When a malpractice insurer tells you that their cyber coverage is at “no extra cost” it could be because their cyber endorsement is limited, therefore of limited value. These facts should be explored:

If it’s at “no extra cost,” but higher limits are available find out if those higher limits are also at “no cost”.

For example: if the basic policy’s cyber limit is $10,000 and the 2nd option is $50,000, and the maximum is $100,000 - can all three be had at no extra cost? Unlikely. If the cyber protection truly is at "no cost", does that mean the coverage offered in the contract is of limited value? Think about this – does an insurer typically offer quality coverage of $10,000 or $100,000 for the same premium?

Is the cyber liability protection offered with a combined single limit? There may be four different coverages listed such as:

1. Data Breach Liability
2. Media Liability
3. Privacy Regulatory Proceedings
4. Fines and Penalties, and Notifications Costs

Check to see if they are all under one total limit.

What does this mean?

Say you have $10,000 coverage on the policy. Then that’s the most that the policy will pay for all cyber issues combined that year.

With ChiroFutures policy, the cyber endorsement limits are separate. Providing more protection and flexibility in the advent of an actual Cyber incident. ChiroFutures has:

1. $25,000 Information and Network Security,
2. $25,000 Media Liability,
3. $25,000 Regulatory Privacy Proceedings, Fines and Penalties,
4. $10,000 Customer Notification and Credit Monitoring, and
5. $10,000 Electronic Data Recovery and Replacement Expenses.

Having separate limits like this is an advantage in that if you have coverage expenses of $5,000 under any one of those, it will not affect the remaining limits. Whereas, if you have a combined single limit of $10,000, all you have left is $5,000 aggregate for all coverages combined for that year.

Is the cyber liability endorsement exclusively written on a claims made form?

Meaning that it doesn’t matter if your main policy is occurrence or claims made, cyber is always a claims made form and it will have a retroactive date. Also note if the retroactive date for the cyber endorsement is different from that of your main policy.

With ChiroFutures, if you have an occurrence policy, then the cyber endorsement is also occurrence, and if you have a claims made policy - there isn’t a separate retroactive date.

With some insurance companies and with some doctors “it’s all about the price”.

If a coverage is marketed as: NO EXTRA cost, then it tells you it’s all about the money. It is important to understand the limitations and deficiencies of any malpractice policy you are offered.

1. Is the Cyber a combined single limit?
2. what coverages are actually included under the cyber endorsement (cyber is an incredibly broad term)
3. What happens if I have an occurrence policy and they give me a claims made cyber endorsement?

Moral of the story – if you want quality Malpractice and Cyber coverage, you’re going to have to do some research and evaluate the fine print of each insurance policy offered . If comprehensive protection isn’t important, then you can go with the “no cost” or “lowest cost” approach.