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Home » Archives for July 2010

Archives for July 2010

Manual Premium – What is It and How Is It Calculated?

July 30, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Manual Premium Term Of The Day 

A Workers Comp Manual Premium is calculated using the classification code payroll multiplied by the assigned manual rate for that code and then divided by 100. As an example, if class code 8810 has an assigned rate of $.62 and the total payroll for that code is $15,000, the formula would be $15,000 times $.62 divided by 100=$93.00.

Picture Of Hand manual premium With Calculator And Money

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Remember, this is only one part of the rating formula. 

Each individual classification code would be calculated using its assigned rate and payroll.  From this point, experience modifiers, credits, surcharges or premium discounts would be applied to arrive at a total premium due.

The manual premium is not the final quoted premium.  In fact, the number can vary greatly as there are at least a dozen variables applied to arrive at the policy premium bill and the premium audit bill.  

Do not ignore the manual premium figure.  The classification codes, payroll, and assigned manual rate create the basis for your eventual total billing.   Your complete policy will be inaccurately charged if, for instance, the classification codes are wrong.    

Check the payroll for each corresponding classification code to make sure it matches your accounting figure.  If not, address those with your agent immediately to make sure your manual premium is accurate. 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

 

Filed Under: Manual Premium Tagged With: accounting figure, credits, surcharges

Workers Comp Manual Rate – What Is It And How Is It Calculated?

July 29, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Workers Comp Manual Rate Starts Premium Calculation Process

The Workers Comp Manual Rate flies under the radar most of the time.  Insureds usually concern themselves with the bottom line premiums.

Graphic Of Calculator Workers Comp Manual Rate And Money With Eye Glass

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There are approximately 600 classification codes plus hundreds more that are state specific. Manual rate is the dollar amount assigned to each of the classification codes. The NCCI determines these rates using the statistical information taken from all employers claims reports. With this information, a determination of hazard or risk can be made for each classification code.

The Workers Comp Manual rate is the starting point for calculating the cost of a workers compensation policy.

These manual rates are examined yearly. This yearly review is done to insure that enough funds are generated to operate the system and that each employer is responsible for their fair share of the total cost requirements.

If you look at a workers comp policy, audit, or E-Mod sheet, the manual rate usually appears just after the listing of the classification codes.   The total of each rate is the manual premium.   If the manual premium is not shown, it is advisable to calculate on your own as a starting point. 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

 

Filed Under: Manual Rate Tagged With: dollar amount, statistical

Footnote References For #3 Return To Work – Readers Requested

July 28, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Footnote References For Return To Work Requested By Readers

The footnote references are for #3 Return to Work.  

I had been asked by numerous blog and newsletter readers for APA citations on my research. The two studies are cited below. Please check out my next post to see what #1, #2, and #3 could be costing your company. 

Woman having phone call footnote references at office work

Wikimedia Commons – Bill Branson

Moore, James J (1999). Research On 7,000 Public Entity Claims. The Keys To Cutting Workers Compensation From The End To The Beginning , pp. 18-20.

Moore, James J (2006). Research On 12,000 Public Entity Claims. The Keys To Cutting Workers Compensation From The End To The Beginning , pp. 26-28.

I hope these footnote references will help with referencing the two articles and my prior research.  Please note that both references are the study of public entity claims.  

The results were loaded into multiple spreadsheets for analysis.   The spreadsheets have long since been lost due to a large computer crash of the laptop and backup drive simultaneously .  <<not good.

The first study was also performed as background work when I was a Risk Manager for a quasi-public entity.  The second study was performed as background work when we doing claims department proficiency audits.  

These two studies and research of other studies were the basis for My Six Keys To Workers Comp Savings. 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Footnotes Tagged With: APA, entity, study

Do Not Ask Us To Do This In Any Workers Comp Situation

July 28, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

A No-Go Workers Comp Situation

This is a Workers Comp Situation J&L Risk Management Consultants tries to avoid as much as possible. We have received a few calls this year asking us to help prepare a company’s books for an upcoming Workers Comp audit. We will not ever and have never suggested or recommended cooking the books for a premium audit.

