MO. EMPLOYERS PAYING LESS TO COVER INJURED WORKERS

Two years after Missouri lawmakers tightened eligibility for benefits to injured workers, the insurance premiums businesses must pay to care for injured workers have dropped to 1994 levels.

In 2005, Gov. Matt Blunt and the Republican-led Legislature limited what kinds of injuries are eligible for benefits through the state workers' compensation system. Those changes included requiring workers prove that their jobs were the primary cause of their injury. The law also cut benefits when workers have drugs or alcohol in their system.

State law requires most employers to have workers' comp insurance. Data from the state insurance department show employer payments for workers' compensation insurance have dropped almost 3 percent from the start of 2007 to the end of April. Overall, rates are less than 1 percent lower than in 1994.

Neither insurers nor government officials who oversee the workers' compensation system said that the most recent drop in rates can be attributed solely to the 2005 changes.

Brent Butler, the director of government affairs for the Missouri Insurance Coalition, said there are fewer workers' compensation claims being made, which has allowed insurers to drop premiums. The changes to the system have also prompted more insurance companies to seek out Missouri employers.

In 2004, insurers collected $964 million in premiums and paid out $594 million in claims. In 2006, premiums increased by $39 million to more than $1 billion. Claims fell by $52 million to $542 million.

But the drop in payouts comes on the heels of falling rates for other types of insurance, which makes it impossible to peg the changes to the workers' compensation system for business' savings, said a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Insurance.

Spokeswoman Emily Kampeter told the Southeast Missourian that the department "can't say the changes have had a direct effect."

The workers' compensation system was created in the 1925 to help workers injured on the job and avoid lawsuits.

There were 130,000 injuries reported to the state in 2006 -- only about one-third of which resulted in missed work days, according to the Department of Labor.

Labor groups, which contested the 2005 changes, say the reduction in workers' comp claims means injured workers are finding it harder to get health care for their injuries.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AMA JOURNAL COVERS DISASTER PLANNING/RESPONSE

The American Medical Association introduced a new medical journal billed as the first of its kind devoted to the science of disaster planning and response.

The peer-reviewed quarterly journal is titled Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Its first edition features articles about Hurricane Katrina, the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing and the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami in Indonesia.

Deaths and illness from disasters such as these need to be studied to help health professionals better prepare and prevent similar problems in future disasters, said Dr. Kevin U. Stephens, Sr., author of one of the Katrina studies.

Stephens, director of the New Orleans Health Department, wrote about data he says shows that Katrina-related deaths and sickness have continued long after the storm passed.

The new journal provides a forum for this type of research and is "an unprecedented resource" for health care professionals in the post-September 11 era, said Dr. James J. James, editor-in-chief and director of the AMA's Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response.

The journal is published for the AMA by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. An online version is available at www.ama-assn.org/go/DMPHP

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NFIP ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• More than $1 billion in flood damage is avoided each year through mitigation efforts.


• More than 20,300 communities have flood maps as a basis for flood insurance rates, insurance purchase requirements, and local floodplain management programs.


• An estimated 9,000 square miles of the nation's most flood-prone lands are protected from future development because they are designated as floodways, allowing for floodwaters to pass unhindered.


• At least 6,000 acres of previously developed floodplain land have been returned to open space.


• A significant majority of buildings now being constructed in floodplains are built according to NFIP standards.


• With 33 consecutive months of policy growth, there are now more than 5.4 million people with flood insurance protection.

BEAZLEY TURNS FOCUS TO MEDIA IN COVERAGE FOR DESIGN PROS

Beazley Insurance Co. takes a unique approach to architects and engineers professional liability by focusing on various media-related coverages needed by design professionals.

"We are still the only company at this point who has taken a media technology policy and built the architects and engineers professional liability policy into that, because we feel at this point that the industry has shifted over the last 20 years for the architects and engineers that they have much more liability than just doing their design," explains Dana Brown, specialty underwriter for architects and engineers for Beazley Insu-rance Co.

The media portion includes coverage for the transfer of electronic data.

"If, for some reason, a firm goes and somehow messes up the electronic data within the overall program, who's going to be liable? Is that something that's coming out of a professional service, or is that just data entry that has caused a problem? So, we're picking up that," Brown notes.

It also provides cover for those firms that are offering software or even technology products that remotely operate the plants they design.

Beazley also incorporates computer network security coverage for firms' Web sites. "If somebody broke into that site, hacked in, and takes that data that is considered confidential, again, who's going to cover that?" she asked.

Finally, the media-focused A&E policy includes liability for multi-media and advertising, as well as copyright infringement. "Most carriers, if you go and ask them, 'Is copyright covered?' The standard answer is, 'Well, it's not excluded.' Well, is it covered? It's hard to get underwriters to say it is, because the reality is that it really isn't. There are separate policies available for it. But we're covering that," Brown said.

ONEBEACON BETS BIG ON SMALL

OneBeacon Insurance Group has long focused on small business, with particular emphasis since 2000. In 2003, the company launched its OnePac product suite that provides tailored coverages for 14 industry groups and 360+ classes of business. The company defines small business based on the customer's eligibility and targets businesses with up to 25 employees, $10 million in sales, and property values of $10 million or less. The company actively writes business in 27 states, including just-announced entries to Minnesota and Kansas.

OneBeacon's OnePac solution begins as a business owner's policy and then provides customized coverages reflecting unique needs. The company targets 14 industry groups and provides solutions for more than 360 classes.