November 10, 2014

Research done by Apex Services (www.apexservices.com), a leading company in workers compensation premium recovery, has shown that a large percentage of employers renew their workers compensation policy on July 1^st. Brokers who have accounts who have July 1^st renewals may not be thinking about these accounts yet, as they don't renew for several more months. However, what they do not realize is that the next two months are the most crucial time of year for July 1^st renewals.

The reason that the next two months are imperative for July 1^st renewals is that that the experience modification is calculated six months prior to policy inception. 

The single most important factor in calculating the workers compensation premiums (the experience mod) will be published within a short couple of months.  Of course the system in which the experience mod is calculated is a complex one.  Even when employers meticulously manage their workers compensation claims, there are often errors in the calculation of the experience mod by insurance company that are complex in nature and cannot be spotted by someone who is not an expert in workers compensation. What brokers do best is finding the best and cheapest coverage for their clients. What the experts at Apex Services do is review the upcoming, current, and prior experience mods to pinpoint the errors committed by the insurance companies. 

Apex Services workers compensation premium recovery is done on a contingency basis to reduce current and future premiums and obtain refunds on prior premiums. Offering workers compensation premium recovery solidifies brokers' relationships with their clients by demonstrating that they are doing everything to keep premiums down for their clients. Offering this service for prospects can lead to BORing the account upon renewal.

July 17, 2014

The request to increase the loss cost level by 6.8% filed by The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) effective October 1^st has been disapproved by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). Consequently, the current loss costs and rating values will remain in effect. As experts in workers compensation premium recovery, Apex Services breaks down what this all means for brokers and their clients.

Although loss cost rates will remain the same for the time being, brokers can expect their clients’ premiums to continue to increase.

Several reasons led to The DFS’s decision to disapprove of NYCIRB’s request. Among them are:

• The DFS disagreed with the NYCIRB’s permanent partial disability (PPD) duration cap loss assumptions and the Reopened Case Fund (RCF) closure assumptions.
• The DFS disagreed with NYCIRB’s methodology of using private carriers’ premium development factors based on the latest three years, as opposed to the latest two years that had been using in prior filings.
• The DFS claims that carriers will see “meaningful savings” after reforms to the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB). These include reforms to guidelines on various types of injuries, to reduce dependence on opioids, use of generic drugs, and limit to the number of injections that may be administered to “trigger points.”

Despite all this, the DFS noted that carriers will still have the option to file revised loss cost multipliers with the DFS. So the bottom line is that rates will be raised one way or the other.  Since DFS won’t allow rate increases suggested by NYCIRB, the carriers will file revised loss cost multipliers upward with the DFS. Employers, especially those with bad experience modification factors, will pay higher premiums. As far as all the supposed claim changes go, we’re still waiting to see if the big Spitzer changes make a significant impact. Losses will continue to rise for some and decrease for others.

Workers Compensation Premium Recovery offers brokers the quickest and easiest way to help their clients lower their experience mods, obtain workers compensation refunds and lower their premiums while solidifying their client relationships.  Brokers can get to a whole new level with prospects when they work with us to secure workers compensation refunds for them!

June 23, 2014

IIABNY

New York legislators have passed a bill that will put an end to abusive certificates of insurance requests from businesses and government agencies.  The passage of this bill marks a significant victory for The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York (IIABNY), which managed to pass through its top legislative priority. 

This bill will permit the use of only certificate forms created by insurance companies and recognized industry-setting organizations.  The certificate cannot change the coverage provide by underlying insurance policy and does not confer any additional rights beyond what the policy provides.

The bill will also prohibit from requesting a certificate that contains terms, conditions or other language that is not found in the policy, requiring a producer to issue an opinion letter or similar document that violates any of the bill’s prohibitions, requiring a certificate to warrant that the insurance policy complies with the requirements of a particular contract, and requiring a certificate that inaccurately states the insurance coverages, purports to change the coverage, or to grant rights beyond those stated in the policy.

This is all great news for brokers who no longer have the pressure to make their clients happy by altering the certificate of insurance. Besides, there is a much better and easier way to make your clients happy: offering them workers compensation premium recovery.  In a couple of short months, your clients’ past and current experience mods will be knocked down with refunds and credits to follow shortly thereafter. What would make a client happier than getting refunds on old premiums?

