When injured on the job, your health care costs are covered a variety of ways. Most significantly, if you work for a company that is required to carry worker's compensation insurance to cover on the job injuries, that is the entity that will pay your medical bills. You must notify your employer immediately if you're injured, as this will affect your worker's compensation claim. If you are injured on the job and your employer either is not required to have worker's comp insurance or has elected not to buy it in violation of the law, your own health insurance coverage would be brought to bear to defray your medical costs.

Sometimes worker's compensation carriers will deny a claim. Every state with a compulsory worker's comp law has appeals processes put in place for you to seek redress. But the rejection of your claim may stand, in which case you would make a claim on your personal health coverage. However, you must make sure your insurance policy does not reject coverage for workplace injuries. Some policies exclude them entirely, so you must know before any accident takes place what you are paying for and what coverage you have.

If you are disabled, your health care costs will be covered, for a time, by worker's comp. There are two definitions of disability. One is short-term disability (usually up to six months), and the other is long-term disability. Some worker's comp policies specify a mechanism for renewing the short-term disability benefits, usually by requiring the worker come back to work for a specified period, after which he or she can renew the claim. These claims are subject to scrutiny, and are often denied. No employer's policy will pay for long-term disability benefits, so once denied, and if you have no personal disability insurance, you're on your own for your health care costs.

If however, you've purchases disability insurance, you still might not be in the clear. What actually constitutes a 'disability' can have various definitions, and what to you might seem a disability might not be covered under your policy. Generous policies will cover any inability to work at your chosen profession, and others will deny any claim if you can perform any kind of work at all, no matter how beneath your employment level it might be. You must know what you're covered for.

The question of who covers you for on-the-job injuries is one that does not have a clear-cut answer, as there are several entities, both public and private, which are variously responsible for your health insurance coverage in the event one occurs. As always, it's best to find out what covers you in an on the job injury before the injury occurs.