Graphic Of Gold Coins Workers Comp Situation And Card

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The insurance company premium auditors of today are very adept at finding where payrolls (remuneration) have been paid. A premium auditor usually goes through all the payments that a company has made and will verify what type of vendor and payment was made to another individual or company. Subcontractors have become a hot issue in premium audits.

We have never suggested that a company try to cheat or mislead a carrier on their premiums. This is not our role in helping employers with workers comp premium audits. If after an audit you feel that your company was incorrectly overcharged a premium then that is the best time to contact us.

As you may have seen in various Workers Comp publications, a Workers Compensation Consultant out of South Carolina was charged and convicted of fraud for improperly reporting payrolls for companies. Companion Insurance Company had discovered the underreporting when an employee was severely injured.

If a Workers Comp consultant ever offers to help you misreport any numbers, then you should look elsewhere immediately. There is an old saying that has been around for many years. “You should pay what you owe, but not one cent more.”

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: fraud Tagged With: publication, recommendation, remuneration, vendor

Merit Rating Plan – Good For Small Safer Companies

July 28, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Definition – Merit Rating Plan

A Merit Rating Plan is designed for the benefit of employers who are not large enough to merit an experience rating. It is based on the loss experience of the smaller business.

Bar Graph Of Merit Rating Plan Colorful

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This plan considers the loss experience for a two year period and allows a credit of 5% on premium for employers with no lost time claims.

If an employer has two or more lost time claims, they will be assessed a 5% surcharge.

Employers with only one lost time claim will not receive a credit nor will they receive a surcharge.

Under the Merit Rating Plan, small businesses can take advantage of incentives and premium savings by operating a safe work place.

This type of plan is quite the departure from the regular Experience Modification Rating system facilitated by NCCI, WCIRB, and the State Rating Bureaus.  Those ratings involve three years of experience with the most recent policy year not included in the calculations. 

The Merit rated employers have to be extremely safe to not receive a 5% surcharge.  The same employer would have to meet a zero tolerance level for accidents. 

Overall, the plans do encourage safety for smaller employers.  

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Definition Tagged With: lost time, small business

Statutory Nonemployees – Two Very Specific Types With One Exclusion

July 27, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Statutory Nonemployees – A Few Examples 

The term Statutory nonemployees is a very hybrid non-employee status.  As read on the IRS Website:

There are generally two categories of statutory non-employees:

worker statutory nonemployees is working hard

Wikimedia commons – Ahsan Shahbaz 19

  1. direct sellers
  2. licensed real estate agents.

They are treated as self-employed for all Federal tax purposes, including income and employment taxes, if:

  • substantially all payments for their services as direct sellers or real estate agents are directly related to sales or other output, rather than to the number of hours worked, and
  • their services are performed under a written contract providing that they will not be treated as employees for Federal tax purposes.

Companion sitters who are not employees of a companion sitting placement service are generally treated as self-employed for all federal tax purposes.  Let us see who the IRS deems companion sitters.  

Companion sitters.   Companion sitters are individuals who furnish personal attendance, companionship, or household care services to children or to individuals who are elderly or disabled. A person engaged in the trade or business of putting the sitters in touch with individuals who wish to employ them (that is, a companion sitting placement service) won’t be treated as the employer of the sitters if that person doesn’t receive or pay the salary or wages of the sitters and is compensated by the sitters or the persons who employ them on a fee basis. Companion sitters who aren’t employees of a companion sitting placement service are generally treated as self-employed for all federal tax purposes.

 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Statutory Nonemployees Tagged With: companionship, direct sellers, license

Statutory Employees Examples For Our Readers From IRS

July 26, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Statutory Employees – Hybrid Classification 

Statutory employees produce many questions from client and article readers.  Workers who are independent contractors under the common law rules, may be considered

Picture Statutory Employees at Conference Table

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employees by statute (statutory employees) for some employment purposes.

