Public Entities

As schools and other entities consider policies that limit or ban cellphone use, agents can offer risk control guidelines that might help avoid a claim.

With adverse impacts from social inflation, litigation funding and heightened safety expectations, the public entities insurance market is in a hard market with increased premiums and reduced limits.

From escalating property premiums to increasing liability costs, social inflation and litigation funding, public entities have to continually refine how they manage their unique exposures.

The fire chief is a volunteer, and while volunteer activity is included in the policy, the agent believes that the position would still be excluded as a professional service.

Independent agents can make sure their public entity clients understand their risks and have the insurance protection they need at a price they can afford.

Couple the unique risk exposures of public entities with continued economic challenges such as inflation and labor shortages, and “Groundhog Day” may be set to continue.

Here are three ways agents can help procure the best possible coverage for public entities clients despite changing risks.

The public entities insurance market has experienced significant upheaval as carriers exited the sector, due to an increase in risks, or reduced capacity, requiring a higher level of self-insurance.

“Things like cyber and law enforcement liability were not major topics of discussion two decades ago,” says independent agent Josh Estelle. “In some ways it is no different than the rest of the world, since all industries face changing exposures.”

Independent agents can play an important role in assisting clients mitigate the increasing costs of insurance for public entities. Here are three ways agents can add value.