Instant access: some state insurance departments are making public access to company financial information as easy as logging on.In a slow-moving Adj. 1. slow-moving - moving slowly; "slow-moving cars" slow - not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time; "a slow walker"; "the slow lane of traffic"; "her steps were slow"; "he was slow in reacting to the news"; "slow but steady growth" trend, a handful of state insurance departments are posting domestic insurance company financial statements on the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the , for all to see. This online access separates those states from most others, which depend on the central repository (1) A database of information about applications software that includes author, data elements, inputs, processes, outputs and interrelationships. A repository is used in a CASE or application development system in order to identify objects and business rules for reuse. of insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. financial information available on the Web site of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is an Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which seeks to organize the regulatory and supervisory efforts of the various state insurance commissioners from around the United States. . "It just makes sense," said Bill Ripple Ripple A metaphor for a short-term market trend. Notes: The ripple is one of the ocean metaphors coined by Robert Rhea, one of the original technical analysts. In general, technical analysts encourage traders to ignore market ripples. , spokesman for the Washington Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, which was the first state to post complete statements of in-state insurers on the Internet, in 2002. "In Washington State, we have a pretty robust public disclosure law in terms of public records. The culture here is to disclose it; if you can answer it, do." In states without online access to local insurers, the public must use the NAIC NAIC See National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC). site, which devotes three pages to public access: InsData, an online financial statement library; Insure Insure can mean:
(1) (CompuServe Information Service) See CompuServe. (2) (Card Information S ), where the public can access instate in·state tr.v. in·stat·ed, in·stat·ing, in·states To establish in office; install. insurer information including annual statements. Most states that do not post insurer financials themselves do provide links to one of the NAIC's Web pages. Only four states currently offer public access to domestic insurers via state department of insurance Web sites: Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. and Washington; California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). is in the process of providing full online access. The Washington State OIC "Oh, I see." See digispeak. (chat) OIC - oh, I see. provides information in a WinZip file. "You download it "Download It" is Clea's debut single. It was released in the UK on September 22, 2003 and missed the top 20 charting at #21. The single had average promotion, being performed in shows like Top of the Pops. from our Web site," Ripple said. "They come up as a PDF (Portable Document Format) The de facto standard for document publishing from Adobe. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in the PDF format. , and you can print them out. A lot of times it's used by other companies rather than consumers." As in most states, Washington has always offered public access to insurer financial statements, but in hard copy, not via the Internet. "It was a very time-consuming process to physically gather and print out the reports. The person would then have to come into our office to view them," Ripple said of the former method. "So in 2002 we made a determination that we had the capacity and opportunity to post them on our Web site. They've always been available, just not on the Web site." In addition to posting flail financial statements, the Washington State OIC also offers a direct link to the NAIC Web site. "We certainly believe that consumers benefit from having access to information from insurance companies, and we want to do what we can to meet that need," Ripple said. "Good Public Service" The Ohio Department of Insurance began posting financial statements online in 2002 "because we thought it was a good public service," said spokesman Jarrett Dunbar. "People who have used the service say they do appreciate having it online.... I know that we have received comments from reporters around the state and country saying that they find it a very useful tool as well." 2006, the financial statement page was accessed 20,999 times, he said. Rhode Island has been providing annual statements online for about four years, due to a combination of consumer requests and efforts to streamline the process, the department stated. It's been well-received thus far. Most of the 51 state insurance departments--including the District of Columbia--polled by Best's Review do offer public access to hard copies or in-house In-house In the context of general equities, keeping an activity within the firm. For example, rather than go to the marketplace and sell a security for a client to anyone, an attempt is made to find a buyer to complete the transaction with the firm. views of financial information on domestic insurers, in accordance Accordance is Bible Study Software for Macintosh developed by OakTree Software, Inc.