To qualify, they must fall under any one of the following categories and all three conditions under Social Security and Medicare Taxes listed below:

  • A driver who distributes (other than milk) or meat, vegetable, fruit, or bakery products, or who picks up and delivers laundry or dry cleaning, if the driver is your agent or is paid on commission.
  • A full-time life insurance sales agent whose principal business activity is selling life insurance or annuity contracts, or both, primarily for one life insurance company.
  • An individual who works at home on materials or goods that you supply and that must be returned to you or to a person you name, if you also furnish specifications for the work to be done.
  • A full-time traveling or city salesperson who works on your behalf and turns in orders to you from wholesalers, retailers, contractors, or operators of hotels, restaurants, or other similar establishments. The goods must be merchandise for resale or supplies for use in the buyer’s business operation. The work performed for you must be the salesperson’s principal business activity.

The definition for this term was found on the IRS web site.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Statutory employees Tagged With: article readers, Social Security, Taxes

Interstate Rating Does Not Apply To All States – Some Are Independent

July 23, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Term Of The Day – Interstate Rating

Interstate Rating is experience modification factors that apply across more than one state. They are administered and calculated by the NCCI for employers who have shown payroll for more than one state in the past.

Map Of USA Interstate Rating Graphic

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Nearly every state in the country participates in the interstate rating system. There are exceptions to every rule because there are still some states who have chosen not to participate. These states are Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, Michigan, and Delaware.

These states have their own independent rating bureaus and do not want to co-mingle their rating factors with other states.  These independent states may have such differing rating factors that NCCI could not use their calculations.   Attempting to figure out one Experience Modification Factor can be difficult when applying multiple Mod into one. 

The classic employer types that have interstate ratings are:

  • Companies with multi-state operations
  • Trucking companies with multiple terminals
  • Larger national companies 
  • Companies that have businesses near state lines 

Modification factors for payroll for these 5 states are calculated by the state’s own rating bureau. Employers who have exposure in participating states and these nonparticipating states could possibly have 6 separate and different experience modification factors. The experience modification factor would only apply to the exposure in each stand-alone state.

After speaking with representatives from a few of the nonparticipating states,  I came to the conclusion they were not amenable to ratings other than their own states.   Interstate ratings may become more popular in the future but not immediately for the five listed states.  

 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Interstate Rating Tagged With: multiple terminals, state lines

Fronting Agreement Can Be Used For Captives and Non-Captives

July 22, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

 Fronting Agreement Popular With Captives

A fronting Agreement covers two types of “foreign” companies and insurers. In general terms, and usually for Workers Comp purposes, one insurer produces a policy for a third party, but all of the losses are the responsibility of a second insurer. This is, of course, a fee based arrangement.

Picture Of Hand Draw Fronting Agreement Shake Hand

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This agreement provides a solution when a employer’s provider is not “admitted” to do business in a certain state, but the employer needs coverage there. The employer’s insurer enters into a Fronting Agreement with an “admitted” insurer to write the policy, again for a fee. If there are any claims against the policy, the employers original insurer bears all liability.

Most states have very specific rules on these financial arrangements. 

Captive insurers often use these Fronting Agreements when they are not “admitted” in all states. Self-insureds often use Fronting Agreements to satisfy financial or statutory requirements.

As we all know, the business of Workers’ Compensation is complex at best. Fronting policies are, to say the least, complicated and should be examined thoroughly. Even though they can take on any number of forms, the one common denominator is that the claims are still paid by the insured.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Fronting Agreement Tagged With: fee based, financial arrangement

Workers Comp Claims Guide in 7 Words To Remember

July 8, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Workers Comp Claims Guide – 7 Words To Remember

A Workers comp claims guide can be broken down into seven easy to remember words. 

