LANSING, Mich. — Many Americans likely did not see a pandemic coming. Just think back five or six months ago when we were worried about holiday gifts and gatherings. We would have Never predicted, then a virus with unprecedented health implications. One that would cause a shutdown of the U.S. economy in a way never seen before.
“It brought my business to a screeching halt.”
Ted Challenger is the owner of several night clubs in Boise, Idaho. “We are just in survival mode, in struggle right now.” Like many savvy small business owners, Challenger planned for the unexpected.In additional to all his required business insurance, Challenger for decades has been paying for additional coverage called “Business Interruption Insurance”. He thought, that would be his business’s lifeline. “The insurance company they outright denied my claim.” His insurance company cited this one line in the policy that states “Exclusion of loss due to virus or bacteria.”
“I have high hopes that our elected officials will see a problem and do something here.”
Across the country other insurance companies are using this line to deny claims for thousands of businesses. And for policies that don’t have that wording insurers are saying they did not underwrite for this kind of claim. “I have high hopes that our elected officials will see a problem and do something here.” While organizations like the Insurance Information institute have come out saying “If insurers nationwide had to pay business interruption policy claims for which insurers collected no premium, it could cost the industry each month anywhere from roughly $150 billion to nearly as high as $380 billion”
Several states believe the industry can afford this and have introduced legislation to force companies to pay out for the policy identifying that “the industry’s policyholders’ surplus stood at $812 billion as of Sept. 30, 2019.” “from what I understood after 9/11 there was a terrorism clause written into the insurance and congress passed a bill that they did have to pay out on it to the businesses hurt during 9/11. So I very much hope that. I wish I had more time to spend on it but we are just in survival mode an struggling right now and it doesn’t really afford us time to go chasing legislators and lobbyist.”
In addition to currently not getting their claims paid, most small businesses are still currently required to continue paying for insurance during the closure or they risk losing their business licenses.
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