May 7, 2014

The most popular date for workers compensation policy renewals is January 1st. Chances are, you have a couple of pretty important clients in your book of business who will renew on January 1st. Therefore, the next few weeks will be absolutely crucial in determining whether or not you will keep them as your clients next year. Why the next few weeks? The answer is pretty simple. At the end of June, the total incurred amounts on your clients’ claims will be entered to calculate the 2015 experience mod.  This leaves a small window (less than 55 days) to review the claims and make sure that your clients’ experience mod is as low as it can be.

Each point on the experience mod can translate into thousands of dollars in premiums.  Furthermore, some employers need to have a low experience mod to be able to bid in various projects so the experience mod has a profound impact on their business. For example, we are currently working with an employer in the construction industry whose renewal mod has already been published as a 1.19, a whopping 22 points higher than their current mod of .97.  This employer has told us that their high mod will prevent them from bidding on various projects in 2015 and it will have a very negative affect to their bottom line.

Do not let this happen to your clients.  You need a workers compensation expert to review your clients’ claims and make sure that they will be happy with their renewal quote.

At Apex Services, this is one of the many services that we offer to our broker partners free of charge to you or your clients.

Claims review can be a complicated and time-consuming project.  Let the experts at Apex Services help you with our workers compensation premium recovery service before it’s too late.

February 6, 2014

As a workers compensation broker, you are probably coming off a crazy month of January. We hope January was full of renewals and BORs for you and your agency.

As a broker, you are always experiencing the same sort of challenges, which are mainly to keep your current clients happy and impress your prospects with what you can potentially offer them. In the past few years, however, keeping clients happy in the face of increasing premium costs has become somewhat of a juggling act for many brokers. Many brokers are struggling to provide the answers to their clients as to why their premiums are going up year after year.

Workers compensation premium recovery is a value-added service for brokers to offer to their clients and prospects. This service ensures that your clients’ premiums are as low as they can be and any errors and overcharges that have occurred in the past are retroactively corrected to produce refunds.  The fee is contingency-based so if there is no recovery, there is no fee.

A broker who offers this service can illustrate to clients and prospects that he is willing to go above and beyond for them. This service takes minimal time and effort on your and your client’s behalf, but the financial rewards are often substantial. Workers compensation premium recovery is a no-brainer that can offer a new revenue stream for you and increase your book of business.

November 27, 2013

Workers compensation and employers liability rates have been approved for a 3.6% increase in New Jersey effective January 1^st.

Classifications are limited to a maximum 15% increase over the current year’s rate. Minimum premium will also increase from $850 to $900 and New Jersey employers will have to pay a 6.56% surcharge to finance the state's Second Injury Fund.

This announcement comes on the heels of an increase in weekly maximum benefit from $826 to $843, all contributing to a continuing hardening market and higher premiums for employers in New Jersey. Brokers must be wary of all these factors that may have their clients scrambling for cheaper quotes. Brokers who offer their clients value-added services, such as workers compensation premium recovery, will find that they will maintain their clients despite the higher rates and increase their book of business as well.

November 6, 2013

Connecticut regulators have approved the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s workers’ compensation filing for an overall 3.2% change for voluntary market advisory pure premium loss costs and an overall 5.7% change in assigned risk plan rates.

NCCI filed its proposal in September. The changes will become effective January 1, 2014.

Industries all across the board in the voluntary market are seeing increases of 2 to 6%. The assigned risk market is seeing even higher loss cost increases of up to 8%.

Workers compensation premium recovery knocks down inflated experience mods and will certainly help brokers retain clients who will see higher premiums with the new loss-cost increases in Connecticut as of January 1st. There are no out of pocket expenses to you or your clients, as this service is a zero-cost profit center.

With the closing of the reopened case fund, the estimated cost for carriers is $1.6 billion in unfunded liability. Consequently, the New York's State Department of Financial Services approved a workers comp loss cost rate increase of 9.5% to become effective Oct. 1. 2013. Nearly 5% of the approved loss cost increase is due to the reopened case fund's closing.

After the implementation of the New York reforms to lower premiums, it is ironic that NYSIF (the state's workers comp carrier that has been known for cheaper rates and lower assessments of 9.2% as opposed to the private carriers 18.8%) no longer seems to be very competitive.

NYSIF's 2013 third quarter newsletter states that they will not raise their 9.2% assessment on current customers (at least not until 2016) despite the fact that NYSIF will now be subject to the same 13.8% assessment as private carriers as of January 1st. However, for new clients coming into NYSIF, they are going to be charging the new assessment rate of 13.8%.

