Workers Comp Audit Bills – Do Not Just File Them Away
The Workers Comp audit bills from your insurance carrier require some type of action. The insurance carrier’s Workers Comp payroll auditor has been in for an audit.
A few days later you receive a bill. What are your options?
- Pay it – which is what we see most of the time. Companies should not just write a check without questioning how the increase occurred. We have seen companies that will at least look through the audit and question the auditor. This may result in a reduction in the bill. What do you do if the auditor says no to your disputes?
- Review it – going through the original policy, any modifications during the policy period by the insurance carrier, and the payroll audit thoroughly may result in savings. Were the savings all you were supposed to receive for your efforts?
- Call your agent – that may be a good tactic, but your agent has already looked over everything previously, or have they?
- Call in a premium expert – that is what we do as part of our services for no fee upfront.
StockUnlimited - Write the Insurance Commissioner – this is one area where we see a company irreparably harming their relationship with their agent and insurance carrier. Contacting your respective Insurance Commissioner should only be done as a last resort before taking legal action. Never use the Insurance Commission as a bargaining tactic. We have never seen that work to the benefit of any employer.
- Contact the State Rating Bureau or NCCI – that is sometimes a good idea, but what questions do you ask them? What would you want them to do for your company?
There is a common theme to all the bullets above except the first one. They all involve asking “why?”. That is the most powerful way to reduce your Workers Compensation premiums. See our previous post on asking why. One of our clients just received a premium return of $240,000. How? They started asking “why?”.
Next Up – I left one area out that is more important than anything mentioned in the last three posts. It is the fastest way to reduce your Work Comp premiums and it starts up just about the time of the audit billing.
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