8 is Enough – Programs That Caught Our Eye

For this end-of-the year edition of Insurance Journal, we looked at some unique or interesting programs and found eight that grabbed our attention. Obviously they do not represent a comprehensive list, which is admittedly a subjective one. Don’t get mad if your program didn’t make it—get even. Let us know about your program and tell us why it’s different, interesting and/or unique!

Tanning Salons

For that sun-baked look.
Insurtec offers a full range of coverage for tanning related services and the program is available to facilities of all sizes. Optional coverage is available on virtually any personal service and the company claims some of the lowest rates in the industry.

According to Insurtec VP Chris Beshore, the company’s tanning program is unique because, for one, “not very many insurers will write tanning.” Beshore said another thing that sets his program apart from others is that in addition to general liability Insurtec also offers professional liability for the owners and aestheticians. That’s important, according to Beshore, as tanning salons are sometimes compared to the cigarette industry because of potential cancer issues.

The program is available in all 50 states except New York. It is insured by USF Insurance Company, except in Florida and Pennsylvania, which are covered by a different company.

Premium with taxes and fees start at around $420 per year for a tanning salon with one or two beds, without property included. Average yearly premium is about $1,200 to $1,300. The program will cover salons with one bed as well as those with 12 to 15 locations. Rates may be based on two different criteria: Per bed, or on gross sales after the business has been in operation for at least one year.

Some of the services covered include: Tanning, Body Wraps , Facial/Body Wax, Electrolysis, Massage Therapy, Skin Care, Nutritional Counseling, Aesthetician, Cosmetologist, Passive Exercise, Hydrotherapy Services, Cellulite Treatments and Laser Hair Removal.

Insuretec also offers programs for other image related services such as day spas.

Insurtec
Phone: (800) 606-0621
Fax: (866) 606-0620
Web site: www.Insurtecinc.com

Intellectual Property

Cover while patents are pending.
Venture Programs of West Chester, Pa. has a new intellectual property (IP) program, VIP Cover, for the manufacturing, engineering, aerospace and food processing industries.

The program provides coverage for disputes over the origins or rights to use of IP—this pertains to patents, trademarks, design rights, copyrights, trade secrets and Internet domain names. Underwritten by Lloyd’s of London, VIP Cover includes pursuit coverage for legal costs arising from protection of IP rights, as well as defense coverage, which protects clients against charges of improper use of other companies’ IP or trade secrets.

Minimum rates and retentions each total $50,000. Primary limits are $2 million, with excess available for select accounts.

According to Venture Programs director of Sales and Marketing Bill Dalton, while intellectual property coverage for things like copyrights and trademarks has existed for some time, the VIP Cover program’s focus on the patent process makes it uniquely valuable. “We really don’t see much competition out there,” he explained. “No one else is getting quotes for IP insurance these days, as it relates to patents. I mean, there are some programs out there that do copyrights, trademarks, and things like that, which we do also, but the key to our (program) is declaring products and processes. So we’ll insure patents, we’ll insure design, we’ll insure trade secrets.”

Venture Programs
Phone: (800) 282-6247
Fax: (610) 692-5977
Web site: www.ventureprograms.com

Nursing Homes

A good bed makes the difference.
The Managed Insurance Programs Division of Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc. has a nursing home insurance and risk management program, Silver Lining™, in which loss control management plays a major role.

Silver Lining promotes the use of a patented mattress designed to minimize the potential for pressure or bed sores, the leading cause of loss in the nursing home industry. Originally developed by NASA, the mattress is supplied by Tempur-Medical, a division of Swedish mattress manufacturer Tempur-Pedic Inc. Tempur-Medical handles risk management of all pressure sore issues for the Silver Lining Program.

According to Carole Fleischman, president of the Arrowhead Managed Insurance Programs Division, Tempur-Med conducted “specific controlled studies on this product and determined that it could, one, eliminate pressure ulcers … or two, … correct a pressure ulcer situation if somebody already had it. So, we like our insureds to utilize these mattresses. We feel as though it takes care of one of their major exposures. It also brings them up to date with the elder abuse act where you have to use state of the art equipment.”

