mike.m-@obra.org

We have recently been contacted by several people who either have questions

or who wish to make claims against the insurance that OBRA provides to bike

race organizers. It is pretty clear to me from these contact that some

people have unreasonable expectations and/or a lack of understanding of how

the insurance works and why we have insurance.



In order to run bike races it is necessary to have liability insurance.

This insurance protects against claims of negligence against the people

involved. This protects the race organizer, officials and others involved

in producing the race but, more importantly, liability insurance is

generally required by the road use authorities or land owners before they

will allow the race to happen. The most important part of the OBRA

insurance is not covering YOU when you race but is covering other people

against claims from you.



The companies that issues the liability insurance require that we also have

a medical policy. This is basically "trip and fall" coverage. The idea is

that if we have a policy that covers some of a person's medical losses it

makes it less likely that they will claim negligence. Unfortunately, as

more people are accessing this medical coverage the cost is increasing.

Currently, the insurance company has only paid on claims under the medical

portion and the amount they are paying is very high relative to the premiums

that we pay. There are lots of reasons why more people are accessing the

medical coverage but the bottom line is that it is that costs are going up.

These increased costs are compromising our ability to obtain the medical

coverage. If we can't get the medical coverage then we can't get the

liability coverage which is the part we really need.



The important part of this message is that the OBRA insurance medical

coverage is excess coverage. It SHOULD NOT be considered as an alternative

to individual health insurance. It is essential that all people, not just

bike racers, have insurance coverage as medical costs can be sudden,

unplanned and catastrophic.



It would be possible for OBRA to provide insurance that would directly cover

injuries that you sustain while riding your bike. If we are unable to

purchase the excess medical coverage that we currently have it may, in the

future, be necessary to require that all riders purchase medical insurance

like this through OBRA. This type of policy would currently likely cost

each rider somewhere around $100 each year.



Hopefully this makes things a bit more clear to everyone. If you have any

questions please feel free to contact me.



Mike Murray