Every workplace that has a certain amount of employees (usually above fifty) is required to offer workers compensation insurance in the event of an injury to the employees. This insurance is usually meant to cover the costs of medical treatment and other expenses directly related to the costs of the injury. But what about your other expenses, such as the cost of living expenses? There are usually rental expenses, or a mortgage. You need to buy groceries, pay for your other bills, maybe pay for child support and other miscellaneous expenses. How do you cover these expenses while you're healing and you can't work? Here are some other options and other steps you can take to be better prepared in the event that you're hurt and you can't work.
There are other supplemental insurance plans you can purchase, that are meant to help cover your other bills outside of what your workers compensation will cover. AFLAC (American Family Life Assurance Company) is one very large provider of this kind of insurance. They offer money that you can use for whatever you need in the event that you're hurt and can't work. They don't place a stipulation on how you can spend that money. You're free to use it to keep up on bills and other expenses to keep your life in order as you heal. It's an added piece of mind that you can have while you're injured.
You can also take it upon yourself to save up for your own emergency as well. A typical amount would be around six months of your normal work salary, or more. Six months may be more than you'd need in order to recover from an injury, but it's better to save more than you need than to not have enough. Depending on how much you put away each month, saving up for this kind of emergency can take several years. However, once you've reached that amount, you can move on to saving for other things, or use that extra money that you were once saving to do whatever you like with. You've saved enough to get you through an emergency when or if it arrives.
Most people don't take steps to save money or purchase enough insurance to prepare for that time of an emergency. In these cases, when something does happen, workers compensation insurance pays for the medical bills, but all of the other costs of living fall to the wayside. The family of the injured then spend years catching up to the added costs when the head of the household is no longer working. These situations can be easily avoided with a little preparation. You can save the struggling for another day if you stay a step ahead and prepare for the worst. It will also give you peace of mind, which is something that's extremely important and invaluable in times of extreme need. Consider preparing yourself along with relying on workers compensation if you've been hurt at work. You'll be glad you did.