Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio and Empire State Development Chairman Charles A. Gargano today announced the creation of a newly dedicated "captive group" and the launch of a new Web site designed to fast-track applications for captive formation. In order to be even more responsive to the needs of a rapidly changing insurance marketplace, New York’s businesses will now have dedicated contacts in the Department of Insurance to answer all captive insurance questions and process captive applications within 30 days of the receipt of a fully completed application.

Governor George E. Pataki signed New York’s first captive legislation in August 1997, authorizing the formation of captive insurance companies in the State. Captives are created when a business or groups of businesses join to insure or reinsure their own risk. Captives and their managers operate free of most regulatory constraints, serving exclusively the companies or industries that form them. Allowing corporations to set up their self-insurance programs in New York creates jobs, while at the same time cutting costs for these corporations who in the past had to maintain separate staff and offices in another jurisdictions.

Source: State of New York

Atlanta -- In 2002, Insurance Commissioner John W. Oxendine’s Consumer Services
Division helped tens of thousands of Georgia consumers settle disputes with their insurance companies, returning almost $18.7 million in insurance claims to these consumers, money they might not have received without his help.

Source: State of Georgia

The committee was selected by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao last December and is tasked with advising her and the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA on ergonomic guidelines, research, outreach and assistance. Chartered for two years, the committee met for the first time today.

Discussion among committee members centered on task-specific guidelines, research needs and efforts, and outreach and assistance methods to communicate the value of ergonomics.

OSHA announced last April the agency's strategy to reduce ergonomic injuries. The four-pronged approach includes guidelines, research, outreach and assistance, and enforcement. Since then, three industries -- nursing homes, retail grocery stories, and poultry processing -- have stepped forward to work with the agency to create the first sets of guidelines.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Insurance companies will be prohibited from using credit records to cancel or not renew current policyholders under rules adopted by the Oregon Insurance Division. The division developed the rules in response to consumer complaints about the growing use of credit-based "insurance scores" to determine eligibility and premiums for auto and homeowner policies.

A recent survey of the 100 largest personal auto insurance writers by Conning & Company found that 92 percent used insurance scoring, and the practice also is commonly used for homeowner policies. Insurers say credit data, along with traditional underwriting factors such as driving record or type of home, helps them more accurately predict future claim costs and price their products accordingly.

The rules allow insurers to continue using credit for assessing new applicants and for setting appropriate premium levels, but companies must develop written policies that ensure consumers are treated consistently and fairly, and must provide actuarial documentation for any use of credit in setting premium levels.

Source: State of Oregon

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner delivered a report on the impact of credit scoring on consumers to the Legislature. While the results are too varied across different insurers’ situations for a clear pattern to emerge, the study found unequal effects were too common to be random events.
Companies provided data on the policyholders including age, gender, residential zip code, policy start dates and credit scores and/or rate classifications.
Approximately 3,000 randomly chosen consumers from the three insurance companies surveyed were contacted by phone and asked questions regarding their ethnicity, marital status and income level.

Income also was found to be a significant factor. The study found that as incomes rise, credit scores improve and premiums go down. Credit scoring raised the average costs for poor policyholders relative to affluent policyholders.
Ethnicity was found to be significant in some cases. However, due to the differences among the three companies studied and the small number of minorities in the sample, the results were not broadly conclusive. In general, Asian/Pacific Islanders and whites had better credit scores than other minorities. When other minority groups had significant differences from whites, the differences were in the direction of higher premiums.

Source: State of Washington

First aid treatment is included as medical care that all employers must provide for their injured employees. In conjunction with the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation, CDI wants to remind all employers, physicians, insurance carriers and self- insurers of the need to comply with Section 6409(a) of the California Labor Code.

Section 6409(a) requires a physician who treats an injured employee to file a DFR ("Doctor’s First Report of Injury") with the claims administrator for every work illness or injury, even first aid cases where there is no lost time from work. Although the Labor Code contains "first aid" exceptions for the Employers’ Report (Form 5020) and the Employee Claim Form (DWC-1), there is no such exception for the DFR. The insurance carrier (or the employer if the employer is self-insured) must forward these DFR’s to the Department of Industrial Relations. There is no "first aid" exception to this statute.

CDI and DIR believe there are improper arrangements in place between some medical providers and employers that allow the employer to dictate how injuries are to be classified by the physicians. In some cases, and at the request of the employers, the physicians send the "Doctors First Report of injury" (DFR) only to the employers and not to the insurance carriers. This arrangement occurs even though the injuries clearly are beyond first aid. This agreement is often marketed to employers as a way to keep premiums from rising or to lower them. Such marketing practices are both improper and may also contribute to possible criminal violations related to premium fraud and the fraudulent denial of workers’ compensation benefits to injured workers.

Source: State of California

All insured's and applicants are cautioned that homeowners/commercial fire and extended coverage insurance policies do not provide coverage for earthquake damage.

The definition of an earthquake:

• is a shaking or trembling of the earth that is geologic or tectonic in nature;
  
  
• includes shock waves or tremors before, during or after a volcanic eruption; and
  
  
• can also include after-shocks that occur within a seventy-two hour period following an earthquake.

A typical homeowners or commercial fire and extended coverage insurance policy:

• does not cover the cost to replace or repair a damaged dwelling, premises or structures, such as garages, resulting from an earthquake;
  
  
• does not cover the cost to replace or repair the contents of a home or business if the damages result from an earthquake; and
  
  
• does not pay for any additional living or business expenses if a property is badly damaged or destroyed by an earthquake.
  
  

Historically, an earthquake in New Jersey is a rare event, although the possibility exists that it could happen. Over the five-year period from 1997 to 2002, for every $1 of earthquake insurance premium, 3/10 of one cent has been paid out for losses.

Source: State of New Jersey

New York State Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio, in collaboration with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), encouraged consumers to get smart about their coverage during ‘Get Smart About Insurance Week’, January 20–24, 2003.

"Get Smart About Insurance Week prompts us to advise that all New Yorkers review their insurance policies to ensure that you and your family are properly covered. Consumers should take this opportunity to make certain that they have the affordable, comprehensive insurance coverage they need and the Insurance Department is your best resource for all insurance-related questions and concerns," said Serio.
In addition to utilizing the Department’s resources, here are some steps consumers can take to get smart about their insurance coverage:

• Consumers should know what kind of coverage they need before they shop around.
  
  
• Schedule a routine "check-up" with your insurance providers at least once a year.
  
  
• Inquire about the cost benefit of opting for higher deductibles.
  
  
• Ask specifically about discounts for good driving records, good health, good grades, special education or training.
  
  
• Shop around for identical products and services. Not every company charges the same rate.
  
  
• Remember an insurance policy is a legal document. Read it carefully.
  
  

Source: State of New York

An Austin judge has ordered a London- and Canada-based organization to stop marketing boat and other watercraft insurance in Texas without a license and to pay a $1 million fine imposed last year by Commissioner Jose Montemayor.
The insurance carrier for International Water Marine Safety Foundation is an unlicensed Panamanian company, North American Marine General Insurance Co.

Source: State of Texas

Ann Womer Benjamin officially assumed her duties as the 45th director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, the first woman to hold the office. On Friday, January 3, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer administered the oath of office to the Aurora native.

Source: State of Ohio