I was posting in one of the Workers Comp forums today. I decided to bring over the concept that I posted there earlier today. Let us assume you are just starting to handle Workers Compensation Claims at a certain company. I used seven words and liked the summary.

Professor Workers comp claims guide student

Wikimedia Commons – Wikimedia Finland

They are:

  1. Report
  2. Refer
  3. Return
  4. Treat
  5. Document
  6. Question
  7. Adopt

I am sorry to say this, but I do see quite a few posers at employers that go through the motions without really helping out their Workers Comp situations. That is why I added in the last one – Adopt.  If your company does not adopt some type of Workers’ Comp plan, your program will be akin to traveling without a map or GPS. 

 For our daily blog readers, think about each one and ask yourself if you or someone in your company are doing these tasks. If not, your company is flushing funds down the commode at a rapid pace. Please remember the 400% warning. That will be in the next post.

#1 Report

X Ray Of Hand FROI First Report Of Injury

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I thought I would cover some of the Workers Comp mnemonics that the insiders use – people in the claims business. This is the most important document that an employer will ever fill out. The FROI stands for the First Report Of Injury. There are two vendors out there that have a product called FROI services. <<<Update – many now provide this service

I do not want to go into the term much further as it matches up with my other post from today. Two of the most important aspects of The First Report of Injury is that it not only alerts your Workers Comp insurer to a claim, but also gives them permission to act. 

Quite often, Workers Comp adjusters are put on the spot as they have not received the FROI and are asked by a medical provider to authorize treatment.   This is known as the Twilight Zone phone call from the provider to the adjuster.   

I will let you in on a little secret. When it comes time for an adjuster to reserve that file, they remember such things when having to value the claim at the beginning. (Hint)

 #2 Physician Referral

Physical Workers comp claims guide Doctor

Wikimedia Commons – Wesley Carter, U.S. Air Force

The Physician Referral properly done saves workers comp premiums or budget.  .I wanted to cover #2 in The Guide To Workers Comp In 7 Words. This was the original article. There is one instance in time where employers can greatly harm or help their Workers Comp program.

 Refer

 Quite often I hear from employers that their state does not allow the employer to choose the doctor that will treat their employees for their Workers Comp injuries. I always recommend the employer check their Workers Comp rules and regulations very carefully. Some states allow an employer to create a panel of physicians the employee can choose from for their treatment.

 Even if your respective state does not allow the employer to choose the physician, most employees will treat where the employer recommends. That is why it is beyond critical that all employers have established a business relationship with a local industrial-minded doctor or clinic. 

Graphic Of Two Physician Referral Shake Hand

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The most expensive thing an employer can say is just go to the emergency room or to tell the employee to treat wherever they wish. If the injury is serious, then the employee should always be sent to the local emergency room. 

I always recommend walk-in clinics to our clients as an immediate cost saving measure. There are numerous Workers Compensation clinics that will treat employees on a walk-in basis. I searched our local online directory and found many Workers Comp clinics and walk-in clinics that welcome all Workers Compensation patients. One of the reasons employees with Workers Comp insurance coverage are so welcome is that Workers Comp insurance pays very well for medical services versus other types of insurance.

 The second level doctors are very important. The second level medical treatment involves the more seriously injured employees that are referred by the original treating doctor. The second level consists of orthopedists, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, neurosurgeons and other types of surgeons. There is nothing wrong with recommending to first level treating physician where the injured employee should be referred if more significant medical treatment is required.

#3 Return (To Work) – Most Important In This Workers Comp Claims Guide

The 3rd of the 7 words for workers comp claims is Return.  From the claims that I have covered, the employer’s Return To Work (RTW) program ranks second behind the medical referral as the most important part of a Workers Comp claim.

Old Workers comp claims guide returning to work

Wikimedia Commons – Robert Garstka

In today’s economy, the risk of a much higher payout is amplified without a RTW program. An employer who does not return employee work risks the employee being ruled as a Permanent Total. These benefits can wreck an E-Mod or X-Mod reduction program by an employer. There are companies such as J&L can help design a RTW program to lower the risk of an E-Mod/X-Mod increased. The task can be daunting. It is worth it.

