In addition, more underwriters declined to quote and there was an upturn in claims disputes, Mr. Zoeller noted.

The “2001 Stop-Loss Industry Survey” was mailed last month to 600 firms representing a wide assortment of players in the self-insurance business, including third-party administrators, brokers, reinsurers and consultants, according to Mr. Zoeller.

He said the survey would be concluded online at the Vienna, Va.-based managing general underwriters Web site at the end of this month (www.AtlantiCare.com). AtlantiCare specializes in medical and life insurance benefits for employer groups.

Mr. Zoeller said that 56 percent of respondents reported changing two or more quoting relationships this year, yet one-third of the respondents reported getting two or fewer quotes on average because underwriters declined to quote, a trend noted by 95 percent of those responding.

This trend, he said, could be explained because some managing general underwriters are no longer in business. Mr. Zoeller also said that producers are “more likely to go to alternative managing general underwriters and control the presentation to the client.”

He said that 82 percent of those surveyed reported more problems with claims disputes. The survey found that MGUs and primary carriers are “caught in a squeeze between their reinsurers and their producers,” he said.

Mr. Zoeller noted a comment from one survey respondent who said the greatest problem facing the insurance industry today is “over-reacting to almost everything.” Mr. Zoeller added that from the perspective of self-insureds, “I think the year 2001 might, indeed, deserve the label, the year of over-reacting,” but only time and a fully developed claims history “will tell the whole story,” he said.

Several survey respondents “decried the lack of true partnership” in what they felt had become a commodity business, Mr. Zoeller explained. Respondents said brokers, MGUs and carriers are “not being true partners,” he said.

Almost 70 percent of those surveyed, however, preferred dealing with carriers directly to MGUs, while none “sided with brokers brokers,” he said.

According to the survey, 80 percent of all quotes have included an average rate increase of 36 percent over in-force premiums, Mr. Zoeller said.

When increases seem “unreasonably high,” he said, repondents said that they ask the underwriter for a requote, seek an additional quote from another source and recommend a higher deductible.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 15, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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