It continues to amaze me how many otherwise solid commercial lines coverage packages lack even the most rudimentary business income protection.

How fortunate for many insureds that at least some BI coverage is automatically included in popular packages such as the BOP (although even that may fall far short of actual needs, as discussed in my June 2013 article, “Walk the Line”). For others, it seems the coverage falls far down the totem pole of recommendations. Perhaps this is because BI is not normally required coverage, unlike property, liability, auto and workers' compensation. But just because no one has a gun to the insured's head doesn't mean that other coverages are not key to proper protection.

BI fits squarely in that latter camp. It is a simple truth of accounting and bookkeeping principles that a business with no income will soon cease to be a business at all. So if there were a method to insure a least a portion of current cash flow, if interrupted due to a covered peril, why would such a solution not be presented as not just a side dish, but as a key ingredient of a successful feast?