Specialty Government Insurance

Specialty government insurance refers to a specific type of insurance coverage that is tailored to meet the unique needs of government agencies and organizations. This type of insurance is designed to protect government entities from a wide range of risks, including liability, property damage, and loss of revenue.

One of the key features of specialty government insurance is that it is designed to cover a wide range of potential risks. This includes both traditional risks, such as property damage and liability, as well as more specialized risks that are specific to government organizations. For example, specialty government insurance may include coverage for cyber attacks, data breaches, and other forms of cybercrime.

Another important aspect of specialty government insurance is that it is often tailored to the specific needs of the government entity it is covering. This can include customizing coverage options to meet the unique needs of the organization, as well as providing specialized risk management services to help mitigate potential losses.

In addition to providing coverage for specific risks, specialty government insurance also typically includes a range of additional services and support. This can include access to legal and financial experts, as well as risk management and compliance support. This can help government organizations to better manage and mitigate potential risks, and can help to minimize the impact of any losses that do occur.

Overall, specialty government insurance is an essential tool for government organizations of all sizes and types. By providing tailored coverage and support, it can help to protect these organizations from a wide range of risks, and can help to minimize the impact of any losses that do occur. Whether you are a small local government agency or a large state or federal organization, specialty government insurance is a valuable investment that can help to protect your organization and your community.

Airport operators or fixed base operators need airport liability coverage and hangarkeepers legal liability coverage on their operations. Aviation liability coverage forms provide this coverage. Aircraft hull and liability coverage is also needed when the operations include ownership and rental of planes to individual pilots or student pilots.

Liability and physical damage coverage for buses is rated under the public automobile section in automobile rating manuals. This class of business is often difficult to place through standard markets. Underwriting considerations include the number of passengers that can be carried, annual mileage, and the bus's use. Examples are intracity, airport, hotel, resort, and school buses. Most states require minimum mandatory financial responsibility limits based on the number of passengers carried.

Teachers and other educators can be sued by or on behalf of students for actual or alleged injury or damage. While the employing school or district has a responsibility to defend the teacher, the objective of that school or district is to first protect itself. The individual will have little control of the action and may actually lose all coverage and defense if the school or district's limits of liability are exhausted by payments of other suits. This coverage is purchased by the individual for his or her own protection. It includes defense coverage plus high limits of indemnity against allegations of not providing appropriate or effective professional services such as inadequate supervision, assault, damage to property and more.

Timely response by professional emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to their patients' needs is the cornerstone of pre-hospital emergency care. Their professional liability exposures can be covered under a group policy that insures the emergency medical unit. The group policy can also cover ambulance services, fire departments, first-aid teams, and rescue squads. Professional liability coverage for EMT instructors/coordinators is also available.

Firefighters face hazards and exposures that require special accident and health policies. Policies are available that compensate for accidental death, dismemberment, permanent disability, and certain specified diseases. Members of fire departments who respond to fire alarms or perform other firefighting duties are usually eligible for these coverages. Some insurers offer premium discounts for associations of fire departments. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) that are part of the fire department may also be eligible for these insurance benefits.

Law enforcement officer or police professional liability coverage forms or policies provide broad coverage to law enforcement agencies and their individual law enforcement officers. They cover the law enforcement agency of any political subdivision named as the insured, along with all paid full-time and part-time individual law enforcement officers. This coverage insures against third-party suits or claims for bodily injury liability and personal injury liability, including legal defense against such actions. Acts such as false arrest, erroneous service of civil papers, false imprisonment, libel, slander, defamation of character, violation of property rights, and assault and battery in the course of making an arrest are covered. This coverage can be purchased by only law enforcement agencies-not individual officers.