I have examined, studied, and handled many Workers Comp claims where the employer had a RTW program. The employer without a RTW program will usually pay out over 400% more on their Workers Compensation claims. This number has held true for many years and may even be higher in the current economy.

The first step is to make sure the initial treating physician that your company sends your employees for treatment knows that your company will return employees to work as soon as possible. I am shocked when I see a company that has a RTW program which the treating doctors have no knowledge of when seeing their Workers Comp patients.

#4 Treat

Workers Comp claims cost reduction strategies can be reduced to 7 words.

This post comes from this original post. This s one of the more controversial recommendations that I always make when looking to reduce an employer’s Workers Comp costs. I have often heard from employers that they do not feel like they should be treating the employee nicely if the claim was not legitimate. This has changed over the last few years as I have not heard this as much.

Graphic Of Workers Comp Claims In Icon

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Treat means how the employer treats the employee from the time they are first injured until the conclusion of the claim. An employer should treat the employee the same as before the accident. An employee out on Workers Comp benefits is still an employee. Terminating an employee while legitimately on Workers Comp leave can increase a claim greatly. A small claim can skyrocket if the claim is deemed to be a permanent total claim. A permanent total claim is much easier to prove if they employee has no return job.

The treatment of the employee by the employer will often avoid the employee becoming represented by an attorney. As we all know, when an employee is represented the eventual cost of the claim increases dramatically. Keeping in constant contact with the employee and letting them know what benefits to expect will avoid the employee seeking legal representation.

 

Communication Workers comp claims guide materials

Wikimedia Commons – Today Testing

The best time to show the employee that the company cares about them is right after an accident happens. As almost every person has an email address, e-card services such as AmericanGreetings.com and Hallmark.com are very good ways to send the employee an e-card when they are injured. It is well worth the effort.

A front office employee should be designated as a Workers Comp Administrator (WCA). This person should be the go-between for the employee’s supervisor, the insurance company’s adjuster, and the employee. This person should also know which physicians or clinics the employee should be sent to for their initial medical treatment.

#5 Document (Everything)

Illustration Of Discussion 7 Words On Table

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I used to not recommend this one in the past. Now, with so many ways to document an employer’s part of the claim, this has become a critical area of savings. I always say to document as if you as the employer were going to testify what you have written in court.

The other six ways to reduce Workers Compensation claims should be heavily documented. Documenting when the First Report of Injury was filed is important to verify that the claims are being filed timely. The doctor referral and return to work should be documented as you may have to testify to what you remembered in a Workers Comp claim.

A scanner is invaluable to keep track of the document flow. In certain states, the employer can be easily overwhelmed with Workers Comp forms. One of our employer clients keeps a thumb drive for every lost time claim they have in order to keep everything straight. I do not recommend CD’s except as a backup when closing out and archiving a file. Windows-based hard drive systems usually fail every two years. That is why I recommend the thumb drives. You can buy thumb drives that have security on them for about $4 each. That is money well spent.

Picture Businessman Analyzing 7 Words While Sitting on Floor

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One hint to documentation is that the best Workers Comp adjusters are the ones that can document the most in the least amount of space. You can cut corners in documenting Workers Compensation notes if you know what to leave in and leave out.

I have not been able to study the cost saving effects of proper documentation as with the first three terms. One easy way to document your employer files is to access the adjusters’ notes online. I have posted the importance of having online Workers Comp claims access. Often, the adjuster will have all the notes on the development of the claim. I would not rely on this completely, but all the conversations you had with the adjusters will be in their notes.

If you ever have to testify as a Workers Comp witness for the employer, the judges appreciate clear and concise documentation.

#6 Question (Everything)

The sixth term in the list of The Workers Comp Claims Guide in 7 Words is Question. One of the quickest ways to immediately begin reducing Workers Comp costs is to question everything that comes across one’s computer screen or desk.

