Massage Therapy Insurance Coverage for Schools from ABMP | Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals

ABMP Massage School Alliance

All state-approved massage and bodywork schools are part of ABMP's Massage School Alliance and receive the following free services and benefits.

A complimentary copy of Massage & Bodywork magazine (6x/year)
An invitation to ABMP School Forums
A school listing on www.massagetherapy.com

ABMP School Members

Schools wishing to formally affiliate with ABMP can join as an ABMP School member. In addition to the resources provided to all ABMP Massage School Alliance participants, our ABMP School membership options provide schools with even more resources:

Premier Plus School Membership—$0

Online School Access: ABMP school resources, including our Student Success Curriculum to use in the classroom, Instructor training resources and archived webinars to develop your staff, and school business resources to support your admissions and career services departments. Plus, every ABMP School member gets a window decal to show off your affiliation!

Free Student Membership: Free liability insurance to protect students in the classroom, plus ABMP Student Life tips sent every two weeks to encourage good study habits and enhance classroom activities.

ABMP School Forums: One complimentary registration to the annual ABMP School Forum meeting.

ABMP Exam Coach Plus bundle for students: The best study tool and MBLEx test prep in the profession, plus, early access to ABMP Five-Minute Muscles, plus, your graduates receive 1st year of professional membership and insurance for FREE! Includes school access of programs for the classroom and ABMP Exam Coach Tracker or student monitoring.

To qualify, you must sign up all of your students at a special $120 per student ABMP Exam Coach Plus rate.

Premier School Membership—$0

Free Student Membership: Free liability insurance to protect students in the classroom, plus ABMP Student Life materials sent every two weeks to encourage good study habits and enhance classroom activities.

ABMP School Forums: One complimentary registration to the annual ABMP School Forum meeting.

ABMP Exam Coach Group Discount: The best MBLEx test prep in the profession at a special discount of $10 off per student, and ABMP Exam Coach Tracker access for your school to monitor student progress. You’ll love this online, interactive test prep!

To qualify, you must sign up all of your students at a special $65 per student ABMP Exam Coach rate.

Enhanced School Membership—$150

Online School Access: ABMP school resources, including our Student Success Curriculum to use in the classroom, Instructor training resources and archived webinars to develop your staff, and >school business resources to support your admissions and career services departments. Plus, every ABMP School member gets a window decal to show off your affiliation!

ABMP School Forums: $100 off registration to the annual ABMP School Forum meeting.

To qualify, you must sign up all of your students at no charge.

Standard School Membership—$350

Does not include student access or ABMP Exam Coach

ABMP School members can procure two types of insurance for their training programs: school liability policies and business personal property policies. Following is a basic overview of what we offer and some of the things school owners should consider when purchasing insurance. To find out the details of insurance for schools, email education@abmp.com.

School Liability Insurance

ABMP's school insurance program includes both general liability and professional liability for your school. First, since your school's focus is on providing massage training, you need liability insurance for massage school-related activities. You need General Liability insurance (premises/operations and products liability) as well as Professional Liability to protect the owner's personal and/or corporate assets. Anytime an alleged injury takes place in relation to school activities and is claimed to be the fault of an owner, student, or instructor, the school may be named in a lawsuit. Without General and Professional Liability insurance protection, a claim filed against the school could result in thousands of dollars in legal fees just to defend against the charges, whether or not they have merit. To protect yourself and others involved in your school, it is wise to encourage students to become ABMP Student members and faculty members to become individual ABMP members.

Only ABMP school members can obtain the optional liability insurance for their school, and all students must be covered with ABMP student insurance. The annual premium is $850, with an additional cost for cosmetology, esthetician, and nail tech programs. You can learn about the three levels of ABMP School membership here. To talk through your insurance options and find out more about ABMP's resources for your school and your students, email education@abmp.com.

Business Personal Property Insurance

Business personal property insurance covers your school's business contents, such as computers, tables, supplies, etc., but not your building/structure. With business personal property insurance, schools can protect the equipment, supplies, and contents used in their businesses. Please note that business personal property coverage is only available if liability insurance is purchased.

$10,000 of business personal property insurance per year: $225
$25,000 of business personal property insurance per year: $425
Your property is covered both on and off school premises.
Your property is insured for replacement cost; in other words, your claim will be paid based on the cost of new equipment, with no deduction for depreciation.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will my coverage take effect?

If you purchase the optional School Liability Insurance and/or Business Personal Property Insurance, coverage will run concurrently with the term of your ABMP school membership. Should you purchase coverage after the date you join ABMP as a member, you will be required to pay the full year's premium for a partial year's coverage.

Will I receive proof of coverage?

Yes. A copy of the liability insurance policy and a Certificate of Insurance are provided when insurance is purchased with School membership.

What type of liability coverage is provided by the insurance policy for School members?

Occurrence form liability insurance with the highest aggregate coverages available: $2 million per incident and $6 million total per policy year. As an ABMP member, these are YOUR limits, not shared with other practitioners as some other associations do. Legal defense costs for covered losses are provided in addition to the policy limits.

Is there a deductible?

There is no deductible on school liability insurance. For business personal property insurance, there is a deductible of $500 for theft-related claims and $250 for other claims.

Does ABMP's school liability insurance cover anything other than massage, bodywork, and somatic therapies, and instruction related to these?

No. The professional liability coverage provided is for only those techniques recognized and defined by ABMP. Each ABMP member must read the policy in its entirety to know all the terms, conditions, and exclusions. If instruction or application of unrecognized techniques is available at the school, separate insurance coverage must be acquired for these exposures.