In its fourth quarter newsletter, NYSIF announced that as of November 1st, their new loss cost multiplier is 1.53% which is a 53% increase on the published loss costs. In comparison, some other carriers are charging less than a 25% increase on the published loss costs.

To sum up NYSIF's troubles, all of NYSIF's new business will be getting the same assessment in 2014 as private carriers. In addition, NYSIF has raised their loss costs tremendously and thereby cutting the competitive advantage they had.

Of course this is great news for brokers because the State Insurance Fund is not paying commissions so they can increase revenue by placing more of their clients in the private market.

What it all comes down to is that someone has to pay to keep premiums profitable for carriers to want to continue doing business in New York. We'll have to watch how loss costs play a role with lower assessments.

Brokers should not become complacent thinking that lower assessments translate into lower premiums and higher client retention. The brokers that continue to offer their clients valuable tools to keep lowering their premiums are ultimately the brokers that will profit in this unpredictable market.

Workers Compensation Premium Recovery is the quickest and easiest way to help clients and prospects reduce their workers comp premiums. Also remember that the split point change has caused many employers with high premiums to have higher experience mods and thereby higher premiums, before even taking into account the higher loss cost rates.

Apex Services is a workers compensation premium recovery firm for brokers and employers. For more information about Apex, please visit: www.apexservices.com. Or, you can call Simon at (516) 791-3400.
 

Business Insurance

September 9, 2013

Commercial lines insurance prices continued their trend of steady increases during the second quarter of 2013, according to Towers Watson & Co.'s most recent Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey, increasing by 6% over prices during the same period in 2012.

The pricing information reported by insurers for this year's second quarter was consistent in magnitude with the price increases reported for the last five quarters, Towers Watson said, with prices overall and by line of business largely consistent with the price increases seen during 2013's first quarter.

The largest price increases during the second quarter were in workers compensation and employment practices liability lines, Towers Watson said, with no line of business having an overall price increase of less than 4%.

Towers Watson said price increases were seen across all sizes of accounts for standard commercial lines coverage during the second quarter, with larger increases seen on middle-market accounts than on large or small accounts. Prices for specialty lines coverage continued to increase at nearly the same rate as those for standard lines during the April-June period, according to the report.

CLIPS data is based on information about both new and renewing business Towers Watson obtains directly from the insurers underwriting the business. Participating insurers represent a cross section of U.S. property/casualty insurers, Towers Watson said, with 40 insurers representing approximately 20% of the U.S. commercial insurance market (excluding state workers compensation funds) participating in the most recent survey.

It's not a surprise that workers compensation premium rates had the largest increase. It can also be expected that overall commercial rates are up 6% because rates seem to be skyrocketing everywhere. Here at Apex Services, workers compensation premium recovery has been booming over the past several months, which means that employers are seeing some very rapid workers comp premium increases and are looking for some very fast help. We've gotten emails and phone calls from controllers, CFO's, and finance executives who are really concerned about the type of increases that they've never seen before. We're happy that our expertise is really paying off by showing significant workers compensation refunds for employers nationwide. Of course, many of these referrals are from brokers that want to give their clients the maximum savings to show them that they'll stop at nothing to help maintain their clients and win new business.

August 16, 2013

Wink News

Insurance companies are seeking a one percent increase in workers compensation rates in Florida.

If granted it would mark the fourth straight year of rate hikes. Employers purchase workers compensation insurance to cover on-the-job injuries. The state Office of Insurance Regulation announced Friday it had received a proposal from the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The council is a rating and data collection agency owned by insurance companies. It submits rate filings on their behalf.
    
If state regulators approve the rate hike would go into effect Jan. 1.

The rate hike was proposed even though state lawmakers passed a measure this year that capped how much doctors can get paid for prescribing certain drugs used by injured workers.

A public hearing will be held on the proposal in October.

If you are a broker who writes workers comp in Florida, especially with clients who renew on January 1st or later, you should realize that these rate increases mean an increase in your clients' premiums. Whether these rates get approved or not, you can expect rates to continue to go up anyway, considering the hardening market. Employers who see such big increases in their workers comp insurance will start shopping around for a cheaper policy elsewhere. Workers compenastion premium recovery is the quickest and easiest way to help your clients obtain workers compensation refunds and help them have a better underwriting profile for the renewal marketplace. Keep your existing clients happy, increase your book of business, and add a new revenue stream.