A state senator in Texas is taking the insurance industry to task for what he perceives as its disinterest in coming up with new approaches to solving coastal windstorm insurance issues.
In a Senate committee meeting on March 12, Sen. John Carona, a Republican from Dallas, scolded property/casualty insurance industry representatives saying,
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Texas drivers are filing fewer and fewer complaints against insurance companies these days, an insurance trade group reported.
Last year represents the lowest number of justified or confirmed auto insurance complaints filed with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) since the agency began tabulating the numbers back in 1994, according to the Insurance Council of Texas.
With 14.7 million auto insurance policies in effect in Texas, TDI reported 988 confirmed complaints into its Consumer Protection division last year. The numbers represent approximately one complaint for every 15,000 auto insurance policies.
Homeowner complaints also continue to drop. TDI reported Texas homeowners filed 460 confirmed complaints against homeowner insurers last year, representing the lowest number of homeowner complaints since 2009. With nearly 6 million homeowner and rental insurance policies in effect, the 2012 complaints represent approximately one complaint for every 13,000 homeowner/rental policies.
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An industry group says Texas homeowners are paying the highest insurance premiums in the country.
The report was released Tuesday by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The Dallas Morning News reported the study is based on premiums collected in 2010, the most recent year for available nationwide data.
The average annual cost of the most commonly sold policy in Texas was $1,560, about 3.2 percent more than figures from a year earlier. The national average was $909.
Rick Gentry of the Insurance Council of Texas says adverse weather creates losses. He says such losses, from catastrophes such as tornadoes, hailstorms and hurricanes, drive the price of insurance.
Alex Winslow with the consumer group Texas Watch says prices continue to climb while coverage is getting slashed.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: catastrophes, hailstorms, homeowners insurance, Hurricanes, insurance premium, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Texas, tornadoesHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Dallas-based Hotchkiss Insurance Programs LLC announced a $273,731 dividend to the Texas Green Industry Workers’ Compensation Safety Group (TGI), bringing total dividends paid to the group to $3,246,032. The group’s total premium volume and loss ratio are factors in determining its dividend.
The TGI Safety Group, formed in February 2004 exclusively for landscapers, nursery growers and other green industry businesses in Texas, provides workers’ compensation coverage that provides an automatic 10.9 percent premium discount to every policyholder.
The announcement marks the eighth dividend paid to the group’s policyholders by Texas Mutual Insurance Co., the program underwriter.
The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) allows employers in similar industries to reduce their workers’ comp premiums by purchasing their coverage as a group. The TGI Safety Group is a TDI-approved safety group that is open to most growers, landscape contractors, retail nursery, irrigation contractors and other green industry businesses.
Any licensed Texas insurance agent may submit a qualifying client for consideration in the group. Past dividends are not a guarantee of future dividends, and TDI must approve all dividends.
Source: Hotchkiss Insurance Programs LLC
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The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) is offering its members remote staffing services provided by WAHVE (Work At Home Vintage Employees) on a preferred basis.
WAHVE provides experienced insurance professionals to insurance agencies and other insurance firms on an outsourced basis for full-time, part-time, or project work. WAHVE’s workers are vintage insurance professionals who are in “phased” retirement and work remotely from home. IIAT is offering WAHVE’s staffing services to its members with a special discount on the setup fee.
IIAT President Patrick Watkins noted: “One problem that we consistently hear from members is that they have a hard time finding, hiring and training talented staff for their agencies. Having experienced and knowledgeable workers to fulfill responsibilities to clients and support sales activity is vital to every insurance agency’s success. WAHVE’s domestic outsourcing services provide an additional workforce option to IIAT members.”
Agencies that outsource to WAHVE save on the costs of hiring, training, salary and benefits, payroll taxes, and office space. Through WAHVE, independent agencies can tap insurance talent from around the United States, Hunt noted.
WAHVE also offers remote staffing services on a preferred basis for members of Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York, IBA West, Independent Insurance Agents of Connecticut, and Maine Insurance Agents Association. WAHVE is a participating employer in AARP’s Work Reimagined initiative and is listed as a work-at-home option by Clark Howard.
