200 Day-Care Providers Join Coverage Strike

Members of the San Diego County Family Day-Care Assn. held a daylong strike Thursday to protest high insurance rates for in-home day-care operators.

Janine Randolph, Southbay director of the 750-member association, said about 75 to 100 operators and parents picketed in front of the state Department of Insurance on Front Street from 10 a.m. to noon.

As many as 200 in-home day-care centers joined the protest and closed for the day, forcing many parents to make other arrangements for the care of their children.

Insurance liability rates for day-care operators statewide have increased by as much as 700% in recent months because of the notoriety of child-abuse cases like McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach. Insurance companies don’t want to risk a similar high-profile lawsuit, and many operators have been notified that their insurance policies will be canceled as of Monday.

A group of day-care operators also went to Los Angeles on Thursday to meet with the state insurance commissioner.

Randolph said state insurance officials “agreed to intervene on our behalf” to get companies to extend the cancellation date of insurance policies and agreed to negotiate a payment plan for operators who cannot afford to pay their premiums in a lump sum.