[] As well as a standalone program, it is the base software packaged by Zondervan in their Bible Study suites for Macintosh. with each state's individual public access law or the federal Freedom of Information Act. (Sec page 75.) All 5,100-some insurance companies in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. send annual filings--including key financials, actuarials and other information--to the NAIC, which puts them in a central repository. Filings submitted in PDF format are available via the InsData system. Additionally, every state provides financial information for some of its lines to the NAIC; about 97% of the total premiums volume written in the United States is reported in the database, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the NAIC. Insurance companies also file information with rating agencies such as A.M. Best Co. Companies such as Best use those filings as part of the assignment of financial strength ratings to insurance companies. NAIC posts the data for the states as well as vendors who repackage re·pack·age tr.v. re·pack·aged, re·pack·ag·ing, re·pack·ag·es To package again or anew, especially in a more attractive package. re·pack the information, subject it to their own analytics, and sell it. Certain divisions of some state insurance departments don't file their financial statements. The California health insurance industry, for example, is governed gov·ern v. gov·erned, gov·ern·ing, gov·erns v.tr. 1. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in. 2. by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Department of Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Health and Human Services, HHS and is not required to file with the NAIC. Yet property/casualty insurers in California are required to file with the NAIC. Most states take advantage of the InsData link to the NAIC, said Kansas Insurance Commissioner The Kansas Insurance Commissioner (in full the Kansas State Insurance Commissioner) has the primary responsibility to the people whose personal lives are protected by insurance in the state of Kansas. Sandy Praeger Sandy Praeger was elected Insurance Commissioner for the state of Kansas on November 2 2002. Her term began January 13 2003.Commissioner Praeger is responsible for regulating all insurance sold in Kansas and overseeing the nearly 1,700 insurance companies and 65,000 agents licensed . She was secretary/treasurer of the NAIC, chairing the committee that launched InsData, when the program was under development; the InsData link came up in February 2006. "It's there for consumers who are thinking about buying an insurance product and just want to check the solvency The ability of an individual to pay his or her debts as they mature in the normal and ordinary course of business, or the financial condition of owning property of sufficient value to discharge all of one's debts. solvency n. and stability of the company. It's there for researchers and people who want to take that information and massage massage (məsäzh`), treatment of superficial parts of the body by systematic rubbing, stroking, kneading, or slapping. Massages can be administered manually or with mechanical devices. it and put it into formats for their own use," Praeger said, noting that the database is considered comprehensive. Information for a Price Prior to the launch of InsData, limited financial data was available on the NAIC Web site via the CIS Web page. "As you can imagine, that extension is expensive to maintain," Praeger said. And so the NAIC began to charge a user fee a couple years ago after conducting a study that found while consumers do access the information, the majority of users are from insurance companies, law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
Large financial-services conglomerates combine commercial banking and investment banking, and sometimes insurance. , consultants, the media, colleges, government agencies and other businesses. There's no cost for up to five statements every 12 months. After that, the cost is $10 per annual filing and $3 per quarterly filing. At least one former user of the NAIC's InsData portal would like to see more states posting their own domestic financials. "A lot of this stuff, it's probably worth my paying for it," said Joe Belth, professor emeritus e·mer·i·tus adj. Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement: a professor emeritus. n. pl. of insurance for the Kelley School of Business The Kelley School of Business of Indiana University is one of the top ranked business schools in the USA. It is home to approximately 4,600 full-time students on its Bloomington campus and approximately 1,200 students on its Indianapolis campus. at Indiana University Indiana University, main campus at Bloomington; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1820 as a seminary, opened 1824. It became a college in 1828 and a university in 1838. The medical center (run jointly with Purdue Univ. at Bloomington. As editor of The Insurance Forum, an independent monthly newsletter, Belth needs to access financial statements on a regular basis. "I only want certain information, and for me to gather the information from