Every year the development of the insurance market in Russia is gaining momentum. This is not surprising, because insurance is almost the only way to financially support yourself and your loved ones in the event of an unforeseen situation. One of the most popular types of such support is accident insurance.

Excursion to the history

This kind of insurance has deep roots, but if you do not get too involved in history, you can say that its appearance is connected with the requirement of the Visby marine law, fixed in 1541 in the UK. It says that the owner of a sea ship, hiring a team, is obliged to insure the life and health of the captain against possible accidents.

Already in the XVII century in the Netherlands, a special scale for volunteer soldiers was developed, according to which various monetary compensations were due to them, depending on the degree of injury received. In the 18th and 19th centuries, accident insurance also became widespread in Germany and England, where so-called mutual aid unions began to be created.

In Russia, this type of insurance came at the dawn of the twentieth century, with the passage in 1903 of a law that guaranteed workers in the mining industry and employees of various factories, as well as members of their families, cash compensation in the event of disability or death at work. For a long time, accident insurance was part of life insurance and only with the passage of time, after almost one hundred years, became independent.

Basic concepts

There are several types of accident insurance, but all of them can be divided into two broad categories: compulsory (guaranteed by law) insurance of certain categories of citizens and voluntary - consisting in execution of the contract on mutually beneficial terms. In the first case, payments under the contract are carried out by the Accident Insurance Fund, and in the second the insurance company takes on the financial risks. In any case, the object of insurance is the property interests of citizens associated with the loss of ability to work, injury or death as a result of an accident.

Accident can be recognized the situation when the external impact on the body of the insured was sudden and unforeseen. The key here is the factor of surprise, since if a person is aware of the onset of unpleasant consequences and has not prevented them, then most often the insurance payment will be refused. For example, if you stumbled on a rock and broke a leg, skiing, it would be an accident, and when you were badly burned after spending a few hours on the beach - these are your problems, as you were aware of the likely consequences and could stop any minute Action of destructive nature.

Scope of liability

Since the insurance conditions are clearly prescribed in the contract, it is not simply the receipt of the injury as a result of an unforeseen external impact, namely the insurance accident, that is, only what is stipulated by the contract, that falls within the scope of responsibility. The variety of consequences of the onset of such circumstances can be divided into 3 large categories:

• Temporary incapacity for work;
• Partial or complete disability;
• death.

All these consequences are the amount of insurance liability and can be included in the contract together, separately (for example, payments are made only when disability is received) or in various combinations.

Compulsory insurance in the Russian Federation

For some categories of citizens of the Russian Federation, depending on the sphere of employment, there is a provision for social insurance against accidents, regulated by Federal Law No. 125 of July 24, 1998. The effect of this kind of insurance is limited to cases of deterioration of health associated with injury and injury directly at work or outside the enterprise, but during working hours (as well as on the way to work and home). A feature of this type of insurance is that the payment is made solely by the employer.

Until recently, compulsory insurance could include health insurance for passengers using the services of all types of water, air and land transport. For some time now, such insurance has been replaced by the need to insure carriers' liability.

Special insurance for the military

This type of compulsory insurance protects citizens whose professional activities are initially associated with a risk to life. These include officials from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, servicemen, rescuers, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the judiciary and taxation system, among others. The financial coverage of risks for this type of insurance is provided at the expense of the federal budget.

So, what guarantees to the servicemen of accident insurance (Federal Law No. 52 of 28.03.1998):

• Getting a light injury - 5 salaries;
• In case of severe injury (trauma, injury) - 10 salaries;
• Injury (injury), which caused the onset of disability III gr. - 25 salaries;
• When disability II is prescribed. - 50 salaries;
• Disability I gr. - 75 monthly salaries;
• The receipt of an injury leading to the death of the insured person guarantees that 25 monthly salaries are paid to each beneficiary.

We will insure additionally

If you are used to taking care of yourself and your loved ones on your own, an accident insurance contract, concluded on a voluntary basis, will suit you. The main feature of such an agreement is that you yourself can choose the list of risks that you want to insure, as well as the amount and term of insurance.

