Auto insurance and medical liability, all you need to know.
When all is said and done what is car insurance for? Depending on your background or view on insurance in general you might have a variety of opinions. You might think that car insurance is for pessimists. You might think that car insurance is part of a government conspiracy with big business to force to pay for things you don’t need. You might think that it is a necessity and that you can’t spend to much for good car insurance.
Let’s analyze these views with the issue of medical liability firmly in the limelight of our discussion.
Car insurance is only for pessimists. It is true that you only need car insurance if you have an accident. And that to plan for an accident might appear to be pessimistic, but the fact is that we are very likely to be involved in an accident, however small. The society we live in is blame driven and even a small fender bender can cost outrageous amounts of money if you go to court or simply in medical expenses.
Car insurance is just an excuse to pass our hard earned money to big business. Admittedly few people actually believe this but many act as if insurance is a waste of time and practically useless. I have friends that have no qualms in driving their car without insurance, just taking their chances. This is crazy. Skydiving is a walk in the woods compared to this. 1) Because skydiving is fun, being involved in an accident without insurance is not. 2) Skydiving is safe compared to driving. The chances of crashing when driving are much higher.
To convince yourself of the importance of carrying car insurance, picture this scenario. You are driving down the road and stupid kid runs right in front of you. You have no time to break and you crash into him. There was no chance you could have seen him, he came right behind a parked truck. However he did run over a pedestrian crossing and you are in the wrong. You go to court and you are deemed responsible for 500,000 dollars for medical expenses and long term disability. Your car insurance covers you up to 250,000 $ you are still a quarter of a million dollars in the red. Could you cover that cost? Me either. Car insurance does not seem that silly anymore, does it?
If you think car insurance is a necessity you are completely right. This does not mean you should pay silly money for it.
Medical liability is an important aspect of car insurance and one of the reasons it is so vital. Cars being such dangerous machines it only makes sense to have some protection in case you, your passengers or other people are injured. At least this way you have some chance of getting medical attention and being able to return to normal life. In countries without a social insurance medical assistance it could mean the difference between life and death, or between quality of life and none at all.