Becoming a nurse—or any medical professional for that matter—is something that requires a lot of time and effort. For this reason, you are going to want to do everything you can to protect yourself and your career. The question is, should medical malpractice insurance be on your list of things you need to do so? Here's everything a nurse should know about medical malpractice insurance.
Why Does a Nurse Need an Individual Policy?
A lot of nurses might think they don't need to get an individual malpractice insurance policy because their employer will cover them. You can have more than one policy, and chances are your company doesn't cover as much as a policy of your own would. Even if you're the best nurse at your hospital, you can still be at risk of getting sued for malpractice. An individual policy ensures you're covered up to an amount you're comfortable with and gives you the option for covering legal representation.
You'll find an individual policy will help cover and pay that which your company policy doesn't cover. It's a good idea to know what your company covers, so you can get the additional coverage you would need in the event someone did sue you. Some nurses think if they're covered then they are setting themselves up as easy targets to be sued. This is not true, no one will know you have the coverage unless you tell them, so you're no more at risk with coverage than without it.
It is also important to understand that, while your employer may have medical malpractice coverage, the purpose of this coverage is typically to protect the employer, not to protect you.
How Much Insurance Does a Nurse Need?
It is easy to think more is better when it comes to medical malpractice insurance, but you do not want to get a policy with so much coverage you are unable to afford the premiums. Trusted Choice reports $1 million in coverage per occurrence is an ideal medical malpractice policy for a nurse to have. Before purchasing your policy, you should go over your employer's policy with an insurance broker or agent like those at Ratcliffe Insurance to make sure there are not any big coverage gaps you were never told about.
Having individual medical malpractice insurance does not increase your chances of being sued. Acquiring this type of policy is about accepting the fact that you are only human and you are bound to make a medical mistake at some point in time during your career. It is better to have coverage and never need to use it than to end up with a lawsuit against you for several hundreds of thousands of dollars you don't have.
Share28 September 2016
When I lost my job, I also lost my health insurance. I've never had to buy health insurance on my own before, so when I went to my insurance agent, I had no idea where to start. The coverage options, deductibles, co-pays, and premiums were confusing. I wasn't sure how to make sense of all of the tiers and doctor's networks. I created this site to help others who've never purchased health insurance before. The posts here are full of resources for insurance coverage, and I hope that it will help you to find the policy that's right for you.
