File: 10ITAinsurancepart5.lt1.doc
Busting AMA Insurance Myths, Part 5
One of the many benefits you receive with your AMA membership is insurance coverage for your modeling activities. There is much confusion and misinformation regarding this benefit. Throughout the next few months, we will address different aspects of the available coverage to help members better understand this valuable benefit.
AMA is not an insurance company and does not “write” its own policies. We purchase the various policies and ensure that AMA members receive insurance coverage through those policies. The 2014 Insurance Summary provides an outline of these benefits. You can find a copy of the summary on AMA’s website at www.modelaircraft.org/files/InsuranceSummaryMembers.pdf.
AMA members* have access to an Accident/Medical policy providing coverage to the member if he or she sustains an injury while engaged in model activity. The injury could be caused by another person or potentially be self-inflicted.
The most common injuries reported are lacerations to the hand and/or fingers. “I was adjusting the needle valve and got too close to the propeller,” is a familiar accident description. Generally followed by “I’ve been in the hobby for many years; I can’t believe I did that.”
As is the liability policy, the accident/medical policy is an excess policy. That means you will first have to submit your medical bills to any other health plan covering you, including Medicare.
The coverage provides up to $25,000 for medical expenses incurred within 52 weeks of the original date of the accident. The policy pays for eligible expenses upon submission of payment information from your primary health plan, bills, and other supporting documentation certifying the cost of the treatment. A $750 deductible applies per accident.
We also refer to the Accident/Medical policy as an AD&D policy. This stands for Accidental Death & Dismemberment. In addition to the medical expense reimbursement, the policy also provides up to $10,000 for dismemberment or death, as long as these are model-activity related.
The insurance company has specific criteria for establishing dismemberment benefits that are standard throughout the insurance industry.
—Safety & Member Benefits Department
* This benefit is not included in the Park Pilot membership.
When you renew your AMA membership this year, please consider making a donation to the AMA Foundation to support programs that have been created to enhance, preserve, build, and protect the hobby that you love.
One way that the hobby has been preserved is through the National Model Aviation Museum. Donations to the foundation, and from those who become Museum Patrons, are earmarked to support the Muncie, Indiana, museum that showcases model aviation’s rich and diverse history. The museum contains approximately 10,000 artifacts, and provides AMA members access to thousands of model plans, documents, and library materials.
Because of donors like you, the National Model Aviation staff and volunteers have recently completed several projects to improve the experience of visiting the museum, and the preservation of its artifacts. These projects include:
• Construction of a new museum lobby exhibit
• Construction of two new display cases for the “Ingenuity Corner” exhibit
• Restoration of a 1914 Bing Autoplan compressed-air model aircraft
• Installation of a dust-collection system in the workshop
Now is your chance to become a Museum Patron and help preserve aeromodeling’s history so that others can enjoy it for years to come. The process is simple. Start today by making a $25 donation when you renew your membership. Make sure to check the box to become a Museum Patron on your bill and ballot and return it with your membership renewal and donation. You can also make your donation online at amafoundation.modelaircraft.org.
