Commercial office insurance - know your limits!

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 49, No. 9, November 2007, Page 505 News
By: Sandie Braid, CEBS

Typically, physicians or office managers purchase a commercial office insurance policy and then file it somewhere safe until it is needed to make a claim. Hopefully the policy will never be used, but the reality is that, sooner or later, the policy will likely be called upon to respond to a loss.  

Almost all of the office insurance policies sold by insurers today are “all risk” or comprehensive package policies. These are the broadest type of policies available in the marketplace and cover various types of losses including fire, theft, water and wind damage, and mysterious disappearance. They also provide coverage for general liability, loss of business income, and crime.

While the coverage may appear to be the same, all of these packages have underlying sub-limits, or special limits, as they are more commonly known. Insurers place these limits in the policy to limit their exposure to certain types of losses or situations that tend to be suffered more frequently. These special limits can differ widely from insurer to insurer and can come as a nasty surprise when a claim is made. It is very frustrating to pull out your insurance policy after a claim, only to find the payout is severely restricted by a special limit in the policy.

The BCMA Commercial Office policy has been designed with today’s modern medical office in mind. This package provides high special limits and many features that are not included in most standard office insurance policies as noted in the Table.

Remember, when comparing commercial office insurance packages, an office insurance policy containing generous special limits provides the best value for your insurance dollars and can have a significant impact on the size of the payout following a loss.

Sandie Braid, CEBS. Commercial office insurance - know your limits!. BCMJ, Vol. 49, No. 9, November, 2007, Page(s) 505 - News.


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Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

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