London – Insurer Epic Offers Ebola Cover For U.S. Health And Emergency Workers

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    London – U.S. insurer Epic said on Thursday it had launched Ebola indemnity cover for U.S. healthcare and emergency workers.

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    At least 4,877 people have died in the world’s worst recorded outbreak of Ebola, mainly in West Africa. Three cases have been diagnosed inside the United States and the spread of the disease has prompted some insurers to exclude Ebola from their policies.

    Epic President Richard Kosinski said the group’s Ebola cover had been added to an existing policy which also applies to other blood-borne pathogens such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

    The price of an individual policy has been increased by $10 to $269 a year to include Ebola, he added.

    Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, is the first hospital to sign up to the cover, Epic said in a statement.

    “We would expect all the other hospitals to sign up,” Kosinski said. “There have been numerous enquiries from hospitals, nurses, paramedics and others.”

    The insured person has to have contracted the disease while in the United States, and in the case of Ebola, the disease has to be reported within 24 to 48 hours of diagnosis, Epic said.

    The policy would pay out a $200,000 lump sum for HIV, Hepatitis B and C or workplace violence and an extra $20,000 per month – for up to 10 months – for Ebola, from diagnosis until return to work.

    The Ebola crisis is forcing the American healthcare system to consider withholding some medical interventions because they are too dangerous to doctors and nurses and unlikely to help a patient.


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