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U.S. farmers last week finalized their crop insurance plans for spring planting with critics of the government-subsidized program saying insurers are set up for a bonanza after passage of the new five-year farm bill last month. Farmers who sign up for crop insurance by March 15 won’t, in fact, enjoy the enhanced subsidies of the new federal law, which go into effect with the 2015 crop year. But grain farmers in 2014 will still see up to two-thirds of their insurance premiums paid for by the government. Private insurance companies will also still benefit from the government as their “reinsurer,” an arrangement critics say limits their losses while boosting underwriting gains. With the new farm bill, the government’s largesse gets even bigger next year. “I think taxpayers lost on that farm bill for sure. There was lots of money that could have been saved to reduce the deficit, but they chose not to,” said Bruce Babcock, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University who has studied crop insurance for more than a decade. “The industry lobbies heavily,” Babcock told Reuters. “It’s just rub my back, I’ll rub yours.” A new farm bill was held up for more than a year by wrangling over cuts in food stamps and subsidized programs for the poor. Backers also touted cuts in direct payments to farmers estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) at $40 billion over 10 years. But 80 percent of those savings—some $33 billion, according to CBO data—reappear in the new farm bill as “enhanced” crop insurance, reformers say. “The crop insurance program survived essentially unscathed in this farm bill,” said Craig Cox of the Environmental Working Group, which sees U.S. farm policies as wasteful to taxpayers. “This was the first farm bill where there was a lot of attention paid to trying to reform the crop insurance program. None of those reforms made it into the final bill.” Crop insurers, on the other hand, praised the new law. “For the taxpayer, it eliminated direct payments and reduced some of the price support policies of the past in favor of expanding crop insurance, which is purchased by farmers on an individual basis,” David Graves, president of the American Crop Insurance Association, said in a written response to questions. “For crop insurance companies, the farm bill underscored the fact that crop insurance is the top risk management tool for America’s farmers and ranchers.” Read the entire article here. Content provided by:  http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/03/17/323445.htm

The new U.S. farm bill is already a year behind schedule so what's one more month?  Negotiators said that the work for the legislation to cut food stamps for the poor and expand crop insurance for farmers won't be completed prior to Congress adjourning for the year.  This farm bill will cover topics from farm exports and food aid to crop subsidies. The delay is nothing new for the farm bill.  Since mid-2012 Congress has asked for massive cuts in the food stamp program.  The House is asking for the largest amount of cut with a $40 billion cut over the course of the next ten years.  The Senate is a little more liberal with a recommended cut of $4.5 billion. According to Insurance Journal, “We will be ready to vote in January,” Debbie Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, told reporters." Many components of the farm bill are up in the air, including food stamps. The Proposal The new farm bill would spend some $500 billion over five years, three-quarters of it on food stamps. Specifically, the Insurance Journal reports, "Both chambers would trim spending on traditional farm subsidies, conservation programs and food stamps, while expanding outlays for crop insurance by up to 10 percent. One crop insurance proposal would assure grain and soybean growers of up to 90 percent of average revenue from a crop." Read the entire article here. Content provided by http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/12/11/313908.htm

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Most states allow company owners and executives to opt out of (or not opt in to) Workers Compensation insurance. But did you know that if you choose this option your Health insurance policy might well not pick up work-related medical claims? If you carry Health coverage through your company Group plan, you can usually arrange to be covered for work-related injuries under this policy - which then becomes "24-hour" coverage for you. However, many small business owners and managers are insured under the Health Plan of their spouse or parents - which almost always exclude work-related injuries. Let's say that you exempt yourself from Workers Compensation and have coverage under your spouse's Health insurance - and you suffer a serious injury in a work-related, at-fault auto accident. Once you have exhausted the Medical Payments coverage under the company's Commercial Auto policy, the chances are that you'll have to pick up the tab for the rest of your medical bills. You might even have to choose between limiting your treatment options or going bankrupt (unpaid medical bills are the nation's leading cause of bankruptcy). Even if you have "24-hour" insurance under your own Health policy, this coverage will not reimburse you for income lost during your convalescence. So, what's the solution? You might consider buying a Disability income policy - or decide to cover yourself under Workers Compensation, after all. As always, our agency stands ready to offer our professional advice. Just give us a call.

