A big thanks to Chris Goss at Philadelphia Insurance, and Lisa Hoeschele from Family Counseling Services for sharing their information and expertise. 

Below you'll find the recording and a summary of some of the topics we discussed:

FACTORS IMPACTING YOUR COVERAGES AND PREMIUMS

•  Large Jury awards and increased claim activity are driving increased premiums and a hard insurance market. (See Wall Street Journal article attached.)
• Legislation: New laws like the NYS Child Victims Act passed in 2019 are increasing the liability of organizations relative to civil abuse/action claims for up to 55 years. Policies were not rated for this previously.
• Changing Weather and re-insurance costs: As climate patterns continue to change due to global warming, storms are becoming more frequent and more severe.  Rain is coming down at higher rates for longer periods of time.  Areas that usually do not see freezing or winter conditions- like Texas- are seeing this type of weather.  Wild fires due in part to drought conditions are more impactful.  Like liability claims, reinsurers are paying for these catastrophic storms, fire, etc.  Thus reinsurance cost are increasing here too.
• Cyber Attacks – With people working remotely across the globe resulting in greatly increased online traffic, the frequency and severity of claims are causing insurers to charge rates 30%+ more and to reduce limits of liabilities. Not only are cyber attacks targeting HIPPA-related private information, but ransomware is now holding businesses and governments hostage by shutting down their online and cloud-based systems.

WHAT TO EXPECT

• Industry experts predict that general liability and cyber premiums will continue to increase at a rate that far exceeds inflation (even the current inflation rate) for the next 2-3 years.
• Property and auto premiums will hopefully begin to plateau and the market will soften up a bit over the next year or two, but nonprofits should still budget for about a 8-12% increase over the next year or two. 
• If you do not currently carry a Cyber policy to protect your client and personal data, to defend any liability, or safeguard against costs for ransoms, we highly recommend putting one in place before it’s too late.

Our team here at Bailey Place is happy to discuss any of the above information and how your specific agency may be impacted, and steps you can take to help reduce claims and keep your premiums as low as possible.

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