January '10 Nevada Government—Business & Industry: Division of Insurance Column

Commissioner Approves Decrease
for 2010 Workers’ Comp Rates

January 20, 2010 – Carson City, NV – Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper has approved a filing for an average decrease of 7.6 percent for workers’ compensation insurance voluntary loss costs and a 3.7 percent average decrease for workers’ compensation assigned risk rates.

The filing was submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI). The changes are effective March 1, and will apply to risks as of their anniversary rating dates.

The reduction, specifically a reduction in loss costs, is based upon Nevada employers’ experience and future projections. Commissioner Kipper stated that NCCI loss cost is only one component of the rates charged by insurers. Each insurer must file a loss cost multiplier that is used to determine final workers’ compensation rates.

For more information regarding this filing, including links to the Assigned Risk Rates and Advisory Loss Costs, please visit the Division’s new Property and Casualty Workers’ Compensation section of our web site at: http://doi.nv.gov/spc/workerscomp.aspx.

New Division of Insurance Site
Serves Consumers, Agents, Industry

January 19, 2010 – Carson City, NV – Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper is proud to announce the launch of a completely restructured and redesigned Division of Insurance web site: doi.nv.gov.

“We have designed the new site to be much more user friendly for both consumers and those entities we regulate,” Commissioner Kipper said. “It will allow us to better serve Nevadans while continuing our commitment to being a more efficient and responsive state agency.”

Much more than a redesign, doi.nv.gov also incorporates many new features. They include:

An enhanced Consumers page with answers to frequently asked questions and links to consumer guides, including the 2009–2010 “Nevada Consumer’s Guide to Auto Insurance Rates;”
Free look-up capabilities on our home page allowing the public to check if an agent, producer or company is licensed;
Site-search capabilities;
Improved Division contact information;
New tools that licensees can use to manage continuing education requirements, license renewals, and fees; and
A more user-friendly list of Required Industry Reports for insurers, with quick links to applicable Nevada Revised Statutes and Nevada Administrative Codes.

The site also has been reorganized, with information separated into categories designed to appeal to the perspective of the person visiting the site: Consumers, Captive Insurers, Insurers, Producers (agents and brokers), and Self-Insured. This will ensure that the information the Division presents is not only available, but easy to find.

The re-launch is one of many outreach initiatives for the Division, designed to improve communications between the Division and our stakeholders—namely, consumers, producers and carriers—at a time when insurance issues frequently make headlines, and many Nevadans have questions the Division of Insurance could answer.

“Division staff has worked extremely hard on this project over the past several months, reorganizing data and adding new content to the site,” Commissioner Kipper said. “We hope those outside of this office will find the changes to be helpful, whether they’re consumers looking for information on COBRA or companies who would like to do business in our state.”

About the Division of Insurance: The mission of the Division of Insurance is to protect the rights of Nevada consumers in their experiences with the insurance industry, and to ensure the financial solvency of insurers. Currently, insurance is a $12 billion industry in the state, with roughly 2,300 companies and nearly 100,000 producers licensed to do business here.