Report Rate Increases for Child Care Centers in Conn.

According to a report from the Hartford Courant insurance premiums on child care centers, including summer camps and day care facilities, have recently risen between 10 and 20 percent in Connecticut and other states.

The article indicates, however, that the rate raises don’t appear to be linked to any specific cause, such as the recent scandals concerning child molestation by Catholic priests, but are part of an overall trend in the insurance industry. It quotes Susan Robinson, VP of Connecticut Underwriters Inc., a broker specializing in hard to place risks as stating that, “there’s no link to the clergy scandal.”

The report offers further proof of the prevailing hard market. Many day care centers and summer camps already rely on surplus lines insurers for their coverage, and, as admitted companies pull out of these and other activities, which almost invariably happens in a hardening market, the surplus lines carriers experience a growing demand for their policies, and the cost of obtaining that coverage goes up.

Insurers also become more selective in choosing the risks they’re prepared to underwrite. The article notes a similar rise in premiums for the state’s contractors.

The report indicates that coverage for sexual abuse is usually written as an addition to an existing policy with an excess premium. It estimates that day care centers could pay as much as $15 per child per year for $300,000 a year of coverage.

Topics Trends Pricing Trends Connecticut