Declarations

Less Negative Impact

“Overall, the findings can be viewed as reassuring, in that an aging workforce may have less negative impact on loss costs than originally thought.”

—Tanya Restrepo and Harry Shuford, researchers at the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), found that while loss costs are higher for older workers due to the severity of their claims, these costs tend to be accounted for in higher premiums, which are based on the higher wages earned by older workers. Their study, “Workers Compensation and the Aging Workforce,” found that workers’ compensation claims frequency has fallen across all age groups and differences by age have narrowed.

Generally Underfunded

“Monetarily, in general, the state fire services are underfunded.”

—Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas, says 77 percent of the fire service in the state comes from volunteer departments. A combination of record drought, epic wildfires, hard economic times and slashed state funding has stressed the more than 1,400 volunteer fire departments in Texas. The state cut its annual volunteer fire department grants last year from $25 million to $7 million, Barron said. AP

Coverage and Premium

“These companies, by and large, offer the same coverage at a reduced premium.”

—Richard Robertson, CEO of Louisiana Citizens Property Corp. The property insurer of last resort continues to move policies to private insurers. Citizens moved almost 11,000 homeowner and commercial policies to private insurers, a process it calls “depopulation.” That leaves about 105,000 home policies and 5,500 commercial business policies under the Citizens umbrella.

A Differentiator

“It’s becoming a differentiator when agents choose where to place business.”

—ACORD’s Cal Durland on agents’ preference for carriers with real-time capabilities.