Insurance for public libraries may be written on a stand-alone basis or as part of a municipal package that covers city and county libraries. The stand-alone package is a combination of property, commercial general liability, business auto, and other specialized insurance coverages. Inland marine coverages insure fine arts, valuable papers, books, visual aids, and other library property. Coverage for limited first-party pollution cleanup may also be included. Coverage also applies to book spoilage due to changes in temperature. Property coverage extends off premises to apply to exhibitions, outdoor sculptures and monuments, and computer equipment. Commercial general liability coverage that includes medical payments coverage for staff and volunteers is available. Directors and Officers liability, employment practices liability, and Errors And Omissions liability for librarians are optional coverages that can be purchased.

This specialized liability policy is available from a number of insurers. It covers the liability requirements of cities, counties, townships, and other public entities. In certain states, the coverage insures the liability imposed on the public entity by law and liability that the public entity assumed by contract to the extent that it could legally do so. Some public entity policies cover specific personal injury offenses in addition to bodily injury. The definition of insured includes the named public entity, as well as its additional insureds, officials, servants, and employees. This coverage applies to both commercial general liability and auto liability.

Nearly every governmental entity and most developers use professional planners. Planners utilize data to forecast a community's future needs for infrastructure and similar support facilities. Planning breaks down even further into the subspecialties of comprehensive planning, urban planning, site/master planning, economic planning, traffic/transportation planning, zoning and permitting, land use planning, environment planning, and historic preservation. Planners cannot be blamed for making incorrect predictions but they do have a professional exposure if they are negligent or perform wrongful acts in the process of gathering and analyzing information and making recommendations.

Electricity is not useful unless it is distributed. Electric cooperatives, public utility divisions, municipalities, and co-generation systems are examples of distributors. Their coverage needs include at least property, crime, equipment breakdown, general liability, auto liability and physical damage, D&O, workers compensation, and umbrella liability.

The privatization of the prison correctional system in the United States is well established. Local, state, and federal authorities often turn to private industry to provide correctional services. Coverages available include commercial general liability, products/completed operations liability, medical malpractice, and errors and omissions. These coverages are usually written on a claims-made basis and errors and omissions coverage usually covers violations of civil rights.

This coverage insures public housing authorities that own, lease, or manage low-income housing or that administer low-income assistance programs available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Policies can be written to cover public officials' liability, errors and omissions, directors and officers coverage, and commercial general liability exposures.

This coverage protects public officials elected or appointed to a legally constituted public entity. It is similar to directors and officers and board of education liability insurance. It provides direct coverage to the public official or a reimbursement to the public entity to indemnify an official, if permitted by law. It is written in the public entity's name and covers legal liability that arises from wrongful acts that occur while the public official is in office. Prospects for this coverage include park boards, city councils, sanitary districts, and air or port authorities.

Underwriting public utilities requires knowledge and capacity. Basic coverages available include insurance on real and personal property, improvements, and betterments, including fixtures, alterations, installations, additions, and newly acquired property. Some insurers offer Difference in Conditions and Builders Risk coverage in addition to the basic perils. Electromagnetic fields (EMFs), particularly those produced by high-voltage power lines, have been implicated in a number of human illnesses, including leukemia and brain cancer. Studies to date are inconclusive but the fear of living or working near high-voltage power lines has diminished the values of property adjacent to them. Some insurers that write public utilities have developed liability coverage for EMF exposures. This EMF coverage is usually added to existing commercial general liability policies and various limits are available.

Buildings being rehabilitated in order to retain significant older structural features or historical landmarks, to obtain special tax credits, or simply to reduce the costs involved in new construction present difficult builders risk exposures and are difficult to place. Property values do not begin at zero, as in standard builders risk exposures, because rehabilitation projects already have existing foundations, frames, walls, and roofs. A sublimit usually applies to the value of the building's shell during the demolition and rehabilitation phases. Establishing partial occupancy before the project is complete can be a concern, especially in commercial rehabilitation jobs as well in some residential work. Starting with an existing structure requires fire protection, welding and cutting precautions, protective fences, lighting, and guard services that may not be required with new construction.

