Insurance Mail Heartburn Including Workers Comp Info
The other insurance mail and Workers Comp heartburn can be fixed with a few internal office adjustments. Premium audit and other mail from your current or prior insurance carriers can cause you to get out the bottle of antacids. Workers Compensation mail seems to have some of our clients in a bind.
Recently, we had two of our clients misplace or destroy very important mail from their Workers Compensation insurance carrier. One was due to a premium audit dispute. The other involved multiple notices of an upcoming premium audit. The carrier kept rescheduling and then informing the employer by mail. That one turned out to be a disaster.
Most insurance carrier premium auditors or actually any type of insurance personnel will call or email any documents. Some carriers have moved away from phone calls and emails. I think the letters were written as proof of documentation.
We just had one last week where the insurance carrier – a state fund – started mailing letters to an address the employer had not accepted mail at for years. The client had a PO Box that was the designated mailing address for many years on all policies and communications.
The new caveat is that some of the insurance carriers will actually turn the balance due from a premium audit to a collection agency. This causes the credit laws of your state to initiate with different time requirements before your company is considered in default and owe the balance regardless of the premium or policy dispute.
Three months ago I had to tell a client they were on the hook for the complete amount as the collection agency had mailed them three different times with the collection due dates on the opposite side of the letter in very small print.
In my post tomorrow, I will cover how to avoid insurance mail heartburn.