Source: WAHVE
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Private industry workplaces in Texas reported a total of 196,642 nonfatal injuries and illnesses during 2011, an incidence rate of 2.7 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, which was unchanged from the previous year, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC).
The rate in Texas was below the national rate of 3.5 cases per 100 full-time workers for 2011.
The 2011 nonfatal injury and illness data in this release are the latest available from the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses conducted by the TDI-DWC in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The occupational injury and illness rates are based on a statistical sample of private and public firms in Texas.
Highlights of the 2011 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII)In the private sector, the incidence rate for goods producing industries increased from 2.8 in 2010 to 2.9 in 2011.The rates in the mining and construction industries increased from 1.4 to 1.8 (29 percent) and 2.5 to 2.8 (12 percent), respectively.Service providing industries incidence rate increased overall from 2.6 in 2010 to 2.7 in 2011. Within this group, the utilities industries experienced a rate increase of 95 percent, from 2.1 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2011.Other industries that experienced increases in the service providing group are wholesale trade, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality. Professional and business services (1.2) and education and health services (3.4) remained the same.Of the major private sector industries with the 10 highest incidence rates in 2011, air transportation, and couriers and messengers are the top two.Motion picture and sound recording industries reported the largest increase of 148 percent from 2.5 in 2010 to 6.2 in 2011.Couriers and messengers reported the largest decrease at 22 percent from 9.3 in 2010 to 7.3 in 2011.In the public sector, incidence rates are available for heavy and civil engineering construction and educational services within state government and hospitals within local government. The incidence rates for these industries were 1.7, 3.5, and 7.2 respectively. Of the total cases in each of these industries, the greatest frequency involved other recordable cases, which did not involve days away from work or job transfer or restriction.Source: TDI-DWC
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Not even the legal equivalent of a fastball under the chin could stop a Texas pipeline builder from clearing acres of brush that Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett claims is critical habitat for the endangered ocelot.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Laredo by two of Beckett’s companies asks a judge to stop any further work on the natural gas pipeline and specify what the builder must do under the Endangered Species Act. The companies filed a motion for a temporary restraining order Wednesday that included a statement from Beckett describing two occasions when he saw what he believes were ocelots.
But the clearing of about 40 acres of thick native scrub on a 7,000-acre hunting ranch about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio was finished earlier this month despite a warning Beckett’s lawyers sent to Eagle Ford Midstream LP and its parent NET Midstream in August.
The pipeline company had obtained an easement across Beckett’s Herradura Ranch in state court, according to the lawsuit. Beckett Ventures Inc. and Hall of Fame Land Ventures LP claim that they urged the company to choose a shorter, direct path rather than the diagonal swath that was cleared.
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Federal health officials say a Dallas, Texas-based meat distributor is recalling about 8,200 pounds of beef and pork products because they weren’t inspected and were improperly labeled.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service said one product from Lao Chareune Foods could not be labeled as a pork snack stick because it was raw. The agency said the products were distributed to retail stores in Louisiana and Texas.
The products recalled were 3-ounce and 8-ounce packages containing “Pork Snack Stick;” 3.2-ounce packages of “Seasoned Fried Beef;” 1.76-ounce packages of “Fried Pork Skins;” and 1.2-ounce packages of “Sliced Fried Pork Ears.”
Federal officials said they hadn’t received any reports of illness from consumption of the products.
There was no answer at a phone listing for the company.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: recall, Texas, U.S. Department of AgricultureHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Mercury Financial Group has added Gail Yantis, vice president, life specialist in its greater Austin/San Antonio, Texas, service area. Joining Yantis will be Ricci Nelson who will serve as marketing specialist.
Yantis and Nelson join Mercury after a successful tenure at another firm.
Mercury is based in Dallas with specialists across the country working in major financial institutions, Wall Street-based firms, and property/casualty firms.
Source: Mercury Financial Group
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A new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Cambridge, Mass., says that costs of medical care for injured workers in Texas have dropped. The study says the drop is largely the result of reforms and an increased focus and effort on managing medical care in the state’s workers’ compensation system.
