Mariah Carey’s voice and David Beckham’s legs:
HOW much do you think are your eyes or hands worth? You might find this question outrageous. After all, as someone said “the human body is the best work of art.” And this art is priceless for you. I believe even a million pesos would not be enough to replace the loss of a hand or an eye. When I hear news about celebrities getting enormous insurance for their money-earning parts, it really makes me wonder what it is for.
Online entertainment websites will easily give you a round-up of all the Hollywood celebrities who have insured their body parts. The most popular body part to be insured seems to be legs (Mariah Carey: $35M; Heidi Klum: $4M; David Beckham: $70M; Christian Ronaldo: $144M; Rihanna: $1M). Daniel Craig, who does all the stunts in whole body insured for $ 9M. Julia Roberts got her smile/teeth insured $30M); Bruce Springsteen ($6M) and Mariah Carey ($35M) got their voices insured, and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards got his hands insured ($2M).
Often, these insurance covers are nothing more than a PR tactic to make news. The large sums insurers pay out could be more for publicity than anything else. In fact, not only celebrities but other companies sometimes insure their key “assets” for PR purposes. There is an anecdote about a supermarket company that insured the taste buds of its senior wine taster for more than $10 million – and this news helped uplift the brand image.
Most of these celebrity insurances are underwritten by Lloyds of London. Even for a big insurance marketplace such as Lloyd’s, these types of insurance covers are rather unusual. Such insurance covers are called ‘surplus lines’ and include risks that are usually not covered by by the standard underwriting and pricing processes.
Beyond PR, the reality of insuring your money-spinning body parts tends to be different. TV and sports teams provide their staff with general disability insurance. One does not have to be a celebrity to insure a body part or, in fact, anything for that matter – as long as one is willing to pay the premium. If you are a surgeon, professional dancer or an athlete, you may consider getting such an insurance.
What about the rest of us
MUNMUN NATH
who are not working in highly to get unusual insurances with high premiums? For us, there are private insurance companies that offer coverage for disability resulting from an accident, also called personal accident insurance. Some employers in high risk industries might offer group insurance schemes that cover this. If you are an SSS member, it also provides partial and total coverage is often not enough in case someone is, all of a sudden, unable to continue his work.
Road accidents are one of the leading causes of personal accidents in the Philippines and, as per Philippine Statistics Author increased in the last decade. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reported that at least one person is killed in a road accident in Metro Manila every day. If you have a car, you must ensure that your insurance provides coverage for both ‘Personal Accident & Passenger Accident’ and ‘Third Party Bodily Injury.’ Having such coverage ensures that you will be reimbursed for medical expenses caused by injuries from an accident while driving or riding the insured vehicle. For more information on what a comprehensive car insurance coverage includes, please visit www.moneymax.ph/ car-insurance/claim.
However, even if you have both car and health insurance, money can never compensate for a damage to your body, your emotional trauma, and your future wage loss. Always remember this line from a famous car ad: “Unlike original parts for yourself.”
So keep calm and drive safely.