H/A Coverage on Homeowners Insurance

When patients ask about additional HA insurance Homeowners is the direction I point them in. HA insurance can be really expensive…and if the main concern is loss/replacement then homeowners/renters usually has a lower deductible and better coverage.

@Rocketmahn said:

Just an FYI…
I’m a new H/A owner and I was reviewing my homeowners insurance policy and I noticed that they cover H/A loss/damage.
However the H/A’s need to be on a separate rider just like jewelry or cameras.
I’ll be contacting them this week to see if there is a premium impact if they cover the H/A’s.
Has anyone else put H/A’s on their homeowners policy?
I think that the Siemens that I bought have a 3 year replacement guarantee with them.

What you need to ask your agent about is a ‘personal articles policy.’

It is a separate policy to home owners / renters insurance and allows you to insure insurable items such as jewelry, art and hearing aids. You insure the item for up to its full value, purchase price or appraisal and there is no deductible typically and no risk to your home owners, renters or vehicle premiums going up if you claim.

My wife had a necklace taken from a hotel room, I told the State Farm insurance agent (who used to work next door to me) about the claim at 10am, and at lunch time he walked over to my office and handed me a check for the full amount.

This type of insurance includes just about any eventuality from losing them, standing on them, the dog eating them, you name it. When I insured my watch with this type of insurance I questioned my agent about all manner of scenarios, and coverage would even include me falling down the stairs and scratching the watch up along the way, being mugged, accidentally leaving it in a hotel room, or dropping it on the floor and somehow damaging it that way.

I think this kind of insurance is pretty awesome. The only drawback is that each state has slightly different rules about what can be covered. For example, I used to insure my iPhone in this way, and when I moved to Texas, their rules specifically exclude cell phones. So I had to drop that coverage.

As for hearing aids, most of the mainstream insurance companies now offer hearing aid coverage in this manner, I know State Farm does for a fact, although again it will vary slightly by state.

The reason to avoid using an existing home owners policy is that your claim can be subject to a nasty deductible, and claiming on a home owners policy makes you a higher risk, which can result in increased premiums for several years. So a claim could see you having to shell out $500-$1000 or more, along with hundreds more over the next few years. Further, if you are unlucky and have to file another claim on an unrelated item during the same 12 month period, you are now going to be considered a candidate for being dropped. If you are dropped by your insurance company you now have to seek out insurance elsewhere and admit that you have been refused insurance. Not a good place to be.

The worst thing that’s going to happen with a personal articles policy if you claim is that they decide not to let you renew that policy or not insure your hearing aids again.

I reported the SPAM post and the moderator removed it!

Thanks, Admin