Comp Quotes | Winter 2022

Agency incentive commissions enhanced

For SAIF agencies with a full or premier appointment that are participating in the incentive commission, we have enhanced the incentive effective January 2022. In addition to adding a new growth incentive portion, we have also included a stop-loss limit on claims over $500,000.

The retention and loss ratio parameters for the General Incentive Commission will still be in place and must be met before the Growth Incentive Commission is evaluated. (The loss ratio goal for 2022 will be 31%, which is up from the 30.5% for 2021.)

We are providing this opportunity for an additional Growth Incentive Commission if an agency meets at least 50% (or more) of SAIF’s Growth Goal based on the size of their book of business. This is an additional opportunity – it does not impact the General Incentive Commission.

We are excited to add these enhancements and look forward to providing this additional incentive to qualifying agencies.

SAIF’s agency marketing specialists are available to answer questions:

Pat Morrill (patmor@saif.com)

Julie Tremblay (jultre@saif.com)

Erika Meier (erimei@saif.com)

Making coverage more available to your small business clients

When small businesses come to your agency seeking workers’ comp coverage, they don’t always give you much (if any) lead time. They might need coverage to start work on a project or to hire employees right away. We got feedback on our most recent agent survey indicating some agents have run into challenges with our service center when we would only offer coverage to start the day after our proposal was released.

To make coverage more available when there is a pressing need, we are changing our underwriting guidelines to allow same-day coverage in some circumstances. Although same-day coverage cannot be guaranteed without underwriting the risk, we have empowered the insurance reps in our service center to make those decisions on small business applications.

Here is what we’ll need:

• On Step 9 of saifQuote, on question number 8, select “yes” to refer the application to an underwriter and indicate same-day coverage is needed.
• Provide a brief synopsis of the reason for their urgent need, which could be:

-  They need to hire workers right away.

-  They need to start working on a new project.

-  They just found out workers’ comp coverage is required.

• Provide a statement signed by an owner, officer, or member of the business acknowledging, “We are unaware of any injuries to workers or owners that have occurred on the proposed effective date of coverage.” This can be done via an email from the business to servicecenter@saif.com.

Other states coverage program 2021 recap

SAIF’s other states coverage program is nearing the end of its 11th year — we wrote our first OSC policy with our Zurich partner in early 2011. The program saw high initial growth, and has sustained steady policy growth since. At the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, we didn’t know what to expect. It turns out that our OSC program was a necessity for our agency partners and SAIF policyholders with risk exposures in states outside of Oregon.

As the pandemic progressed, we saw a spike in the number of policyholder employees working outside Oregon. As a result, in 2021 we saw an increase of more than 350 new OSC policies in our program, totaling over $1.8 million in premium. 

Today, the OSC program has more than 1,400 policies totaling over $17.2 million in premium.  

We want to thank our agency business partners for the confidence you continue to show in our program. We’ve worked hard to make this an attractive and competitive product, and we anticipate more good things in 2022 as we continue to review how best to use it as it relates to our mission to make workers’ comp coverage widely available and affordable, and by providing extraordinary service.

If you have questions, would like to provide feedback, or would just like to chat about our program, please reach out to program manager, Brian Fast. He can be reached at brifas@saif.com, or 503.373.8374.

Group plan criteria and membership

SAIF’s group program is the largest in the state and the only one offering group discounts to qualified policyholders. As we start the new year, it is a good time to revisit how to request a group quote, and how best to handle it when a quote is accepted.

Sixty days prior to renewal, our system reviews our service center policies for group eligibility and sends you and the policyholder a “You may qualify for a group” letter if the policyholder meets the group criteria. The letter indicates the eligible group(s) and asks the policyholder to contact their agent or SAIF for a quote. It’s a perfect opportunity to speak with your customer about the potential benefits of an association membership, which could include a discount on their workers’ comp through SAIF. (See the group information and discounts info: Oregon Workers' Comp Group Insurance | SAIF)

Regional accounts do not get a letter, and we look to you, as the agent, to have discussions with your underwriter for group proposals. The eligibility criteria differ slightly from group to group, so please be sure to review for the group quotes you are requesting. Once you have a group quote from either the SAIF service center or your underwriter, the group enrollment form must be signed and returned to us prior to the renewal date or we won’t be able to add the discount to the policy.

The first line of the form states:
“The undersigned business hereby certifies it meets the endorsing association’s membership criteria, is a member in good standing of the endorsing association, and elects to enroll as a participant in the organization’s Oregon Group Supplemental Experience Rating Plan (“Plan”).”

Please make sure your customer is a member of the association. If they aren’t, they must join prior to their renewal. It’s part of the sale, so we look to the agent to make sure this happens. If the customer fails to join, we are required to remove them from the group, causing confusion and changes to their premium.

If you have questions, please contact Pat Morrill (patmor@saif.com), agency and group program coordinator, or Lyn Zielinski-Mills (lynzie@saif.com), marketing and groups director.

SAIF team to focus on billing improvements

After our transition to new billing software in 2019, we heard from many agents and policyholders that our invoices and new billing processes have caused confusion and are not meeting their needs.

In response, we conducted a series of listening sessions with select policyholders and agents to collect feedback on their experiences with the system.

All the issues reported helped shape and define targeted solutions that will resolve pain points in invoicing, premium reports, delinquency, payments and credits, and payment plans. This month, we’ll conduct research with agents and policyholders to get feedback on invoice design improvements. You’ll hear more about specific improvements in the coming months. We hope to deliver all the billing solutions by the end of this year.

In the meantime, we’re committed to providing excellent service to our mutual customers and are available to assist them with any concerns they have.

If you have questions related to this project or would like to be involved in future research sessions, please email us at BIIProject@saif.com.

News in brief

House Bill 3188
The Workers' Compensation Division has published information about House Bill 3188 (2021), which amends coverage requirements under Oregon workers’ comp law in several important ways.

If you have questions, contact the Workers’ Compensation Division, Employer Compliance Unit, at 888.877.5670 or wcd.employerinfo@dcbs.oregon.gov.

Upcoming agent trainings

• Feb. 8 | Creating an ethical workplace, 9 a.m.-noon, 3 agent ethics CECs PENDING
• Feb. 15 | Safety basics: safety committees, 10-11 a.m., 1 agent regular CEC PENDING
• Feb. 17 | Introduction to classification, 10–11 a.m., 1 agent law CEC
• Feb. 22 and 23 | Ag safety seminars in Spanish, 4 regular agent CECs (must attend both sessions to qualify)
• Mar. 9 and 10 | Ag safety seminars in English, 4 regular agent CECs (must attend both sessions to qualify)

Go to the agent trainings page to register.