The California Legislature has passed a bill designed to help homeowner victims of the state’s many — and very destructive — wildfires. Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa, SB 240 is the Legislature’s response to problems last year with claims settlements and mistakes.

Dodd said when insurers bring people in from out of state to help settle claims they need to “have the training to provide accurate information to survivors of future fires.”

The bill’s language requires the California Department of Insurance to put out an annual bulletin on state laws regarding property insurance policies. Independent adjusters coming into an area to deal with claims will be required to read and understand the bulletin before they can begin settlements.

It also makes insurers create a single point of contact if more than two adjusters are assigned to a client within a six-month period.

Dodd said most of the mistakes were — according to testimony — because of claims adjusters brought into the state from other states. “Insurance adjusters should not be putting people through that kind of an ordeal,” Dodd said.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara likes the bill and said “a well-trained insurance adjuster often makes the difference.”

Dodd added that he and his staff got a lot of complaints from victims of fires who said insurers sent untrained agents with very little knowledge about handling complaints to do the adjusting.

Many — he said — gave out erroneous information and some filing claims told him that they were bounced from adjuster to adjuster and had to keep repeating the story over and over yet no settlement was forthcoming.

Republicans and Democrats alike voted for the bill. There was not one no vote in either house. The governor is expected to sign the bill into law.

As for the insurance industry, Mark Sektnan — the vice president, state government relations of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association — said his association was originally opposed to the bill. It was, however, neutral on the final product.

He said rules are important and that claimants have questions and need “a way to get them answered. A consistent message is a benefit to both the policyholder and the company.”

Source link: The Press Democrat

Washington — A Wake for Liberty Mutual’s Jim Anderson: The friends of Jim Anderson (a spontaneously formed group of friends, co-workers and agents) would like to invite you to an Irish-style wake to honor the life of our former colleague and friend who passed away in July. So many have expressed a desire to share stories and celebrate a life which brought smiles to so many of us.  So please join us for a celebration of Jim’s life.

You’re Invited

Friday, September 13th – 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Shawn O’Donnell’s Irish Pub – lower event space

122 128th St. SW

Everett, WA

Appetizers will be served / Beer & Wine provided

Please RSVP francina.noordhoek@libertymutual.com or 206/473-5426

California — Work Comp Bills: California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed two work comp bills into law. The first is A.B. 1804. It requires employers to immediately report serious occupational injuries, illness or death to the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

The report must be done by telephone or an online mechanism yet to be determined.

The second bill is A.B. 1805 and it modifies and redefines the definition of a serious injury or illness. It removes the 24-hour minimum reporting time requirement for qualifying hospitalizations.

Source link: Business Insurance

California — Lara Appoints Members to Diversity Task Force: Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced the newest members of the 2019 - 2020 Insurance Diversity Task Force, which makes recommendations to the Insurance Commissioner regarding innovative ways to increase diversity within the insurance industry. The Insurance Diversity Task Force was formed in 2012 as a component of the Department’s Insurance Diversity Initiative, which encourages insurers to increase procurement contracts with diverse business owners, such as a woman-owned, veteran-/disabled veteran-owned, minority-owned or LGBT-owned businesses, as well as advance diversity of insurance company corporate boards.

The newest members include the Task Force’s first female representative of the veteran/disabled veteran-owned business enterprise seat and first woman and Latina CEO of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in its 130 years, among other exceptional new members and trailblazers.

“I am honored to announce the new members of the Task Force, who all share the common goal with me to create greater diversity in the insurance industry,” said Commissioner Lara. “We are building the bridge that connects our state’s diverse business owners with the nation’s largest insurance industry, as well as continuing to push for boards of directors that reflect our state’s increasing diversity. I am confident that the wide range of knowledge and expertise of our new Task Force members will advance greater supplier and governing board diversity within this industry.”

Task Force members propose ideas and actions to the commissioner and the Department to encourage insurance companies to utilize diverse suppliers and to increase diversity amongst their governing boards. The transparency achieved through this initiative has helped demonstrate the progress of increased procurement between insurers contracting with California’s diverse-owned businesses which significantly increased by 93% over a five-year period, from $930 million in 2012 to $1.8 billion in 2017. However, diversifying insurer governing boards to reflect a broader set of backgrounds and perspectives remains a challenge. In 2017, insurers reported nearly 80% of governing board seats were held by men and only 12% of board seats were held by persons of color.

These appointments to the Task Force come on the heels of the timely signature of Senate Bill (SB) 534 by Governor Gavin Newsom, a bill sponsored by Commissioner Lara and authored by Senator Steven Bradford, which will continue the great strides achieved under this initiative. Among its provisions, SB 534 would (1) require insurance companies to report on their supplier diversity and governing board diversity efforts; (2) expand the diverse supplier categories to include LGBT and veteran-owned businesses; and, 3) codify the Insurance Diversity Task Force in law. Governor Newsom’s signature on

SB 534 provides critical support for the Insurance Diversity Initiative to continue to fulfill its mission to increase supplier diversity and advance diversity on insurer governing boards.

