I have been on HHD for 8 years and for the first time received a letter from the HHD manager that I have to get written into my homeowner’s policy 20,000 coverage for my dialysis equipment. I contacted my insurance company and after 2 days of research, my rep stated that the owner of the equipment was responsible for insuring the equipment. Well, the HHD manager states I need to get a policy on my equipment and will help me figure something out. I feel as if I am being penalized for doing HHD. Why should i have to pay this extra expense? Any body have experience with this issue?
I never thought about it, but it makes total sense that someone should have insurance on dialysis machines that are in people’s homes. They are expensive to replace.
I’d contact the state insurance department and talk with a counselor who knows regulations for homeowner’s insurance to be sure that what your insurance company told you is correct.
Since your clinic wants to have make sure the machine is covered in case of fire or disaster, I’d think it would want to take out the coverage itself to know who is insuring it and any limits to insurance. If the dialysis clinic is only renting the machine, then you might want to check with the customer service personnel at the company that made the machine to see if the company has insurance on it?
I am not sure what your provider requested, but when we discussed in hospital about home dialysis ( we did not begin it yet) they mentioned that if we leave in a high rise ( a condominium) we will need some insurance. I think that is flood isurance, so the hospital will not liable for damage if R/O or dialysis machine produce damage to the apartments below.
We checked with our home insurance, and are covered for food damage ( similar if a pipe leaks from the washing machine). I do not know if they want insurance for the device per-se, but I am sure that it can be included in content home insurance.
That’s a good point too. Thanks for bringing up that you might want to add homeowner’s protection for water damage caused by the machine even in your own home.
Don’t know if you need specific insurance (a rider on you current policy) but if you are a renter you must have renters insurance or nothing is covered. As a homeowner I have what is called replacement coverage. That means my house and whatever is in it are covered at what it actually will cost to replace these items, not what they are prorated or valued at. It costs only a few dollars more a year but is well worth it. Flood insurance and water damage from broken pipes ect. are two totally different things. If a pipe breaks in my home I’m covered, and if water heater leaks I’m covered too, but I’m not covered if there is a flood coming from the outside! Everyone who owns a home has an ins. policy and should read it and discuss the situation with their agent to see if certain items such as a dialysis machine are covered. I would at very least want ins. to cover a leak (damage to my home), but should think if the machine is being leased by the center from the co. that owns it, someone else should cover ins. for the machine. Lin.
I think that clinics/company that own the machine should have it insured. The patient is not the owner of the machine…does that make sense?
I recently called my insurance agent to ask him who is responsible for insuring the dialysis machine that I use in my house, is leased by my clinic, and owned by Aksys.
At first, he didn’t know for sure. So he called the main office and spoke to one of the people in the claims department, and he said that the person he spoke to told him that I was responsible for insuring it. Since the machine is in my home, and I use it on a regular basis, then I am the one who is responsible for insuring it.
Luckily, however, it is covered under my “contents” insurance that I have on my home. That amount of insurance I carry for my contents is already high enough to cover the cost of replacing the machine as well replacing my personal contents in my home.
All I have to do now to satisfy the request for insurance on my machine is to give them a copy of my home policy, showing that I have insurance on my contents.