Agent News

Rate Changes

Please take note the upcoming rate changes in various states.

Core States

The following core states have a pending rate change. New rates are not yet available in eLink; however, some renewing policies may be viewable in the renewal index. Please refrain from releasing quotes and renewals for these states until rates are updated.

Iowa

Effective Jan. 1, 2016, Accident Fund is adopting NCCI’s rate change in the state of Iowa with an overall industry rate level increase of 2.7%. The actual change will vary by class. In addition, we’re making a slight adjustment to our rate deviation for Accident Fund Insurance Company of America from -5% to -3%. New rates became available in our eLink system on Nov. 3, 2015.

Kansas

Effective Jan. 1, 2016, Accident Fund is adopting the NCCI loss costs in Kansas. The overall average loss cost level decrease is 11.6% for the voluntary market, but rates will vary by class. These new rates became available in our eLink system on Nov. 9, 2015.

Accommodation States

Please be sure to discuss pricing options for all new business and renewals with your business development consultant

Legislative Update

Legislative Update is a brief synopsis of relevant legislative activity currently taking place in Accident Fund core and accommodation states. For more details or further documentation on any of these legislative activities, contact your business development consultant.

Federal

NCOIL Panel to Examine Workers’ Compensation Opt-Out Approaches

The National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) Workers’ Compensation Insurance Committee has decided to investigate workers’ compensation opt-in/opt-out approaches in Texas and Oklahoma, which are being considered by other state lawmakers. Panel Chair and North Dakota State Senator Tom Klein said that the Texas and Oklahoma systems raise questions about protections for injured workers. As previously communicated, Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. will oppose opt-out initiatives wherever introduced. We feel opt-out systems put injured worker quality of care at risk as well as initiate cost shifting to federal and state programs.

State

Illinois

Workers’ Compensation Litigation

Of related interest is the recent Folta v. Ferro Engineering decision by the Illinois Supreme Court. This decision overturned an adverse appellate court decision and sustained the exclusive remedy doctrine where the employee was time-bared from asserting a claim under Illinois’ occupational disease statute, even though the disease did not manifest until after the right to bring an action had expired. Although the majority of the court, in its 4-2 decision, recognized the harsh result to a survivor of an employee, now deceased, unable to recover only because his occupational disease did not manifest during the 25-year statute of repose, it validated the policy of such a provision by providing some degree of certainty to liability exposure for long-latency diseases. We should expect legislation that would reverse the effect of this decision to be introduced into the legislature in 2016.

Workers’ Compensation Legislative Update

There has been little substantive progress in the standoff between Governor Bruce Rauner (R) and Democrat legislators over resolution of the state’s budget and related business reforms. The industry remains engaged with staff from the governor’s office and legislators; continuing to recommend prescription drug reforms, a Medicare-based fee schedule and chiropractic care reforms.

Disclaimer of Liability

This document is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is subject to change. Every effort is made to provide accurate and complete information in Accident Fund Holding’s Legislative Update. However, Accident Fund Holdings makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of the Update and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this newsletter.

All content within the Legislative Update is the property of Accident Fund Holdings, Inc., unless otherwise stated. All rights are reserved. No part of the Update may be reproduced, transmitted or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Accident Fund Holdings.

S.A.F.E. Campaign – Preparing your Organization for Winter Weather

Nearly one third of workers’ comp claims in the Midwest are caused by slips and falls on ice and snow. Now in its fifth year, Accident Fund’s S.A.F.E. Slip and Fall Elimination campaign increases awareness of winter weather-related slip-and-fall injuries and offers steps that can be taken to reduce their likelihood.

Throughout the winter season, you and your customers can access our WorkSafe Solutions e-blasts, as well as our S.A.F.E. website to gain valuable information on weather-related safety. Topics include:

• Snow and ice removal programs
• Salting and surface treatments
• The importance of wearing proper footwear
• The importance of slip-and-fall prevention all year long

We’re confident our array of materials will help your customers stay S.A.F.E. this winter, no matter what the forecast has in store.

Be sure to encourage your Accident Fund customers to visit our campaign for more information. If you have any questions, please contact me or your WorkSafe Consultant.

Accident Fund Recognized as a “Best Place to Work in Insurance” by Business Insurance

We’re proud to announce that Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. – including Accident Fund and our three sister brands (CompWest, Third Coast Underwriters and United Heartland) – has been selected as a Best Place to Work in Insurance for 2015 by Business Insurance. We were honored to make the list and even more so once we were told we were ranked No. 2 in the Large Employer category!

Business Insurance launched the Best Places to Work in Insurance program in 2009 to identify and recognize high-quality employers in the commercial insurance industry and honor them for creating workplaces that encourage employees to thrive. Accident Fund Holdings and its brands have an excellent reputation for creating a positive workplace culture focused on open communication and a commitment to inclusion and innovation. This atmosphere encourages employees to work hard and best serve our agents and policyholders.

We were excited to see some of our agency partners make the list as well. Congratulations to the following for their ‘Best Places to Work’ recognition:

We are proud to once again be considered among the Best Places to Work in Insurance and pleased to share this recognition with our agency partners.

Uplink™ Offers an Efficient Way of Doing Business with Accident Fund

As we mentioned last month, we’ve recently partnered with Appulate to provide a new data bridge for uploading business – at no cost to our agents. Appulate Uplink™ is a simple and comprehensive ACORD XML data bridge that allows agents to upload policy information from their agency management system and push the data directly to Accident Fund. Uplink™ works with any agency management system on the market and converts ACORD forms from the agency management system into ACORD XML that can populate our online rating system – eLink.

If you have questions about Uplink, contact your business development consultant. For instructions on how to install the Uplink Virtual Print Driver, click here.