Body Part Insurance

The title does seem funny enough. Who would want to insure their body parts? And more specifically which insurance company would do?

 

Body part insurance is part of Specialty insurance which has already gained a good market abroad and is slowly gaining importance and acceptance in India too. Body part Insurance is usually taken and issued to celebrities who stand to lose from damage or injury to their body part and this policy would indemnify the business loss to a celebrity for that part of their body or talent that is important for their business. Insurers abroad would look at the health of celebrity, popularity, and his /her earnings from the talent or body part that they wish to insure.

 

Egon Ronay, a British immigrant has insured his taste buds for $4million, which offered him compensation if he lost his sense of taste. Bruce Springsteen has insured his voice for $6million, and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has insured his legs for $144 million, Tina Turner insured her legs for $3 million, Mariah Carey insured her legs for $1 billion. In india, Lata Mangeshkar has insured her voice for an undisclosed amount of money, Sania Mirza has insured her hands and Vijender Singh the Olympic boxer is going for body part insurance.

 

Both United Insurance Company and New India Assurance Company are open to body part insurance and states that they would in case of such a request send the proposal to reinsurers who would evaluate the case and quote the premium on a case to case basis. ICICI Lombard GI claims to have offered a few such body part insurance in India. Majority of the insurers in India are skeptical about the future and viability of such insurance and prefer to offer regular Personal Accident cover to celebrities too.

 

The next time you think you have a valuable body asset, think twice and think about insuring it.