A whopping 42 percent of emergency room trips of children’s injuries are recorded from May through August. While that’s scary, it’s also estimated that around 90 percent of these accidents can be prevented.  Here are seven things to be aware of so you can help your kids get the most out of this summer.

1)   Bugs love summer, too.  Take appropriate precautions and read the warning labels on repellents.  Kids can also wear light-colored clothing.  That not only helps them stay cool, but makes it easier to spot unwelcome hitchhiking bugs.  If they’re out in the woods, you may want to tuck pant legs into socks as a tick barrier, and do tick checks.

2)   Dehydration can strike quickly.  So, help them stay hydrated and keep water handy.  Heat exhaustion can show up as abdominal or leg cramps, fatigue or thirst, and heat exhaustion can progress to life-threatening heatstroke. Kids are more susceptible to heat stress than adults.

3)    Food and heat don’t mix.  Picnics are only fun when the food doesn’t make you sick.  Avoid leaving foods outdoors if they contain eggs, mayonnaise, meat or milk.

4)   Head injuries can be reduced with helmets, yet almost 300,000 kids suffer head injuries annually just from biking.

5)   Near drownings can involve more than 3,700 children under the age of five in just one year according to SafeKids.  Fencing and supervision are key to keeping them safe.

6)   Playground injuries are even more common.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that over 205,000 children go to the E.R. after getting hurt on playgrounds annually.  Check for hard, hot and rough surfaces, as well as loose ropes.  And, be sure clothing is unlikely to catch on playground equipment.

7)   Skin problems can be prevented with clothing, hats and sunscreen.  Watch out for poisonous plants and sunburn.

Easy to Prevent Poisonings Are Shockingly Common

One easy way to prevent accidents is to keep medicine, cleansers and other toxic household products locked up and out of sight.  Research from Safe Kids Worldwide found a poison control center got a call about a possible child poisoning (under age six) every minute.  That’s about 500,000 times a year that a small child is either getting into medicine he or she shouldn’t ingest or taking the wrong dose.

Drowning Is Another Common Accident that’s Preventable

It sounds reasonable that you’ll be able to monitor children around pools, lakes and rivers, but reality isn’t supporting that theory very well.  Fortunately, there’s a lot more you can do.  Learn how to use the right gear and teach your children how to be safe in the water.

Flotation devices include arm floaties, noodles, and rings, but they’re not meant to replace adult supervision when a child is in the water.  Coast Guard-approved life jackets are still the safest gear available. Swim instructors are also teaching children how to float, and they say even babies can learn self-rescue skills.

Unseen Hazards Can Be Blocked

One hazard that’s very common can’t even be seen.  That’s exposure to electromagnetic fields or EMF radiation.  You may also see it called electrosmog.  It’s common because there are so many sources in the home, including appliances, computers, electronics, TVs, etc.  And, turning them off doesn’t stop the radiation. You can get EMF detectors to show you where EMF is highest in your home and mats that protect you and your kids.

A Change in Perspective Really Works

Home safety checks need to reflect how the home is being used. With pets and/or small children in the home, safety checks need to focus on reachable hazards you may not normally notice from your height-advantaged perspective.

Location Really Is Important

At home, many electric outlets are right where it’s easiest for children and pets to chew on cords or stick things in outlets. You can put really cheap plastic covers on outlets when they’re not being used, and you may find furniture can be moved to form a barrier.

It’s also inexpensive to add catches on low cabinet doors so kids and pets don’t play with cleaning supplies and similar hazards. Apparently, we didn’t have that safety device when I was little. Mom said she tightened caps on things like cooking oil stored in the low kitchen cabinets, but that didn’t stop me from coating the kitchen floor and myself with an entire bottle of oil once.

Try Thinking outside the Box

You may buy a plant for the flowers and fragrance, but that plant may look like a tasty snack to a small child or pet. Fortunately, there’s online advice about which plants are harmful when eaten. And, plants aren’t the only common things that can be dangerous to put in the mouth.

Try looking at things from the perspective of what would happen if they were damaged. I remember when I found the cat had chewed a hole in the Christmas lights on the inside of a window. Yes, she was ok, but that was the end of indoor Christmas lights.

Watch Other Members of the Household

Of course, you can block stairs to keep small children safe, but adults can require extra measures to stay safe, too. If people have mobility issues, cords, rugs, uneven surfaces, etc., can trip them.

Strength is an issue for many people, too. My aunt was scalded because she was sure she’d be ok getting a large pot of boiling water down from the microwave above the stove. As we age, we may not even notice small declines in strength until an accident happens. And, just rushing can result in all types of accidents.

Taking time to consider what can put your family at risk is time well spent to help keep your family safe. And, an accident plan to bridge the deductible gap in your health insurance coverage can be money well spent.

What Does Research Show about Stress and Accidental Injury?

