Last Grasp for Health Insurers?

To follow up from my post yesterday, it seems that health insurers are trying to get all their premium now before the congress passes a health reform bill. Most of my clients are seeing 20%, 30% and even 40% rate increases for their upcoming health plan renewals. This will create a major financial burden on business owners. I will suspect that many will drop their employee health plans.  Stay tuned      Kevin
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Popular posts from this blog

Delaware Legislature Preparing To Revisit Dram Shop Liability

Here we go again. Representative Peterson is preparing to introduce limited dram shop liability for consideration. The legislation caps the liability at $250,000 but, as is usually the case, this creates a starting point where limits are eventually increased once it's decided by the powers that be that the current limit is too low. This also puts restaurants, bars, etc, at an increased risk due to the vague wording of the legislation, specifically "reckless" sale of alcohol by the business. Also, you can be sure that if this legislation is passed, that rates will go up commensurately for not only Liquor Liability coverage, but if actual damages begin to be paid out under this law, that insurance rates on the whole will see an increase.
Read more

Important to notify insurance company of potential liability claims

Image
When trying to manage their insurance policies, many business owners make the decision not to turn in potential claims and decide to take care of them on their own. By paying for small claims, such as property damage, etc, they strive to keep claim frequency down and in turn keep renewal premiums down. One area of insurance they should not try to manage though is potential liability situations/claims. Most policy conditions require prompt notification of any potential liability claims to the insurance company and if a claim isn't turned in promptly, the policy language does note that the company can deny a claim due to late notification. It's important to do this early on since information/memories are still fresh and it gives the insurance company time to completely investigate the potential claim. The potential for a liability claim is most likely the small business owner's greatest area of risk, whether they operate a restaurant, cleaning service or any other busi...
Read more

Taking a look at your premises and operations liability exposure

When reviewing your organization's loss exposure it's a good idea to have an idea as to what your premises liability and operations loss exposure is. This exposure is the possibility that your organization will be held liable due to bodily injury or property damage caused by either an accident occurring on your premises or an accident occurring away for your premises arising out of your organization's ongoing operations. A couple examples would be if a customer or visitor slips and falls due to either a slippery surface or uneven stairs, or if a customer's truck is damaged while being loaded by one of your forklifts. The organization's liability is usually based upon their supposed negligence. Let's face it, in today's legal climate the degree of care is just about always going to be in your lap and not due to a lack of care on the part of a customer/client. When doing an in depth exposure review, this area is usually the best place to start.
Read more