I’d be curious to know what Breakaway’s broker has to say about this. I know this program. Never sold it. Presented it a couple of times, but ultimately my clients were not comfortable with the uncertainty of cost despite the significant potential savings. My clients made that decision because I understood what I was selling and explained it correctly. It’s mechanics are very complex, but it’s essentially a loss sensitive WC program, with an unlimited per-claim deductible, that is not billed, but rather used to increase the monthly premium. The reason it is not completely self-insurance, is because despite having no limit on the individual claim, there is an aggregate deductible, or Maximum cost of the program. If you have no losses, it’s a fraction of the cost of even a large-deductible program. If you have many losses or even one huge loss, the cost can be 3 times what traditional insurance would cost. They even show the minimum cost and maximum cost on their proposals, along with a table showing the cost at various loss levels. Sounds like these people bought a cheap policy without reading the proposal or understanding it, then when they didn’t control their losses, and they got hit with the downside, they scream scam.
From what I’ve read, the CA case ended with the insured demanding a standard WC program, which resulting them paying MORE money to the carrier since what they had paid to date, still did not equal what a traditional program would have cost.
Non-traditional, non-standard, complicated, even dangerous…yes, especially when you agree to something you don’t understand. “Reverse Ponzi Scheme” – I don’t think so.
I understood most of the program but not the reinsurance part. Berkshire promises a refund based on claims experience, According to the chart (provided by them) I should be due $125,000. That was 2.5 yrs. ago after my agreement was up. Mr. Silver the Exec. VP and Atty. for the company wont acknowledge the amount we are owed. Only says they can hold up to 5 years, even though there are no open claims. One more thing, Berkshire auto debits your acct. weekly for premiums due. When we terminated after the agreement was up they tried to “hit” my acct. for another $90,000. I fortunately figured out what they would try to do and closed the acct. and moved my money. I refer to the company as Berkshire because Ultimately that’s who is siphoning off the money. Pretty good scam, they would have been siting on $215,000 of my money. Instead they are siting on $125,000 that they wont acknowledge. Multiplied by how many small companies and the random amounts, Pretty nice investment account of other peoples money. Call it what you want, Its stealing from the small business owners who need the $$ to operate. When asked, they dummy up and don’t answer your questions. So Mr. Opinion, What did I do wrong? I monitored my claims for the 3 yr. contract period, now they wont pay me back and wont even acknowledge the amount due.
ironic this from the company headed by Buffett who is most famous for saying “DO NOT buy what you don’t understand”. (I note he didn’t proscribe SELLING)
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I’d be curious to know what Breakaway’s broker has to say about this. I know this program. Never sold it. Presented it a couple of times, but ultimately my clients were not comfortable with the uncertainty of cost despite the significant potential savings. My clients made that decision because I understood what I was selling and explained it correctly. It’s mechanics are very complex, but it’s essentially a loss sensitive WC program, with an unlimited per-claim deductible, that is not billed, but rather used to increase the monthly premium. The reason it is not completely self-insurance, is because despite having no limit on the individual claim, there is an aggregate deductible, or Maximum cost of the program. If you have no losses, it’s a fraction of the cost of even a large-deductible program. If you have many losses or even one huge loss, the cost can be 3 times what traditional insurance would cost. They even show the minimum cost and maximum cost on their proposals, along with a table showing the cost at various loss levels. Sounds like these people bought a cheap policy without reading the proposal or understanding it, then when they didn’t control their losses, and they got hit with the downside, they scream scam.
From what I’ve read, the CA case ended with the insured demanding a standard WC program, which resulting them paying MORE money to the carrier since what they had paid to date, still did not equal what a traditional program would have cost.
Non-traditional, non-standard, complicated, even dangerous…yes, especially when you agree to something you don’t understand. “Reverse Ponzi Scheme” – I don’t think so.
I understood most of the program but not the reinsurance part. Berkshire promises a refund based on claims experience, According to the chart (provided by them) I should be due $125,000. That was 2.5 yrs. ago after my agreement was up. Mr. Silver the Exec. VP and Atty. for the company wont acknowledge the amount we are owed. Only says they can hold up to 5 years, even though there are no open claims. One more thing, Berkshire auto debits your acct. weekly for premiums due. When we terminated after the agreement was up they tried to “hit” my acct. for another $90,000. I fortunately figured out what they would try to do and closed the acct. and moved my money. I refer to the company as Berkshire because Ultimately that’s who is siphoning off the money. Pretty good scam, they would have been siting on $215,000 of my money. Instead they are siting on $125,000 that they wont acknowledge. Multiplied by how many small companies and the random amounts, Pretty nice investment account of other peoples money. Call it what you want, Its stealing from the small business owners who need the $$ to operate. When asked, they dummy up and don’t answer your questions. So Mr. Opinion, What did I do wrong? I monitored my claims for the 3 yr. contract period, now they wont pay me back and wont even acknowledge the amount due.
ironic this from the company headed by Buffett who is most famous for saying “DO NOT buy what you don’t understand”. (I note he didn’t proscribe SELLING)