At the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Spring Meeting, I had the pleasure of moderating a session entitled, What You Don't Know about Wildfires… Can Cost You. The topic drew a lot of interest, as 2017 was the most destructive and costly wildfire season ever recorded in the United States. The devastating wildfires affecting Northern California in October and Southern California in December claimed 43 lives and caused an estimated nearly $12 billion of insured losses. While California claimed the majority of 2017 wildfire losses, only about 13% of the total U.S. acres burned were in California. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, less densely-populated Montana and Nevada saw an even greater amount of burn. In total, wildfires scorched nearly double the 2016 area.

Pinnacle recently hosted the 5^th annual Pinnacle University (Pinnacle U) event in our Bloomington office. The Pinnacle U program is a collaborative effort with Illinois State University (ISU) to provide training and development opportunities to both our employees and local college students. Consistent with our firm’s commitment to community, Pinnacle U is well-received in the Bloomington-Normal area.

Each year, we ask our clients to rate their level of satisfaction with Pinnacle’s services and request their input as to how we can improve their overall client experience. We’re proud that our 2017 client survey yielded a 99% satisfaction rate, and we sincerely thank our client participants for their responses.

Another big California workers’ compensation rate reduction is coming, effective mid-year 2018. This will be the seventh straight decrease, with the last reduction taken January 1, 2018.

This past week, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) approved and released the pure premium rate filing, effective July 1, 2018. This rate reduction has not yet been approved by the California Department of Insurance, and is open to a public comment period and hearing.

With every product we buy comes an expected cost and a value proposition. Our individual purchasing decisions are always based on more than cost alone.  Hence, “Is the protection plan worth it?” is in the eye of the buyer.