individual company statements would be quite a chore, so it's worth it to me to have it assembled as·sem·ble v. as·sem·bled, as·sem·bling, as·sem·bles v.tr. 1. To bring or call together into a group or whole: assembled the jury. 2. this way," he said. "But I find it very inconvenient in·con·ven·ient adj. Not convenient, especially: a. Not accessible; hard to reach. b. Not suited to one's comfort, purpose, or needs: inconvenient to have no phone in the kitchen. from time to time when I want to look at one company's statement. I can't do it. I literally can't do it." For a recent project, Belth called up the Indiana Indiana, state, United States Indiana, midwestern state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan (N), Ohio (E), Kentucky, across the Ohio R. (S), and Illinois (W). Department of Insurance and asked to see just a portion--Schedule "S"--of the annual reports of 10 companies. But he wasn't allowed to just look; he had to purchase. "The thing is, we're talking at least 100 pages, and I don't need all of them. I just want to look at them. After I look at them, I may only need three pages," he said. "So I wound up paying for the full 100 pages, and they got it for me fairly quickly." The NAIC partially designed InsData after Amazon.com, Praeger said. A user who downloads more than the initial five free statements is automatically linked to a shopping cart. "It's pretty much patterned after online shopping, so it's easy to use. And that way we protect the availability for legitimate consumer use," she said. The NAIC frowns on commercial use of the information it sells and "technically" has banned such use, Praeger said. "But we know that it's happening. We look at some of the usage. We have lots of offshore hits, so we know what's probably happening. But the main thing is making it available for legitimate purposes." There are discounts for governmental or academic use. "If it's a legitimate research project, that's discounted by 50%," Praeger said. Still, costs for individual customers like Belth can add up quickly. "If you wanted to look at 50 companies, you're talking about a thousand bucks just to look at them," he said. Using InsData allows the NAIC to distribute such information to the end user "much more quickly," and the InsData application has been "very well-received" and has reduced information requests to state insurance departments, the association stated. What's Next? According to the NAIC, some states are now expanding their online financial presence by offering insurance premium comparison rates. The Delaware Delaware, state, United States Delaware (dĕl`əwâr, –wər), one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States, the country's second smallest state (after Rhode Island). Department of Insurance, which does not post insurance company financial statements online, began posting comparison rates for instate insurers on its Web site in late May. The interactive site allows consumers to type in what kind of insurance they're seeking and their coverage limit, preferred deductible That which may be taken away or subtracted. In taxation, an item that may be subtracted from gross income or adjusted gross income in determining taxable income (e.g., interest expenses, charitable contributions, certain taxes). and resident ZIP code zip code System of postal-zone codes (zip stands for “zone improvement plan”) introduced in the U.S. in 1963 to improve mail delivery and exploit electronic reading and sorting capabilities. . The site then brings up an array of domestic insurers, along with their approximate yearly rates and their A.M. Best rating. A recent search for homeowners insurance in Delaware asking $250,000 coverage with a $500 deductible brought up 47 quotes ranging from $416 to $2,411. The Tennessee Tennessee, state, United States Tennessee (tĕn`əsē', tĕn'əsē`), state in the south-central United States. Department of Commerce and Insurance, which does not post insurer financials or offer a link to the NAIC, does post 2007 premium rate changes on its Web site for instate health, homeowners and personal auto insurers. And the Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, comprised of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators. passed a law during its most recent session that would allow the state's OIC to launch an application--as early as this summer--that would enable consumers to compare health carriers in terms of cost, financial expense and medical loss ratios. "They can compare them between companies. We're pretty excited about it," said Washington OIC spokesman Ripple. The department's original mandate was to launch the application by September, but it's working ahead of schedule. "That will show a lot of information for consumers: what surplus they have, profit margins, annual rate changes for health plans, administrative costs administrative costs, n.pl the overhead expenses incurred in the operation of a dental benefits program, excluding costs of dental services provided. . They can make a better-informed decision." Key Points * A handful of state insurance departments are posting domestic insurance company financial statements on their Web sites for public access. * Most states just post a link to InsData, the financial data source of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. * Some states are