R&R Insurance Blog

As a third-generation dairy farmer, Paul Krzewina’s priority was keeping his 585-acre farm in the family. But doing that meant modernizing, and Paul needed to take out a mortgage to build new barns and buy additional cows. He was concerned, though, that the mortgage would be a burden to his wife, Michele, and their four young children if something were to happen to him.

When Paul was diagnosed with a brain tumor three years later, the life insurance proved invaluable. He was able to use a loan against his policy’s cash values to pay his health insurance deductible. In addition, Paul didn’t have to worry about keeping his policy in force because of a provision that waived his premiums in the event of a disability. More on Michele and Paul's story and how life insurance enabled the family to save the farm!

Paul died in 2010, but his dreams for his family are very much alive today. His eldest son, Chad, 28, now runs the farm, and used part of the death benefit to add new barns, including a maternity barn. He plans to expand the operation to 500 cows, from the current 200. Michele works on the farm, too, though in the warmer months her attention is on her ice cream restaurant, The Iceburg. “We couldn’t have done any of these things without the insurance money,” Michele says.

For more information about life insurance, estate planning and mortgage protection, contact knowledgebroker Tom Driscoll.

No one insurance agent or broker has a monopoly on cost effective, great ideas. With that in mind, I have set out to interview 52 Wisconsin professionals in 52 weeks.

Here at R&R Insurance our tagline is, "We are the Knowledge Brokers." Because of that, I do my best to pass along important information on emerging issues and I don't limit it to insurance. I will be interviewing business professionals from a variety of industries including insurance, IT, Human Resources, real estate, wellness experts, local business alliances, and many more.

Take a look at the interviews and share the knowledge! Questions? Just drop me a line.

Uninsured motorist coverage, in Wisconsin, provides protection for bodily injury caused by a motorist who is not insured. This coverage allows you to collect from your own insurance company as if it provided liability coverage for the negligent and uninsured driver. Underinsured motorist coverage, in Wisconsin, provides protection for bodily injury sustained by you when a motorist who is not sufficiently insured negligently causes an accident.
Why carry UM/UIM coverage:

1. The chance of being hit by a negligent uninsured or underinsured motorist in Wisconsin is approximately 15%.

2. UM and UIM coverage is broad and could contain benefits for you and your family members' injuries sustained in your own covered auto, autoss you do not own, and as pedestrians.

3. The cost is reasonable.

Kent Wainscott of WISN12 reported on September 4th that local home owners have been seeing huge increases in their home insurance policy rates - especially those placed with direct writers such as American Family Insurance, Allstate and State Farm. Direct writers like these have national exposures like huge forest fires, Tornado Alley or hurricanes. They only represent themselves, and therefore generally pass on the hardship to everyone in their book of business.

Here in Wisconsin, we have many options to combat this huge increase in home insurance premiums by direct writers like American Family Insurance. The major difference with an independent agent like R&R Insurance is that we are not a “one size fit’s all”. We have numerous carriers with local or regional exposure - thus less risk for the carrier and less costly for you.

At R&R Insurance we'll find the best combination of coverage and the best value for your insurance dollar. Wisconsin residents, if you are seeing increases in your home and auto policies that are too heavy to bare, we can help! Click on the Get a Quote button, fill out a few fields and you're on your way to better prices for your home and auto policy.

If you prefer to talk on the phone, we can have a knowledgebroker give you a call - just click on the Start A Call button to let us know. We'll be there with affordable coverage that most likely is better than what you were getting with the direct writer.

With the onset of The Affordable Care Act (PPACA), many small employers will see their costs rise, despite successful efforts to encourage healthy habits and smart consumer choices - just another reason why smaller employers are taking matters into their own hands and self-funding. (Actually the healthier your employees, the better off your plan will be if you self-insure...here's why.)

At R&R Insurance, we get weekly inquiries about self-funding or self-insuring health insurance for their employees. This is a very hot topic right now, and we are here to help. This Self-Insurance Guide covers the basics of self insuring your company's health insurance. Download your Self-Insurance Guide here.

