Hospice insurance – cost and coverage

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, Hospice insurance must be included in the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by general insurance and all the other types of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unforeseen happens.

Like any business owner, for your Hospice enterprise, you must consider how much financial liability you are taking on.

If your Hospice business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a tremendous chance not just of losing some money but of a complete wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the results of their actions. 

Hospice Insurance

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for small businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where we can, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your Hospice business?

What this means, for any Hospice business owner, is that if some person claims that your work caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your Hospice business is not harbored by laws in the same way as states are, where legislation can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like New Jersey, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the duty of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a plaintiff more than they have claimed.

When you are running your Hospice operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent in advance the money necessary to have your business running as an LLC, all of that liability belongs to you as a person.

What does Hospice insurance protect you from?

For your Hospice business, the most important sorts of insurance are designed to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

Also there are some official kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will explain the most important points any Hospice business owner should remember when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main types of insurance for your Hospice businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any Hospice business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them personally or else something of theirs can be spoiled.

In such a case, they can demand compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your Hospice business insures you against claims coming from injury to customers or damage to their property.

It protects your Hospice business from the claims themselves and as well to any associated court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it should help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts require proper liability insurance.

The average level of general liability insurance for your Hospice business would be with a boundary of $1 million for a single event and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your Hospice insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Hospice business

In the event where a buyer alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Hospice business for them, you can quickly have to fight a law suit.

Even if the case against you is ruled in your favor, the cost of defense can be substantial, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Almost all small Hospice business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover an individual claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of Hospice insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your Hospice operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that the results didn’t meet your description of function, or that your advice was basically incorrect.

You need to be aware of the specific laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any likely lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Hospice

Only you can estimate exactly how much insurance you need.

Best advice is to talk to experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for help.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Hospice business

Beware! – almost all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any happening like theft or accidental damage when the van is being used for business purposes.

The right way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a direct commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies guarantee the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the car itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is covered if your truck is involved in a crash.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, insist on this type of insurance.

The wanted value of the insurance depends on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your intended level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Hospice business needs specialized and costly equipment, you can appreciate how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The gear may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

In addition, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can wipe-out your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specialized gear quickly out of your own pocket, you should have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your Hospice business running.

It is hard to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s really dependent on how much you have invested in your Hospice business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any Hospice business that owns or rents space in a building should have a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the building, you may already have a substantial capital investment, in addition to a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Every physical building location needs to carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against natural occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your Hospice business works in areas of high risk, like California or Georgia, extra coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Washington, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Hospice business premises, there is a need for more additional cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends completely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of Hospice insurance section below to give some estimate of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Hospice business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your Hospice business

Is your Hospice business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes excellent sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Hospice – are special policies where you can cover a designated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having reduced premiums but still having identical risk cover.

The essential feature of short-term insurance is that you buy the cover for a defined period – a specific date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover increased.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your Hospice business

You have the option to combine most of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by incorporating these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will protect you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is often the right choice for small and medium-sized Hospice businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will dictate whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs do not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will dictate whether you are allowed to take out BOP cover.

The usual business that can take out a BOP policy must have less than one hundred employees, and not more than five million dollars in annual revenue.

Plus, you must separately take out the necessary worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your Hospice business employees

In most states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Hospice business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the business against any costs that arise if an employee experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits provide for medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer required to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only allow coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you can’t get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance providers.

Workers compensation charges are computed based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must refer to the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every Hospice insurance requirement is unique, there are enough examples of average quotes from insurance companies for us to give rough guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with a broker what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have collected for the main types of insurance your Hospice businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Public liability insurance $343 – $553
Equipment insurance $300 – $1093
General liability insurance $735 – $1103
Commercial insurance $1002 – $2044
Commercial vehicle insurance $1502 – $2626
Product liability insurance $234 – $531

Cost of insurance for your Hospice operations depends on many different factors.

We have calculated these figures for small independent Hospice businesses.

In larger states like Texas, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, whereas in smaller states like Utah, they usually are about 20%-30% less.

The location and size and type of your Hospice business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

In addition you can let the internet do the work for you by searching for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another useful source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your suburb.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Hospice operations?

This is a wide term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect Hospice business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my Hospice business have to have insurance?

Some of the types of insurance are not mandatory for you to run your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Certain other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small Hospice business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides protection against lawsuits or claims filed by a third-party for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The exact cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the recommended policies for Hospice insurance.

How much will Hospice business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, several other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

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