Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Riders Appeal To Clients Who Just Won't Buy Traditional DI
Check out this great article by Jay Drucker of AIG at National Underwriter!
Monday, May 7, 2007
New England Claim Association - Spring Meeting - Great Turnout!
May 4, 2007 - The spring meeting of the New England Claims Association in Chelmsford, MA boasted strong attendance and a terrific speaker. While it seems that most regional associations have suffered a loss in turnout over the last couple years, NECA has managed to draw back claims associates in droves - perhaps some due to strategic location and much part in due to quality programming.
John Allen of West Falmouth Associates gave a strong presentation, outlining the tools and strategies needed to attain and keep true job satisfaction. He addressed the reasons employees stay in their jobs and the reasons they leave, creating both a pathway to individual satisfaction as well as corporate retention.
The real story here, however was attendance. Virtually a "standing room only" crowd showed up, making for a lively discussion period in the breakout sessions following the main speaker. While one or two companies dominated the attendance, there was also a good mix of other companies represented, making for diverse opinions and practices, which greatly added to the discussions.
Thanks goes out to the NECA crew who pulled this together. Here's hoping you keep moving forward in this direction. Pictured below are Sue Abbott, Kimberly Biggs, Sorana Baba, Paula Bonina, Sandy DeCoff and Jim Papi (from bottom to top, left to right). Looking forward to the June golf outing! 
Keep up the good work!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
TWIN CITIES LIFE & HEALTH CLAIMS CONFERENCE
This was our first time attending this regional conference in Minneapolis, MN but we will certainly return next year. The conference was well attended by various local companies and vendors and offered a variety of informational sessions with experts in medical, legal and other relevant fields.
But who are these guys? None other than Tonic Sol Fa - a locally based (but nationally known) singing group (www.tonicsolfa.com). Fantastic! I've never actually attended a regional meeting of this size that had entertainment at the lunch break, but it was a great idea and certainly broke up the day. The caliber of the entertainment was amazing and spoke to the event organizers' abilities to put together a strong meeting.
The association is run by co-presidents Pamela Moore Roberts and Joe Evans of ING Reliastar and they are assisted by Treasurer Linda Paulson and Board Member Karen Nichols of Minnesota Life as well as Genae Nicole of Metropolitan Health Plan. (Pictured here are Karen, Joe and Linda, respectively).
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
DIS Employees Participate as Panelists at the Eastern Claims Conference - March 2007
Diabilitiy Insurance Specialists was well represented at this year's Eastern Claims Conference held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
Panelists included VP of Claims, Rita Holroyd, RN; Mary Anne Heleniak, RN, Jeff Champagne and Tom Loftus. Rita joined Michael Bell and Brett Preston to present the Do's and Don'ts of Deposition testimony. It was a light-hearted but informative session which they said was aimed mainly at the "novice" deponent, however the topics covered were a good reminder for anyone finding themselves under the spotlight in litigation.
Jeff joined Melissa Cowan to provide an update on recent developments in DI Litigation. Jeff and Melissa presented case studies and then asked the audience to vote on whether the outcome for the insurance carrier would be "Good, Bad or Ugly." Some of the outcomes were surprising and without question the information provided by Jeff and Melissa was a "must know" for all involved in DI Claim adjudication.
Mary Anne and Tom presented information on Voluntary Benefits sold through Worksite marketing and the trends that are emerging there. More and more carriers are getting in the game and a variety of factors affect the kind of results seen at claim time. Agent/broker training and knowledge level as well as available marketing material can have a strong impact on the caliber of clients the carrier ends up with as well as the retention levels that result from insureds understanding what they have purchased. Results at claim time have shown up to one-third of policies rescinded, one-third of claims denied and the remaining third approved.
For further details on any of these topics, feel free to leave a comment via the link below.
Panelists included VP of Claims, Rita Holroyd, RN; Mary Anne Heleniak, RN, Jeff Champagne and Tom Loftus. Rita joined Michael Bell and Brett Preston to present the Do's and Don'ts of Deposition testimony. It was a light-hearted but informative session which they said was aimed mainly at the "novice" deponent, however the topics covered were a good reminder for anyone finding themselves under the spotlight in litigation.
Jeff joined Melissa Cowan to provide an update on recent developments in DI Litigation. Jeff and Melissa presented case studies and then asked the audience to vote on whether the outcome for the insurance carrier would be "Good, Bad or Ugly." Some of the outcomes were surprising and without question the information provided by Jeff and Melissa was a "must know" for all involved in DI Claim adjudication.
Mary Anne and Tom presented information on Voluntary Benefits sold through Worksite marketing and the trends that are emerging there. More and more carriers are getting in the game and a variety of factors affect the kind of results seen at claim time. Agent/broker training and knowledge level as well as available marketing material can have a strong impact on the caliber of clients the carrier ends up with as well as the retention levels that result from insureds understanding what they have purchased. Results at claim time have shown up to one-third of policies rescinded, one-third of claims denied and the remaining third approved.
For further details on any of these topics, feel free to leave a comment via the link below.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Recent Article Featuring DIS's own Bill Bossi - written by Tim Meyer of Meyer Disability Consulting for the February/March '07 issue of "The Source"
...the STD manual rate basis is still extremely important.
Manual rates are often used to determine the relative pricing difference between benefit options. The relative price difference is then applied to actual experience (subject to underwriting judgment and discretion) to determine a proposed rate applicable for the revised plan of benefits. For example:
•A current inforce policyholder has a STD benefi t plan with
a 26-week benefi t duration, and has asked for a rate for a
plan with a 13-week benefi t duration.
