Personal Caregiver Insurance – Cost and Types Of Policies

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, Personal Caregiver insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what could happen in the future.

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

Like any business owner, for your Personal Caregiver enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

If your Personal Caregiver business runs without proper insurance, you are taking an enormous chance not just of losing some money but of a total 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. 

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

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

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

Your Personal Caregiver business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where laws 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 an adjudicator can award in any case against the state.

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

When you are running your Personal Caregiver operations, you can’t deny responsibility for the outcomes of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent beforehand the money necessary to have your business running as a limited liability company, all of that liability belongs to you as an individual.

What does Personal Caregiver insurance protect you from?

For your Personal Caregiver business, the most important types of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

As well there are some mandatory kinds of insurance that various states require.

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

The main headings of insurance for your Personal Caregiver businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

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

In such a case, they can sue you for compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your Personal Caregiver business protects you against claims coming from injury to clients or damage to their property.

It protects your Personal Caregiver 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 Personal Caregiver business would be with a cap of $1 million for a single claim 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 Personal Caregiver insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Personal Caregiver business

In the event where a buyer alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Personal Caregiver business for them, you can quickly have to fight a monetary claim.

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

Every small Personal Caregiver business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a once-off claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

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

Product liability insurance

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

You need to know 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 injuries caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any following lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Personal Caregiver

Only you can know exactly how much insurance you should get.

Best advice is to consult with experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for support.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Personal Caregiver business

Take care! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any happening like theft or accidental damage when the car is being used for business purposes.

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

Commercial truck 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 van is involved in a crash.

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

The necessary value of the insurance is worked-out for the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your declared level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Personal Caregiver business needs specific 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 unexpected acts.

As well, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can destroy your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specific gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy whatever needed to keep your Personal Caregiver business running.

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

Commercial Property insurance

Any Personal Caregiver business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the space, you may already have a substantial capital investment, as well as a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Your physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against unexpected occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your Personal Caregiver business operates in areas of high risk, like California or North Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Rhode Island, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Personal Caregiver business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends mainly 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 Personal Caregiver insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Personal Caregiver business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your Personal Caregiver business

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

Using short-term insurance makes good sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Personal Caregiver – are special policies where you can cover a nominated 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 key feature of short-term insurance is that you pay for the cover for a defined period – a designated 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 larger business activity, get the existing cover improved.

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

Business Owners Policy BOP for your Personal Caregiver business

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

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

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

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

There are two 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 eligible to take out BOP cover.

The normal business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have less than one hundred employees, and maximum 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 Personal Caregiver business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Personal Caregiver business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the operation against any costs that arise if any hired hand 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 regulations in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged 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 may not get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

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

However, you must see the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every Personal Caregiver insurance need is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give rough guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

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

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

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

We have reckoned these figures for small freelance Personal Caregiver businesses.

In larger states like New York, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, while in smaller states like Oregon, they usually are about 20%-30% lower.

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

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

Also you can let the internet do the work for you by looking for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another good source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your city.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Personal Caregiver operations?

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

Does my Personal Caregiver business have to have insurance?

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

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

What does a small Personal Caregiver business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides coverage against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the most common policies for Personal Caregiver insurance.

How much will Personal Caregiver business insurance cost?

In addition to the size of the business, some other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for Personal Caregiver, in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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