Insurance fees: _HRA, please explain!

[Beth Denysenko]

Thank you, Danny - it does help. It is not listed in the index, and since I haven't read it page by page, I didn't know it was in there.

But the waiver that we sign - doesn't that waiver mean we are signing away our coverage and all track responsibility? I guess I need to read that again.

For those without their rule books handy here it is from the IHRA rule book:

Both on track incidents and pit vehicle related accidents/fatalities have driven the cost of national event insurance up over 50% in the last three years and 80% over the last 6 years. Several years ago an insurance surcharge became the industry standard at NHRA national events, while IHRA events remained unchanged during that same time period. IHRA has invested in an on site motorsports trauma doctor, additional track rescue, personnel, as well as additional firefighting equipment in an effort to help reduce the risk associated with competing at a national event and enhance the ability to respond to major incidents.

IHRA continues with the insurance surcharge practice in an effort to keep the coverage and associated staff in place at the current levels. A $40 insurance surcharge paid in addition to the national event entry fee for any person, competing in any class, at an IHRA national event. This will not apply to Pro-Am or Team Finals events, as IHRA member tracks have new requirement mandating enhanced fire/rescue equipment and SFI certified personnel to cover weekly events for 2009.

This national event insurance surcharge will also enable IHRA to cover the gap that exists in most primary competitor's primary health care coverage and the existing excess medical coverage where it relates to paying the cost of air transportation. The cost of air transportation is not covered on most primary insurance policies and is not covered in the excess policy. This charge has been $6,000 to $7,000 when IHRA racers have had to have this method of transportation used. Continuing in 2009, should a competitor be involved in an "on track" incident that requires they be air lifted to the hospital, the basic air transportation expense will be covered by the event where the incident occurs if this fee is not covered by a competitor's primary insurance. This will only apply to competitors (not crew) when the incident happens as the result of qualifying/competition on the track.

So, this is a helicopter ride charge. Ok. To cover the gap - but what if you don't have any healthcare coverage? What then?

And NHRA has nothing in their rulebook that I could find.