Simply put, the insurance claims goals between most commercial insurance buyers and the carrier / brokers heretofore named the insurance marketplace are misaligned.
Which Way ?
The goal of a savvy insurance buyer is to transfer as much risk to the carriers for the least amount of insurance premium. Most forget the first part, but that’s a whole other blog article. The goal of the insurance carriers is to charge as much over par as they can get from each insured ultimately driving their profits up. The brokers who place most of the policies are on the same food chain as the insurance carriers as their commission increases with the insurance premium. This classic tug of war is centuries old and describes most functioning marketplaces irrespective of the product or service.
Here’s the difference; you can gain much more control over the system that has been tilted for years against you. What drives your insurance premiums are your claims . Understand that when your premiums go up you are in effect rewarding your insurance broker for mishandling your account as they get a raise and you lose valuable profits. This happens because no one is focusing on the root causes and frankly why should they when the stakeholders on the other side are richly rewarded . Understand that when you have insurance claims you drive up your cost by allowing the insurance carriers to surcharge you , which in turn drives up your insurance brokers compensation. Hence the misaligned goals ; yours versus the insurance marketplace.
When we meet potential new clients many make the same statements in our initial meeting. Our insurance costs have risen dramatically from last year to this year which took us completely by surprise. Further our previous carrier has cancelled us, our broker gave us 2 quotes that were substantially higher and said “there is nothing they can do, you have too many claims”! You are forced to make a six figure purchasing decision usually within 48 hours of losing your coverage.
Whose fault is that? We would argue it’s the buyer that continues to purchase their insurance from the same brokers instead of demanding more. More data , quicker so you can proactively manage the risk components inside your business that are driving your costs. Having this information faster , more timely then allows you to deploy resources up front fixing the pain points in your business before your cost escalate dramatically , impairing your competitive position.
Understand insurance premiums are a very poor lagging indicator. They reset only once a year and are underwritten based on your companies 5 year historical claims data which moves up throughout the year ; silently. Generally over time reserves and payouts increase which is called loss development. What we see sadly time and time again is the folks who purchase the insurance look at this data only once a year, at renewal time which is way too late. That’s like applying for a mortgage on a home only to find out once your in contract that your credit score is a mess. Too late as your stuck with the mess and all the increased cost.
Unfortunately most businesses only look to their brokers to process a transaction rather than helping them build systems , metrics and accountability that drive results and not simply poor outcomes. The good news is really well run organizations have figured this out and have put these systems in place which is giving them a huge advantage in their risk based costs making them more competitive than the also rans.
The vast majority of the insurance broker community has failed their clients simply because it’s not in their best interest to help them prevent and manage claims. The commercial insurance buyers have failed themselves because they haven’t realized how their goals and the insurance brokers goals are misaligned , and have not held either their insurance brokers or carriers accountable for helping them manage risk , not buy insurance.
This November as you head to the polls we urge you to hold your lawmakers and politicians accountable instead of complaining about how incompetent and dysfunctional Congress is. While your at it don’t simply complain about how high your insurance rates are, vote for yourself and chose a broker that has a strategic plan and resources to help you prevent and manage claims rather than simply let you purchase overpriced insurance policies. It’s your future, just sayin…..
