What happens when a dog bites a person? First, the person goes to see a doctor or heads for the emergency room. Next, the person files a claim against the dog owner’s homeowners insurance policy. Dog bite claims are costing insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that around 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites each year. About half of them are children. Every year, around 16 people die from dog bites. It can be a very serious situation.
A person who has been bitten by a dog can file a claim against the dog owner’s homeowners insurance policy. When this happens, it can cause the insurance premium of the policyholder to rise. Sometimes, an insurer will refuse a person’s application for a homeowners policy because the person owns a breed of dog that the insurer considers to be too much of a risk.
Last year, State Farm Insurance paid more than $109 million on around 3,800 dog bite claims. The claims were nationwide. As a comparison, in 2010, State Farm paid out about $90 million on around 3,500 dog bite claims. Dog bite claims are increasing. Why are they increasing? That is currently unknown, but, State Farm is working on trying to find out the reasons for it.
The Insurance Information Institute said that in 2011 there was about $479 million paid out in dog bite claims. This total comes from all insurance companies, not just State Farm. Again, as a comparison, the total amount paid out in 2010 by all insurance companies was about $413 million.
The amount of dog bite claims varies by state. California had 527 dog bite claims filed in 2011. The total payout for those claims was around $20.3 million. That number increased by 31% since 2010. Other states also had a number of dog bite claims last year, but, none were as high as what California had.
The third week of May is, officially, National Dog Bite Prevention Week. Now is a great time for dog owners to learn about what they can do to prevent their dog from biting someone. Train your dog well. Make sure that your dog is on a leash when you go for walks. Now is also a good time for parents to teach their children about ways to avoid getting bitten by a dog. For example, children shouldn’t touch dogs that are eating, or dogs that are asleep.
Image by Sini Merikallio on Flickr