, $1,000 in coverage won’t go very far.
Here’s one example of how this coverage works: If a neighbor chips his tooth after falling on your steps, your medical payments coverage should pay for dental work—up to the amount specified in your policy. It doesn’t matter whose fault his fall was.
In addition to household members, medical payments insurance won’t cover someone who’s your tenant or any activities related to an at-home business.
How Does Someone Make a Medical Payments Claim?
If someone has been injured at your home, such as a friend or neighbor, they can submit their medical bills to your insurance company. This way, the bills can be paid quickly and without a liability claim being filed against you.
The deductible for your homeowners insurance policy doesn’t apply to claims submitted for medical payments coverage.
If an accident happens at your home, you should document the conditions. This can help clear up any confusion later about what happened. For example, someone might say they slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk in front of your home, yet you can produce a photo showing the sidewalk was dry at the time.
How Is Medical Payments Coverage Different From Liability Insurance?
It can be easy to confuse medical payments coverage with liability home insurance coverage: Both are included in your home insurance policy and both cover injuries to guests. But liability coverage protects you only if you (or a household member) are at fault, and it has much higher coverage limits—often at least $300,000.
Liability coverage also covers property damage, and medical payments coverage does not. For example, if your child accidentally sends a golf ball through a neighbor’s window, that falls under liability coverage. Liability coverage can also cover injuries or property damage that happens away from your home.
In addition, liability insurance covers your legal defense in a lawsuit. You can add extra liability insurance to your homeowners and auto insurance policies with an umbrella insurance policy.
Medical payments coverage is ideal for paying for someone’s small injuries without arguing over who’s to blame or getting involved in a lawsuit.