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California’s worst drought in decades is feeding what may become a devastating wildfire season, one that is starting about five months early. Extremely dry conditions have sparked 487 wildfires so far in 2014, compared with only 2 for the same period a year ago, according to the state Forestry and Fire Protection Department, known as Cal Fire. Potential power failures, home losses, lost tourism dollars and crop damage could jeopardize the world’s 10th largest economy as California struggles to emerge from the deepest recession since the 1930s. “Having this occur statewide is unprecedented, certainly in my career,” Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott, who started out as a firefighter almost 30 years ago, said in a telephone interview last week. “We anticipate the potential for a very long and sustained fire season throughout the rest of the year.” For a state already reeling from a drought that officials say could be one of the worst in California’s history, fires would only add to the misery. They could damage critical power lines and cause blackouts, disrupt water supplies and destroy sensitive ecosystems, said Bill Stewart, a forestry specialist at the University of California at Berkeley. Last year, prolonged dry conditions led to the third- largest fire in California’s history. The “Rim Fire” shut power lines and hydroelectric generators, charred parts of Yosemite National Park and threatened the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir watershed, which supplies 85 percent of the drinking water to San Francisco. ‘Poster Child’ The Rim Fire has become the “poster child” for future wildfires in California and the U.S. West, according to a 2013 report from CoreLogic Inc., a real estate data and analytics firm. Homes valued at about $78 billion in total are at risk from wildfires, estimates CoreLogic. Fires could even pose a risk for the state’s $22 billion wine industry. In 2008, smoke from smoldering wildfires in Mendocino County contaminated crops of pinot noir grapes, said Bill Pauli, a grower and general partner of Yokayo Wine Company in Ukiah, California. “Some wines had the odor of someone who had been standing next to a barbecue,” Pauli said in a telephone interview. “It was not a good situation and we all hope it doesn’t happen again.” Extra Firefighters Fire season usually begins around May and typically ends in November with the onset of winter storms, according to Cal Fire. This year, the department says it has hired 125 additional firefighters, staffed 25 extra fire engines and retained crews and aircraft that would normally be idle this time of year. The state has banned campfires and smoking in several parks. “Right now, all of our planning is for the worst-case scenario,” said Pimlott of Cal Fire. “We want to make sure we are ready.” The wildfire danger is of more concern to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti than the prospect of running out of water because of the drought, he said during an interview at Bloomberg News’s Los Angeles office. “I think we are going to see fire season around the clock for much of the year,” Garcetti said. “We are going to have to keep deployments much higher.” The city expects to spend an extra $12 million this year on fire department coverage due to the dry conditions, Garcetti said. Transmission Lines At the same time, utilities including PG&E Corp. and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric are implementing plans normally reserved for high-fire season, such as stepping up patrols of electrical lines and bringing fire crews along for routine repairs. “Wildfires are always a risk in California,” said Alvin Thoma, director of power generation at San Francisco-based PG&E. “With the dry conditions we’ve had, the soil moisture content right now is much lower than usual, so that makes wildfires much more of a concern.” The California ISO, the state grid operator, said it will keep an “eagle eye” on high-voltage transmission lines, which will be needed to import more power this summer to make up for dwindling hydro-electric supplies and the retirement of a 2,200- megawatt nuclear plant in Southern California. The state typically imports one-quarter of its power needs, according to the ISO. “The wild card is always fires,” said Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for California ISO. “They can affect the transmission and that literally cuts imports that we can’t afford to lose.” Extra Vigilant If lines go down, the grid operator can reroute electricity and ramp up local generation production, McCorkle said. Edison International’s Southern California Edison utility, owner of the San Onofre nuclear plant that was retired last year, will need to be extra vigilant if the dry conditions continue, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ted Craver. “You can’t say there wouldn’t be some combination of events, a heat storm and a fire that takes out a transmission line,” Craver said in a telephone interview. Upgrades to power networks and new gas generation that has come online in the past two years will help “the grid to be able to withstand the shocks,” Craver said. Although rainstorms in the past week have provided some respite, the odds are that the drought will persist along with the risk of more wildfires, according to Cal Fire. “Everybody is probably sitting back on pins and needles,” said Thomas Jeffery, a senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic. “The potential for a really disastrous wildfire season is very high.” Content provided by http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2014/02/11/244295.htm