Families & the Community

‘Even School Groups Are Being Manipulated by Big Insurance’

By Andrew L. Yarrow — November 15, 2010 1 min read
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This was the message that a local PTA leader recently sent me.

In the state in which I live, I’m told that PTAs are “forced"—that is, required—to carry insurance. It calls to mind my last blog entry, which was about a father in California suing his child’s school PTA.
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According to my local source, PTAs are being asked to jump through hoops by their insurance companies, particularly when they are sponsoring athletic activities. (Yes, in some crazy scheme of things, basketball can be dangerous, but so can going into work—both of which pale beside driving a car.)

“Specifically red-lighted are all enrichment programing involving athletics,” writes this exasperated elementary-school PTA leader. If this weren’t bad enough, the PTA’s insurance carrier has stipulations about babysitter coverage during PTA meetings if it is to cover any liability. According to the missive I received, to be covered, “if you have babysitting during a PTA meeting you must have two unrelated adults and a 10-1 ratio; no diaper changes, no hot liquids.”

It’s not just AIG or health insurers. Insurance companies appear to be squirreling into ever more obscure, seemingly tame corners of our lives to tell us that liability for everything lies in our laps.

Do insurers really need to scare us that we wouldn’t be covered for an accident during a PTA meeting if a parent had to change his or her toddler’s diaper?

A version of this news article first appeared in the K-12, Parents & the Public blog.

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