Can Insurance Cover You During the Coronavirus Outbreak?
Family child care providers, like most small businesses, face a potential loss of income because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Parents may stop coming to your program or you may decide to shut down your program.
Are there any insurance policies available to help cover you for a loss of business income?
Your homeowners or business liability insurance will not provide any protection. Only a business property insurance policy may cover you.
I am aware of only two insurance companies that offer coverage for loss of business income. They are:
Guide One (coverage up to $10,000) - www.guideone.com
West Bend Mutual (coverage up to $50,000) - www.thesilverlining.com
However, there are severe limitations as to when these insurance policies will start to cover you. First, someone in your program has to contract the virus and second, a government agency must tell you to shut down your program.
As time passes it seems more likely that homes may be shut down by state governments. If this happens, it is not clear if these policies will cover you if your family member gets the virus or the family of the child in your care gets the virus. As of now there does not appear to be any other insurance company who will step in to offer additional policies to cover you for loss of business income.
Talk to your business liability insurance agent (or an independent insurance agent) to find out if you have a business property insurance policy from one of these two companies or if you want to purchase such a policy.
Unemployment Insurance
If you have to shut down your program for any length of time, will you be able to claim unemployment insurance to help you through tough financial times?
Unfortunately, no.
Family child care providers who are self employed are not entitled to claim federal or state unemployment benefits. You do not pay into the unemployment fund and thus are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits.
I know this is a difficult time for everyone and that any loss of income hurts. Let's all hope this national crisis ends as soon as possible. We will all get through this.
Thanks to Debe Marofsky from Affiliated Insurance Services, LLC
Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com
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