Employee of Workers comp claims guide Confuse

Wikimedia Commons – Notas de prensa

This means that any bills such as premium bills, premium audit bills, TPA processing bills, policy changes, large settlement request etc. should be questioned. Assuming that something is correct/accurate and just paying the premium or TPA processing bill can cost a company dearly.

One of the documents that should be examined closely is the loss run. As I have posted many times, having online access to your Workers Comp claims is beyond important. The basis for charging your company a premium or a TPA’s processing bill comes from the loss runs.

Loss runs are the best tool to keep your Workers Comp costs down, especially in this economy. If you are reading this and do not know where your company’s loss runs can be located, you are likely throwing away $.

This is not to say that insurance carriers, insurance premium auditors, or TPA’s are dishonest whatsoever. The Workers Comp landscape has become so complicated over the last few years that errors in reserving, premium auditing, billing, etc. do happen.

#7 Adopt 

Graphic Of Suitcase Workers Comp Claims Guide Document

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The #7 Workers Comp claims guide word is adopt.

I had originally began over 20 years ago with the first three of the list and added on #4 – #6 as my experience grew in the area of Workers Compensation. I added ADOPT over the last few months. It is a simple concept that will pay big dividends over the long term.

I can type and type and type my recommendations into this blog for reducing Workers Comp costs. However, if they are not adopted company-wide and from the top > down, they will only be a partial help.

Management must adopt these measures and make them part of the company/corporate culture for them to succeed. I have often see the Safety/Risk Management personnel in a copy become very frustrated as they knew the methods would work. They could not induce the company to adopt these 7 terms/words.

It does take time and effort to make the 7 terms work in a company. One of the most common occurrences is the expectation of immediate results. As I have posted numerous times, the Workers Comp system is a delayed system where the efforts of the present will only become apparent in three to four years.

Using This Workers Comp Claims Guide

You may wish to print out this article or at least save it to your desktop.   If not, I heavily recommend that you memorize the 7 Words to the Workers Comp Claims Guide. 

 

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Workers Comp Claims Guide Tagged With: forums, Twilight Zone, Vendors

West Virginia Workers Comp – Was It Ever Subsidized?

July 6, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

West Virginia Workers Comp Was Subsidized

Was West Virginia Workers Comp Carrier Brickstreet subsidized by taxpayers?  I was reading a Opinion Letter in the Charleston Daily Mail about Workers Comp being subsidized for governmental entities in WV. I had to disagree with the letter as the author inferred that WV governmental entities were being subsidized as Brickstreet had been writing them at a loss since 2006.

Wall West Virginia Workers Comp bricks

Wikimedia Commons – Pawel Wozniak

Insurance carriers will quite often write a section of a market and not just cherry-pick the safest employers with the classification codes in that marketplace. Brickstreet’s whole book of business allowed for a large profit as they were able to pay their very low interest loan back to the state government much earlier than anticipated.

Do the safer governmental entities or businesses ever actually subsidize the less safe ones? I would say no as that is the function of the Experience Modification System. The E-Mod system penalizes the unsafe insureds. The E-Mod system allows a discount of sorts to the safer insureds. One of the benefits of WV switching from their State Fund system to the NCCI system was a more accurate E-Mod system.

State West Virginia Workers Comp logo

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Brickstreet had said in a press release that the rates for some of the governmental entities were being artificially suppressed causing a loss of $25 million for writing governmental entities. However, as we have seen very often in the marketplace, carries such as AIG and Travelers are writing the same business that Brickstreet wrote in the past priced at Brickstreet’s previous policy year without increases.

It will be interesting to see what policies have been written by which carriers and at what price for governmental entities. I think that you will see incredibly low pricing by the big carriers where there will be no subsidizing in the general marketplace.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Brickstreet Tagged With: charleston, cherry pick, governmental entities

Monopolistic Washington May Be Free Market Soon Like West Virginia

July 3, 2010 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Monopolistic Washington Free Market Soon

Monopolistic Washington will be a free market soon. Monopolistic states for Workers Compensation such as Washington and South Dakota may be a free market system someday.

