Life and Health Insurance for Horses

Mortality Coverage:  Life Insurance for Horses

You might own a life insurance policy, the purpose of which is to help provide for your family or beneficiaries in the event of your death. An equine mortality policy is similar: If your horse dies or has to be euthanized, the policyholder receives the amount the horse was insured for, which is considered to be the current value of the horse. The price you paid for your horse establishes his value; if you can provide proof that his value has increased, the insurance company can allow you to increase the policy amount to cover your horses newly stated value. Proof can be competition records showing his achievements, extensive training records (especially for young/ unbroken or green broke horses) or a recent appraisal.

 

Photo Credit: Claire Almendinger

Mortality insurance gives the horse owner the added assurance that in the event the horse needs to be euthanized or dies on its own that the money you have invested in it will be returned, either for a new purchase or just to recoup the loss of the horse and the money invested in it.

The premium or cost to insure the horse is set by an annual premium. The annual premium is typically between 3-8% of the horse’s value. If the horse is valued at $10,000 the annual or yearly premium will be $300 at 3% or $800 at 8%. Premiums depend on certain factors such as age, breed, the intending use of animal. Racehorses will cost more to insure than say a dressage or pleasure horse due to the chances of injury are far great for a race horse.

Major Medical and Surgical Coverage: Health Insurance for Horses

The point of major-medical coverage is to reimburse the policyholder for veterinary costs incurred in the process of diagnosing and treating illness or injury, including surgery. The horse can be examined and treated at home, at a veterinary clinic or hospital, or both. Surgical coverage is not just for surgeries. The name actually refers to the fact that covered charges must be incurred at a surgical facility. As a result, unless you happen to live next door to a clinic or hospital, a surgical endorsement is likely to be more limiting than a major-medical endorsement, which is why it should be added with Major Medical and not a stand-alone endorsement.

Photo Credit: Claire Almendinger

Other Types Of Coverage: Stallions, broodmares, foals. Importing/exporting horses

You can buy infertility insurance to protect against the stud-fee income you won't collect if he experiences a decline in fertility due to injury, illness, or age or if he is infertile.

Foal policies can be expensive but if you are expecting a valuable foal this may be the route to choose especially if your breeding contract doesn’t come with a live foal guarantee. There are different policies that follow the foal from birth to 24 hours, then from 25 hours up to 30-45 days old. After this time the foal must be issued a standard mortality policy if you wish to keep it insured.

Loss-of-use coverage is a permanent disability endorsement/ coverage that compensate the policyholder/ owner in the event that his or her horse becomes unable to perform in his intended discipline. For example a show jumper tears a ligament and can no longer jump again. Some of these policies contain language stating the insurer can opt to take possession of the horse (as fraud protection).

Air-transit coverage protects against loss during air travel, including import or export between the United States and a foreign country. So if you are looking to purchase a horse from another country this may be something to look into.

There are many options to choose from when it comes to insuring your equine companion. Could you afford to replace your horse out of pocket in the event of a total loss? If your equine friend needed costly surgery could you afford the vet bills, surgery, transport, and after care that would incur? If your show horse were injured beyond its normal use and could no longer perform could you afford to buy another horse to take its place?

Questions: Bonnie Foord at the MVP Insurance Agency 740-966-3180 bonnie@themvpagency.com

Referenced website: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/28179/equine-insurance-risk-management

Do you share your opinion online via social networking?

Do You Need a Personal Injury Endorsement on Your Homeowners’ Insurance Policy?

August 12, 2010by EINSURANCE

 

Just when you thought you had it all covered, along comes a new risk exposure! This time, it could be something as seemingly innocuous as your teenage kid upstairs tweeting about a classmate. Believe it or not, you could be one nasty slanderous 144-character tweet away from a costly personal injury lawsuit…unless you have a personal injury endorsement on your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy.

Think your standard homeowner’s insurance policy covers personal injuries? Think again. Standard homeowner’s coverage has your back for bodily injury and property damages that don’t involve an automobile or aren’t business-related.  (Note:  some HO-5 level homeowner’s policies do include PI coverage as standard-issue, but unless you have an extremely high-end piece of property, you probably don’t have HO-5 level coverage.)

However, the typical homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover personal injury issues – which can include stuff like false arrest, wrongful eviction or entry, invasion or violation of privacy, and yes, slander and defamation. But add a personal liability endorsement, and your homeowner’s coverage extends to any emotional damages you might be sued for. Typically, such an endorsement will also pay the legal costs of defending yourself in the event of a law suit.

Be advised that a personal injury endorsement does not give you license to say, write or post nasty stuff about other people. Like all insurance, a your pi endorsement will likely have a list of exclusions and limitations attached to it. It may not extend to business  or non-personal activities, for example, such as posting a derogatory comment on your home business website or hobby-related blog. Intent matters, too. If you knew what you were doing was wrong or inaccurate, your personal injury endorsement may not cover you. Ditto on any activity that is flat out illegal. And, like all insurance, personal injury endorsements only cover activity that occurred after the policy went into effect and while the policy is in effective . Coverage isn’t retroactive and it ends the day your policy expires.

 In the realm of costs, a personal injury endorsement is a cheap addition to your homeowners’ or renter’s policy – unlikely to add more than a few dollars a year to your premium.