We've just come across something I think worthy of comment, something that seems...unusual, at the least. We;ve discovered that QBE Insurance is using Consent to Rate filings on a large scale basis to get the Workers Comp manual rates for individual policyholders significantly increased. We've found numerous filings in Georgia and Illinois but my suspicion is that if we look, we'll find the same thing going on in a number of other states as well.
What's the significance? Well, for one thing, I think a lot of companies kind of operate on the assumption that the manual rate used for Workers Comp classifications are largely uniform. Now, in recent times, that isn't exactly so, as insurers in a great many states are free to file their own schedule of rates for Workers Comp insurance.
But Consent To File allows insurers to use higher rates that apply just to a single policyholder. But they're doing it for a lot of individual policyholders, it seems.
The potential problem, I think, is that some of these policyholders may not do much, if any, comparison shopping for their Workers Comp insurance. And so they may be unaware that they are being singled out, on a voluntary market policy, for the application of manual rates that are just about (or just slightly lower) than assigned risk rates.
This is all perfectly legal. But my advice, to anyone considering a Workers Comp proposal from QBE, would be to comparison shop the hell out of your Workers Comp insurance. And don't rely on a single agent or broker, as they may have a financial incentive to sell policies with these higher rates.
No comments:
Post a Comment