Work Accident Insurance?

[jjoerger]

Each week we get a sizeable deduction for Work Accident Insurance. (Several thousand dollars so far this year) I know it is required and that it is similar to, but different then Workers Compensation.
My question is does anyone know what this actually covers or where I can find out?
I assume it would cover any injuries while on a load. But what about while you are laid over.
Examples of my questions would be:
Do you have to be in service?
If you are walking through the truck stop and step on a piece of broken glass would it cover you?
You go to Wally World and step in a pothole breaking an ankle?
You are at home OOS, decide to sweep out your box and fall out of the truck?
Is there a deductible or copay?
We pay alot of money throughout the year and I would like to know what is covered.

 

[LDB]

I can't tell you what it covers but I can tell you I checked with Shelly about coverage and she said the rate we pay is good and better than what she could provide it for.

 

[ATeam]

We pay alot of money throughout the year and I would like to know what is covered.

This is an area where our carrier and/or the insurance company in question could greatly improve its communications.

When Diane and I have tried to find out more about what we actually receive in return for the insurance money that is taken from our settlement we only end up frustrated.

The approach seems to be: Why are you bothering us such questions? We know what you need. Just pay the premium and trust that everything is OK. That may not be their intent but it is the result as it appears to us the customers.

 

[teamjdw]

Just make your payments on time, or we will send Guido by to break your leg's,and burn your truck down to the ground!You need our protection!Enough with the questions!

 

[jjoerger]

Maybe I should change my question:
Has anyone ever made a claim under the work accident insurance policy?
Was the claim paid?
What were the circumstances?

If there are 1000 trucks in the fleet paying an average of $2000 per year, that's 2 million dollars someone is collecting for something that we don't know what's covered.

 

[ATeam]

No claims made here. Neither Diane nor I have had a work injury worthy of medical attention in seven years.

Oops! Check that. There was this incident and one other but in both cases, we did not even think to file a work accident claim. The bills were small (as medical bills go). The health insurance we have is very good and easy to use. We just flashed the card and that was good enough.

Even though it would have been financially better for us to file a work accident claim, the hassle of dealing first with our carrier and then completing paperwork for some remote and strange insurance company, and then waiting and wondering if the small claim would be promptly and properly paid made it easier to file the claim with our own company and be instantly done with it.

This evil, dark company that takes our work accident premium money and lurks behind the scenes is the same one that covered Glen and Janice Rice in the horrific truck accident they had. I hate that company for the way they treated the Rices. It was the classic deny, delay, defend approach that many companies run today when large claims are made.

 

[jjoerger]

I've gotten a few response via PM's but no definite answers.
I sent an email to my recruiter asking the same questions but have not yet received a reply.
My main reason for the post was to find out what coverage we get for the money we are paying.
I have full VA Medical but my wife could easily be hurt while we are out working and I would like to know what coverage would actually apply to different circumstances. And what the definition is that would determine if the injury were covered.

I know from past businesses that I have owned that workers compensation would cover my wife or myself as the business owner for any injury that occured while performing duties related to that business. If I were washing the company truck at home, buying supplies in Home Depot on a Sunday or walking out of a restaurant after a business lunch I would be covered. An employee would only be covered at work and while on company time.

I was sent these two quotes by a reputable source.

"SELF EMPLOYMENT WORK ACTIVITIES - the expenditure of time and energy in furtherance of the Covered Person's self-employment including, but not limited to, any of the following: driving, navigating, completing paperwork, filing of legal documents, purchasing vehicles, supervising, hiring for the covered person's profit."

"there are exclusions in the coverage and one of them is that the covered party must be injured, etc, "while in the course of work activities of the group [FCC] sponsor"

So, would slipping on ice while walking from a truck stop back to the truck be covered? Would it matter what your duty status was at the time. (In service, out of service, on duty not driving, etc.)

Each persons requirements for coverage will be different. If I don't know what is covered or not covered I can not make a decision to either buy a different policy or an additional policy or to keep the one I have.

 

[Wolfie62]

I want FedEx to send me a copy of the policy I am paying for/into. Then I can see for myself what the coverages are, what the exclusions are, etc.

Now, don't you think that should be seen as a reasonable and prudent demand??? ......By EVERY independent contractor???

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