Sports Insurance for International Students

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Students participating in sports are constantly pushing their bodies to the limit and are taking on a greater risk of injury than students who are not. Sports insurance for international students becomes even more critical than ever in these cases, and finding the right insurance plan for your situation is particularly important. Not every insurance policy will cover sports, and in many cases they will include or exclude coverage based on sports categories such as organized sports, extreme/adventure sports, contact sports, or recreational sports.

In this post, we will explore those main sport categories, and how international student insurance plans deal with coverage.

Organized Sports

Organized sports, as defined in insurance terms, usually include intercollegiate, interscholastic, intramural or club sport participation. If your sport requires organized practices or events, if you have a coach, or if you signed up for the sports through your school, it is most likely an organized sport. This definition does not include semi-professional and professional sports, which are usually in their own category, and in general are not covered by most international student or travel medical plans.

Coverage for organized sports is not inherent in most international student plans, and is commonly excluded from coverage. But not to worry! There are a few international student plans that do include coverage for organized sports, usually with a maximum limit per injury. The Student Secure Budget and Select levels both include coverage for up to $3,000 per injury (Budget) or $5,000 per injury (Select) for organized sports and the Student Health Advantage Standard and Platinum plans includes organized sports coverage up to $5,000 per injury.

Extreme/Adventure Sports

Extreme sports, also known as adventure sports, are activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and, in most cases, highly specialized gear. These kinds of activities are often undertaken for thrill seeking, and thus can expose the participant to abnormal risk that exceeds even that of organized sports.

Although most travel medical plans exclude coverage for organized sports, some policies will include limited coverage for extreme/adventure sports, or there may be an additional  rider that can be added to the plan for an additional cost. These plans will often list the exact sports that are covered and/or those that are excluded from coverage.

For example, the Atlas Travel plan includes coverage for all extreme sports that are not excluded specifically in the policy. Excluded sports include aviation, base jumping, parachuting, parasailing, hang-gliding, sky surfing, paragliding, kite-surfing, off-road motorized vehicles, heli-skiing, white water rafting, racing, spelunking, cave diving, diving unless certified, avalanche training, rugby, hunting, running with the bulls, bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, boxing or martial arts, piloting a hot air ballooning, jousting, pentathlon, powerlifting, quad biking, speed trials, speedway, or wrestling. Any extreme sports not listed would therefore be covered the same as any other illness.

The Patriot Travel plan is an example of a plan that offers an Adventure Sports rider. Here’s a summary of the terms of the rider from IMG, the insurance administrator of the Patriot Travel plan.

“The following activities are covered to the lifetime maximum amounts listed below as long as they are engaged solely for leisure, recreation, or entertainment purposes: abseiling, BMX, bobsledding, bungee jumping, canyoning, caving, hang gliding, heli-skiing, high diving, hot air ballooning, inline skating, jet skiing, jungle zip lining, kayaking, mountain biking, parachuting, paragliding, parascending, piloting a non-commercial aircraft, rappelling, rock climbing or mountaineering (ropes and guides to 4500m from ground level), scuba diving (to 50m), sky diving, snorkeling, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snow skiing, spelunking, surfing, trekking, whitewater rafting (to Class V), and wildlife safaris, and windsurfing.  All such activities must be carried out in strict accordance with the rules, regulations and guidelines of the applicable Governing Body or Authority of each such activity.”

There are certain sports,however, that are never covered by the Patriot Travel plan, regardless of whether or not the Adventure Sports rider is purchased. These include contact sports of any kind, racing of any kind, any rodeo activity, BASE jumping, kiteboarding, mountaineering or climbing or trekking above elevation 4500 meters above ground level or without proper ropes or guides; luge, motocross, Moto-X, ski jumping, sub-aquatic activities below 50 meters, whitewater rafting exceeding Class V difficulty, and/or adventure sports activity not expressly covered.

Contact Sports

A contact sport is defined as a sport in which players come into physical contact with each other as part of normal play. Hockey, soccer, football, and martial arts are just a few examples of contact sports. Similar to extreme sports, contact sports increase your risk of injury and like the Patriot Travel example above, many plans specifically exclude contact sports, even if they cover other sports. However, if you’ll be participating in contact sports, make sure your insurance plan includes this. The Student Secure Budget and Select cover all organized sports, even if they are considered contact sports.

Recreational, Leisure, or Fitness Sports

Some sports don’t fit into any of these categories. If you like to jog to keep fit, play tennis for fun on the weekends, or play catch with your friends, these types of sports activities fall into another category called Recreational, Leisure, or Fitness sports. These are activities people engage in during their free time, and are  undertaken purely for recreation, leisure, or fitness purposes. They are therefore not considered organized, extreme, or contact, and are usually covered under the general medical benefits of an international student insurance plan or even a travel medical plan.

Not All Insurance Is Equal

Carefully consider your sports participation when shopping for an insurance plan. Using the guidance above, determine which categories of sport you’ll be participating in and find an insurance policy that will protect you in case of any resulting injuries. Every insurance plan will specifically define which types of sports are included or excluded from that particular plan. Check the master policy to be sure that the sports you partake in are covered.