Coverage for the professional liability exposures of social services agencies may be insured under a professional liability program specifically designed for their needs. The coverage's major emphasis is on professional services rendered by the insured agency and its employees in individual, family, or group therapy, interview, or counseling sessions. Limited medical malpractice coverage is provided when employed psychiatrists on the staff desire such coverage. Agencies eligible for the program include drug and alcoholism rehabilitation centers, state or federal social service referral agencies, community service agencies, agencies involved with individual and family therapy, domestic counseling, and group therapy, child guidance clinics, and agencies that treat developmentally challenged, autistic, and psychotic children.

This insurance covers the liability of social workers and welfare workers while engaged in professional services for social agencies and welfare agencies. This coverage is often written in the name of the agency itself and applies to employed, qualified social and welfare workers who work for the agency.

This category includes public and private entities that treat, store, or distribute water and wastewater. Some examples are water districts, mutual water companies, sewer districts, investor-owned utilities, and irrigation and reclamation districts. Two important general liability coverages especially needed are failure to supply and back-up of sewer and drains. If these coverages are offered, their sublimits and exclusions must be reviewed. Other coverages needed are property, professional liability, inland marine, equipment breakdown, public officials' management liability, automobile liability and physical damage, and workers compensation.

Reclamation districts collect wastewater, treat it, and then supply water for irrigation and flood control. Water districts do the same thing but usually only supply water for public consumption and industrial use. These districts are operated by an independent board that is subject to municipal oversight. Most water irrigation/reclamation district programs are written in California where irrigation is very important to farmers, but programs for water districts are expanding into other states. Property, boiler and machinery (equipment breakdown), inland marine, auto liability, general liability, and directors and officers liability coverages are available.

Following are some examples of Specialty Government Insurance claims and the corresponding insurance coverages that can help pay for them:

1. Nuclear Incident Insurance Claims: Specialty Government Insurance can come into play in the event of a nuclear incident. For instance, if a nuclear power plant suffers a catastrophic failure resulting in significant property damage and harm to individuals, the lawsuits could run into billions of dollars. The Price-Anderson Act in the United States is an example of such insurance, which covers all nuclear facilities and their contractors. It is designed to ensure that adequate funds are available to satisfy liability claims of members of the public for personal injury and property damage. Specialty Government Insurance can help cover the costs of these lawsuits, providing funds for settlements and helping to protect the financial stability of the operators of nuclear facilities.

2. Flood Insurance Claims: Specialty government insurance can also play a significant role in areas prone to natural disasters, such as floods. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in the United States is an example, providing coverage for flood damage, which is typically not covered under standard homeowners' insurance policies. If a property owner suffers damage from a flood and files a lawsuit against a local government entity alleging negligence in flood control, the government's flood insurance can help cover the costs of the lawsuit, mitigating the financial risk for the governmental entity.

3. Federal Crop Insurance Claims: In the agriculture sector, farmers can file insurance claims for crop loss due to various reasons such as drought, flood, or pest infestation. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) provides insurance to help reduce the economic impact of these events. If a farmer sues a government agency alleging negligence in water management leading to crop loss, Specialty Government Insurance like FCIC can help pay for the costs of the lawsuit, protecting government entities from financial burdens.

4. War Risk Insurance Claims: During times of war or conflict, traditional insurance may not cover damages related to such events. However, Specialty Government Insurance like the War Risk Insurance provided by several countries can cover these situations. If a lawsuit is filed against a government entity by businesses or individuals alleging failure to protect their assets during a conflict, this type of insurance can help cover the costs of the lawsuit, ensuring that the government entity is not financially overwhelmed.

5. Terrorism Risk Insurance Claims: In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government set up the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), a Specialty Government Insurance that covers losses resulting from acts of terrorism. If a business suffers losses due to a terrorist act and sues a government entity alleging inadequate security measures, TRIA can help cover the costs of the lawsuit, providing financial protection to the government entity.