Takeaways from Our Conversation on Carrier-Broker Relations

June 20, 2023 by Don Jergler

Insurance professionals specializing in cannabis across the nation in the last few years have gone from few and far in between to too many to count as cannabis evolves into a mature industry – and it builds a clearer claims history.

As insuring cannabis has changed, have things changed between brokerages and carriers in the specialty? Lower rates? More product availability? Easier underwriting?

To answer these questions in our latest episode of the Insuring Cannabis podcast, we spoke with three specialists about how things have changed between their firms and carriers: TJ Frost, president of Symphony Grow; Valerie Taylor, national cannabis practice leader at The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers; and Jason L. Scheurle, national product leader, cannabis for Burns & Wilcox.

Following are takeaways from that conversation.

Frost has been specializing in insuring cannabis for 10 years. When he started out, he had to call carriers to figure out if they would allow cannabis operations in their portfolio of insurance. In the last few carriers have spent money and time training expert staff, and now they have dedicated teams to handle submissions and dedicated claims professionals focused on cannabis, according to him.

“Now, you know, there’re (more than 40) carriers in one way or another that will actually insure cannabis operations from cultivation to manufacturing to extraction,” Frost said. “It’s been a huge blessing the last few years.”

More importantly, rates have “significantly gone down” in the last two years as the overall market hardens, even in difficult lines for cannabis like directors and officers and product liability.

“And so, the rates that we are getting now are really adequate to other industries,” Frost said.

Taylor grew up in the cannabis industry and has been in insurance across three decades. She has seen a more favorable environment for her clients in many areas.

“I’ve seen that there are carriers that are more willing to look at how to manuscript and tailor coverages if a client is large enough and has pretty clean loss history, if it makes sense, she said.

However, there are a few impediments that cannabis policyholders continue to face.

“Well, I would like to see the two big, enormous hurdles (removed), which are a descheduling and the Safe Baking Act pass,” she said. “I think if we could deschedule cannabis, it’ll open up it for more insurance offerings and help to elevate the industry.”

Scheurle has seen more favorable rates, more carriers than space, and, perhaps most importantly, an advance in the quality and variety of insurance products in the space.

Other cannabis resources

All the Insuring Cannabis episodes in one place

2021 Guide to Cannabis Markets