When does accident insurance apply?
Around nine million accidents happen every year in Germany alone. That sounds like a lot at first. But what is an accident anyway? Insurance companies define this as follows: “An accident occurs when the insured person involuntarily suffers damage to their health as a result of an event that suddenly affects their body from outside.”
Suddenly means that the accident happened within a very short time and was not foreseeable. This includes, for example, no permanent stress, neither mental nor physical: damage resulting from excessive training or psychological reactions such as stress or anger is not covered by accident insurance.
Something then acts on the body from the outsidewhen other forces are required – this is the case, for example, when objects fall or in the event of a traffic accident.
That an accident only involuntarily can be is self-evident. This means that insurance won’t pay if someone mutilates themselves or is injured in a suicide attempt.
If these requirements are met, the insurance company will accept it as an accident. However, policyholders must prove themselves that they have suffered an accident according to these requirements. If this is the case, the private accident insurance pays and it doesn’t matter whether the accident happened at work or in your free time.