Stress has been linked with more than 60 percent of injuries and illnesses in work settings by studies from the University of Massachusetts, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  The HSE is a non-departmental United Kingdom public body.

According to university researchers, a 60-hour work week increased the risk by nearly one-fourth, and 12-hour shifts raised the risk by more than one-third.  And, the HSE says it’s common sense that we’re more susceptible to accidental injury when we’re tired.  The HSE also pointed out the increased potential for such accidents to result in injury to someone else.

What Can You Do about Stress beyond Your Control?

You may not be able to reduce a lot of that external stress, but you can be prepared for it.  Take a look at your health insurance.  If you bought coverage after health care reform, it must cover recommended preventive care without any deductible, but that’s all.

You may have a deductible to meet before you have coverage when you’re accidentally injured.  You could have co-insurance charges even after you have spent enough on health care to meet the deductible.  Of course, you can find policies without deductibles and co-insurance, but can you afford them?

What Is Accident Insurance?

You may not have heard about supplemental health insurance that only covers treatment for accidental injury.  These policies cost a fraction of what premiums are for policies that cover serious chronic health problems.  And, accident insurance has low $100 deductibles.  It may be a way for you to make your life just a little less stressful.

An Everyday Thing that Results in Accidental Injury

It seems like commonsense, not to mention decency, that you don’t sell people something hot enough to scald them.  Yet, McDonald’s lost a landmark tort case and had to pay $160,000 when a woman was scalded by the coffee she bought there.  That happened 17 years ago in Illinois.

Last month, a couple of similar lawsuits were filed in Illinois.  Even though it violated company policy, a four-year-old girl was allowed to handle blisteringly hot coffee her grandmother ordered.  When the lid fell off the cup, the little girl ended up with a second-degree burn.  In the other case, a 35-year-old was burned on her thighs from a spill.

In our eat-and-drive culture, you’re probably faced with similar risks more often than you’d like to think about, so wouldn’t it be nice to know something like that wouldn’t set you back in doctor bills?

Straight-forward Insurance with Guarantees

You can’t count on a big settlement.  You can’t even count on winning in court.  And, even if you do, that money won’t be available until long after your medical bills need to be paid.  Accident health insurance, though, does have guaranteed payment terms and amounts.

Depending on your health insurance deductible, you can get different amounts of coverage to make that deductible meaningless in the event you need a doctor for accidental injury.  Accident plans come with standard $100 deductibles and pick up the rest of the bills up to the amount of coverage you select.  That can be up to $10,000.  Of course, plans are available for a smaller amount of coverage at a lower premium, and you can get a plan that fits your whole family.

Accident Plans Have Flexible Coverage

Different plan amounts are available, like $5,000 or $10,000.  And, a plan can cover you or your entire family.  That coverage is not subject to the annual limits that you may remember from traditional health insurance, either.  For example, you don’t have to worry about running out of coverage in the unlucky event that your whole family is injured on a ski vacation.  Each one of you would have the full limit of coverage to pay for medical care with only the $100 deductible to meet.  Both the coverage and the deductible are applied to each personal injury.

And, each covered individual has the full coverage amount available each time he or she faces medical bills for an accident.  That could be thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars.

Accident Plans Cost Much Less than Other Health Insurance

Sounds expensive, doesn’t it?  Fortunately, you can’t judge the cost of accident health insurance by traditional health insurance premiums.  You can compare rates for individual and family accident plan coverage based on the amount of coverage you need to meet the deductible on your health insurance.  You may also want to use our how-to guide for frequently-asked questions to help you evaluate this type of coverage.

Emergency Room Stats Speak Volumes

Check out some emergency room stats for yourself.  I found numbers like 1.1 million people were seen for fractures.  And, for injuries overall, there are more like 45.4 million annual E.R. trips.  If you have an expensive health insurance policy, you’re covered.  If you’re trying to save on those premiums, you’ll end up paying some of those bills yourself – especially this early in the year.  That’s because the less expensive policies don’t cover everything.

Once you’ve spent enough to meet a deductible, you have coverage.  Before that, you don’t – unless you complete your coverage with an accident plan.  Of course, if the accident plan premiums were high, you wouldn’t bother, but check out these premiums.

Get a Realistic Example of E.R. Prices

Then, get an idea of what it costs to go to the E.R. at http://www.healthcarebluebook.com/.  You can type in something like “foot fracture surgery” and get a ball-park estimate of $16,398.  Hopefully, your health insurance deductible is lower than that, so you can select an accident plan that only pays up to the amount of your health insurance deductible.  That keeps your accident plan premiums low while providing complete coverage when you get hurt.

Having to only pay $100 for the E.R. can be so helpful.  That $100 is the deductible on our accident plans, even if you choose a plan for $10,000 per person and per incidence.

You can even try out an accident plan for a month and cancel with a refund.  Wholesale Benefit Association gives full refunds for policy cancellations during the initial 30 days after the latter of your application date or the policy effective date.