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The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has expanded its fight against insurance fraud into San Antonio. TDI Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has announced the placement of a special insurance fraud prosecutor and investigator who have joined the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
Bexar County now joins Dallas and Harris Counties where specialized fraud teams are tracking criminals involved with insurance fraud. Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said her new fraud fighters demonstrate her office’s ongoing dedication to the prosecution of white collar crime in Bexar County.
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Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced that the Texas Schools Group and Texas Association of Manufacturers safety groups earned a combined $1,094,336 in dividends.
The workers’ compensation dividends were based largely on each group’s overall loss ratio.
The largest dividend, $780,305, went to the Texas Association of Manufacturers safety group. The group has earned $3.4 million in Texas Mutual dividends since 2008.
Members of the Texas Schools Group earned a $314,031 dividend, a 61 percent increase over their 2011 dividend.
In addition to potential dividends, safety group members get discounts on their workers’ compensation premiums. They also have access to workplace safety materials designed for their operations.
Texas Mutual notes that past dividends are not a guarantee of future dividends, and the Texas Department of Insurance must approve all dividends.
Source: Texas Mutual Insurance Co.
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Gov. Rick Perry has renewed a proclamation declaring Texas a disaster due to the drought.
Perry renewed the disaster status on April 20, extending a similar proclamation from last July.
The governor initially declared the drought a disaster in December 2010, and a severe lack of rainfall still plagues much of the state.
The proclamation allows municipalities to apply for state assistance in dealing with the drought’s impacts, including fighting and recovering from wildfires. It also officially notes the added strain on state water resources.
Texas endured the worst-single year drought in its history through last summer, and a relatively wet winter has been followed by little rainfall statewide in recent weeks.
The drought also helped fuel the costliest wildfire season in terms of property damage in state history last year.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: Coastal, declaration, Disaster (Flood, drought, EQ, etc.), Perry, Texas, W-FireHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Months after their state-certified vehicle inspection station was cited by federal authorities for failing to notice defects in a bus that crashed in North Texas, killing 17 passengers, brothers Alam and Cesar Hernandez shuttered their firm. But that didn’t mean they were out of the vehicle inspection business.
Instead, they opened another station in the same Houston neighborhood and continued to inspect buses like the one involved in the accident. And they did it with the approval of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The Hernandez brothers’ story underlines a phenomenon that highway safety advocates say has long existed with deadly consequences
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Houston-based AWC Frac Valves Inc. with one willful, six serious and four other-than-serious violations for exposing workers at the company’s Conroe, Texas, facility to multiple safety hazards, including amputation dangers. Proposed penalties total $105,000.
The willful violation is failing to provide the required machine guarding to prevent employees from coming in contact with moving machinery parts such as vertical and manual lathes.
A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health.
The serious violations include failing to ensure that working surfaces are clear of trash and debris; provide a lockout/tagout program for machines’ energy sources when they are being set up for production; and properly guard pulleys, belts and live electrical circuits.
A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
The other-than-serious violations include failing to properly maintain the required injury and illness logs, and adequately close openings on electrical equipment.
An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.
AWC Frac Valves employs about 100 workers in Conroe who fabricate high-pressure hydraulic fracturing valves for the oil and gas industry.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s Houston North area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Source: OSHA
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Texas police say they’ve smashed an international shoplifting ring that pilfered such goods as laundry detergent, batteries and cosmetics for sale at flea markets or smuggling into Mexico.
Austin police Officer Dustin Smart says stolen goods with an estimated worth topping $50,000 was stolen from Austin-area outlets. He says thieves stole from such south Austin retailers as Target and H-E-B until a month-and-a-half-long police sting broke up the operation.
A woman has been arrested and her husband and six others are being sought. According to the Austin American-Statesman, an affidavit says one H-E-B supermarket reported a $10,000 loss of shampoo alone during January.
A raid of a house in south Austin turned up about $35,000 in stolen goods.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: Commercial Lines, Safety & Loss Control, shoplifting, TexasHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
In advance of the start of hurricane season, the actuarial underwriting committee of Texas’ property insurer of last resort for coastal counties is recommending a rate increase.
The committee on April 20 voted for a proposal that the board of directors of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association file for an overall rate increase of 4.7 percent that would become effective on Oct. 1. The rate increase would vary somewhat within TWIA’s coastal territories
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