“California insurers should be using their enormous buying power to invest in California’s minority, woman, LGBT, veteran, and disabled veteran owned businesses as well as work towards achieving a governing board that reflects the diverse population in California,” said Commissioner Lara. “Since its inception, the Department’s Diversity Initiative has helped empower diverse businesses to put resources back into their local communities. Thank you to Governor Newsom and Senator Bradford for reauthorizing and expanding this valuable program to help more people and communities throughout the state.”

The next Task Force meeting will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at the Department. More details are available at: www.insurance.ca.gov/diversity or you may send an email to: diversity@insurance.ca.gov.

Environmental Resources Management is an employer consultant company. The firm’s focus is employee and employer safety. At a recent conference on workplace safety, the company’s main consultant Phil La Duke said the best place to start safety in the workplace is in the interview process.

This is where an employer does a better job of vetting the candidate. It helps avoid the hiring of a potentially dangerous worker. “If we can predict them, we can protect the people and we can prevent this,” he said.

La Duke’s expertise includes studying workplace safety and violence for the last 30-years. It led to his writing a book on safety titled Lone Gunman: Rewriting the Handbook on Workplace Violence Prevention.

He said one of the things that stood out to him while writing the book was researching job candidates and weeding out the people with potential mental health issues. They have been most connected to workplace violence.

“It begins before you even have the candidate in the interview,” he said and noted employers need to start at social media. There you need to look for “aggressive or angry posts, racist, misogynist, or otherwise offensive posts, look at their friends’ posts for ways to gauge whether a person is angry or has possible mental health problems — ‘red flags.’”

Social media shows a lot about a person. “Do they have an obsession with guns or mass shootings… if you see all their (posts are) reporting on violent events, it could be a warning,” he said.

Another warning sign might be a non-social media presence. “In an age where we have 88-year-old grandmoms with Facebook accounts, do you find it a bit odd or suspicious when you see someone with no social media presence,” he said.

He also suggests a solid background check. Look at:

•  Sex offender registries

•  Arrest records

•  Check the National Domestic Abuse Database

•  Look for restraining orders filed in local courts

La Duke definitely suggests drug testing and complains that a lot of employers do not do drug checks because too many of them come back with potential employees using drugs like marijuana.

Another very good tip is checking for lies. And La Duke gave a tip for that check. Establish a baseline. Questions asked are small talk things like the weather outside or the time. These are things people don’t lie about. Then move forward. Look at job history gaps and then start asking harder questions.

“Let these people talk; they will sink themselves if they are a bad candidate,” he said. Also make sure you look for eye contact and other non-verbal clues like excessive sweating or blushing.

Last — whatever you do — don’t ignore warning signs just because a potential job hire has the right skills. “The best candidate in the world that exhibits a penchant for violence is not the best candidate,” he pointed out. “You can train people to do their job; you can’t train people to not be mentally unstable.”

In other words, these checks and good reference checks will give you a better understanding of a candidate. But whatever you do, don’t forgo a very good background check to save money or time.

Unfortunately, he said some — maybe many — employers do.

Source link: Business Insurance

As the 2020 presidential election rushes toward us, one of the most important issues that will drive how we all vote is health care. Both political parties are putting a lot of stock on the issue.

As you know the Republican Party continue to tolerate ObamaCare — though some in the party want it gone completely — and some Democrats are thinking Medicare for All is the answer.

What led us to this story is one we found about a research firm out of Seattle — Elway Research — that took a look at how people in Oregon view universal health care. Most Oregonians lean on the liberal side of things so it’s not a surprise that 75% said they prefer a single-payer healthcare system to what we have now.

What’s odd about the poll is that most are happy with their current health insurance. They did — however — find the current system confusing and growing too expensive.

The poll was commissioned by two Republican business owners and involved 400 people. Of them, 35% said they are Democrats, 25% claimed to be Republican and 21% identified themselves as independents.

The polling company urged caution on the 75% figure. Supporting a single-payer system and paying for one are two different things. “It is easier to tell a pollster that one favors a new health care tax than it is to actually vote for one,” Elway said. “Still, with 6 in 10 respondents open to a measure that would eliminate or replace private insurance, establish a new state agency and a new health care tax to fund it, these findings indicate that Oregon voters are ready to have that discussion.”