expanding their online financial presence by offering insurance premium comparison rates and other information. --Editorial Assistant Rebecca Bernaski contributed to this article. RELATED ARTICLE: Public information is not always accessible or affordable. While only a handful of states currently post instate insurers' financial information online, most others at least provide a link to the Web site of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. And many of those also provide hard copies of financials on request, or allow the public to view documents in-house, in accordance with each state's individual public access law or the federal Freedom of Information Act. For example, the Arizona Arizona (âr'əzō`nə), state in the southwestern United States. It is bordered by Utah (N), New Mexico (E), Mexico (S), and, across the Colorado R., Nevada and California (W). Department of Insurance does not yet offer full financial statements online, but "We do provide partial information for the public from our Web site, and we do link to the NAIC Web site," spokeswoman Erin Klug Klug , Aaron Born 1926. Lithuanian-born British biochemist. He won a 1982 Nobel Prize for research on the structure of viruses and particles of proteins and nucleic acids. said. In the office of the Georgia Georgia, country, Asia Georgia (jôr`jə), Georgian Sakartvelo, Rus. Gruziya, officially Republic of Georgia, republic (2005 est. pop. 4,677,000), c.26,900 sq mi (69,700 sq km), in W Transcaucasia. Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, "If someone makes a request, we'll get it to you," said spokesman Glenn Allen Al·len , Edgar 1892-1943. American anatomist who is noted for his studies of hormones and for the discovery (1923) of estrogen. . That's in either PDF or hard copy. The District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking posts financial information for all D.C.-based health entities, which represent about 40% of the region's domestic insurers, a spokesman said. That's due to prior consumer requests; the department upgrades the site with more information as it's requested. The Maryland Maryland (mâr`ələnd), one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bounded by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean (E), the District of Columbia (S), Virginia and West Virginia (S, W), and Pennsylvania (N). Insurance Administration posts final examination reports issued since Jan. 1, 2002. Prior reports must be requested in writing from the Public Information Act Coordinator, and photocopy fees may apply, a spokeswoman said. The site also offers a link to the NAIC's Insure U Web page. The State of Kansas Department of Insurance makes its domestic insurers' annual financial statements available to the public in hard copy for a nominal fee, said Ken Abitz, the department's director of financial surveillance. "We do charge companies for making copies," Abitz said. The fee is $1.25 per page and $7.50 an hour for man-hours. Consumers are not charged for copies, according to the state's open records policy. "We do put a link to the NAIC Consumer Web site so they can look at general financial information," Abitz said. The department also has links to various rating agencies. Navigating (networking, hypertext) navigating - Finding your way around. Often used of the Internet, particularly the World-Wide Web. A browser is a tool for navigating hypertext documents. the site is fairly easy, but accessing public information could be a little smoother, he said. "We're improving upon that every day," Abitz said. "You don't want people to have to drill down too far, or they'll give up."
What's Online?
Many of the Web sites of state departments of insurance post some
type of financial information on domestic insurers.
STATE FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
Alabama partial
Alaska link only
Arizona partial; link
Arkansas partial; link
California partial; updating process
Colorado partial; link
Connecticut partial; link
Delaware link only
District of Columbia partial
Florida hard copies on request; link
Georgia full info on request
Hawaii none; link to Insure U
Idaho full info on request
Illinois link only
Indiana hard copies on request; link
Iowa none; link to Insure U
Kansas hard copies on request; link
Kentucky full info on request
Louisiana none; link to Insure U
Maine full info on request; link
Maryland none; link to Insure U
Massachusetts none; link to Insure U
Michigan partial; link
Minnesota full info onsite
Mississippi full info on request
Missouri hard copies on request; link
Montana hard copies; link
Nebraska full info on request; link
Nevada link only
New Hampshire link only
New Jersey partial
New Mexico link only
New York full info on request; link
North Carolina link only
North Dakota full info on request
Ohio full info onsite
Oklahoma partial; link
Oregon full info on request; link
Pennsylvania full info on request
Rhode Island full info onsite
South Carolina hard copies; link
South Dakota full info on request; link
Tennessee no info; no link
Texas full info on request; link
Utah hard copies
Vermont full info in office
Virginia partial online; full on request
Washington full info onsite
West Virginia full info on request; link
Wisconsin full info on request; link
Wyoming partial; link
STATE What insurer financial information does it
offer online?
