Comp frequency rises 3% – first increase since ’97

Via Business Insurance, NCCI this week announced that workers comp claim frequency rose 3% last year, the first increase since 1997 and the biggest increase in more than two decades. The previous 19 years, frequency had fallen 56%. Here’s a chart from the full report (pdf): Why the increase: With the Great Recession, frequency fell [...]

Supply and demand in p/c insurance

Always good when someone shores up the ranks of blogging actuaries, so welcome to Todd Bault! I guess he’s been posting awhile, but I seemed to have missed his earlier work. Todd is well-known in the actuarial community for being one of the leading insurance industry analysts, and he’s posting as part of the lineup [...]

Medmal claims tailing off, Zurich reports

Frequency is down, the insurer says in its fifth annual benchmarking study, and severity has leveled off, according to Health Leaders Media. Zurich’s report is here.

Med mal costs set to increase

In recent years, medical malpractice caps have kept claim costs down, but that may be ending, according to two reports out last week. First, Aon’s 11th annual Hospital Professional Liability and Physician Liability Benchmark Analysis predicts 5% trend in claims per hospital bed next year, with frequency rising 1% and severity rising 4%. Also, hospital [...]

Milliman, S&P to publish health care trend index

Quoth Business Insurance: The indices will attempt to reflect per capita changes in total allowed claims costs incurred by patients—through their copayments—and health care benefit plans for services provided by hospitals and physicians. Sounds like an index to cover increases in ground-up claim costs, instead of measuring rate changes. When launched, details will be at [...]

April 30: Anthem fail

Anthem pulls the infamous (39% increase) Obamacare resuscitator. When the company refiles, it will be shooting for the Obamacare 80/85% MLR instead of the California standard, 70%. An independent actuary found several errors, the most substantial of which were overpessimistic trend factors. For example, the filing didn’t properly address the fact that loss costs for [...]