Those riders can protect themselves somewhat with helmets, goggles, and protective clothing, footwear and gloves, but they are much more vulnerable than those inside vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says about 80 percent of motorcycle accidents leave someone injured.

If you don’t have any health insurance or you have a policy with a large deductible, check out accident health insurance.  It can be a great help because coverage starts after a small $100 deductible.

Is Accident Health Insurance Legitimate?

These policies work like simplified health insurance.  They only cover medical bills for treating accidental injuries, and they are more standardized than traditional health plans.  While those have deductibles from $500 to $25,000, accident insurance only applies $100 deductibles.  That’s not an annual deductible, though.

Whether you get $2,500 in coverage or $10,000, the deductible is applied per instance and per person.  So, if you and your spouse both fracture something riding together, you each pay for $100 in treatment.  Then, your policy picks up the cost to the limit you choose.

You’ll also find accident health insurance is less complicated than other health insurance.  Certain things are not covered, such as injuries from playing professional sports and self-inflicted injuries.  And, you are not restricted to a list of doctors and hospitals like you are in HMO health insurance for non-emergency treatment.  In most other ways, accident health plans work like traditional policies.

Accidents May Be More Expensive than You Expect

One of the most common problems riders have is broken bones. The Center for Neuro Skills says a broken leg is the most common motorcycle accident for which people are hospitalized.  Arm and wrist fractures follow because people try to break their fall, but people also fracture the shoulder and pelvis. And, any of these breaks are expensive.

Healthcare Blue Book reports doctor bills to operate on a broken lower leg average about $1,599.  The related hospital bill for a five-day stay averages around $11,751, plus $469 for an anesthesiologist for one hour.

If you don’t have any insurance, a $10,000 accident plan will cover most of a bill like that. If you have health insurance with a $10,000 deductible, adding an accident plan would cover about all the charges except for $100.

A lot of people now have big deductibles because the monthly premiums are lower, so this may surprise you.  Accident plan with small $100 deductibles start at about $25 per month for an individual.  Family plans aren’t too much more.

Average Emergency Room Charges

One survey found that people between the ages of 45 and 64 typically paid $1,696 on average for Emergency Room treatment.  With the mass movement to health insurance that applies a deductible before coverage starts, many of those bills are not covered.  And, to find a policy that’s affordable, people have been buying plans with deductibles of $5,000 or more.

Why People Are Less Likely to Compare Medical Prices

The unexpected nature of accidents stops many people from comparing prices as they might for some other kinds of health problems.  Compared to seeing a doctor in her or his office, E.R. diagnosis and treatment may be many times more expensive.  When the average doctor appointment charge was about $200, the average E.R. bill was over $900.

One Way to Be Prepared for E.R. Charges

While it may not be practical to switch to health insurance with a lower annual deductible due to the increase in premiums, it is relatively inexpensive to add coverage to your health insurance policy without changing plans.  You can add coverage specifically for accidental injuries with an accident health plan.

That type of insurance works a lot like other kinds of health insurance, but it has $100 deductibles per injury per person.  And, the coverage pays toward treatment whether you use the E.R., an urgent clinic, or go to your doctor’s office.

One plan can cover you or your whole family without the same $100 deductible.  Other types of health insurance tend to charge a family deductible that’s about twice as much as the individual deductible.

Accident plans pick up medical costs after the initial $100 every time a family member is hurt even on January 1 when you may be facing a $5,000 deductible on your other health insurance policy.

Most people don’t lose consciousness when they experience a concussion.  In fact, you can have a concussion and not even know it.

Even concussions that are minor at least temporarily affect the way a person’s brain works.  This can show up as memory loss, a lack of judgment, and problems with balance, coordination, reflexes, and speech. Even people who’ve had a mild concussion need to avoid any additional trauma to the head in order to let the brain heal sufficiently.

How Our Culture Misleads Us about Head Injuries

Blows to the head are commonplace in our culture, like with football.  That doesn’t mean these hits don’t cause significant and lasting brain damage.  They’ve actually collected 100 brains from deceased professional football players to document sports-related brain damage.

One of the most common types of brain injury is known as a contusion.  That’s like a bruise of brain tissue.  Like bruises in other places, contusions cause small blood vessels to leak. While a bruise may not sound too bad, the Brain and Spinal Cord website says it’s more likely that contusions involving structural brain damage are more likely to result in complications than concussions are.

How to Expand Your Health Insurance Coverage without a Big Premium

I’m not suggesting that you drop your less expensive health insurance so you’ll have coverage the next time you need to see a doctor when you haven’t met the plan’s deductible.  I am advising that you can expand that coverage for a small premium increase by adding an accident insurance plan.

These plans are available with $100 deductibles for premiums of about $25 a month for an individual.  And, family plans aren’t much higher.  It’s one of the little-known ways to get more health care coverage without paying a lot more money.