At your option, you can apply for a few days (if, for example, you are going to have a rest in the mountains) or choose an insurance option that covers all your risks around the clock for several years - it all depends on how much you can afford.

The entire market of voluntary insurance can be conditionally divided into 2 groups - individual and collective. What are the differences?

Every man for himself

Individual accident insurance assumes the conclusion of a contract with an individual, and its effect in this case extends both to the policyholder and to members of his family (in case of death of the insured). It can be complete or partial.

In the first case, the guarantee of the operation of the contract extends to all spheres of life of the insured (both private and professional) throughout the duration of the contract. With partial insurance, you can choose a specific period of your life: during the rest or business trip, for the period of sports and so on.

Also, accident insurance can be included as an additional in the package, providing a more complete list of services.

Collective insurance

Today collective insurance of workers against accidents is quite popular today, many large companies offer this option today in addition to the social package. A feature of this type of insurance is that the insured in this case is the employer, and the beneficiary is the insured person or members of his family.

In previous years, collective insurance in the Russian Federation became quite popular due to the peculiarities of the legislation in the tax sphere, which guaranteed the possibility of returning insurance premiums and preferential taxation of insurance payments. To date, the tax regime in this area is much tougher, which made collective insurance less attractive to the employer.

What can become an insurance event?

Since payments under the accident insurance contract are fully or partially made after the occurrence of a specific event, it is worthwhile to dwell on what the insurance event is. These are the events registered in the contract and occurred during the period of its operation, which entailed the death of the insured person or a partial or complete loss of ability to work.

These include:

• Injuries (injuries) resulting from an accident;
• Unintentional poisoning by chemicals, poisonous plants, medicines, poor-quality food products (except toxicological infections - dysentery, salmonellosis, etc.);
• Sudden disease with poliomyelitis, tick-borne encephalitis;
• Ectopic pregnancy or pathology of labor, leading to the removal of internal organs of the genital area (ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes);
• Dislocations, fractures, burns, injuries and ruptures of internal organs that occurred accidentally, as well as cases of removal of organs as a result of erroneous medical manipulations;
• Cases of unintentional entry into the respiratory tract of foreign objects, anaphylactic shock, drowning;
• Hypothermia of the body, resulting in severe consequences (except for death from a cold);
• Death of the insured from the causes listed above, which occurred during the validity of the contract.

For what insurance do not give

There is also a list of events, the offensive of which can not be regarded as an insurance event:

• If injuries (injuries) were received by the insured during the commission of unlawful actions;
• When the injuries were deliberately inflicted on the insured themselves;
• Poisoning or injury were obtained as a result of attempted suicide;
• If injuries, injuries and injuries were obtained as a result of the management of any vehicle in the state of narcotic, toxic or alcoholic intoxication, and also in case of transferring control to another person in such condition;
• When adverse consequences for the organism occurred as a result of preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic measures conducted on the initiative of the insured person and non-medical illness resulting from the occurrence of the insured event;
• Death as a result of the above reasons.

How much does it cost

One of the most important topics of concern to citizens wishing to further protect their lives and health is the question of how much is insurance against accidents. Tariffs here directly depend on the list of insurance cases entered into the contract, and the personality of the insured. The range is wide enough - from 0.10%, if only the risk of death is insured, up to 12-15% for policies of a broad spectrum of action.

The amount of insurance premium can be affected by:

• Sex and age of the insured - it is considered that men have a higher risk of injury, and citizens are more reluctant to insure their age;
• A way of life - you like extreme kinds of rest or go in for sports, connected with the raised traumatism;
• Profession - the more dangerous it is, the higher the tariff;
• Health status of the client - if you suffer from serious diseases, the tariff increases many times;
• The number of risks to be insured - the more, the more expensive;
• Term of insurance and the number of insured persons - family policies are usually cheaper than individual ones;
• Other factors - depending on the policy of the insurance company.

The periodicity of payments is also stipulated in the contract - contributions can be made once, annually, monthly or every quarter. Insurance companies today offer a fairly wide range of plans and tariffs, so that finding the right one will not be difficult.