Monday, November 29, 2010

CRS to put on a great educational opportunity for Non-Profit Organizations

Commercial Risk Service will be offering a Workshop/Seminar on Thursday, January 27th geared toward educating the Non-Profits in Northwest Arkansas. All Non-Profit Organizations are welcome to attend. The Workshop/Seminar will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bentonville and will begin at 8:00 that morning and last until 10:00. A free breakfast will be served starting at 7:30 for all workshop attendees.

Key areas of information include:

1) How to make your non-profit more competitive Information on how the non-profit world is changing, and how you need to respond to those changes. Key operational changes that need to be made within the organization.

2) Sarbanes-Oxley Best Practices Helpful information from a CPA firm about how to correctly and legally respond to this relatively new process, and how it affects your operation.

3) Blending resources for the community Information from a key player in the NW Arkansas Non-Profit community that shows Non-Profits how to work with people of limited resources and abilities and make it as easy for them as possible to help themself.

If you would like to sign up for this particular workshop, please click on the link below.

As we have stated many times, one of CRS’ commitments to our customers is to give them the most educational information we can in order to help them learn how to improve their operations and reduce their risks in the process. This Workshop/Seminar for our non-profit friends in NW Arkansas is just another example of that commitment. If any of you have suggestions for future workshops or seminars, please respond and let us know what would be important for you.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Amendment to Regulation on “Grandfathered” Health Plans under Healthcare Reform

On June 17th, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury (the Departments) issued the “grandfather” regulation which, by addressing how health plans can retain a “grandfathered” exemption from certain new requirements, helps protect Americans’ ability to keep their current plan if they like it. At the same time, Americans in grandfathered plans will receive many of the added benefits that the new law provides. The regulation also minimizes market disruption and helps put us on a path toward the competitive, patient-centered market of the future.

The grandfather regulation includes a number of rules for determining when changes to a health plan cause the plan to lose its grandfathered status. For example, plans could lose their grandfathered status if they choose to make certain significant changes that reduce benefits or increase costs to consumers. This amendment modifies one aspect of the original regulation.

Previously, one of the ways an employer group health plan could lose its grandfathered status was if the employers changed issuers (carriers)-switching from one insurance company to another. The original regulation only allowed self-funded plans to change third-party administrators without necessarily losing their grandfathered status. This amendment allows all group health plans to switch insurance companies and shop for the same coverage at a lower cost while maintaining their grandfathered status, so long as the structure of the coverage doesn’t violate one of the other rules for maintaining grandfathered plan status.

Wayne Perkins
Commercial Risk Service
479-273-1376

Friday, November 12, 2010

Safety- A Matter of “Awareness”

Let me ask you a couple of questions about safety in your workplace:

---Do you have a safety manual, but you don’t know exactly where it is because there is so much dust on the manual you can’t see it?
---Does your Safety Committee consist of you and 3 other people that haven’t worked for you in 3 years?

The truth is, Safety manuals and Safety Committees are good to have, but they are not really effective tools in keeping your employees from having on-the-job injuries.

Twenty years ago (yes, that’s right- 20), I worked for a grocery chain, and we were having a lot of injuries to our employees. Our Worker’s Comp costs were going through the roof, and we couldn’t figure out how to stop them. We had about 300-400 employees, so we decided to put in a partially self-funded plan. Now each store and its manager was responsible for the claims frequency and severity of its own employees. Their store was charged for the claim. As a matter of fact, part of the Manager’s bonus was based on injuries during the year. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR FREQUENCY OF EMPLOYEE INJURIES- We had a 75% reduction in frequency and a 50% reduction in severity!!!

I tell you that not to suggest you go to a partially self-funded plan, but to help you understand what really matters in safety on the job. One thing changed- there was accountability for actions, and the managers made sure every employee knew how important it was for them to be safe! Voila- a Safety Program that works!

So, in conclusion, if you really want to reduce on-the-job injuries, there are two things I can recommend that I KNOW will help:

  1) CARE about keeping your employees safe
  2) Let the employees know safety is important to you- make them aware

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? In reality, its hard work, but I can assure you it is easier than making your employees read the safety manual!!!

Does anyone have any experiences about safety they would like to share?

Monday, November 8, 2010

Commercial Insurance Rate Increases and What Causes Them

Many business owners ask me what causes their insurance rates to increase. There are often multiple causes for rate increases. A business’ loss history can affect insurance rates. If a business has multiple property or liability claims in a three or four year period, company underwriters will start taking a sharper look at that business to determine the risk of similar future claims. If the underwriters view the risk as higher than other similar businesses, they will factor that into their proposal. If claims are frequent or severe enough, some of the more conservative companies will simply decline to quote which will reduce the number of companies in the marketplace. When this happens, there is upward pressure on insurance rates.
Another factor in increasing insurance rates is the overall economy and the stock market. When the stock market is doing well, many insurance companies invest heavily, which is a major source of their profitability. During these times, insurance companies are looking to increase their market share and are willing to insure higher risk companies. Generally, the more competition among insurance companies in the marketplace, the lower the insurance rates for individual businesses.

Finally, regional factors can affect insurance rates for individual businesses. If a particular region of the country suffers an above average claim increase, insurance companies serving that region may decide rate increases are warranted. An example would be recent property rate increases in the marina industry in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. This region suffered very high property losses in 2008 and 2009. In addition to the property losses, the stock market was also struggling during this time. Insurance companies started increasing rates in order to protect their profitability and the ability to serve the marine industry in the future.

How can a business improve their attractiveness to the insurance industry? A good risk reduction program is essential! Any steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of future property or liability claims should be taken. Be sure and share this information with your insurance agent. Your agent should be able to help you design a risk reduction program. A good program will help to lower your long-term insurance costs and help insurance company underwriters to provide the best premium rates available.



For more information on risk reduction opportunities, please contact Commercial Risk Service.

Doug Timmons, CIC, CMIP
Marine and Resort Insurance Specialist
Commercial Risk Service
Local 479-273-1376 x-25
Toll-free 888-636-0886 x-25