Month: September 2010

Is Your Maine Home in a Flood Zone?

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Recent changes proposed by FEMA have put flood insurance in Portland, Maine on the minds many. Every property is in a flood zone, and has the possibility of suffering flood damage. Some properties are in “special hazard zones”, which means that they are more susceptible to flood. Lenders usually require borrowers to buy flood insurance as a requirement of getting a mortgage for these properties.

If you’re wondering what flood zone your property is in, there is a free tool available at FreeFlood.net. It’s a database of the flood zones of 100 million U.S. addresses. Simply enter your address, and instantly see flood zone information, along with a “flood meter” reading.

Graphical Flood Zone Meter

If you’re buying a home or commercial property in Maine , this is a great tool to help you budget your property insurance costs. For more information about homeowners insurance, business insurance, or flood insurance, contact Noyes Hall & Allen Insurance at 207-799-5541.

Special thanks to Steve Anderson of Steve Anderson’s TechTips for introducing us to this useful tool. Steve’s blog is a great educational resource for Maine insurance agents like us.

Maine Workers’ Compensation Insurance Forecast and Recap

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The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently released their annual report of  Workers’ Compensation results, and the picture isn’t pretty.

Payroll Reductions
Maine business insurance agents already know that their clients struggled to balance expenses with revenues reduced by the recession. Between layoffs, furloughs and attrition, reduced payrolls caused U.S. workers’ compensation premiums to drop 11.4% from 2008 to 2009.  While a slight reduction in rates caused some of that decrease, most of it was payroll-driven.
New England fared slightly better than average, with a 10.8% decrease. Our state actually did better than New England. Maine workers compensation insurance premiums were 10.2% lower in 2009 than 2008.

Workers Compensation Overall Premium Change, 2008 to 2009
click to enlarge map

Increased Losses
The workers’ compensation loss ratio (losses incurred to premium earned) increased nearly 7% in 2009. Although not uncommon during an economic recession, this is not a positive sign for the health of the workers’ comp insurance market. The New England states’ pure loss ratios were worse than average, at 73.1%.  Maine’s pure loss ratio was better than the New England average, but worse than the national average, at 70%.

Workers' Comp Pure Loss Ratios by State, 2009
Click to enlarge map

The Maine Workers’ Comp Forecast
Most insurance analysts believe that the workers’ comp market is in a precarious position. Relatively good loss ratios are deteriorating, and the uncertainty of national health care reform, medical cost increases, and employment and economic growth (or lack thereof) concern underwriters. The result may be upward pressure on Maine workers’ comp rates over the next few years. That’s bad news for employers.

If you have questions about your Maine workers comp experience modification, workplace safety, or workers’ compensation insurance in general, contact Noyes Hall & Allen Insurance at 207-799-5541.