Loss control consultant, the Worksafe Group, handles non-pressure sore related risk management issues and independent nursing home claims administrator, ProClaims, will manage claims.

Arrowhead’s Managed Insurance Programs Division underwrites Silver Lining’s nursing home risks on behalf of Lloyd’s of London. General
liability and medical malpractice coverage through Lloyd’s is provided with limits of $1 million/$3 million. Silver Lining’s minimum premium is $50,000.

The program is currently available only in California but is expected to be expanded nationally based on the success of the program.

Arrowhead Managed Insurance
Programs Division
Phone: (626) 844-2464
Fax: (626) 844-2460
Web site: www.arrowheadprograms.com

Social Services

Keeping safety nets together.
North Island Facilities Ltd. has been providing program coverage to the nonprofit social services industry for 20 years. Coverages available include professional liability, general liability, property, crime, inland marine, workers’ compensation, auto and umbrella. Social service providers targeted by the program include counseling and crisis centers, mental health and handicapped facilities, community centers, and group homes. Fund raising activities, YWCAs, rehabilitation facilities, daycare centers, and halfway houses may also be eligible for the program, which is available nationwide.

Nancy Williams, marketing director for North Island, explained that premiums for the social services program start at $7,500. As for limits, Williams said, “Most of (our carriers) write $1 to $3 million with the GL and the PL—we have to write the general liability and the professional liability together … But we can also do umbrellas in excess of $10 million.”

Williams also explained some advantages of North Island’s program: “We cover all lines of workers’ compensation. We have a very experienced underwriting staff because we’ve been writing this line of insurance for 25 years—(that’s) really our biggest calling card, so there’s a lot of experience and creativity on the underwriting side.

“What also sets us apart is that we’re the underwriting manager of the program—we make the underwriting decisions, and we bind the business,” Williams added.

North Island Facilities Ltd./North Island Group Inc.
Phone: (800) 892-8892
Fax: (516) 365-7392
Web site: www.nifgroup.com

Security Services

Making a list, checking it twice.
Izzo Insurance Services Inc. has insurance programs for people and companies who keep you safe—including security guard firms, security consultants, investigators, and alarm installation, repair and monitoring companies. Founded in 1980 by Karen J. Izzo, for over two decades the firm has specialized in the security industry.

According to Karen Izzo, one of the keys to the program’s success with brokers, in addition to the extensive coverage offered, is the General Liability Comparative Checklist available on the company’s Web site. It provides both brokers and insureds a set of guidelines and questions to ask when they are shopping liability insurance for this specialized niche. The checklist was designed to identify the biggest holes that customers have fallen through with other programs or carriers, where they thought they were insured but were not. “Our brokers have told us because we tell them specifically what questions to ask, it’s been the most beneficial thing that they’ve seen in the last 20 years,” Izzo said.

The program is offered in all 50 states and is placed with North American Specialty, an admitted, “A++ XV”-rated Swiss Re-owned company. It’s admitted status gives the insured dual protection, according to Izzo. Since it is admitted, there is protection from the guarantee fund standpoint and premium protection, since most states have rules with respect to premium increases that admitted carriers are allowed to charge. “So they have the benefit of those two items…,” Izzo said, “but also our coverage is the most comprehensive that’s available … and that’s why we’re hot right now.”

Premiums range from $1,500 for a five-person-or-less operation to over $1 million for much larger operations. Applications are available on the company’s Web site.

Izzo Insurance Services Inc.
Phone: (708) 452-1700, (800) 800-1704
Fax: (708) 452-1777
Web site: www.Izzoinsurance.com

Life Sciences

Buttressing biotech operations.

The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies’ Life Sciences program has been so well received that the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), representing more than 1,000 biotechnology firms worldwide, recently expanded its endorsement of the program.

