What is a Reciprocal?

A public entity reciprocal insurance exchange (or simply “a reciprocal”) is a group of similar organizations that work together to provide more economic insurance for each other.

Birds of a Feather
Insure Together

All of the subscribers in a reciprocal have commonalities. By pooling their resources and working together, they can insure one another and provide coverage that best suits their specific needs.

Key Features

Subscriber Owned

Reciprocals are owned and driven by their subscribers, which means they dedicate all of their time and resources to serving the unique needs of public entities. Reciprocals typically craft their own coverage documents to provide the coverage, terms, and limits that are best suited to their subscribers’ needs.

Predictable

Most reciprocals focus on long-term, stable pricing to match public entity budget needs. Subscribers value predictable, sustainable contributions for coverage year-over-year, rather than the sometimes-dramatic premium increases and decreases more common in the profit-driven commercial insurance market.

Cost Effective

Reciprocals function for a public purpose — not a profit margin. Since reciprocals are not concerned with making a profit, they are able to price coverage more effectively for public sector budgets. Cost savings for reciprocal subscribers are achieved through reducing the number of claims and by leveraging economies of scale (the larger the collective of subscribers, the more cost-effectively they can insure one another).

Reciprocals function for a public purpose — not a profit margin.

Safeguard Your
Public Resources

Reciprocals have distinguished themselves from traditional insurance by using creative programs and services to make public entities safer, reduce property and liability claims, save taxpayer dollars, and ensure the ability of tens of thousands of public entities to stay focused on the services they provide to their communities.