CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia-based BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Company picks up a number of new employees today in Pittsburgh. The company’s previously announced purchase of the workers’ compensation block of business from Pittsburgh-based HM Insurance Group is effective today.
Getting into the Pittsburgh market expands BrickStreet’s regional footprint and will be “transformational” for the company, BrickStreet CEO Greg Burton predicted.
“We obviously have Charleston and we also have an office in Charlotte, North Carolina and one in Naperville, Illinois, which is right outside of Chicago. This will allow us to grow our book of business,” Burton said.
The purchase involves workers’ compensation policies and accounts of approximately $120 million in premiums. HM’s workers’ comp employees move over to BrickStreet and stay in Pittsburgh.
As BrickStreet looked to expand, HM separated itself, Burton said.
“We looked at probably 10 or 15 different companies over the last few years and this one kind of bubbled up to the top. It’s one that’s truly going to be a great fit. It’s going to allow us to continue to grow as a comp carrier,” Burton said.
BrickStreet hopes to be selling workers’ comp insurance in 16 states by the first quarter of next year. It is currently in 12 states plus Washington, D.C. Not bad for a company that got its start Jan. 1, 2006 when then Gov. Joe Manchin and state lawmakers worked together to privatize the state’s workers’ comp system.
“In 2003, the (state) workers’ comp system was losing $1 million a day and had about a $3 billion unfunded liability and Gov. (Bob) Wise at the time took steps to help correct that and then obviously Gov. Manchin came in and took the steps to privatize,” Burton said.
Workers’ comp rates have gone down 60 percent for businesses during the last 12 years. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced back on Friday the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is proposing a 14.7 percent reduction in the loss cost rate. The decrease, the 12th in 12 years, will mean West Virginia employers will save $36 million in premiums in the coming year, the governor said.
There’s no doubt the change has been good for West Virginia on many fronts, Burton said.
“I think you’ll see that claimants are getting the care they need quicker than they were under the old system and they are getting back to work faster,” Burton said. “Our rate structure is not a reason now why (new employers) wouldn’t come into West Virginia. Because now we are competitive with Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania from a rate standpoint.”