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Volunteer Insurance - Access for Insurance Agents Protecting Volunteers -- The VIS Way If you already are familiar with our program, click here to go directly to our Producers Agreement, which has links to an online application. Following is a summary description of our program. Please call our VIS staff at 800.468.4200 if you have additional questions. Forms – Applications, policies, coverage details, brochure, claim form. To protect your nonprofit client's volunteers, CIMA's Volunteers Insurance Service Association (VIS) program offers the following coverages separately or combined:
Total cost per volunteer if all coverages are elected: $11.51 per year. The only other cost involved is the required annual $135 fee that the organization pays for membership in VIS. We want to make it worth your while to choose our program. We will pay you 12% of the premium -- both on new business and renewal -- when you access our program. (And we take care of all aspects of client service and renewal!) Details are in our Producers Agreement. Why the VIS program is better than including volunteers on the CGL policy: The nonprofit organization has the option of adding volunteers as additional insureds on the commercial general liability (CGL) policy. However, such an endorsement would exclude volunteers' travel between home and the place of volunteer service (the program offered by Volunteers Insurance Service has no such exclusion). Also, a CGL endorsement excludes coverage for claims made by co-volunteers, and the VIS program has no such exclusion. Finally, by providing the volunteer with coverage under the separate VIS policy, the organization avoids the possibility of sharing its own limits of insurance, under the CGL policy, with the volunteer. Of course, any claims affect the organization's own claims experience directly. ...or on the workers' compensation policy: Covering volunteers under workers' compensation, in states where this is allowed by law, usually is not the wisest approach. First, a volunteer's injury would affect the claims experience of the nonprofit. Second, workers' compensation does not protect the volunteer during travel to and from their volunteer duty. The VIS policy covers your volunteers from the time they leave home until they return home again. As far as protecting volunteers while using their vehicles is concerned, the nonprofit really has no options. The commercial auto policy provides no protection; the volunteer must rely totally on his or her own insurance for liability, as well as physical damage. Who are the carriers? Life Insurance Company of North America is the underwriting company for the accident medical insurance coverage. It is the primary underwriting company of CIGNA Group Insurance, the largest provider of group accident insurance in the U. S. It is rated A+ (Superior), Class XV by A. M. Best Company. Employers Insurance of Wausau, rated A+, Class XV by A. M. Best, is the underwriter for both the personal liability and the excess automobile liability coverages, which are combined on one master policy form. Wausau is an insurance industry leader in group programs such as the VIS program. Volunteers Insurance Service Association, Inc., which makes this program available, is a risk purchasing group formed and operating pursuant to the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986 (15 USC 3901 et seq.). What kinds of nonprofits participate? We insure some 2.5 million volunteers every year through 5,000 participating organizations. These include the Corporation For National and Community Service; human services organizations of every description; state and local governments; work-release and alternative-sentencing programs; and many others. Only fire and rescue volunteers, and the actual players on sports teams, are ineligible for coverage. Participants in work-release and alternative-sentencing programs are eligible for the accident insurance. The accident portion of our volunteer insurance (with a different rate structure) is available to participants in work-release and alternative-sentencing programs. A local correctional system's fear of being sued by injured participants often is a big obstacle to the successful formation or operation of work-release and alternative-sentencing programs. If accident medical reimbursement is no longer an issue, that obstacle often is removed. Volunteer/Employee dishonesty coverage: If you need a market for this coverage, it is available to participants in our VIS program, either in addition to the volunteer insurance or separately. The coverage is underwritten by Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, rated A+, Class X by A. M. Best. The minimum annual premium of $203 covers up to ten volunteers or employees. Additional volunteers or employees can be covered for a minimal additional premium. We'll be happy to provide details. Risk management newsletter as a value-added service When your nonprofit clients begin insuring their volunteers with VIS, they will receive VIS Connections, published in-house by VIS on our Website, as a means of helping them understand their exposures to various risks and take appropriate action to minimize those risks. Click here to view the latest issue.
Membership in Volunteers Insurance Service: The VIS insurance programs are available exclusively to members, who pay an annual $135 membership fee. VIS provides the following services to members:
Enroll your clients' volunteers! Click here to review Producer's Agreement. Once you click "I agree" on that document, you will be taken to an application, which you can either submit online or print out and mail. This site and all contents (unless otherwise noted) are Copyright ©, The CIMA Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. |