04/07/14 – Positive Changes on the Catastrophic Insurance Front

April 7, 2014 Athletic Department Blog Updates

As most of you who are involved in purchasing athletic insurance for districts or schools are aware, the market remains very tough for this specialized type of coverage. For more than 30 years, the most visible benefit to membership in the KHSAA has been the Catastrophic Insurance that is provided to all member schools and funded by the membership dues. As a matter of fact in recent years, the premiums for insurance paid by the Association total almost exactly the same as the total dues received, making it a smart volume purchase for the membership. This excess insurance policy currently has a deductible of $25,000, and each student is required to have basic coverage up to that deductible in order to be eligible to play sports and sports activities per an order of the Kentucky Board of Education approximately twenty years ago.

We are pleased to report that our broker, RJ (Bob) Roberts out if Richmond, has advised us that we do not need to raise our deductible for the coming year as they have been able to negotiate a very favorable renewal. Though many other sports organizations have raised insurance deductibles to $35,000, even as high as $100,000 in some groups, we have been able to keep that change from occurring at this time through strong negotiating and the leverage of volume purchases. This maintenance of the deductible at that level ($25,000) has a direct impact on each of our students as any change in the state deductible would require a change in locally purchased insurance or insurance purchased by the students. So we are very thankful for their aggressive negotiations and work on your behalf, and on behalf of the KHSAA.

During this negotiation, we are also very pleased that they were able to raise the maximum payout on the KHSAA catastrophic plan from $6 million to $7.5 million. With escalation in insurance costs seemingly all around us, particularly with a catastrophically injured student, this is a tremendous enhancement to our current policy. We are very excited about this enhancement, and think it shows Bob and the company’s commitment to Kentucky’s schools and to the KHSAA.

If you have questions about the underlying plans available to match up with the KHSAA catastrophic plan, please feel free to give Bob or his staff a call at 859-623-7684. And if you would like, their company can review any plan you have received from other sources so that you are the most informed that you can be during your negotiations.

If you have questions about potential claims on the state excess catastrophic plan provided by your dues, please feel free to contact General Counsel Chad Collins in our office at 859-299-5472.

Thank you!