Recent articles about self-funding:

3 Guidelines driving small employers to self-funding
Health Benefits Continue to Be Key for Employers Despite Obamacare
How to Get, or Keep, Health Insurance if You Are Self Employed
Self-Insurance is a Loophole for Small Businesses

R&R is well versed in the self funded options available to small groups and has first hand experience transitioning small employers to partially self funded and self funded options. For more information about self funding your health insurance, contact a knowledgebroker today!

Key Man or Key Person Insurance helps to keep your business afloat in the event of the death of a key colleague. If such a tradgey could lead to your company's demise, then you should consider key man insurance. Key man insurance is basically life (or disability) insurance on specific individuals in your company that play a major role in your company's survival.

Key Man Insurance is a life or disability policy taken and paid for by the company. The company is the beneficiary. In the event of a death or disability to a mentioned key employee, the company then has the funds to make appropriate business changes to stay in business. It can cover debts, payments to investors or day-to-day expenses for the business.

Three Main Reasons to Have Key Man Insurance:

• The business cannot continue in the event of a loss of particular individuals
  Consider how much knowledge your key individuals have. Are you in the services industry? Key partners such as attorneys or physicians, if gone, would surely affect your business performance. How fast can key employees be replaced? Consider the revenue impact of these individuals being gone, and insure for that coverage to get you back on track.
• Business continuity is a concern
  If there is not business continuation plan in place, who will take over the business? If it is a family business, is the spouse willing and able to resume the role? Perhaps they simply want to be bought out and not have anything to do with the busness moving forward. The insurance could take care of the partner buy/sell issues when a tragedy occurs. More on business continuation planning.
• Future growth or financing needs
  Banks or financing institutions may require key man insurance coverage to be in place before extending any financing or credit to the company. This ensures the stability and longevity of the business plan and therefore reduces the risk for the lending institution.

Keep in mind that younger vs more seasoned key individuals will have different coverage needs. Younger key employees are more likely to be disabled verses dying. Consider disability in addition to life insurance for younger key employees.

Key man or key person insurance coverage is usually accomplished with a term life product for 10, 15 or 20 years depending on how many more productive years the key employees have in the businesses.

For more information on key man insurance, life insurance or business continutation planning, contact knowledgebroker Tom Driscoll.

While cyber insurance policies have been available in the market for years, I find that confusion still reigns as to what these policies cover. This confusion is warranted. The number of different policies available for cyber liability coverage along with an increasing number of endorsements that can be added to policies makes data breach coverage harder and harder to understand.

Here are the 7 Key elements to cyber liability coverage that you should look for in a cyber liability policy:

1. Forensic Expenses:
   You have determined that data has been compromised and need to investigate what happened, how it happened, and what information was accessed. The expenses to hire an outside forensic team for discovery is covered.
2. Legal Expenses:
   You will need legal representation in order to determine the scope of the federal and state notification requirement breaches. You will also need legal counsel to defend you in the event a suit is filed against you.
3. Notification Expenses:
   These expenses can include postage, paper, printing, call centers, etc.
4. Regulatory Fines and Penalties:
   What more can I say? The government will want, and get, their pound of flesh.
5. Credit Monitoring and ID Theft Repair:
   While not legally required, it is generally agreed that offering these services to the affected parties will reduce potential legal liability and is considered the right thing to do.
6. Public Relations Expenses:
   The manner in which the breach is reported to the media is crucial to restoring your reputation and maintaining your clients, vendors, business associates, partners, and patients.
7. Liability and Defense Costs:
   It's not uncommon for class action lawsuits to be filed against you following a breach. You will need legal representation which can be of your own choice or appointed by the carrier. Either way, coverage is available for these costs.

Most policies will include some coverage for all of these components. The limits, deductibles, coverage triggers, and scope of coverage can vary greatly from one carrier to the next. At R&R we believe that securing the right policy for your business is a process. We can help you understand your risks and exposures and craft a policy that meets your expectations.

Related articles:
Average Cost of Corporate Data Breach is $7.2 Million
Transfer Your Cyber Liability Exposure

For more information on how to protect your company against the cost of a data breach or anything regarding cyber liability, contact a knowledgebroker.

