Hi Lee,
I don't think AMA wants to be in the insurance business. We have, though, found ourselves backed into a corner a couple times over the last several years that makes me think we need to develop a plan we could activate in the event we can't get a policy written. This happened in 1986 when we couldn't find a company to write us and almost happened again 2 years ago (for the 4/03-3/04 FY) when we went down to about 2 or 3 days before policy expiration before we even had a quote to consider. I can tell you that puts knots in your stomach and I don't look forward to ever going through that again. AMA discussed the creation of a captive a couple years ago. Right around the time we were having this problem. There are several concerns that I have with the captive principle. But all of those concerns are overshadowed by the possibility that some year we may not be able to get a policy. A large percentage of our clubs rely on their AMA Certificate of Insurance to provide proof of coverage to their landowners. Any type of program like this would be of little value in the short term. Or at least we don't have the wherewithal to fund it to the point where it would be of value in the short term. But a program put into place now, and developed, could bail out AMA 10 or so years down the road if needed, long after I'm gone. The concept is a little more complicated than I'm explaining it here because AMA is not in the insurance business and not licensed to sell insurance. If we did have a plan in place like this we could go to the insurance company with this plan and the ability to assume part of the risk. To be activated only if there were no other alternatives.... It could save us someday.
Dave