Is the school protected against liability claims alleged to be caused by instructors, other employees, and/or students?

Yes. The policy provides coverage for the school itself as an entity for school program massage-related activities. That includes liability arising out of massage activities of registered members of the faculty or other employees when they are instructing or supervising registered students. The school (only) is also provided liability coverage for incidents caused by registered students while performing required hands-on practicum on school premises. Note: Students do not have individual liability insurance coverage under a school's insurance policy.

The insurance covers those massage-related clinics, internships, volunteer events, or other off-site practice skill development activities, which are approved by the school and are permitted under applicable state and local government regulations. As to these covered activities, the school and its agents, are protected against suits by an injured student or a third party.

Coverage is also provided to directors, officers, and employees of the school in connection with their school program massage-related duties and activities to the extent that such activities result in bodily injury, personal injury, or property damage, which is covered as defined in the policy. If an owner or instructor of a school has a private practice (even if they provide service in the school facility) they need to obtain an ABMP individual membership to provide coverage for those activities.

There is no coverage provided for non-school-related activities or for school educational activities unrelated to massage, bodywork, or somatic therapies.

Are students covered against claims that name them as responsible parties?

No. Students do not have individual liability protection coverage under the school program. The solution for students is to enroll as ABMP Student members.

Is there a fee to name my landlord as an additional insured endorsement (AIE) on my liability policy?

No. If your lease requires that your landlord be named as an additional insured on the school's policy, you will need to provide the appropriate information on the AIE section of the application. Coverage for entities listed as additional insureds applies only to those incidents directly related to the named ABMP member certificate holder (the school).

For Business Personal Property insurance, do I need to give you a list itemizing equipment values?

No. Both your current property and newly acquired property are automatically covered up to the limit you select (either $10,000 or $25,000).

What is not covered by Business Personal Property insurance?

Coverage is written on a broad basis with few exclusions. Some of the exclusions include governmental action, nuclear hazard, war and military action, unexplained disappearance or shortage found during inventory, unsecured office, currency or checks, dishonest acts, short circuit or other electrical disturbance, theft from an unlocked auto, wear and tear, gradual deterioration, mechanical breakdown, insects, vermin, rodents, corrosion, rust, dampness, cold, or heat. This is only a summary; read the entire policy for complete details of all coverage and exclusions.

For Business Personal Property insurance, what is a loss payee?

If you are leasing business equipment, the leasing company may require that you name them as a loss payee so that they are guaranteed payment in the event of a covered loss. If you have financed the purchase of your business equipment, the financial institution may also require that you name them as a loss payee.

Other Insurance Coverage

There is no way to itemize every insurance protection that a school might need or everything that a school should look for. It depends on your individual situation. We suggest that you contact a local independent insurance agent and have them review your individual policies and needs, to make an educated decision about your exposures.

Other insurance protection that you may want to consider is outlined below. Please note that ABMP does not offer any of these insurance programs; you will need to contact a local independent insurance agent for more information.

Property Insurance: If you own the building your school is in, you will want to insure it for the full replacement cost of the building, not the market value or purchase price. If your building was built recently this coverage will be readily available. If you are in a building over 20 years old, the insurance company may require that the roof, electrical and plumbing have been updated. Replacement coverage replaces covered losses with new materials without deducting for depreciation. If you do not qualify for replacement cost you will have to purchase actual cash value coverage on your building. Actual cash value replaces covered losses based on replacement cost less depreciation. You will want to ask for the broadest coverage that the insurance company offers. The broadest is usually called "Special Form." If this is not available due to the age of your building, ask for "Broad Form." Ask your insurance company if they offer any special extensions or stretch forms on their property policy. Many companies will include this at either no cost or a small additional premium.
Business Income: Some policies include loss of business income for the actual loss of income for up to 12 months. Others offer it on a monthly limitation, such as $10,000 per month for 4 months. If you cannot find actual loss sustained for 12 months coverage, you may want your accountant to assist you in determining what coverage you need in order to pay bills until your school is back up and running. Depending on your location, you may need flood insurance and/or earthquake insurance.
Business Auto: If you own any vehicles in the name of the school, you will want to insure them for liability and physical damage. A minimum liability limit should be $1,000,000. The deductible you carry on the physical damage is a personal choice. Even if you do not own any autos you will still want to purchase "hired and non owned" coverage. This will protect the business should there be a claim while someone is driving their own auto on school business, or if you rent or hire a car.
Workers Compensation: In most states if you have employees, it is mandatory that you carry Workers Compensation coverage. This is subject to state-level regulation. This protects your school, should an employee be injured while on the job, for their lost wages and medical expenses as a result of that injury.
Umbrella Coverage: You may want to consider purchasing an Umbrella policy that will provide you additional coverage over and beyond what you have purchased with your primary general liability policy, business auto, and Workers Compensation policies.
Employment Practices Liability: This protects you from claims arising from violations of state and federal employment laws.
Money & Securities: This protects your school from loss of money or securities caused by theft or burglary.
Employee Dishonesty: This protects you from theft of money by an employee.

Call to Discuss Your School's Needs

Start enjoying the benefits of ABMP School membership today. Email education@abmp.com.

Note: The insurance coverage descriptions above are illustrative only. Refer to a copy of the policy for specific coverages, limitations, exclusions, terms and conditions. This insurance information is provided by our insurance agent and the insurance company underwriting our program and is not a contract; it is a partial illustration of benefits, conditions, limitations, and exclusions. In the event that there is confusion or conflict between the policy language and any information provided, the policy language shall control.