Massage Therapy Liability Insurance

In providing massage therapist insurance, we have encountered many, many different types of claims. The vast majority fall under general or professional liability provisions. 

• General liability insurance is also known as “slip and fall insurance” because it covers third-party claims for injuries or property damage. A little spill of massage oil left on the floor that a client slips and hurts themselves on would be an example of an event that could lead to a general liability claim. 

• Professional liability insurance is also called “malpractice insurance.” Malpractice literally means “bad practice,” inferring that your service directly caused the loss event to occur. A client asserting that your massage was too hard and left them with some form of injury, as a result, would be an example of a possible professional liability claim. 

Read more about legal tips for massage therapists here.

As an added bonus to our great massage insurance program, we’re pleased to offer more than $1,800 in discounts from prominent massage-focused brands, a free professional website, access to an unlimited number of free online NCBTMB-approved CE classes, free session playlists, access to free MBLEx study tools, a weekly newsletter, business resources, and $25,000 worth of identity fraud recovery services through the included identity protection plan. Read more about massage insurance policy details.

While any individual therapist wishing to take part in our rich library of therapist-designed online education can purchase standalone access, these NCBTMB-approved courses are included free with our massage therapy insurance policy. Courses are presented in easily-accessible online formats that brings the content to life for massage therapists and affords the ability to go at whatever pace is convenient. Start, stop, and pause wherever you need to; the platform saves your progress leading up to an online exam. Once the exam is complete, you’ll receive instant proof of completion.

Absolutely! Students can purchase an individual insurance plan with all of the same benefits as our professional policies for just $49 for a year. A great option is to wait until you are nearing graduation before purchasing the student policy. Then, you protect almost the entirety of your first year of professional practice for a reduced rate.

For 1-year of professional coverage, our policy is just $169 and includes more than $1800 in exclusive discounts, a free website, and many more benefits. Professionals have the option to save almost $40 by purchasing a 2-year term at the reduced rate of $299. We also have a part-time rate for massage therapists who work less than 10 hours (hands-on) her week. Insurance plans for students in massage school are available for only $49 for a full-year of coverage. We offer the cheapest massage insurance policy for students along with a benefits-only option that grants access to all of our great member benefits except for continuing education for $59 per year. Don’t know where you fit in? Take a look at our massage therapy insurance guide here.

Definitely. Whether you want to provide services at a massage suite, at private events, or in the mall, our massage insurance policy is fully portable through all 50 U.S. states. This means your coverage follows you know matter where you choose to perform your services.

The best policies for massage therapists need to have generous, prudently-set coverage limits for the most common types of claims that befall the industry. General and professional liability claims are by far the most common types of claims filed with massage insurance providers. These areas should be well apportioned for, but not overly so, such that you’re paying for something you’ll never use. A good policy should also include additional protections as part of an encompassing risk management plan, such as an identity protection plan. Our bodywork insurance policies include all of these additional protections all at one, flat rate. 

Our general and professional liability policies come with a $2 million per occurrence and $3 million annual aggregate. This means for each claim you file, the most amount that will be paid out under the terms of your policy is $2 million. $3 million is the total amount that will be paid out combining all claims in the year. This may seem like a high number but consider a simple slip and fall case which would typically be covered under the policy's general liability provisions. The other party decides to sue for medical bills, their lost wages, their pain and suffering, and various damages to their property. Even if a case is without merit, you’ll most likely need legal representation to defend yourself. All together these costs would be insurmountable to most professionals - proving financially devastating and possibly ending a career. Insurance allows you to transfer the financial responsibility of paying for a claim out of your own pocket, which makes sound coverage limits vital.

Many professionals find it necessary to add additional businesses to their policy. If you’re an independent massage therapist traveling to different massage businesses, the cost of adding all of these businesses can add up for most carriers. That’s why we offer the convenience of an unlimited additional business package for just $30. You can also purchase a single additional business for $10 for 1 year and $15.95 for a two-year term. 

Our included identity protection plan provides members with $25,000 worth of fraud recovery services. Dedicated fraud recovery specialists will work to help members recover their financial identities and repair damaged credit reports after an incident occurs.

We provide coverage for more than 450 different massage and wellness modalities so that our members can enjoy the freedom of incorporating into their sessions whatever modalities are most beneficial to the client.

Absolutely! You can buy your policy now and select a start date up to three months later. For example, if you buy on April 1 but need coverage starting May 25, simply set May 25 as the start date when you check out.

The key difference is the number of hours you work with clients each week. If you work 10 hours or less, a part-time policy is ideal. If you work more than 10 hours, you’ll need a full-time policy. Administrative and business tasks don’t count towards these hours, and both policies have the same coverage limits.

To add an additional insured, give us a call at 800-963-9573.

Like any "hands-on" bodywork profession that deals with public health, massage therapy involves risk. Healthcare practitioners deal with clients in various states of physical well-being, and in such a high-contact modality like massage, the client's health and the physicality involved can make a recipe for a lawsuit.

Aside from the potential to aggravate a client's existing health condition, or in some other way cause injury, even the best massage therapist can't predict whether a client may trip over a rug and become injured, which might also result in a lawsuit.