Alabama posts the most recent examination reports.
Alaska link to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Arizona posts partial financial information on in-state
insurers; link to the NAIC Insure U Web page.
Arkansas posts financial statements for health insurers;
link to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
California posts some financial information on in-state
insurers; developing public access to
statements online.
Colorado posts partial financial statements for in-state
insurers (no investment info); link to NAIC
Web site.
Connecticut posts the top 20 insurers in each category
listed by admitted assets; link to NAIC home
page.
Delaware recently began posting exam reports and rate
comparisons; link to NAIC home page.
District of Columbia posts info for D.C.-based health entities; hard
copies on request; link to the NAIC home
page.
Florida hard copies at a per-page copy charge; posts
financial exam reports; link to NAIC home
page.
Georgia annual statement info is available to the
public on request; PDFs and/or hard copies
available.
Hawaii link to the NAIC Insure U Web page.
Idaho hard copies only; link to the NAIC Consumer
Web page.
Illinois link to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Indiana hard copies only; link to the NAIC Insure U
Web page.
Iowa link to the NAIC Insure U Web page.
Kansas offers hard copies for a nominal fee; link to
the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Kentucky requires an open record request to view
financial statements.
Louisiana link to the NAIC Insure U Web page.
Maine posts examination reports for domestic
companies; link to the NAIC Consumer Web
page.
Maryland posts final examination reports; link to the
NAIC Insure U Web page.
Massachusetts link to the NAIC Insure U Web page.
Michigan posts financial statements for HMOs only; link
to NAIC Consumer Web page.
Minnesota posts financial statement summaries for
in-state insurers; link to the NAIC home
page.
Mississippi hard copies only; revamping Web site to include
a link to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Missouri hard copies only; link to the NAIC Consumer Web
page.
Montana hard copies available by written request; link
to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Nebraska public access to hard copies only; link to the
NAIC Consumer Web page.
Nevada link to the NAIC home page.
New Hampshire link to the NAIC home page.
New Jersey hard copies only; posts market conduct
examinations online (updated every three
years).
New Mexico link to the NAIC home page.
New York hard copies and PDFs via request; consumers are
redirected to rating agencies or the NAIC
Web site.
North Carolina consumers can view financial statements in the
department of insurance office.
North Dakota hard copies on request; requests are handled
in one to two days.
Ohio posts full financial statements of all in-state
insurers online since 2002.
Oklahoma posts partial info: assets & liabilities,
capital & surplus, state premium & claims.
Oregon hard copies must be reviewed in-house; link to
the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Pennsylvania hard copies available from the department's
three locations.
Rhode Island posts full financial statements of in-state
insurers; includes examination reports. No
link to NAIC.
South Carolina hard copies of full financial statements are
available on request; link to the NAIC
Consumer Web page.
South Dakota hard copies available; statements for
non-domiciled insurers can be retrieved via
the NAIC Web page.
Tennessee no online access; no link to NAIC.
Texas hard copies of full financial statements are
available on request; link to the NAIC
Consumer Web page.
Utah hard copies available on request or to view
in-house for domestic insurers only.
Vermont hard copies only; access to public portions.
Virginia posts partial annual financial info and
examination reports.
Washington posts full financial statements of all in-state
insurers.
West Virginia hard copies of financial statements available
on request.
Wisconsin hard copies available at the office, or can be
ordered; link to the NAIC Consumer Web page.
Wyoming posts examination reports for five health care
insurers; link to NAIC home page.
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