Hellobee Boards

It's possible I don't understand the issue - what are the consequences of going through the home insurance that your brother-in-law is upset about? Also if it was covered by your insurance, why would you go through theirs? I'm also not sure how something that could potentially arise in 5-10 years could be dealt with now.

It sounds like it was just an accident, nobody was doing anything wrong, so if your in-laws are going to be penalized in some way (will their rates go up?) I can see why he'd be upset, I probably would too - it wasn't like they were being negligent.

@josina: Is that something health insurance companies are likely to do? I don't have a *lot* of experience with injuries, but so far I've never had any health insurance company ask for details about where or how an injury occurred. If they do ask you, I wouldn't lie! But personally I would leave that between the insurance companies and wait and see if it comes up. I wouldn't voluntarily contact the homeowner's insurance company to make a claim against you BIL, or suggest that the health insurance company do so. That's obviously a personal choice, though! If the surgery was covered, it seems like you'd either have to make a claim against their homeowner's insurance or sue for damages to get anything to cover any potential future issues. That's something you could do, but I wouldn't expect the relationship to survive that very well.

@josina: Oh, was he on worker's comp? I could see being contacted about an injury related to something like that, to verify it happened at work. But just going to the hospital for a broken nose, I don't typically hear of insurance companies asking how it happened. Regardless, sounds like this is causing a lot of drama, which I know is always stressful. And I really hope your son recovers well and doesn't have future issues!

This is a polarizing issue and depending on whether you're the injured party or the homeowner you're going to see it very differently.

As a homeowner my understanding is that you only want to use your homeowners insurance for something really expensive that you can't pay for. Rates go up, you can be cancelled easily. Where I live in CA that's a big deal because insurance policies are already being cancelled all around us for fire risk.

As the injured you have the right to file a claim but unless you're making a claim regarding liability you'll be limited to the general medical coverage of the home owners insurance. This may be in the $5k range, much less than the liability coverage. Since it sounds like the kids collided with each other I don't know the likelihood of proving a liability claim.

If it were me and we had good health insurance I wouldn't file a claim. I think it would ruin the relationship with your sister and BIL.

@Corduroy: Hi, neighbor! If you have State Farm, they have a new fire coverage thing for $35. I was just told about it yesterday. Check with your insurance.

@josina: If you sue your own BIL after you decided to put your son in a bounce house and he broke his nose, its possible no one will invite your son to their house to play if they hear about it. Good luck, though. I really think your insurance will cover whatever is needed to be fixed later on.

@agold: Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

Just wanted to add regarding the health insurance wanting more details... I broke my arm this fall riding my bike in the road. Totally my fault, no one else involved in anyway. After my ER visit the insurance sent me a required questionnaire where it asked a bunch of questions trying to see if it was in someone’s property, if another person had been involved, etc. When my daughter needed stitches beginning of last year we received no questionnaire. Not sure what the line is when they start asking those questions though...

@josina: I just have to know, is this your brother’s brother? Or your sibling’s husband?

Does your husband not like them?

I can’t imagine my husband or myself ever trying to get a sibling to pay for an injury my kids received while under my care at their house. As PPs have said, home insurance companies will drop you if you make several small claims or even 1 big claim. So people tend to only claim for really big reasons, otherwise they pay it out of pocket. We’ve had some fairly major things happen to our condo (upstairs neighbor leaked down into our unit, but we paid for repairs ourself because it was the same as our deductible and then our rates won’t go up when it’s time to renew.

But I guess if your husband is fine with cutting off the relationship, and the rest of the family knowing the details. I’m sorry—I just can’t imagine this in my own family. I’m so curious about your husband’s line of thinking. He’d rather make his brothers home insurance premiums higher for life, than use his own health insurance?

I know some American families are different, but my husband would 100% cut off a family member that did this and would consider it a huge, backstabbing thing, because in his culture you do everything for your family.

Recently we made a joke about feeling broke after buying a new house, and his brother in law (by marriage) asked if we needed money. We make more money then then, but what a gesture! So it’s like, the opposite of what is occurring here.

I’m not trying to make you feel bad at all, this concept is just so foreign to me. Makes me wonder if this is regional? Or if there’s existing bad blood?

It's not something that makes sense to me in this situation but it's not as uncommon as people seem to think it is. This happens a lot in the insurance industry - sometimes by an individual filing and sometimes by a health insurance company filing.

@josina: for what’s it’s worth flood insurance is separate from homeowners insurance. All flood insurance is funded by the national government although can be sold through independent companies. Basically just because your bil may have flood insurance it shouldn’t have anything to do with a separate homeowners policy. (Coming from someone who has flood insurance and sadly had to file a flood claim.)

@josina: it feels a little silly bringing this topic back up, but we had something occur today that reminded me of this topic.

Dh recently had an issue with her back and they were contemplating surgery and did various x-rays, mris, etc… Today we got a letter in the mail from our insurance company asking various questions about how it occurred.

Included in the questions are several about accidents, if someone else was liable, if a claim was filed was another insurance carrier, etc… Seeing all the types of questions they’re asking reminded me of this thread.

So it definitely is possible that the medical carrier comes back asking how the accident had occurred. I’d be curious if they may not pay the claim fully if you told them that it was an accident, but that could possibly be handled when/if it occurs.