We live in a small housing cooperative society that has 20 units. Recently, one of the members took a ferocious-looking dog as pet. It is very harmless now but could become a problem later on as such dogs are known to be aggressive. Is there any insurance that can cover future medical costs in case someone is bitten by the dog?
—Tarun Acharya
Standard treatment for minor dog bite is vaccination. Since this is primarily an outpatient treatment, it is excluded in most health insurance policies. A few health insurance policies specifically cover dog-bite related vaccination treatment. While choosing your health insurance plan, you can prefer such plans. However, there are no stand-alone plans to cover dog bites. Separately, dog owners could buy a public liability insurance. In case the dog hurts someone, who in turn sues the owner, the insurance would pay for lawyer fees to defend them. Further, the policy would reimburse any compensation awarded by the court.
