rider

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written form attached to an insurance policy that alters the policy’s coverage, terms, or conditions. For example, after buying a diamond bracelet, a policyholder may want to add a rider to her homeowner’s insurance policy to cover the jewelry.
See also floater.

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An amendment or attachment to a contract. Same as addendum.


Example: A rider to Owen’s homeowner ’ s policy insured the valuable paintings against fire and theft losses.

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US term for a clause or provision added to an important bill, with no apparent link to the substance of the legislation. Although most riders would not pass into law if judged on their own merits, by attaching it to a bill that other members are reluctant to delay by tabling amendments to remove the riders, or the President to lose by invoking his veto, the measure may succeed. In many state legislatures the governor possesses a line- item veto in order to prevent riders attached to a bill becoming law.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A schedule or writing annexed to a document such as a legislative bill or insurance policy.

A rider is an attachment, schedule, amendment, or other writing that is annexed (added) to a document in order to modify it. The changes may be small or large, but in either case the primary purpose of the rider is to avoid rewriting or redrafting the document entirely. The language of the rider is understood to be incorporated into the document. Riders are commonly used in contracts and records and also have complex uses in legislation and insurance. As part of the lawmaking process in both state legislatures and Congress, riders are typically added to bills at a late stage in their evolution. In the insurance industry, riders are added to insurance policies to modify both benefits and the conditions of coverage.

The use of riders in the legislative process is a time-honored tradition. Lawmakers do not add riders immediately but instead wait for the appropriate stage in the evolution of a bill. Traditionally legislative bills start out as proposals that are sent to committees for approval or disapproval. Once a bill successfully passes out of committee, lawmakers frequently amend it with a rider. The rider may simply add a new clause to the law that is the main subject of the bill, or it may go further and add an entirely new, unrelated law.

The addition of riders reveals much about the political agendas of lawmakers. Riders make ideal opportunities to introduce controversial or unpopular fiscal changes. Often these are attached to appropriations bills, which must be passed annually to fund the operation of state and federal government. Some lawmakers have traditionally seen such bills as the place to add extra appropriations for projects they and their constituents favor — a kind of funding known pejoratively as pork. Conversely, legislators may add riders that cut spending in areas that would attract public protest if the changes were the single subject of a bill and thus more noticeable.

Lawmakers' attempts to add new laws to bills through riders are sometimes controversial. Since a rider need not be related to the subject matter of the bill, legislators sometimes seize the opportunity to further their political agendas. A rider may be attached to a bill in an attempt to sneak through a measure that would not attract majority support if proposed by itself. Sometimes, too, a bill's opponents may attempt to defeat it by adding a controversial rider.

In insurance, riders change the contract, or policy, between the purchaser and the insurance company. Also known as endorsements, they can either expand or restrict the benefits provided by the policy. Thus, for example, personal automobile insurance policies generally cover only typical use of the vehicle. A rider specifies that commercial use of the car will make the policy null and void. This form of insurance rider is called an exclusion.

Riders in health insurance policies have other effects. They increase the cost of the policy or even exclude coverage altogether when the purchaser has certain preexisting health conditions. For example, someone suffering from high blood pressure may pay higher costs for insurance. In certain cases the insurer may choose to issue a policy with the stipulation that it will cover certain health-related costs but not those costs associated with the preexisting condition.

A provision in an insurance policy allowing for amendments to its terms and/or coverage.

Investopedia Says:
Riders are not necessarily found in all polices and because all riders provide some kind of benefit to the policy owner, an extra premium may be charged for them. An example of a rider being used is when a policy owner seeks temporary coverage during a public event.

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Find out if this policy coverage will add money to your pocket, or cost you in the long run. Are Return-Of-Premium Riders Worth It?
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A provision, usually controversial and unlikely to pass on its own merits, that is attached to a popular bill in the hopes that it will “ride” to passage on the back of the popular bill.

IN BRIEF: A person who sits on a horse or in a vehicle.

For want of a nail, the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the horse is lost; and for want of a horse the rider is lost. — George Herbert (1593-1633)

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as in: passenger in a vehicle
sign description: The sign RIDE is followed by the PERSON AGENT MARKER.

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For a list of words related to rider, see:

• Equipment and Resources - rider: aerobic exercise used in a seated position
• Acts, Powers, Conditions, and Procedures - rider: provision that might not pass on its own but that is likely to pass when attached to important bill
• Insurance - rider: attachment or amendment to policy

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See words rhyming with "rider."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Rider.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - rytter, passager, tillæg, tilføjelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
ruiter, berijder, extra clausule (wet, polis)

Français (French)
n. - cavalier, écuyer, motocycliste, coureur, jockey, correctif, (Jur) avenant, annexe, clause additionnelle

Deutsch (German)
n. - Reiter, Fahrer, Zusatz

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ιππέας, αναβάτης, καβαλάρης, προσθήκη, παράρτημα, συμπληρωματική ρήτρα ή διάταξη (νομοσχεδίου), (νομ.) πρόσθετος όρος σε έγγραφο

Italiano (Italian)
cavaliere, fantino

Português (Portuguese)
n. - cavaleiro (m), jóquei (m)

Русский (Russian)
наездник, ездок

Español (Spanish)
n. - jinete, ciclista, motociclista, motorista, cláusula adicional

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ryttare, förare, tilläggsklausul

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
骑士, 扶手, 附件

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 騎士, 扶手, 附件

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 타는 사람, 첨부 서류, 응용 예제

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 乗る人, 騎手, 添え書き, 補足条項, 系

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الراكب, الممتطي, ملحق بوثيقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רוכב, נספח, רווץ, פרש, מסקנה, תוספת‬

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