Geared toward biotechs of all shapes and sizes, Chubb’s Life Sciences program offers specialized coverages to address the industry’s unique risks, including product liability for bodily injury and property damage caused by a drug or medical device, liability insurance for clinical trials, and insurance for product withdrawal expenses. Coverages for research animals, pollution cleanup and removal, and research and design (R&D) are also available. In addition, lines such as workers’ compensation, errors and omissions, employee crime, and D&O may also be included.

Premium rates for the program vary considerably depending on clients’ exposures. Liability limits range from $1 million to $25 million; property limits are available up to $300 million.

“We have worldwide availability on two levels—first of all, we provide international jurisdiction within our domestic policies,” said Philip Ficus, senior VP, Chubb & Son, and worldwide manager of the Life Sciences Division. “We also arrange admitted policies in certain jurisdictions where those are required. That’s really important to BIO companies because many of them are at a stage in the drug discovery process where they’re starting to think about conducting trials overseas. Ethics committees (in foreign countries) will not allow them to conduct clinical trials unless they can provide proof of insurance—the insurance has to reflect the regulations of these different countries, and we’re one of the few companies that have the ability to do that.”

Coverages are available in most jurisdictions on both an admitted and a non-admitted basis. “Most of our competitors provide coverage on a non-admitted basis,” Fiscus said, “which means the regulators don’t have the opportunity to evaluate the forms and rates.” Chubb’s admitted policies allow regulators of various governments oversight of the carrier’s terms, whereas non-admitted policies from surplus lines companies would not.

Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
Phone: (908) 903-2000
Fax: (908) 903-2027
Web site: www.chubb.com

Ambulance Services

Protection for emergency vehicles.
The American Agency began insuring ambulance services and other forms of emergency medical services in 1980 and the niche continues to be the sole focus of the agency.

“To this day, almost 23 years later, it’s still all we do,” said vice president Howard Handler. According to Handler, 18 months ago there were 15 ambulance programs available and now there are perhaps two viable programs in the country, including his.

The American Agency program covers automobile liability, physical damage, professional liability, general liability, inland marine—which includes any equipment that goes on and off the vehicle—property, and excess. Sold through independent agents, it is available in all states except Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Handler said premiums are highly variable due to differences in size of operations, location, rating territories, and coverages provided. “There’s so many variables, it’s not that simple,” he added.

“What’s germane is we’ve been doing this a long time; we clearly know what we’re doing; and we do it in the majority of states.”

The American Agency is an affiliate of Royal & SunAlliance.

The American Agency
Phone: (800) 255-4301, (913) 323-7800
Fax: (913) 661-2466
Web site: www.theamericanagency.com

AST/UST

Minimizing leaks in coverage.
Freberg Environmental In-surance’s (FEI) Above Ground/ Underground Storage Tank program targets owners and operators of petroleum storage tanks, providing coverage for clean up costs stemming from tank leakage. Designed to comply with EPA and individual state financial assurance requirements, coverages include claims-made coverage for on and off site clean up, as well as third party bodily injury and property damage. Besides underground storage tank owners and operators, the program is intended for gasoline station owners, bulk petroleum storage facilities, fleet truck operators and distributors of oil and gas, and is available nationwide.

The minimum premium is $500, but the age of the storage tank being considered for coverage can affect pricing. “It’s really based upon the age of the tank—that really dictates the premium,” said FEI Environmental manager Stacy Brown. “If there’s any range, it’s related to the tank.” Brown noted that standard limits are from $1.1 to $1.2 million, but FEI can write limits of up to $25 million.

The program includes a separate legal defense limit, and government-mandated cleanups aren’t required in order to file claims. Brown mentioned another advantage: “Certainly, UST coverage is cookie-cutter, so we distinguish ourselves by customer service. I think our entire organization is known as being a great place with which to do business.”

Freberg Environmental Insurance
Phone: (800) 377-4152
Fax: (303) 623-8101
Web site: www.feiinsurance.com

Topics Carriers Workers' Compensation Excess Surplus Underwriting Property Pollution Chubb Professional Liability