Risk & Business

It was recently announced that the DCRB and the Insurance Department of Delaware have reached an agreement on the increase in Delaware work comp rates. It looks like 14% is the new number for 2014. Business owners may feel somewhat relieved as it was discussed that the rates should go up 40% or more. However 14% is nothing to sneeze at, as most business owners will still have a tough time paying for the increase in a lagging Delaware economy. The work comp rate making game has become an event most Delaware business owners have come to expect. Each year DCRB gives a suggested loss cost rate increase and the Insurance Department pushes back. Sometime after the start of the new year new rate structures are approved. What is problematic with this system is the affect it has on small business and the Delaware economy. Business owners have a hard time planning their budgets for the new year as work comp is a big number on their income statements and has to be factored in. Most of my clients ...

A recent insurance industry study makes is very clear that most insurance buyers are willing to buy insurance from other than agents and brokers. Names like Google and Amazon were top on the list as places consumers would buy insurance from. What does this mean for the traditional model of insurance selling? Change is on the way fellas! Over the last few decades online selling of insurance has continually grown and has dramatically realigned the agent/broker model of selling insurance. Agents and brokers have adapted by having online abilities for consumer buying. However if big marketing companies like Google and Amazon get into the business of selling insurance, agents and brokers may find it hard to compete. Most insurance buyers feel insurance is a commodity, so big marketing budgets could make it hard for traditional sales models. The one saving grace for agents and brokers is the service side. Google and Amazon may find it hard to deliver the one on one hand holding that agents a...