As MIRMA’S coverage has a retroactive date of the membership effective date, for covered occurrences it is important to review all expiring insurance policies to determine if they are on an “occurrence basis” or a “claims made basis”. Policies that are on an “occurrence basis” may be canceled the date membership in MIRMA becomes effective. Policies that are on a “claims made basis” should probably be renewed for one or two years, unless an extended discovery period can be purchased.

A “claims made” policy will only pay losses for which claim is made during the period the policy is in force, regardless of when the occurrence took place that generated the claim. An “occurrence” policy will pay for losses regardless of when the claim is made as long as the occurrence that generated the claim took place during the period the policy was in force.

If a claim is made after July 1, for an occurrence that took place prior to July 1, MIRMA can not pay it. If the expiring policy was on a “claims made” basis and was canceled or not renewed, that company would not pay the loss either.

Records will need to be kept of all previous insurance companies as it is the responsibility of the member to file all claims with those companies which resulted from occurrences that took place prior to July 1, and are not covered by MIRMA.