What’s New: In Brief (April 01, 2008)

The hourly rate applied to the Level 2 attendant care of basic supervisory functions has increased, as per an amendment in the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. A revised Assessment of Attendant Care Needs (Form 1) for accidents occurring on or after Mar. 31, 2008 is consistent with the increase in the general Ontario minimum wage, according to a Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) bulletin. The hourly rate has increased to Cdn$8.75 from $8.00. For accidents occurring prior to Mar. 31, 2008, the rates set out in previous versions of Form 1 will apply, according to the date of the accident and section 39 of the SABS, FSCO notes in the bulletin.

The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) has wholeheartedly endorsed U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s call for the establishment of an optional federal charter for insurance regulation as part of the Blueprint for A Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure. “The risk management and commercial insurance buyer community has long supported the concept of an optional federal charter and believes that a regulatory system structured in the method proposed will provide an effective and much more efficient process to manage insurance transactions for policyholder operations,” Terry Fleming, a member of the RIMS board of directors and director of risk management for Montgomery County, Maryland, said in a RIMS release. The administration’s proposal would permit insurers operating under multiple state jurisdictions the option to be regulated at the national level. The proposal recommends establishing an Office of National Insurance within the Treasury Department to be charged with regulating insurers opting for a federal charter, the release notes.