Our website's about to change dramatically. Here's what agents/brokers/insurers need to know

On Sunday, Jan. 13, we'll be rolling out our new agency website. It looks a lot different. We've tested the design on a variety of consumers and industry professionals, we've overhauled the navigational structure, and we've given the whole site a distinctly different look and feel.

There's one thing we're sure of: The site will be much more intuitive and easy to use. Early testing showed that consumers had a 1 in 3 task completion rate on our current site. On the new version, that jumped to 80 percent. And we hope that further fine-tuning boosts it further.

Here's the important part for agents, brokers and companies: The new site immediately splits users into a "consumer" area for laypersons and an "industry professionals" section for the folks that have to interact with our site for licensing, continuing education reporting, tax filing, financial statements, etc.

Update: And it's live! At the top of the home page, you'll see a tab marked "For industry professionals." There you go.

Two of WA's largest nonprofit health insurers have $2.2 billion in surplus

From a press release we sent out today:
OLYMPIA, Wash. – With two of the state’s largest health insurers sitting on surpluses totaling $2.2 billion, Washington’s top insurance regulator wants to use some of that money to lower costs for consumers.

According to the companies’ most recent financial statements, Regence BlueShield’s surplus has grown to $1.05 billion. Premera Blue Cross’ surplus is $1.15 billion.

“These are non-profit companies,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “It’s hard to square their billion-dollar surpluses with the fact that families are struggling to afford health insurance.”

Kreidler is proposing legislation that would allow his office to consider surpluses when reviewing nonprofit health insurers’ proposed rates. As things stand now, his staff must ignore them.

“As I’ve said before, it’s like trying to ignore an elephant in the room,” Kreidler said. “And the elephant’s getting bigger.”

The surpluses of both Regence and Premera have more than doubled in a decade. In the first nine months of 2012, Regence’s grew by $60 million. Premera’s grew by nearly $182 million.

“It’s important to remember that these are not reserves, which are set aside to pay future claims,” Kreidler said. “These billion-dollar surpluses are in addition to their reserves.”

Insurance statistics in Washington state

Each year, the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-backed research group, compiles data on the insurance industry in each state.

From this year's Washington edition:

• Number of people working in the insurance industry in Washington state: 49,445.
• Their payroll: $3.2 billion.
• Premium taxes paid: $406 million
• Premiums: About $19 billion.

The report includes a lot of other information, including details about which companies write the most insurance, losses incurred, etc.

Aetna fined $1 million for insurance violations

A Connecticut insurance company has been fined $1 million by Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler for multiple violations over several years.

Aetna Life Insurance Company has agreed to pay the fine. The violations include issuing unapproved insurance policies, failing to file legally-required documents with the state and charging unapproved rates.

“All insurers must comply with state law, and most of them do,” said Kreidler. “I hope that this fine and compliance plan resolves these problems with Aetna.”

Among the violations:

• Starting in 2005, Aetna issued health, disability or life insurance policies to more than 4,400 people that did not comply with state law. Among the violations: The policies had not been filed for approval with Washington state.

• Also starting in 2005, the company issued health policies that did not include all Washington state health care mandates. Nor did they describe Washington’s appeals and grievance process, as required by law.

• For more than three years, Aetna continued to sell a health policy that had been disapproved.

• Starting in 2009, Aetna issued other health, disability and life policies that had not been filed with the state. Some of those health policies that did not include all Washington state mandates. Nor did the company have an approved appeals and grievance process for those plans.

• In 2010 and 2011, Aetna issued medical and dental plans for more than 100 Nordstrom retirees that had not been approved by Kreidler’s office, as required by law.

The company has also agreed to a compliance plan designed to prevent similar problems in the future.

Fines issued by Kreidler’s office do not go to the insurance commissioner’s office. The money collected goes to the state’s general fund.

Yak insurance vs. yakking about insurance

Nepalese herders, tired of losing their livestock to snow leopards, have come up with an insurance plan to compensate them when a leopard kills a yak.

The herders pay about $1.50 a year to cover each yak, and are paid about $50 if the yak is killed by a snow leopard.

(On a side note, we're betting that this story is driving a significant amount of traffic to insuranceyak.com, which is a blog devoted not to yak insurance, but to yakking about insurance.)

Order approving Amerigroup WA acquisition by WellPoint

We've gotten a number of calls from analysts about this: Here's the final order approving acquisition of Amerigroup Washington Inc. by WellPoint, Inc.

For the full history and the rest of the documents, see this page and scroll down to "Amerigroup Washington Inc."

High wind warning in south Puget Sound -- gusts up to 60 mph Sun and Mon

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for the south Puget Sound area, including south Tacoma, Olympia, the southern part of Hood Canal, Montesano, Chehalis and Centralia.

A "southerly wind 15 to 30 mph will develop late this evening (Sunday)...then switch to southwest wind 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph late tonight and Monday morning," the NWS said. "Winds will slowly ease Monday afternoon."

High winds -- especially when soils are soaked, as they are now -- can topple trees, cut power lines, etc. After winter storms, we often get a flurry of calls from folks wondering what their homeowners and auto insurance covers. Here are some of the most common questions we get, along with the answers.

Update: (10 a.m. Monday) The winds have died down, although we might get a bit of snow tonight.