A new class of insurance is now being offered to address the occupational hazards faced by healthcare workers and first responders who are in jeopardy of contracting blood-borne pathogens such as Ebola, HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Underwritten by Lloyd’s of London and distributed by Specialty Insurance Advisors, Essential Professional Insurance Coverage (EPIC) is the first such indemnity coverage available to individuals, including administrators who check in patients, doctors and nurses treating patients and patrolmen and women responding to 911 calls. The coverage goes beyond workers compensation and disability insurance to protect these individuals, EPIC said.
According to the Occupational Safety and Hazards Association (OSHA), up to 800,000 needle sticks occur each year, of which 16,000 are likely to be contaminated with HIV. The risk of acquiring Hepatitis B or C from a needle stick is even higher than HIV.
EPIC President Richard Kosinski said in an online interview with Fox Business, “We provide the ability for a health care worker or law enforcement professional to buy very inexpensive coverage in the event they get infected with Ebola, HIV or Hepatitis B or C.
For a nominal amount of 9 per year they can get 0,000 of coverage if the worst case happens and they get infected with Ebola or some other type of blood pathogen.
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While the coverage has been available for more than a year, primarily through unions, to large health care hospitals and other institutions, “We have just announced the ability for an individual to buy a policy,” Kosinski said. Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California was one of the first hospitals in the United States to offer EPIC to its healthcare workers, and the first to add Ebola infection coverage, according to EPIC.
The plan provides a safety net that can help defray some of the costs, Kosinski explained, adding that otherwise, “No one is going to pay the cost for the average health care worker to be flown by a private jet to a specific CDC facility to get Ebola care.”
How is it possible to write this coverage? “Because this is Lloyd’s of London, which has a 500 year history of writing specialty risks,” Kosinski said.
“We understand the risk, how to price it correctly and how the claims will be paid out.”