•The STD manual rates show that the 13-week plan is 75
percent of the 26-week plan.
•The underwriter might adjust the actual experience under
the 26-week plan downward by 25 percent in developing
the proposed rates for the 13-week plan.
At the annual SOA meeting in Chicago this fall, Bill Bossi of Disability Insurance Specialists LLC presented the following, which indicates how sensitive STD profitability is to claim duration:
•If pricing anticipates a 65% loss ratio and a 5% profi t, and
average claim duration is 50 days, then a 1 day increase
in duration adds 2% to claim costs (equal to 1.3% of
premium).
•Additional claim cost of 1.3% of premium drops after-tax
margin to 4.15% or 83% of expected.
•A 1-day difference in expected claim duration is worth
17% on the bottom line!
This illustrates the significant impact the STD manual rate can have even for larger cases.
Block Demographic Changes/Shifts
Is the average duration of claim changing? Are incidence rates changing? Are maternity claims changing as a percentage of total claim costs? Note that the answer the above questions should also include an analysis of what was "expected". In other words, is the average duration of a claim changing, and is this expected? Are maternity
of business by plan design, SIC, etc., could result in these changes. As could a shift in demographics – higher/lower female content, changes in average age/age distribution of the block, etc. The best measure of "expected" is the manual rate basis. And if the manual rate basis has an adequate rate slope by age, adequate rates by gender, adequate rates by benefi t duration, etc., then all of the above changes could be occurring and yet the actual-to-manual claims ratio would remain constant, i.e. the changes are occurring but the resulting change in claim costs was expected.
Case Specifi c Demographic Shifts
The manual rate can play an important role in the renewal process by identifying changes in case specifi c demographics. Given no changes in the plan of benefi ts, a change in manual claim costs of a group over time indicates a change in underlying case demographics. When predicting claims for a future experience period, it may be appropriate to make a demographic adjustment to the historical claims experience
to refl ect this gradual change. The manual rate basis can serve as the tool for determining the appropriate adjustment to use.
The above are but a few examples of how the STD manual rate basis impacts the pricing and management of a STD block of business. These examples illustrate that devoting resources/time to ensure an adequate STD manual rate basis is key to a profi table, growing book of business.
Manual rates are often used to determine the relative pricing difference between benefit options. The relative price difference is then applied to actual experience (subject to underwriting judgment and discretion) to determine a proposed rate applicable for the revised plan of benefits. For example:
•A current inforce policyholder has a STD benefi t plan with
a 26-week benefi t duration, and has asked for a rate for a
plan with a 13-week benefi t duration.
•The STD manual rates show that the 13-week plan is 75
percent of the 26-week plan.
•The underwriter might adjust the actual experience under
the 26-week plan downward by 25 percent in developing
the proposed rates for the 13-week plan.
At the annual SOA meeting in Chicago this fall, Bill Bossi of Disability Insurance Specialists LLC presented the following, which indicates how sensitive STD profitability is to claim duration:
•If pricing anticipates a 65% loss ratio and a 5% profi t, and
average claim duration is 50 days, then a 1 day increase
in duration adds 2% to claim costs (equal to 1.3% of
premium).
•Additional claim cost of 1.3% of premium drops after-tax
margin to 4.15% or 83% of expected.
•A 1-day difference in expected claim duration is worth
17% on the bottom line!
This illustrates the significant impact the STD manual rate can have even for larger cases.
Block Demographic Changes/Shifts
Is the average duration of claim changing? Are incidence rates changing? Are maternity claims changing as a percentage of total claim costs? Note that the answer the above questions should also include an analysis of what was "expected". In other words, is the average duration of a claim changing, and is this expected? Are maternity
of business by plan design, SIC, etc., could result in these changes. As could a shift in demographics – higher/lower female content, changes in average age/age distribution of the block, etc. The best measure of "expected" is the manual rate basis. And if the manual rate basis has an adequate rate slope by age, adequate rates by gender, adequate rates by benefi t duration, etc., then all of the above changes could be occurring and yet the actual-to-manual claims ratio would remain constant, i.e. the changes are occurring but the resulting change in claim costs was expected.
Case Specifi c Demographic Shifts
The manual rate can play an important role in the renewal process by identifying changes in case specifi c demographics. Given no changes in the plan of benefi ts, a change in manual claim costs of a group over time indicates a change in underlying case demographics. When predicting claims for a future experience period, it may be appropriate to make a demographic adjustment to the historical claims experience
to refl ect this gradual change. The manual rate basis can serve as the tool for determining the appropriate adjustment to use.
The above are but a few examples of how the STD manual rate basis impacts the pricing and management of a STD block of business. These examples illustrate that devoting resources/time to ensure an adequate STD manual rate basis is key to a profi table, growing book of business.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to Disability Insurance Specialists' Blog on Hot Topics and Solutions for the Industry.
Here you will be able to find tips, training tools, and links to current issues facing the Disability Insurance Industry. Whether you work in Short Term Disability, Long Term, IDI or other Morbidity based products - this is the site for you!
Read our Posts on the latest issues facing the market, or submit your own topics for input from others. Let this be your primary stop for industry issues and answers. Come back and visit often as updates are posted on a regular basis.
Here you will be able to find tips, training tools, and links to current issues facing the Disability Insurance Industry. Whether you work in Short Term Disability, Long Term, IDI or other Morbidity based products - this is the site for you!
Read our Posts on the latest issues facing the market, or submit your own topics for input from others. Let this be your primary stop for industry issues and answers. Come back and visit often as updates are posted on a regular basis.
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