Different Types of Insurance

Chris Miller, President of Miller Management, is the guest host of this week’s episode. He is joined by his colleague, Tyler Foster, co-Owner of GLS Insurance: Grow, Lead, Serve.

Insurance – part two

While we can’t realistically eliminate all risk, we can mitigate the risk with best practices. Last week we looked at the goals of insurance in the church. This week Tyler and Chris will discuss some of the different types of insurance your church can purchase.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is ever changing, so call your GLS Insurance advisor to figure out the best plan for your church. 😉 Deductibles are climbing, but there are certain things you can do. First, find someone who has good knowledge of these subjects.

One thing to start looking at are HSAs or HRAs. An HSA is attached to the employee, whereas HRA is attached to the church. Single deductible options that will help lower your premium. Over 3 – 5 years you could fully fund each individuals deductible. Which creates further control of our insurance premiums over the long haul. By taking a higher deductible, and reinvesting those savings initially, this is one way to help.

There are different options in deductibles just like there are different options in plans. Supplemental health insurance is another option to create a game plan for individuals who could benefit from this.

Let’s look at this holistically. Insurance is one piece of your benefits, other areas could include short- and long-term disability. Depending on your PTO/sick days policies, disability could help balance out the time off needed for employees.

A note on Medical Sharing

There are also medical share plans that some religious organizations may want to use. They are an alternative to the traditional health insurance. There are shared buckets of administration and claims. Which is very normal for any business to run. The only problem with these types of plans is that because they are not insurance, your claim may not be covered – so make sure to ready the fine print. There are also lifestyles qualifications that wouldn’t be covered for certain claims.

Reimbursement is another key word. Most of your claim filing is done as an individual cash payer – negotiating with hospitals and doctors what your rate will be, and then being reimbursed. Negotiating is part of the job for these medi-share plans, so if that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, that plan might not be for you.

Just like all insurance – take your time and read what you are getting into, and what is and isn’t provided or covered.

Property Coverage

On the property front – especially in the mid-west – the industry is changing. Carriers have reached a point of not having enough coming in, so they can’t provide as low of plans as before. Constructions costs have gone up as well. Kansas City and St. Louis both have higher re-construction rates. Premiums and deductibles are both on the rise. For Missouri, Greene County, Jackson County, and St. Louis county all require a percentage deductible base, not based on the claim amount.

Wind and Hail already have separate claims than property. We may see a time when Water is also separated out. One case being Polar Vortex. While this is a relatively new term, it simply refers to the artic cold air coming down as far as Texas. (Miller Management has a recent personal story on this particular property damage, and were very thankful for our partnership with GLS!)

Liability Coverage

Understanding liability coverage is important: what is actually covered and what do you need to supplement? The difference between a $300,000 and $1 million coverage plan may only be $30 per year. Getting 3x the coverage for that little (when your building would probably require the latter amount) is definitely worth it. You may not be saving as much as you hoped you were when you tried to cut expenses from the budget.

General liability won’t cover insurance for the board, sexual misconduct, or mental liability (bullying if you have a daycare or school). General is really only for bodily (broken arm) or personal injury (offence from a sermon). Again, read the find print so you know what you should consider adding to help your employees, volunteers, and anyone coming into your space.

Vehicles

Get rid of the 15-passenger vans with a trailer attached – or utilizing the roof rack. A much better option is the transit van. The newer models with the better drive-train, suspension, and overall safety is more expensive, but your people are worth it. Get a volunteer (church member) with a pick-up truck to haul that trailer – that’s what they are made for.

A catstrap to protect your catalytic converter is also a wise investment. You may receive coverage the first (even second time) but you will most likely be kicked off your insurance by claim number three.

Final Thoughts

We know that reading the fine print of insurance policies is tedious (and probably not why you got into ministry). But, having the right insurance can help insure a ministry continues and is protected from a whole host of problems.

Coming Up

Join us next week as we continue our series on Insurance with Tyler from GLSInsurance.com.


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Special thanks to our guest, Tyler Foster, and our masters of all things Podcasting, Chris and Lauren Miller, for this second episode in our Insurance series.