A word about under/uninsured motorist coverage
I know many bicyclists in Tucson who are unable to afford medical insurance, but who do have driver’s insurance.
If that’s you, you should know that in most circumstances your uninsured/underinsured motorist policy will cover you if you are hit while on your bike, and increasing those policy limits may be an inexpensive way to protect you should you be struck by a driver who either is not insured or is carrying a policy that does not fully cover your medical bills.
Here in Arizona, many drivers carry the minimum policy, which covers bodily injury only to $15,000.00. As an attorney who sees a lot of bicycle accident victims, I know that it is mighty easy to rack up a medical bill that exceeds $15,000.00.
By increasing your own uninsured/underinsured policy you might be able to give yourself a lot more protection without spending too much money. For example, in my own case I can get $300,000.00 of protection for under $50.00/month; I can get $100,000.00 of protection for under $20.00 a month. If you are a young, healthy person who rides a bike most places and cannot afford health insurance, your biggest health risk may come from the bad drivers you encounter every day. In that case, twenty or fifty dollars a month in a powerful UIM policy might be a wise expense for you.
–Erik Ryberg
November 26th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Thanks for this Erik. I up’d my UIM policy a couple months ago. Despite my insurance companies (Geico) insistance that UIM would not apply when I was on my bike. The cost as you mentioned was low and I imagine if I need it, we’ll sort it out in court. The book “Bicycling and the Law” has a a whole chapter on insurance, which goes into some detail on the subject as well. Thanks again for the blog post, hopefully it saves another cyclist from having to do fund raising to cover their medical expenses.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Interesting…
But I’m not understanding what the control variable is: UIM harms you regardless of what you are doing at the time, or is it UIM harms you when you are legally operating your (vehicle) bike on public roadway…
hmmm…
November 26th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Red Star, you need to look at your policy. In some states some policies may cover pedestrians.
EBR
November 26th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Hmmmm. Makes me wonder which is more cost effective for car-free cyclists like myself: health insurance or automobile insurance without an automobile. The automotive route is cheaper on a monthly basis. I rarely use health insurance – basically have it for emergencies like getting hit by cars.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Some insurance companies will only invoke their coverage if it goes over the maximum amount that your health insurance provides. So if you have $300k UIM coverage and only $15k regular health insurance, you’ll only use the 300k if you go over the $15k.
I suppose if you expect no health problems outside of being run over than UIM may be enough, but you’re gambling on any other kind of sickness.