Child welfare providers continue to struggle to find affordable liability insurance coverage. Premiums are universally doubling or quadrupling regardless of if a provider has a negative claim history. Many child welfare providers have also been dropped by their insurance policy and are unable to find any coverage at all.
 
Child welfare providers’ contracts with counties often include provisions that shift liability exclusively to the provider, exacerbating this problem. While Act 127 of 2022 prevents counties from placing full responsibility on providers regardless of fault, some counties are now requiring providers to waive their right to subrogation, or the ability of their insurer to recover funds from a responsible party. As a result, providers’ insurance companies are limited in their ability to collect from the county. In turn, this keeps costs for providers high, as subrogation clauses significantly increase insurers’ exposure and thus contribute to rising premiums and reduced coverage options.
 
To combat high insurance premiums and address this imbalance in liability, I plan to introduce legislation to prohibit counties from requiring child welfare providers to waive an insurer’s right of subrogation as a condition of contracting. In doing so, we can ultimately promote accountability and safety to protect our children, families, and communities that rely on these necessary services in the child welfare system.
 
Please consider co-sponsoring this important legislation to ensure fairness in contracts between counties and child welfare providers, helping to mitigate increasing premiums for liability insurance, and ensuring that parties are held responsible for their own negligence.