Building Monopolistic Washington post

Wikimedia Commons – Daniel X. O’Neil

Actually, Washington may take the plunge into the free market system such as Nevada and West Virginia have recently.

 If one compares Washington to pre-free market West Virginia, the number of similarities are many. One of the most obvious findings is both states increasing their rates when neighboring states had Workers Comp premium rates that were steady or decreasing overall.

 Don Brunell of the Columbian wrote that Initiative 1082 would allow private insurance companies to break the state’s monopoly on workers’ compensation insurance.

Graphic Of Market System Monopolistic Washington Icon

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 While workers’ comp taxes are falling around the country, Washington employers and workers were hit with a $117 million tax hike for 2010 — the highest increase since 2003. By comparison, Oregon, which allows private competition, has not increased its rates in the last 20 years and returned $100 million to its employers this year.

Competition is the key. It can lower costs to taxpayers and create jobs in the private, taxpaying sector. As long as the private and public sectors can compete on a level playing field and everyone complies with the same set of rules and regulations, the private sector should likely be given a chance.   

After all, the free market worked for West Virginia. 

Mr. Brunell’s astute observations were exactly the same articles that were written in the West Virginia press before Governor Manchin took the bull by the horns and pushed for Workers Comp reform. I hope that the legislators in Washington will heed the articles such as Mr. Brunell’s or there will likely be even more sharp Workers Comp premium hikes in Washington.

Time will tell, but then again, how much time does the state of Washington have left?

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Washington Tagged With: competition, public sectors, taxpayer

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About Me

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James J Moore
Raleigh, NC, United States

James founded a Workers’ Compensation consulting firm, J&L Risk Mgmt Consultants, Inc. in 1996. J&L’s mission is to reduce our clients’ Workers Compensation premiums by using time-tested techniques. J&L’s claims, premium, reserve and Experience Mod reviews have saved employers over $9.8 million in earned premiums over the last three years. J&L has saved numerous companies from bankruptcy proceedings as a result of insurance overpayments.

James has over 27 years of experience in insurance claims, audit, and underwriting, specializing in Workers’ Compensation. He has supervised, and managed the administration of Workers’ Compensation claims, and underwriting in over 45 states. His professional experience includes being the Director of Risk Management for the North Carolina School Boards Association. He created a very successful Workers’ Compensation Injury Rehabilitation Unit for school personnel.

James’s educational background, which centered on computer technology, culminated in earning a Masters of Business Administration (MBA); an Associate in Claims designation (AIC); and an Associate in Risk Management designation (ARM). He is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a licensed financial advisor. The NC Department of Insurance has certified him as an insurance instructor. He also possesses a Bachelors’ Degree in Actuarial Science.

LexisNexis has twice recognized his blog as one of the Top 25 Blogs on Workers’ Compensation. J&L has been listed in AM Best’s Preferred Providers Directory for Insurance Experts – Workers Compensation for over eight years. He recently won the prestigious Baucom Shine Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteer contributions to the area of risk management and safety. James was recently named as an instructor for the prestigious Insurance Academy.

James is on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the North Carolina Mid-State Safety Council. He has published two manuals on Workers’ Compensation and three different claims processing manuals. He has also written and has been quoted in numerous articles on reducing Workers’ Compensation costs for public and private employers. James publishes a weekly newsletter with 7,000 readers.

He currently possess press credentials and am invited to various national Workers Compensation conferences as a reporter.

James’s articles or interviews on Workers’ Compensation have appeared in the following publications or websites:
• Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
• Entrepreneur Magazine
• Bloomberg Business News
• WorkCompCentral.com
• Claims Magazine
• Risk & Insurance Magazine
• Insurance Journal
• Workers Compensation.com
• LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites
• Various trade publications

 

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