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Accident Insurance for Self-Employed People and Families: The Safety Net Nobody Told You About
Written and reviewed by Dick Tracy, licensed health insurance broker (NPN 20414610) · Published August 31, 2026 · Updated October 1, 2026
When you work for yourself, there is no workers' comp waiting to catch you, and you do not need an employer to fix that. Self-employed people get accident insurance by buying an individual policy directly. Fall off a ladder on a Tuesday and the ER bill is your problem, deductible first. This is the fix: a 24-hour accident plan (Value Benefits of America membership with insurance underwritten by Federal Insurance Company, a Chubb Group company) that pays your accident medical bills up to $2,000, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000 per accident, plus an accidental death benefit. Automatic acceptance through age 64, no health questions, no work requirement, from $31.95 a month for an individual and $39.95 for a family. It covers you on the job, off the job, anywhere in the world. And if you live in New York, it pays PRIMARY, before your health insurance even wakes up. Enroll online in minutes.
I'm Dick Tracy, an independent health insurance broker in Buffalo, licensed in 25 states with 80+ carriers behind me. My dream client is the self-employed person, because you people get the rawest deal in American insurance: no workers' comp, no employer benefits, and a marketplace deductible tall enough to need its own elevator. Accident coverage is one of the cheapest holes to plug, and this page shows you exactly what it does, what it does not do, and what it costs. I educate, you decide.
The gap: no workers' comp when you're the boss
Here is the math almost nobody runs. A W-2 employee who gets hurt at work has workers' comp. A self-employed contractor, a gig driver, a landscaper, a hair stylist renting a chair? You are on your own 24 hours a day. Your health plan will cover a bad accident eventually, but only after the deductible, and most self-employed folks I meet are carrying high deductibles on purpose to keep the premium sane. So a broken wrist becomes a few thousand out of pocket during the exact weeks you cannot work. The accident plan exists to fill that specific canyon: cash reimbursement for the ER, the surgeon, the x-rays, the ambulance, without touching your health plan's deductible logic.
The four options, with real prices
| Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accident medical (per accident) | $2,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| Accidental death benefit | $2,500 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| Deductible | $50 | $100 | $250 | $275 |
| Individual / month | $31.95 | $45.95 | $47.95 | $58.95 |
| Family / month | $39.95 | $49.95 | $59.95 | $69.95 |
Those are the monthly bank-draft rates, admin fee included, no enrollment fee (add $3 a month if you insist on paying by credit card). Family covers your spouse and dependent children. There is no limit on the number of covered accidents, and the coverage follows you: work, play, travel, anywhere in the world. The carrier's own worked example: a hiking fall with a fractured leg, surgery, and two hospital nights ran about $29,700 in billed charges, and the top option paid $21,100 of it across the admission, hospital, and accident medical benefits. That is the shape of what this thing does.
Is accident insurance worth it? Run the math
Short answer: accident insurance is worth it when your health plan's deductible is bigger than your savings account, and usually not worth it when you could pay an ER bill out of pocket without flinching. Here is the math I run with people. Option 1 is $31.95 a month, which is $383.40 a year, for up to $2,000 per accident. Option 4 is $58.95 a month, which is $707.40 a year, for up to $10,000 per accident. One covered accident that reaches the maximum pays back more than five years of Option 1 premiums, or about fourteen years of Option 4. If the premium is less than what one ER visit would cost you, and you could not comfortably write that check, the math works. If you could, the math doesn't math, and I will tell you so.
It is usually worth it if you carry a high-deductible plan, you are self-employed with no workers' comp, you work with your hands (trades, landscaping, delivery, gig driving), or you have kids in sports. It is usually not worth it if your deductible is low, your savings would cover it, or what you really need is protection from illness, because this never pays for sickness. One more honest limit: it pays medical bills from the accident. It does not replace your paycheck while you heal. Gig worker or 1099? My supplemental insurance guide for gig workers shows what to layer first and what to skip.
The New York twist: this one pays FIRST
Most accident plans pay on an excess basis, meaning they wait for your health insurance to go first and then pick up scraps. This policy works that way in most states too. But for residents of New York (and New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana), the accident medical benefit pays on a PRIMARY basis. It pays first. Your health plan's deductible never enters the conversation for the covered amount. New York has tighter insurance rules than most states, so let me be the first to tell you: this one actually breaks our way. For a Buffalo family with a high-deductible plan and two kids in hockey, that is not a small feature.
