WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN OCCURRENCE AND CLAIMS MADE POLICIES?
Occurrence policies respond to claims resulting from incidents that occur within the policy period without regard to when the claim is made to the company. Claims made policies provide basically the same coverage but the claim must be made to the company within the policy period of the original or renewal policy. Claims made policies also contain terms such as retroactive date, prior acts coverage or tail coverage, all of which have the effect of expanding the time period allowed for reporting a claim. A comparison of actual policies is necessary to completely identify the specific differences between occurrence and claims made policies.