But is the rest of the country? A poll done by Hill-Harris found the discussion has started. It found:

•  13% of us want a health care system that covers all of us and that does completely away with private insurance plans

•  32% want a government run insurance company that coexists with private insurance

•  It is the most popular plan and allows the purchase of supplemental insurance much like Medicare allows

•  26% want a government insurance company called a government option that coexists with the current insurance system

•  15% want the government completely out of insurance

•  14% said they like things kept just the way they are now

Mohamed Younis of Gallup said the results of the survey is not surprising. “Folks are clearly saying the system is still sort of broken to some degree, but there isn't a lot of consensus around how to fix it in one way or another.”

Here’s what the poll asked those being surveyed and the responses:

Yes, the government should remove itself from paying for all health care:

•  Total — 15%

•  Males — 17%

•  Females — 14%

•  18-34 — 12%

•  35-49 — 13%

•  50-64 — 19%

•  65+ — 17%

•  Republicans — 26%

•  Democrats — 6%

•  Independents — 15%

Yes, the current healthcare system should be kept as is:

•  Total — 14%

•  Males — 17%

•  Females — 12%

•  18-34 — 7%

•  35-49 — 10%

•  50-64 — 13%

•  65+ — 30%

•  Republicans — 21%

•  Democrats — 8%

•  Independents — 15%

Yes, any citizen should be able to sign up for Medicare/Medicaid regardless of age or income while those with private plans could keep their existing insurance:

•  Total — 26%

•  Males — 26%

•  Females — 26%

•  18-34 — 24%

•  35-49 — 36%

•  50-64 — 23%

•  65+ — 21%

•  Republicans — 24%

•  Democrats — 29%

•  Independents — 26%

Yes Medicare/Medicaid should be expanded to cover all citizens regardless of age or income and private health plans should be abolished:

•  Total — 13%

•  Males — 11%

•  Females — 14%

•  18-34 — 21%

•  35-49 — 10%

•  50-64 — 13%

•  65+ — 5%

•  Republicans — 8%

•  Democrats — 17%

•  Independents — 10%

Yes, Medicare/Medicaid should be expanded to cover all citizens regardless of age or income but people should be able to purchase private supplemental plans:

•  Total — 32%

•  Males — 29%

•  Females — 34%

•  18-34 — 36%

•  35-49 — 31%

•  50-64 — 32%

•  65+ — 28%

•  Republicans — 21%

•  Democrats — 39%

•  Independents — 34%

Source links: OregonLive.com, The Hill

Divorce over the age of 50 has doubled since 1990. Few things — even if you’re wealthy — can be more devastating. It’s hard on people emotionally and physically and — just as badly, or maybe even worse — financially. A study done in Germany said divorce leads to higher blood pressure and — in men — considerable weight gain.

Here’s a twist on the topic. The rate of divorce is falling for younger people and on the rise for those over 50. Part of the reason is people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are waiting longer to get married or — sometimes — not getting married at all.

Those getting married later in life also tend to stay together.

Baby boomers tend to break up. In fact, Susan Brown — a sociology professor from Bowling Green State University and the co-director of the National Center for Family & Marriage Research calls them “gray divorces.”

She says look for many more of them in the future. From now until 2030 you’ll see about 828,000 baby boomer divorces per year. That’s close to 30% more than 2010 and four times the 206,000 that divorced in 1990.

Brown said divorce at 50 or over is far worse to experience than when you’re much younger. The level of depression rivals that of the death of a spouse. “It’s a grim picture and getting a gray divorce is a major financial shock ” she said.

Worse. Get one after 50 and expect to see your personal wealth drop by at least 50%.

•  For women it falls 45% — double what happens to younger divorced women

•  Older men have it better and only lose 21%

•  Older people don’t come back after a financial shock like divorce

Older Americans don’t have the time to undo the financial damage of a divorce. Women who spent years at home caring for children have it even worse because it’s very hard for them to enter the workforce.

“There is no appreciable recovery on the wealth front,” Brown said. “There’s no appreciable recovery in standard of living.”

Women 63 and older getting a gray divorce have a 27% higher poverty rate than any other group that age. That includes widows. And it’s nine-times greater than couples that stay married.

Looking at that more deeply, the poverty rate for gray divorcing women is 26.9%. For men it’s 11.34%. And it’s just 3% for couples that stay married. Here’s a look at Americans 63 and older who qualify as poor after a divorce:

•  Continuously married — 3.4%

•  Remarried after early divorce — 3.1%

•  Remarried after a gray divorce — 3.3%

•  Early divorced women — 18.6%

•  Early divorced men — 10.7%

•  Gray divorced women — 26.9%

•  Gray divorced men — 11.4%

The solution? If you’re going to divorce then you’ll need to quickly find a new partner.

•  22% of women repartner within a decade of a gray divorce

•  37% of men repartner in the same time span

Brown and her collogues say women tend to have a tougher time repartnering. One reason is that they live longer than men so the partnership pool shrinks as time marches on.

Another reason — says Brown — is they just prefer to stay single.

Source link: Bloomberg