CHARLESTON, W.Va – Efforts to reform West Virginia’s liability insurance agency are ongoing, but officials do not expect to see results right away. Last October, state Board of Risk and Insurance Management Executive Director Jeremy Wolfe told lawmakers that the agency was at “ground zero” with its reserves sapped by lawsuits involving abuse at the Miracle Meadows School in Harrison County. Wolfe told the House of Delegates Finance Committee that sweeping changes have been made.
“We have made more changes in the last two years than in the last 20 years within our program,” he said.
Despite making those changes, Wolfe is not sure how much of a difference they can make in keeping BRIM solvent. Because of the agency’s nature, he believes it will take time to see the impact.
“We just put those changes in within the last two years, so time will tell if those things are going to help us going forward. We have to be a little patient with some of those bigger changes to see how they’re going to work out,” he said.
Changes to BRIM include switching the rating perspective with premiums, increasing deductibles, and building reserve recaptures into premiums. Wolfe said the system needs to be evaluated annually to see what else has to be done.
“Honestly, it’s a year-by-year thing that we have to look at to make sure that what we’re doing is working. If we have to make tweaks, we have to make tweaks,” he said.
Wolfe stated previously that the Miracle Meadows cases wiped out BRIM’s reserves partially due to lawmakers extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases to 36 years. He indicated the agency is trying to avoid any surprises.
“Every year, we have to be super diligent in looking at that and working with our actuaries to make sure that there are no surprises and that we do our due diligence, and that’s something that we will do and are going to do,” he said.
While he can’t be sure that these changes are going to keep BRIM in a comfortable place, Wolfe feels good about what they will produce.
“I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t predict what incidents may occur within our book of business, but on the surface, we feel like we’re going to be ok,” he said.