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1 year ago
Friday, June 02, 2006
UM PACT - Seeking Info
The Missouri Conference is asking this year's conference delegates to make participation in the UM PACT insurance program mandatory for the local churches in our conference. I understand there are 13 conferences and 2 general boards signed up. Do any of you UM types have any experience with UM PACT, and if so, would you please give me your impressions of the program?
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2 comments:
We adopted it in the MS conference last year. Very smart idea. The Conference owns the program and writes the policies. Potentially one day it will be completed "owned" by us (no underwriter, which is currently Zurich).
Although we had a UMIP (United Methodist Insurance Program) in place before, not all churches signed up for it. And the churches on the coast who didn't have really regretted not being under the policy after Katrina.
Requiring churches to be a part of the program makes complete sense given that courts have been making the conference liable for lawsuits involving local churches. (Especially in light of the case of the sex harrasment suit settled by a local church's insurance carrier and the settlement was used to sue the conference. Did that happen in Missouri? I can't remember which conference that happened.) If we are all on the hook, we should all have the same insurance.
I have my doubts as to whether the PACT will ever be able to live without an underwriter, but I'm completely cool with the it being "our" policy.
So I say, support.
Oh, btw, Irene Howard (CEO of the UMPACT) is a Mississippian. She was our conference lawyer (chancellor?) before getting drafted by the General Conference. Very smart. She's been very forward thinking about this whole thing, I think, and we'll look back at this years later and realize what an asset she has been.
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