TRACK DAZE
Get Covered
Author: Jon Hatcher
Medical insurance should be on your trackday checklist
 Your corner entry is perfect. You release the brakes at exactly the right moment and flick the bike into the corner, gently skimming your knee against the asphalt as you ease on the throttle near the apex. You’ve gained considerably on the rider in front of you and if you can get on the gas just a little earlier than usual, you might be able to pass him before the next corner. You roll on a bit more throttle to close the gap but as you do, the rear end begins to step out wide. Suddenly, the tire regains traction and the wheels snap back into line, tossing you ten feet into the air. While it feels like you’re airborne for an eternity, it has only been a fraction of a second before you begin your descent from altitude toward the hard pavement below. At this point, it’s a bit late to start thinking about getting health insurance.
 As you’ve probably noticed, our sport can be dangerous. Most crashes on the track are fairly minor, resulting mostly in sore muscles and a bruised ego. Sometimes though, a rider can get really hurt. An injury sustained at the racetrack may prevent you from working for weeks or months on end. Going without a paycheck for that long will make your monetary situation difficult enough but if you also have to cover expensive medical bills out of your own pocket, you could be in serious financial trouble. In fact, about half of the 1.5 million personal bankruptcies filed in 2001 were directly related to medical bills.
Medical bills can pile up quickly after a crash. In a getoff last year at Barber, this editor broke his collar bone and thumb. Having been transported from the racetrack in an ambulance, I was immediately put into the Emergency Room as a trauma victim. Multiple X-rays and CT scans, a five hour stay in the hospital and the ambulance ride came to just over $16,000 for the initial care. Then followed visits to an orthopedic specialist over the next few weeks, which included pain killers and additional X-rays. Thankfully, the shoulder did not require surgery, which could have tacked many thousands more onto the bill. Keep in mind that these injuries weren’t even life threatening. Lacking insurance coverage, if you were to incur a severe trauma and throw in a helicopter ride for good measure, you could wind up owing half a million or more before you even wake up and ask, “What happened?”
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