Cooper Gay forms new healthcare MGA

Broker Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford (CGSC) has launched an underwriting management agency specialising exclusively in the healthcare industry.

Pro-Praxis Insurance will be led by Robert Allen and be based in New York.

The MGA will bring domestic business to the London market, the company said. It plans to build a suite of proprietary insurance products in conjunction with Lloyd’s of London and US market underwriters.

Toby Esser, CEO of CGSC, said: “US domestic markets have traditionally dominated the US healthcare insurance space. Between Pro-Praxis, the experience of Bob Allen and the well established distribution platform of Swett & Crawford, we have here a mechanism for producing a superior healthcare insurance product and business for the Lloyd’s of London and US markets.”

Through underwriters at Lloyd’s, Pro-Praxis has also launched a new healthcare and clinical research underwriting facility which will offer primary professional liability, general liability and standalone umbrella coverage for classes ranging from air ambulances to zoonotic disease centers.

For clinical research liability, the team will offer primary professional liability, general liability and standalone umbrella coverage for classes such as trial sponsors, contract research organizations, independent research sites and institutional review boards.  All eligible classes have capacity up to $10 million per claim.

Allen commented: “Our aim with Pro-Praxis is to build an underwriting platform that will introduce capacity and underwriting complexity rarely seen in the MGA arena.

Our emphasis on underwriting discipline has enabled us to address a broad array of classes and attract domestic and international paper.”