An article I read recently mentioned that many musicians are obsessive about caring for their hands. This is because they fear their hands may get damaged while going about their daily activities.
In fact, a famous Canadian pianist by the name of Glenn Gould, is known to openly refuse to shake hands with others for fear of his hands getting damaged.
However, accidents can happen out of the blue and can occur when engaging in an extreme sport or even seemingly less harmful activities. Since the hands are a vital tool of every musician, is it possible for them to insure them against these unfortunate life circumstances?
In short, yes, musicians can insure their hands. Musicians who want to insure only their hands can do so by buying a hand-only insurance policy. This hand insurance policy covers their hands such that they get paid in the event that they lose control of the use of their hand.
Although you can insure your hands, it’s not the easiest insurance to get because it’s not readily available for anyone to sign up. And there is a better alternative to hand insurance for musicians that has a better coverage and is available to every musician out there. If you’re interested in learning more, then let’s dive right in.
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What Does It Mean When Your Hands Are Insured?
In general, any insurance policy or cover aims to ensure that the insured property or body part becomes covered in the event of an unfortunate occurrence. Thus, when the conditions for receiving claims from the insurance are met, the insured receives either a lump or periodic benefits payouts.
Hand insurance is no different. This type of insurance covers just the hands of the insured. Therefore, if the insured cannot work due to injured hands, he/she will receive a payout.
How to Insure Your Hands as a Musician
The truth is, no matter the profession you find yourself in, insuring your hands is not easy to do.
Due to how difficult it is to get only the hands insured, only a few insurance organizations deal with this type of body part insurance. The most popular insurance company known to specialize in hand insurance is Lloyd’s of London.
Due to the peculiarity of hand insurance, companies that offer this type of insurance do not insure just anyone. Apart from this, this type of insurance is extremely expensive.
Thus, their clients are typically athletes, actors, and individuals with a net worth of multi-millions. If you are a musician with a net worth of millions of dollars, then you certainly fit in this category of clients.
The process involved in acquiring hand insurance is no different from that of foot insurance or any other body part-specific insurance. The only thing that may differ is the policy’s terms and conditions and coverage.
Therefore, if you wish to insure your hands as a musician, you must visit an organization that specializes in this type of insurance.
Musicians That Insured Their Hands
Many celebrities n different professions and industries patronize body-part insurance i. Many actors, athletes, and musicians have insured one part of their body, even their voices.
In professional soccer, David Beckham, who retired in 2013, is known to have insured his legs years before his retirement.
However, since this section is centered on musicians that have insured their hands, I will stick with that.
Only a few musicians have insured their hands. And the majority of them have done so under the radar without the public aware. We may never find out until they break the news. With that out of the way, let’s look at the musicians that are openly known to have insured their hands.
Keith Richards
One of the musicians openly known to have insured their hands is Keith Richards, a member of The Rolling Stone. This famous musician is responsible for most of our legendary rock ‘n’ roll songs.
As a gifted guitarist, his hands play a major role in the creation of these songs. Therefore, it is not surprising that Keith Richards has had his hands insured.
It is rumored that Keith Richards had his hands insured at a total valuation of 1.6 million dollars.
Oliver Lewis
Oliver Lewis is another musician openly known to have had his hands insured. If you have no idea who Oliver Lewis is, here is brief information about him.
Lewis is a London-born violinist who has played in many tours all across Europe. He is known as one of the fastest violinists in the world, and Lewis achieved this recognition after spending only 63 seconds playing the song “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
For someone who holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest fingers in the world, it is not surprising that Oliver Lewis has had his hands insured. This insurance was done with an independent insurance intermediary by the name of Hencilla Canworth.
Under this insurance policy, he pays a monthly premium of $3,500 in exchange for a one million dollar payout in the event of an unfortunate situation.
Is Hand Insurance Worth It For Musicians?
Hand insurance is not worth it for musicians. Because this insurance only covers the hand. And any injury sustained on your wrist, arm, or shoulders will not get coverage from hand insurance.
Due to how important the hands are, musicians who play one or more musical instruments will find it very difficult for them to do so without the use of parts of their fingers or entire hands.
That notwithstanding, even though the hands play a major role in the lives of every musician, it is not advisable for any musician to take up hand insurance. Why is this so?
There’s no denying the fact that the hand is very important when it comes to playing a musical instrument. But so are your wrist, forearm, arm, and shoulders. And an injury to any of these body parts will make it incredibly difficult to play an instrument even when your hands are not affected.
However, hand insurance only covers your hands. They don’t cover your wrists, arm, or shoulders, which are all important body parts for playing most musical instruments.
It is limited to only your hands, that is, your palm and fingers. Only injuries on your palm and fingers will receive coverage and benefits when they’re injured.
This means you won’t receive any insurance benefits when you sustain an injury on your wrist, arm, and shoulders despite the huge sums you might have paid as premiums.
Additionally, it is rumored that the terms and conditions typically involved in hand insurance can also be quite strict.
One unconfirmed clause believed to be contained in these terms and conditions is that the insured must have lost their entire hands before they qualify to receive their benefit. For all of these reasons buying a hand insurance policy as a musician is not worth it.
An Alternative To Hand Insurance: Disability Insurance
Since it has been established that buying a hand insurance policy is not advisable as a musician, is there any better alternative aside from the hand insurance policy?
Yes, there is. A better alternative to a hand insurance policy for a musician is disability insurance.
Disability insurance is an insurance policy that covers your entire body. It allows you to insure every part of your body. The fact that disability insurance covers every part of the human body makes it a better alternative to the hands-only insurance policy, which is clearly limited.
The truth is, not being able to use your hands is also a form of disability. Due to this, losing the ability to use your hands is also included in disability insurance.
Besides the fact that the scope of disability insurance covers your entire body, it is relatively cheaper than hand insurance as well.
Finally, research by the Council for Disability Awareness has shown that people are more likely to stop working due to a disability or ill health than due to hand injury.
What this means is, whether you are a musician or any other professional, the probability of you not working due to a disability is way higher than the probability of you not working due to a hand injury.
Thus, with disability insurance, you enjoy its benefits even if you can no longer work due to ill health or an accident. On the other hand, hand insurance does not offer you that. Therefore, taking up disability insurance is much better than hand insurance.
Conclusion
Musicians can insure their hands. Since the hands play a major role in the earning power of musicians, it makes sense for them to want to insure their hands to protect their livelihood.
However, hands-only insurance will not pay you any benefits if you are injured in the back or even diagnosed with a terminal disease that prevents you from working.
Hello, I’m Elijah. A writer on Geek Musician, based in Ghana-West Africa. I am a writer with a passion for research and reading. I usually spend my free time playing chess or watching movies. For more info, check out my about me page. Or read more of my articles here.