Chartering a unit and insurance issues.

[Liz]

How many COs carry extra insurance for their chartered BSA units? I and some other Scouters have been trying to find a CO to charter a new Scouts BSA troop. We approached the church my family attends and got a favorable response but I just found out today that the church’s insurance company said they can’t do it without buying additional insurance to cover the Troop. I thought the insurance provided by BSA with the membership dues should be sufficient. 

Has anybody else run into this issue? How do you deal with it? What if the Troop used money raised by dues or fundraising to pay this extra expense?

[HashTagScouts]

They may not be overly familiar with what the BSA insurance program is.  I would be in touch with your District Executive- they are vested to help get new units chartered, and may be helpful to you in being able to explain the national insurance program, and what the council's insurance program is all about to your church.

https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/alerts/insurance/

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by HashTagScouts

[Liz]

I tried to explain it to them when we first met. And provided them information in writing. But I think the insurance person has a vested interest in selling them more insurance. And they are going to believe them more than they believe me. I will definitely reach out to my DE and try to put them in touch directly. 

[T2Eagle]

it's impossible to know whether the CO's insurance is sufficient as it stands to cover the additional liability of having a scout unit, or any additional youth group or activity, unless you know what they were covered for before and what additional risk they may now be facing, or whether for some reason the current policy specifically excludes coverage for scouts or other youth groups.

The BSA does provide, as it says on the web page, primary liability coverage for all COs.  But of course the devil is in the details and the web page doesn't say what the limits of that coverage are.  You or the Church should be able to get that information, but then it's up to the CO to decide if they believe that coverage is sufficient.

I would certainly get the council pros involved in the discussion if you can, and I would try to get the Church and the insurance person to provide some details as to what and why they think they need additional coverage.  If the Church is insistent on obtaining coverage it feels necessary in order to support the troop, it would certainly be appropriate to find out what the cost of that is and consider ways to help the Church defray the costs.

[Liz]

What I was told today, which was a bit through the grapevine, was that the church was "not prepared" to take on additional liability coverage. My fear is that the insurance agent, in an effort to bring in more premiums, frightened the person who called into thinking a BSA unit is a huge liability requiring a large increase in insurance coverage. 

I've left a message to the person who actually spoke with the insurance representative, as she wasn't at church this morning to talk to directly. Hopefully she'll get back to me. Our pastor, who is not a decision maker in this matter but who has been part of the discussion all along, said she hadn't heard anything other than being aware that a conversation with the insurance company was going to take place.