Regardless of your expertise on the water, proper boating safety should be followed every time you hit the water. Be sure to review these boating safety tips with any passengers on board to ensure everyone’s wellbeing as well as reduce any risk to your insurance policy.

Compare a colonoscopy procedure from one provider to another and you probably won’t find much difference. Compare the costs between several different providers and the differences will surprise you!

According to a June 1, 2013 article in the NY Times, a comparison of colonoscopy charges revealed that the costs varied

Since most homeowners policies provide minimal jewelry coverage if your item is stolen, misplaced, or lost, and some policies even exclude coverage for misplacing or losing an item entirely, it is important to list valuable jewelry items separately on your homeowners policy or in some cases on a separate policy.  The most important reason to have jewelry appraised is to determine an adequate replacement value in the event of a loss. Over the years, the value of jewelry and gemstones have fluctuated greatly.

When we created our GESOP (Gibson Employee Stock Ownership Plan) at the end of 2010, we had several goals in mind:

The Indiana General Assembly passed and Gov. Pence has signed into law HB 1320, which introduces a fee schedule into Indiana’s workers’ compensation statute. Over 25 states have enacted fee schedule legislation since the mid-1990s to impose a limit or cap on medical reimbursement. Insurers generally favor fee schedules while medical providers generally oppose it. Indiana will now have a schedule set at 200% of Medicare reimbursement levels.

Prior to this passing, Indiana had relied on a “usual and customary” method, which had many pitfalls. Both the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) and theNational Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) have published studies showing how, overall, “usual and customary” states had higher comparable medical costs and higher rates of increases in cost.

The Indiana General Assembly passed and Gov. Pence has signed into law HB 1320, which introduces a fee schedule into Indiana’s workers’ compensation statute. Over 25 states have enacted fee schedule legislation since the mid-1990s to impose a limit or cap on medical reimbursement. Insurers generally favor fee schedules while medical providers generally oppose it. Indiana will now have a schedule set at 200% of Medicare reimbursement levels.

Prior to this passing, Indiana had relied on a “usual and customary” method, which had many pitfalls. Both the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) and theNational Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) have published studies showing how, overall, “usual and customary” states had higher comparable medical costs and higher rates of increases in cost.

1. Insurer investment returns

The financial crisis of 2008 caused insurers to write down their investment portfolios and reallocate seeking higher returns. However, with a prevalence of low-yielding investments, attractive returns were not possible. Furthermore, credit quality impaired insurer’s massive corporate bonds holdings. For insurers with an international footprint there was also the impact of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the drain on surplus caused by 2011 delivering one of the worst worldwide catastrophic loss years on record. Interest rates on 10-year treasury notes have been following a downward trend for over a decade and are now at all-time record lows. Since roughly 80% of the property-casualty industry’s bond/cash investments are in 10-year or shorter durations, most insurer portfolios will have low-yielding bonds for years to come. In addition, the recession reduced demand for workers’ comp (demand = payroll).

1. Insurer investment returns

The financial crisis of 2008 caused insurers to write down their investment portfolios and reallocate seeking higher returns. However, with a prevalence of low-yielding investments, attractive returns were not possible. Furthermore, credit quality impaired insurer’s massive corporate bonds holdings. For insurers with an international footprint there was also the impact of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the drain on surplus caused by 2011 delivering one of the worst worldwide catastrophic loss years on record. Interest rates on 10-year treasury notes have been following a downward trend for over a decade and are now at all-time record lows. Since roughly 80% of the property-casualty industry’s bond/cash investments are in 10-year or shorter durations, most insurer portfolios will have low-yielding bonds for years to come. In addition, the recession reduced demand for workers’ comp (demand = payroll).

Unhealthy, unproductive, unengaged employees are among an employer’s largest strategic risks. Employers have seen this in health insurance rates for years. Now, the workers’ compensation insurers are starting to pay attention. Workers’ compensation insurers are coming to the realization that safety programs aren’t enough. Yes, these programs are necessary and beneficial, but they don’t address the health and wellness of each individual employee and often fail to impact employee engagement focusing instead on physical hazards (e.g. machine guarding). Insurers recognize the changing demographic of today’s employees: an aging workforce that’s retiring at an older age and more likely to be overweight. This is leading to comorbid health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Taken together, these elements have the makings of a perfect storm.

Imagine this scenario: Mary is in the supply room getting a box of paper. It falls on and injures her foot. Her employer sends an incident report to their workers’ compensation carrier. A few days later, Mary’s foot is still bothering her with an ulcer forming at the impact site. Mary gets medical treatment, but the ulcer won’t heal. Fast-forward a few months to the possibility of Mary losing her foot - a complication of untreated diabetes. Of course, this is an extreme example, but it’s one that’s becoming a trend.

As Health Care Reform is implemented, the debate continues on two fronts: (1) is the law truly going to impact costs and (2) how will the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured impact provider access? While these two topics have dominated the discussion, there has been little discussion on how health literacy will impact both.