September being Life Insurance Awareness Month, it's a great time to share this very cool mosaic of uploaded loved one photos. It's growing day be day with the world's uploads!

Lifehappens.org is a great resource for learning about life insurance, options for estate planning, and stories that will pull at your heart and really get you thinking about how well your family is protected.

There’s a growing crisis of too many Americans not having adequate life insurance protection. According to the industry research group LIMRA, 30 percent of US households have no life insurance whatsoever. Today there are 11 million fewer American households covered by life insurance compared with six years ago. Here’s the bottom line: A majority of families either have no life insurance or not enough, leaving them one accident or terminal illness away from a financial catastrophe for their loved ones.

Here are some great resource links to get you started:

Life Insurance 101

Life Insurance Needs Calculator

Human Life Value Calculator

Held each September, Life Insurance Awareness Month is an industry-wide effort that is coordinated by the nonprofit LIFE Foundation. The campaign was created in response to growing concern about the large number of Americans who lack adequate life insurance protection.

Roughly 70 million adult Americans have no life insurance, and 11 million households with children under 18 have not life insurance. To top that off, most of those who dohave life insurance have far less coverage than most financial experts recommend.

For more information on life insurance, visit LIFE’s website at www.lifehappens.org. In addition, they have a very cool mosaic going on with "Insure Your Love" that is worth a look!

Two main reasons for taking care of life insurance when you are younger:

1. You are just that - younger! Premiums are based on age and health - take advantage of your youth
2. You are healthier - again - take advantage of that

Most mid-life people I know really regret not taking care of their life insurance when they were younger. If they had, they would have saved themselves a lot of money!

For more information about life insurance, estate planning, business continuation and annuities, contact knowledgebroker Tom Driscoll.

Employers have a 1 in 3 chance of being the target of an employment related action for every 100 employees. Private and small companies are even more vulnerable as many have less HR resources, think of themselves as “family”, and generally pay less attention to potential risk areas. In 2012 the EEOC received more complaints than any previous year. They have increased their budget by 20% to increase staff to handle the pure volume of complaints being filed. Regulators have become more aggressive in enforcement at both the federal and local level.

The top four complaints being filed against employers:

1. Age related discrimination
2. Retaliation (at an all-time high)
3. Sexual Harassment (account for 25-30% of all complaints)
4. Wage and Hour

It is important for employers to realize that the EEOC is looking at every charge for a pattern of behavior. A single complaint can easily balloon into a much bigger problem. Recently, St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, WI agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the hospital failed to pay 1,400 nurses for meal breaks when they had to stay at the hospital on call.

In the broad context of wage and hour issues, allegations include misclassification of employees as exempt to avoid overtime pay (i.e. sales personnel), not paying for the time spent donning or removing of gear, booting up computers, preparing for the work day, etc.. and the use of mobile devices to access voice mail or email off hours without compensation. The 4^th district Court Appeals ruled recently that Tyson Foods must pay back wages for the time spent putting on and taking off gear that can include hair nets, hard hats, shoe covers, safety glasses and frocks. The back wages could top more than $1 million.

Looking into the future, employers should be aware of the potential claims concerning obesity and corporate wellness programs. The American Medical Association recently classified obesity as a disease. Is this a precursor to becoming a protected class? The challenge for employers is being able to show that an applicant or employee cannot perform the job duties rather than the impact that an obese person can have on health insurance, sick time, and productivity. With regard to wellness programs employers are advised to be careful that individual’s privacy is protected, that they are not being judged /monitored and that employment decisions are not being influenced by an employee opting out of participation or following recommendations.

The average cost to defend against an employment action brought by a single plaintiff that is ultimately dismissed is $150,000. Costs for complex and class actions can skyrocket and have a huge financial impact to any employer regardless of industry. Employment Practices Liability insurance should be a part of the insurance program for all employers. Taking time to understand the policy, the obligations of both the employer and carrier, and what to do in the event of a claim is time well spent. Odds of becoming the target of an employment action are on the rise.

For more information about Employment Practices Liability Insurance for your Wisconsin company, contact a knowledgebroker.

Related topics:
Corporate wellness programs