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Debunking business insurance myths

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In 2015, there were 1.17 million employer businesses in Canada – 97 per cent were small businesses (under 100 employees). Small business owners usually take on many roles, such as accountant to marketer and everything in between. BrokerLink commercial insurance experts can take over finding the best insurance for small business owners, which includes acting as myth busters about insurance misinformation. Here are four business insurance myths debunked:

1. Myth: For home-based businesses, home insurance will cover claims for business activities.

Truth: home insurance does not cover claims which relate to the business. For example, if a painter operated from their home and their art supplies were damaged, their home insurance would not cover replacement costs. For this reason, it is important home-based business owners get insurance which meets their business needs. Some common insurance business insurance coverages include commercial general liability insurance (which could help with costs if there is damage to the business property or a lawsuit due to a customer being injured) and business property insurance (which could cover costs to repair damage to a business owner’s home).

2. Myth: If a business owner has customer data on their computer, their business insurance will cover potential expenses if the data is hacked.
Truth: the above statement is only true if the business owner has cyber insurance – a coverage which helps business owners handle expenses which result from customer data (or the business data) being hacked. For instance, if customer financial information was comprised from an online from a hack, the business owner could be sued. Cyber insurance could help cover the cost for legal expenses.

3. Myth: The personal auto policy of the business owner’s car will cover the cost of unexpected events during their business activities.

Truth: if a business owner uses their vehicle for business purposes, costs from claims which occur during business activities will not be covered by their personal auto policy. Commercial auto insurance could cover costs of unexpected events, such as an accident, if they occur during or due to business operations.

4. Myth: Customers who go to the business owner’s home are responsible to pay for damages if they slip or fall on the business owner’s property.

Truth: if a customer hurt themselves while they were on the business owner’s property, the business owner could be sued. Business general liability insurance could help with covering legal expenses, should this occur.

Get a business-insurance preview

To help business owners learn about which insurance coverages best fit their operations, they can take BrokerLink’s online business assessment – where answers to five short questions result in insurance suggestions. With a call to a BrokerLink commercial insurance broker, these ideas can be built on and become a reality.

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What is Co-Insurance?

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Co-insurance is arguably one of most commonly misunderstood and confusing concepts in insurance.   We want to help you understand by explaining what co-insurance is and how it works.

What is co-insurance?

Co-insurance is a clause used by insurance companies on policies covering property such as buildings, contents, stock, or industrial equipment. This clause makes sure policyholders insure their property to an appropriate value and that the insurer receives a fair premium for the risk, whether on a replacement cost basis or on an actual cash value basis (subject to depreciation). The co-insurance clause can also be found on business interruption policies where it ensures that policyholders insure their revenue stream to an appropriate value.

How does co-insurance work?

Generally, co-insurance is expressed as a percentage. The most common clauses require policyholders to insure to 80%, 90%, or 100% of the true value. For instance, a building valued at $1,000,000 replacement value with a co-insurance clause of 90% must be insured for no less than $900,000. The same building with an 80% co-insurance clause must be insured for no less than $800,000.

What if I choose to insure for less than the amount required by the co-insurance clause?

If a property owner chooses to insure for less than the amount required by the co-insurance clause, the property owner is essentially agreeing to retain part of the risk rather than transfer it to the insurance company. He or she thus becomes a ‘co-insurer’ and will share the loss with the insurance company according to a simple calculation.

Here are two examples that demonstrate how the clause works:

Building Value $1,000,000
Co-insurance Requirement 90%
Required Amount of Insurance $ 900,000
Actual Amount of Insurance $ 600,000
Amount of Loss $ 300,000

The co-insurance formula is:
(Actual Amount of Insurance )      X     Amount of Loss = Amount of claim
(Required Amount of Insurance)

Inserting the amounts above in the formula produces the following calculation:
($600,000)    X    $300,000   =   $200,000
($900,000)

So the owner absorbs a $100,000 co-insurance penalty. Since he chose to retain one-third of the risk himself rather than transfer it to the insurer, he absorbs one-third of the loss.
If the building had been insured to the amount required by the 90% co-insurance clause then the co-insurance calculation would look like this:

(Actual Amount of Insurance)     X   Amount of Loss = Amount of claim
(Required Amount of Insurance)

($900,000)   X      $300,000   =   $300,000
($900,000)

In the second example, since the owner met the co-insurance requirement, he was not a coinsurer and his claim is paid without penalty.

Will insurance companies allow the deletion of the co-insurance clause?

Generally, insurers will not allow the co-insurance clause to be deleted. They want to ensure they receive a premium which fairly reflects the total reconstruction value of the property insured, and covers the risk assumed by the insurer. Under certain circumstances, an insurer will replace the percentage co-insurance clause with a “stated amount co-insurance” clause.

With the stated amount co-insurance clause, a pre-agreed value replaces the percentage amount. As long as the amount insured is not less than the amount agreed to, the property owner cannot become a co-insurer and won’t face the penalties created by underinsurance. If the property is insured for less than the agreed value, the stated amount co-insurance clause reverts to the standard 90% clause – and the potential for an underinsurance penalty returns.

To obtain the stated amount co-insurance clause, the policyholder must satisfy the insurer the amount of coverage is a fair approximation of the true cost. Normally, a “reconstruction appraisal” will be required. Market value or purchase price can be dramatically different from replacement cost. Relying on them can produce some nasty surprises following a loss.

When will the different co-insurance percentages be used?

80% is normally used:

• for property insured on an actual cash value (depreciated value) basis.

• for stock in trade.

• for gross earnings business interruption.

90% is normally used:

• for buildings and contents insured for replacement cost.

• for industrial equipment.

100% is normally used:

• for profits business interruption.

There are other percentages and applications used. It is best to confirm with your BrokerLink broker on how co-insurance might affect you. Your broker will advise you of the steps to take to ensure your property is insured to a fair value and you won’t end up on the wrong side of a co-insurance calculation.

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