Beyond that, massage creams may cause a client an allergic reaction. Such an event is outside the massage therapist's direct control and can also lead to a legal claim. Liability insurance for massage therapists provides peace of mind and crucial support for the massage therapist.

Without bodywork insurance or massage therapy insurance, a legal claim can cost an LMT a good reputation, thousands of dollars, and may ultimately put a professional massage therapist out of business.

Looking for health insurance as well? Massage Magazine has teamed up with Insurance Plus to offer members a Marketplace where you can access group rates on health, dental and vision insurance plans for you and your family.

General liability insurance, also known as “trip and fall” insurance, will protect you in the event that a client trips and falls and is injured as a result. This type of coverage is critical to any business that allows clients onto a property, and it is one of three essential components of a good LMT insurance policy. Read more about general liability insurance.

Professional liability insurance, also known as malpractice insurance, is the second key component to a comprehensive massage malpractice insurance policy. If someone claims an injury was incurred as a direct result of your lack of competence or skill as a professional massage therapist, having this type of insurance coverage will protect you and cover the medical expenses you may have been responsible for. Malpractice insurance is highly relevant to any healthcare provider. Read more about professional liability insurance.

The difference between occurrence form and claims made coverage is critical to understand when buying massage therapy insurance.

If you have an occurrence form policy and a claim is filed after your coverage ends, you are still covered for incidents that occurred during your coverage period. For example, if you have an occurrence form policy that ends on December 31 of a given year and you do not renew your policy, you will still be covered for any claim filed after December 31, as long as the incident in question happened on or before December 31 during the period of time that you were covered.

HOWEVER, if you have a claims made policy which ends on December 31 and you do not renew your policy for the following year, any claim filed after December 31 will not be covered, even if the incident in question happened on or before December 31 during the period of time that you were covered.

The advertised price of a massage liability policy and what type of coverage that dollar amount includes varies greatly from program to program.

While some programs’ pricing reflects what you pay for general and professional liability coverage combined, that is not always industry standard.

Some companies have a low advertised price, but will add additional fees, including application fees, association fees, processing fees, and certificate mailing fees. If you need an additional insured, this may or may not cost you extra. In some cases, you will be required to pay extra for the inclusion of certain modalities (e.g., hot stone).

When shopping, make sure to clarify what coverage is included or excluded in the quoted price, and how much the entire policy will cost with all of the features and benefits you want and need included.

Certain massage insurance programs will have different pricing and different rules for employees versus independent contractors.

As such, if you were to purchase an annual policy as an employee, but switch mid-year to an independent contractor position, you may unwittingly negate your insurance coverage.

Be sure to ask what may happen should you have a change in positions to make sure it won’t affect your coverage. You would be better served by a policy that does not have a distinction between employees and independent contractors.

Several factors weigh into whether or not a liability insurance policy will provide coverage when a claim is filed, and one of these factors is whether or not the insurance company has asked or required you to provide your clients with “release of liability” waivers.

If the insurance company makes waivers a mandatory part of your insurance coverage, and you forget to have a client sign a waiver, or cannot provide evidence proving they, in fact, signed a waiver, the company may reserve the right to deny a claim. Knowledge is power.

Find out if the program you’re considering as your insurance provider requires a waiver, and make sure you understand fully how that may limit your coverage. You would be better served by a policy that does not require “release of liability” waivers from your clients.

Websites can be powerful tools with which to drive online traffic straight to the massage services you provide. By filling your site with lots of useful information about the benefits of your suite of modalities, you’ll help search engines recognize your site as an information source for those people specifically searching for that, especially in your immediate area. With increased traffic, you have the chance to convert all of these visitors into regular clients.

Definitely! The fastest way to a significant discount on your policy is to purchase a 2-year term at a 12% discount over our 1-year policy.

We provide incredible libraries of industry-specific knowledge so that our members have many different tools available at their disposal to make their business a success. The “Top 7 tips for billing insurance” was a recent article we published in our Business Tips library.

No, we do not offer daily payment options. We do offer monthly financing options through PayPal credit. The $0.41/day cost is the part-time policy divided by 365 days which would be how much you would pay per year for coverage.

Yes, you can take advantage of monthly payments through PayPal's Pay Monthly credit plan. However, we recommend paying in full upfront to avoid a credit check. PayPal splits your policy cost plus a small service fee into manageable monthly payments. This option requires a credit check, and there’s no interest if you pay it off within the first six months. After six months, interest may apply.

Filing a claim is straightforward. Just email our Operations Team at sarasota.bsd.operations@ajg.com to initiate the process. They’ll verify your coverage and provide a Claim Summary Form for you to fill out. Additional documents may be requested based on your situation. We’ll take care of the rest.

Yes, you’re fully covered in both locations. Our insurance policy follows you wherever you practice, whether it's in your office or at a client's home. As long as you're complying with local/state regulations, you’re covered in all 50 states.

You can download your certificate of insurance by logging into your member portal and navigating to the "Certificate of Insurance" section. If needed, you can also call us, and we’ll email it directly to you.