Trump Calls on Insurers to Pay Some COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims
However, BI policies are underwritten on the basis of physical damage, said R.J. Lehmann, R Street Institute director of finance, insurance and trade policy. Such insurance is “designed to provide revenue protection for businesses whose properties suffer physical loss from natural causes like fires or windstorms or human-caused events like vandalism or terrorism,” he said.
“Standard commercial insurance policies typically do not even provide business interruption coverage for power loss unless there is demonstrable damage to the insured property,” Lehmann said. “There may be unusual cases in which nonstandard contracts contain language that would cover pandemic-related shutdowns, but the industry as a whole has intentionally excluded this risk because it is far too correlated across geographies and sectors.”
