RIMS Benchmark Survey: downturn in commercial rates
Commercial insurance renewal premiums in the third quarter were down by more than 5% from rates in the same quarter last year, although the survey notes that workers comp was the only major line to drop by less than 5%, with an average reduction of 3.75%. However, for many respondents, the effects of hurricane season hadn’t yet been factored into prices.
ADA protects persons “associated with” the disabled
Diane Pfadenhauer discusses a less widely recognized provision of the Americans With Disabilities Act that extends legal protections to those individuals who are associated with a disabled person.
October is Disability Awareness Month
According to the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM), there are 33 million people in the United States with disabilities and the unemployment rate for this population is 44%. SHRM notes that many employers fear high costs associated with making accommodations for workers with disabilities, but 38% of employers have not had to spend any money on accommodations and an additional 17% have spent less than $500.
For a whole different outlook on disability, you may want to see a film called Murderball about a team of quadriplegic rugby players. Some time back, Larry King featured a very compelling interview with a few of the charismatic team members – what an inspiration!
Ohio: many oppose privatization of workers comp
Despite the recent investment scandals, it seems that many employers, attorneys, and unions are unified in opposition to the idea of privatizing the state workers’ compensation system. Ohio is one of a diminishing number of monopolistic states. The current Bureau of Workers Compensation system was established in 1995 with a nine-member Workers’ Compensation Oversight Commission. Since then, it has been credited with speeding up claims and reducing premiums by an average of more than 30%.
The Best-laid Disaster Plans Are Merely Works in Progress
Workforce features an article offering an overview of problems and issues that HR departments faced in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. The article profiles the experiences of three large employers – Entergy, Sodexho USA, and McDonalds – and some of the creative problem-solving that was required to locate and retain workers, communicate with workers despite the collapse of the communication infrastructure, arrange payments and administer benefit programs, and assist workers and their families in resolving various psycho-social issues.
12 picks for America’s Safest Companies of 2005
Occupational Hazards recognizes a dozen companies that set their own standards for safety excellence, exceeding OSHA and EPA regulations and industry norms. Safety efforts in these companies were generally characterized by high employee involvement and superior management commitment.
Insider View of the Vioxx trials in NJ
Robert Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams from Law.com’s arsenal of law bloggers offer first hand accounts from inside the courtroom at the VIOXX trial underway in New Jersey.
Also. from Legal Talk Network’s Workers Comp Matters:
Latex allergies in the workplace with Sandra Jutras, a career clinical nurse who developed a serious level one latex allergy; Attorney Jim Brady, and Dr. Gail Lenehan, national advocate and member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s Congress on Occupational Health and Safety.
Medicare set-aside allocations – Jean Feldman of CHOICE Medical Management discusses the complex issue of workers compensation Medicare set-aside allocations.
Making a difference
We can all sometimes get bogged down in the status quo and wonder if it’s still worth it to try to effect a change. It’s good to be reminded how one person can make an enormous difference – rest in peace, Rosa Parks. The LA Times has a wonderful tribute to this remarkable woman. (free registration required)
Posts Tagged ‘Ohio’
News roundup: Premium rates, ADA, disability awareness, OHIO privatization, and more
Wednesday, October 26th, 2005Insurance industry scandal watch
Tuesday, August 9th, 2005Joe Paduda has been doing so much heavy lifting in his diligent tracking of the many investigations into insurance wrongdoing that we are thinking he may need to change his blog name to “Scandal Central.” It’s almost like one of those whack-a-mole carnival games – new developments seem to keep popping to the surface daily.
Today, Joe reports on a guilty plea filed by an underwriter from a Liberty Mutual subsidiary who was submitting unattractive bids to Marsh McLennan. This enabled the broker to steer clients to insurers with the best commissions.
Yesterday, Joe reported on similar charges being levied against Arthur Gallagher & Co, the offshoot of a probe into practices involving several large public entities, an investigation that Florida’s Attorney General says may involve bid rigging. This follows on the heels of other Florida problems that surfaced in Broward County involving Gallagher Bassett and Corvel.*
Last Friday, Joe blogged about 14 insurance execs from Marsh, AIG, and Zurich who pled guilty to various charges in the Spitzer investigations.
He’s also recently updated the Ohio coingate developments, a many-headed hydra of scandal that is now ensnaring Governor Taft. Some other problems have been bubbling to the surface with the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, too, in the form of unusual markups paid to servicing hospitals.
A collective black eye
Whether we want to or not, all of us who work in the industry have front row seats to these sorry spectacles since they involve some of the industry “leaders.” As an industry, we will be years restoring good faith with clients. And though I have no sympathy for the malefactors, I do feel badly for some of the decent, conscientious workers in the scandal-riddled firms. If things follow the patterns of other recent corporate scandals, a few bigwigs may or may not be called to account, but the real price may well be paid by the hundreds, if not thousands, of honest workers when the inevitable job reductions and reorganizations ensue.
Many of these firms were the trusted vendors that employers turned to as stewards of their loss experience and as watchdogs for fraud. Ironically, while the back door was being guarded by pit-bulls to prevent a few wayward employees from making off with the piggy bank, the front door was wide open so the serious thieves could saunter off with the safe.
The bottom line: caveat emptor
We’ve long been proponents of the idea that employers need to be active, savvy buyers and managers of their workers comp programs, but never more so than now. For most employers, workers comp is not simply a matter of dollars and cents (although that is reason enough to pay attention), it is also a matter of employee relations and reputation management. When hiring vendors to assist in these matters, we’ve always encouraged employers to buy for quality, not for price, but the fact that these scandals are tarnishing some of the “quality” names in our industry says that employer scrutiny doesn’t reach deep enough. And, for the most part, we aren’t talking about the mom and pop employer here – many of the employers who were gouged are large corporations with legions of lawyers and accountants. It sure looks like it’s time for buyers to step up due diligence in the “trusted vendor” selection process.
*edited on 8/10. The second news item dealt with Gallagher Bassett, not Arthur Gallager & Co.
Lifting guidelines and RTW
Monday, December 15th, 2003The Ohio Bureau of Workers Comp and Ohio State University have teamed up on a research project that studies back injuries and reinjuries that can occur when people return to work. As an offshoot of the research, they developed an interactive lifting resource with guidelines intended to help employers and physicians in developing realistic transitional work programs. Considering that back injuries cause more time away from work than anything besides the common cold, it’s a resource worth checking out.
A cautionary tale
Wednesday, October 15th, 2003More than 1,000 small employers in Ohio were left in the lurch for workers compensation and health care coverage when Team America Inc., a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), filed bankruptcy last week. Employers take note: engaging a PEO does not release you from your responsibility to cover workers by a valid workers’ compensation policy.
Check these useful tips from the California Department of Industrial Relations that will help in determining the legitimacy of your workers comp coverage under a PEO.
