Group Personal Accident and Surgical and Hospital Expense Insurance

Introduction

With the recent accident in Itaewon, there is a rising concern on how much damage could accidents in social activities bring to a society. As one of the top universities that is always crowded and loaded with many mass events, it is responsible for CUHK to have reflection on whether the current protection and risk controls on such events are sufficient to bring maximum social benefit.

Risk

Accidental risk involves the occurrence or potential occurrence of any accident that might result to loss in human capital. Accidents might bring several consequences to their victims, including death, disability, huge medical costs, loss of income etc. When it comes together, a huge financial burden would be created and most people especially students could not afford it. In addition, a single hazard might have catastrophic effect and affect a broad amount of people, which means insurance would be needed in order to bring mass protection to such risk. What is more, accidents always traumatise people, which would lead to some serious mental health problem on top of it. In conclusion, the severity of such risk is high and should be focused on as soon as possible

Coverage

There are two major policies that could cover such risks, Group Personal Accident and Surgical And Hospital Expenses.

Group Personal Accident Policy majorly covers accidental bodily injury (including death and permanent disability) of the insured whilst participating in or attending the activities in connection with the CUHK’s activities which are organized, supervised, or arranged by CUHK. The repatriation expenses would also be included in case it is needed.

Surgical and Hospital Expenses Policy mainly covers the medical expenses and in-patient expenses of the insured when they participate in events that are held and organized by CUHK. The expenses incurred in their follow-up visit will also be included. We should take note that the benefits are based on each occurrence of disability, i.e. under a per disability basis.

The coverage period starts from either 3 hours prior the commencement of the activity or when the insured leaves his place of residency, whichever later; and ends 3 hours after the event or when the insured arrives at his place of residency, whichever earlier.

All students of CUHK and all full-time students of SCS and Postgraduate/Research studentship holders, external examiners, visiting committee members, voluntary resident tutors, and visitors received by CUHK are considered insured.

Importance of buying the insurance

As a socially responsible educational institution, CUHK values highly of students and parties that provide academic support for the society growth. Especially for students which might not have any income yet, any unexpected mishaps would bring serious financial burdens to their immediate families. This might lead to suspension of their studies for saving up treatment and household expenses, which in the long run would bring negative impact to the society’s talented workforce. Hence, purchasing a group insurance could help reduce such impact with small amount of money.

In the other hand, safeguarding their financial position would also help CUHK to form a trustworthy relationship with all their stakeholders, which would lead to an improvement in reputation in public view. By building such social image, it would attract more students or academic partners in the future. Hence purchasing such insurances are needed.