Workers' comp firms get state OK

Advertiser Staff

The state has authorized two branches of the Kemper insurance group to offer workers' compensation in Hawai'i, Insurance Commissioner Wayne Metcalf announced yesterday.

Kemper Employers Insurance Co. and Kemper Casualty Insurance Co. have been allowed to enter the local workers' comp market, which recently has seen a fair amount of turnover as companies have entered and left the market.

New entrants are important because the market is controlled by relatively few companies.

Although 150 insurers are licensed to write workers' compensation policies in Hawai'i, about 20 companies write approximately 80 percent of the policies, according to state filings.

The Kemper companies join new market entrants AIG Hawaii Insurance Co., its subsidiary, American Pacific Insurance Co., General Casualty Co. of Wisconsin, and Regent Insurance Co., all of which were cleared to offer workers' compensation in March.

The addition of those companies should help keep workers' compensation premiums stable, despite the departure of several other insurers, Metcalf said at the time.

Eagle Insurance Group, the Fremont insurance companies and HIH America Insurance Co. of Hawaii pulled out of the market earlier this year. The state in April seized HIH, formerly the state's fourth-largest provider of workers' compensation, after determining the company was insolvent.

Kemper, a diversified insurance company with branches in many specialized fields, has been in Hawai'i since 1939.

Another Kemper company, Eagle Pacific Insurance Co., has been offering workers' compensation insurance since 1991.