Personal accident insurance

"Every 30 minutes, year in a year out, somebody dies in an accident - over 18,000 deaths a year. Isn't it time to protect yourself and your love ones against the financial loss caused by accidents?

This is the most common line of marketing publicized by my company with respect to Personal Accident Insurance product.

Developed sometime in 1845 and steadily cultivated until 1914, Personal Accident Insurance (known as PA line) has been increasing its share in the insurance market nowadays.

In the General Non-Life Insurance Course (Writing Personal Accident) by Ma. Luisa M. de Leon, it came into being on account of the numerous accidents on railways in the mid-1800s. Personal Accident is the type of insurance, which provides benefits/indemnity in case of losses to the person or physical well being of an individual that arises out of accident.

A breadwinner's income should be protected and if he or she will die or is disabled, the income, which the family is dependent on must continue. PA line can addressed that gap and protects the family even within a limited time frame.

This line of insurance will respond if the insured sustain bodily injury proximately caused by accidental, external and visible means.

"Violent" excludes events happening gradually over a period of time. "Accidental" refers to a bodily injury caused by any untoward event, which is not expected or designed. Therefore, suicide is not covered under PA policy.

"External and visible" means that injury should be the result of outside events, visible and external. Hence, the policy excludes accidental taking of poison or the inhalation of gases.

Standard exclusions under Personal Accident are as follows: (1.) Perils resulting to catastrophic losses like war & rebellion; (2.) suicide; (3.) Hazardous Sports; (4.) Murder and Assault; (5.) Aviation exclusions or limitations as to flight coverages; (6.) Moral and Morale Hazards like alcoholism, venereal diseases and unlawful acts.

Usual data taken in underwriting PA are: Applicant's Name/Date of Birth/Address, Occupation, Income, Height and Weight, Age, Sex, Existing Insurance, Health Record, and Hazardous Sports. Premium or Insurance Cost for PA is very much dependent on these data.