When home care agency owners shop their insurance program, two carrier names come up more than any others: The Hartford and Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY). Both are A-rated, both have decades of home healthcare experience, and both quote aggressively — but they are not interchangeable. Their appetites, professional liability forms, and workers' compensation pricing models are meaningfully different, and picking the wrong one can cost you thousands per year or leave a coverage gap on a large claim.
This is the head-to-head comparison we run internally at KTL when we benchmark a home care agency at renewal.
Carrier appetite: skilled nursing vs. non-medical
The Hartford has a broad small-business appetite and writes non-medical home care aggressively — companion care, homemaker, personal care, and light ADL support are squarely in their sweet spot. They will quote small skilled home health agencies, but they tend to pull back once revenue climbs, IV therapy or wound care enters the picture, or the agency picks up Medicare certification. Hospice is generally outside their appetite.
Philadelphia Insurance (PHLY) is the opposite. Their Home Health Care program is purpose-built for skilled agencies — Medicare-certified home health, private-duty nursing, therapy services, and hospice all fit. PHLY will also quote non-medical home care, but their pricing is usually most competitive on the skilled side where their professional liability form and claims expertise carry the most value.
Rule of thumb: if you are a small non-medical agency under about $2M in revenue, The Hartford is usually the first stop. If you are Medicare-certified, run hospice, or provide skilled nursing in the home, PHLY is almost always in the final round.
Professional liability form
Both carriers offer professional liability, but the forms are different. The Hartford typically writes professional liability as an endorsement to the general liability policy on an occurrence form for eligible small agencies — simple, easy to read, and adequate for companion care exposure.
PHLY writes professional liability as a dedicated coverage part within their Home Health Care program, usually on a claims-made basis with prior acts / retroactive date options and a broader definition of covered professional services (including allied health, therapy, and hospice-specific acts). For a skilled agency being asked by a hospital or health system for a $2M–$5M per-occurrence limit with specific wording, PHLY's form is generally the stronger match.
Neither form is universally better. The right answer depends on the services you deliver and the contracts you are trying to satisfy.
Workers' compensation pricing model
The Hartford is a top-five workers' comp writer nationally and quotes home care class codes (typically NCCI 8835, and 8854 for companion / homemaker where allowed) in almost every state. Their pricing model leans on scheduled credits, a payroll-based dividend program in some states, and aggressive first-year new-venture pricing. For a clean-loss non-medical agency with a sub-1.00 experience mod, The Hartford is frequently the low bid.
PHLY's workers' comp appetite for home health is more selective. When they do write it, they typically package it inside the Home Health Care program alongside GL, professional liability, and auto — which can produce a strong package credit for skilled agencies but is less competitive as a stand-alone workers' comp quote. PHLY's underwriting scrutinizes payroll classification, 1099 usage, and prior claim frequency more heavily than The Hartford's small-business unit does.
For a scaling agency, the smart move is to quote workers' comp separately from the package at least once every two renewals — the winning carrier for GL / professional liability is not always the winning carrier for workers' comp.
Non-owned auto, cyber, and abuse coverage
Both carriers offer hired and non-owned auto, cyber liability, and abuse & molestation coverage, and both can meet the $1M per-occurrence abuse limit that most hospital contracts and state Medicaid programs require. PHLY tends to include broader cyber sublimits inside the Home Health Care program by default; The Hartford's cyber is usually a separately rated endorsement or a stand-alone CyberChoice policy.
If you handle protected health information at any meaningful volume — EMR access, telehealth, e-billing — read the cyber sublimits carefully on both quotes before you compare premium.
When each carrier tends to win
The Hartford tends to win for: non-medical home care agencies under about $2M in revenue, agencies with clean five-year loss history, agencies that want a simple package with monoline workers' comp pricing, and new ventures in year one or two.
PHLY tends to win for: Medicare-certified home health agencies, hospice programs, agencies with skilled nursing or therapy services, agencies with hospital or health-system contracts requiring specific professional liability wording, and multi-office agencies over about $3M in revenue.
Neither answer is universal. State, payroll, service mix, loss history, and contract requirements move the winner around. That is exactly why KTL benchmarks both — plus another dozen home healthcare carriers — at every renewal.
How to actually compare the two quotes
Do not compare the premium totals. Compare the professional liability form (claims-made vs. occurrence, retroactive date, defined services), the abuse & molestation limit and whether defense is inside or outside limits, the non-owned auto limit, the cyber sublimit, the workers' comp class code and modifier, and the audit basis on payroll and revenue. Two quotes that look $4,000 apart on premium can be $40,000 apart on a covered claim.
If you have current quotes from The Hartford, PHLY, or both, send us the declarations pages and we will produce a line-by-line comparison — no obligation.