Posts Tagged ‘California’

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California Legislature FINALLY Passes 2010-2011 Budget

October 11th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance news, workers compensation insurance

Californians will be relieved to know that their state Legislature has finally approved a new budget for it’s 2010-2011 fiscal year, passing it a hundred days after its deadline. The new budged includes projects that will save CalPERS $100 billion though part of that plan involves rolling back pension benefits that were approved eleven years ago. Other reforms to the state’s pension system are also included.

Governor Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the budget, though he can – and may – line-item veto individual spending items.

Especially grateful for the announcement of the new deal was the Division of Workers’ Compensation, which recently announced that the payment of benefits to some workers would have to end because there was no more money.

Even though the budget has been passed, it’s still coming under criticism for it’s optimistic revenue projections, which includes more federal money than most people believe the state will actually receive. In addition, the budget doesn’t solve the problem of the California deficit; it merely shifts spending to the following fiscal year.

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Friday Filmstrips: Earthquake Insurance

August 6th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in earthquake insurance, friday filmstrips

If you live in California, earthquakes are inevitable, but did you know only about 10% of homeowners have earthquake insurance? For this week’s Friday Filmstrip, we share a video from You Tube and the Insurance Journal:

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California Insurance Commissioner Announces Health Insurance Rate Transparency

July 27th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in health insurance, insurance news

You already know that shopping online can save you money on health insurance, but now the state of California has established a system that will alert consumers via email when new health insurance rates are filed in their individual markets.

Speaking to the press, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said, “We want as many people as possible scouring these rate filings to ensure they are mistake-free. The e-mail notification tool will expand access to these documents by informing the public of when there are new filings to peruse. This additional analysis, in conjunction with scrutiny by the Department of Insurance’s in house actuaries and independent actuaries retained by the Department, will help ensure that consumers are protected and insurers are spending 70 percent of premiums on medical benefits, as required by state law.”

Consumers who wish to participate in this program should visit http://www.insurance.ca.gov/email-updates/ and select which of the Department of Insurance’s updates they would like to receive.

Recently, Commissioner Poizner also that he wanted to create transparency by posting all health insurance rate filings for the individual market on the California Department of Insurance’s Web site. They can be found at http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/IndHlthRateFilings/, where interested readers are also able to post comments which will be read by CDI attorneys.

Additionally, Poizner announced that the rate filings of the four largest insurers in California’s individual health insurance will be subject to deeper scrutiny, by having them analyzed by an outside actuary. After today, the only large insurer that doesn’t have an active filing with the CDI is Health Net.

Health insurance rates in California do not require prior approval from the Department of Insurance the way homeowners and auto insurance rates do, but state law does require that seventy cents of every dollar collected in health insurance premiums must be spent on medical benefits. The actuarial review being instituted will allow verification that insurers are complying with this law.

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California Workers Comp Rates Are Too Low

April 16th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance news, insurance specialists, workers compensation insurance

The Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) of California has issued a report stating that written premiums for the year of 2009 are too low. Specifically, the gross written premium for last calendar year is about $8.9 billion, which is 17% lower than the reported numbers for 2008 and only 62% of the 2004 total.

This data was released in the organization’s “Summary of December 31, 2009 Insurer Experience,” in which WCIRB projected $6.9 billion in total accident year loses for 2009, or nine percent beneath the 2008 level. Further projections include an ulitamte accident year (AY) loss ratio of 75% for 2009, which is six percent higher than the estimated value for AY 2008, and the highest loss ratio since 2002.

The Bureau does has not yet compiled expense data for 2009, but it did say that the combined ratio is likely to be significantly higher than 2008′s 108%.

According to WCIRB, the average 2009 indemnity claim will cost about $58,000, which figure represents a 4% increase over 2008, after three years of 13%/year increases.

So what does this mean to Californians? Take a close look at your benefits packages – your company may have to pay more, and they may find a way to pass that payment on to you.

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