What it does NOT do (read this twice)
It never pays for sickness. Not a cold, not a cancer, not a heart attack. The policy states in capital letters that it provides accident insurance only and is not basic hospital, basic medical, or major medical insurance. It is a supplement that sits next to health insurance, not a replacement for it, and anyone who sells an accident plan AS health insurance is exactly the kind of agent I warn people about. Standard exclusions apply too: injuries while committing a felony, while intoxicated or on non-prescribed controlled substances, self-inflicted injuries, war, and active military service. If you need actual health insurance and you are self-employed, that is literally my specialty: start with my self-employed coverage guide and then we can talk about layering this on top.
Where it's available and how to enroll
Online enrollment through my link covers 21 of my licensed states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Enrolling takes minutes:
1. Click the red button. It opens the enrollment page with my agent ID attached, so I become your broker on record.
2. Pick your state and your option (1 through 4), self or family.
3. Enroll with automatic acceptance through age 64. No health questions.
4. Your membership and policy materials come from Value Benefits of America, with the insurance underwritten by Federal Insurance Company (Chubb).
🚑 See the four options and enroll online
Common questions about accident insurance
How do self-employed people get accident insurance without an employer?
You buy it yourself, as an individual. No employer or group is needed. The VBA 24 Hour Accident plan is sold directly to individuals and families: a Value Benefits of America membership with accidental death and dismemberment plus accident medical expense insurance underwritten by Federal Insurance Company, a Chubb Group company. Acceptance is automatic through age 64 with no health questions and no work requirement, and you enroll online in minutes. Options run from $2,000 to $10,000 in accident medical coverage, priced from $31.95 a month for an individual and $39.95 for a family, and it covers you 24 hours a day, on the job or off, anywhere in the world.
What does 24-hour accident coverage actually pay for?
It reimburses medical expenses from a covered accident: emergency room, hospital confinement, doctor and surgeon bills, lab work, x-rays, and ambulance, up to the maximum you pick ($2,000, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000 per accident) after a small deductible. It also includes an accidental death and dismemberment benefit up to $10,000. Your first expense must happen within 90 days of the accident, and expenses are payable up to 52 weeks out. It pays for accidents only. It never pays for sickness, and it is not health insurance.
Does accident insurance pay in addition to my health insurance?
In most states this plan pays on an excess basis, meaning it picks up after other coverage. But for residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana it pays on a PRIMARY basis, meaning it pays first, before your health insurance even enters the picture. For a New Yorker with a high-deductible plan, that is a genuinely unusual feature: the accident plan can wipe out most or all of the out-of-pocket hit before your deductible ever gets involved.
Is there a health exam or medical questions to enroll?
No. Acceptance is automatic through age 64. No health questions, no exam, no work-hours requirement. Family coverage includes your spouse and dependent children, with the spouse benefit at 50 to 60 percent of the accidental death amount and children at 20 to 25 percent.
What does accident insurance NOT cover?
Sickness, ever. It is accident-only coverage, and the policy says that in capital letters. Standard exclusions also apply: injuries from committing a felony, injuries while intoxicated or under non-prescribed controlled substances, self-inflicted injuries, war, and active military service. It is a supplement to health insurance, not a replacement for it. If someone tries to sell you an accident plan AS your health insurance, walk away.
Is accident insurance worth it?
It is worth it if your health plan's deductible is bigger than your savings account, and usually not worth it if you could pay an ER bill out of pocket without flinching. Run the math the way I would: $31.95 a month is $383.40 a year for up to $2,000 per accident, and $58.95 a month is $707.40 a year for up to $10,000 per accident. It is worth it for high-deductible households, self-employed people with no workers' comp, tradespeople, and families with active kids. It is probably NOT worth it if you have a low deductible and enough savings to cover it, and I will tell you that to your face. I educate, you decide.
Does accident insurance cover kids' sports injuries?
Yes. Family coverage includes your dependent children, there is no limit on the number of covered accidents, and youth sports injuries are exactly the kind of claim this plan was built for: the broken wrist at hockey practice, the soccer collision, the trampoline landing that x-rays say was not fine. The ER visit, x-rays, doctor, and follow-up visits are reimbursed up to your option's accident medical maximum after the small deductible, and in New York it pays before your health plan's deductible even applies.
That is the whole pitch. If you want me to sanity-check how it fits next to your health plan first, grab a call. No hard sell, ever. I educate, you decide.
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