AASCIF - oct-nov-dec03 From the AASCIF president

Things change. The turnover rate in top leadership of our fund members in the last year or two is probably at an historical high. That brings other changes to our organizations.

Workers’ compensation loss trends have shifted for most of us once again. For the most part, we’re explaining rising costs, lower investment returns and rising pricing, rather than delivering good news via lower premium/assessment invoices to our stakeholders and publicly celebrating our efficiency and cost control gains. That doesn’t mean we haven’t made the gains. But they may control the size of price increase, rather than produce price declines.

Budget deficits in most states and shifting political winds have encouraged some private insurers to instigate for changes to many state fund organizations. Unable to grow where they’d like or price as they’d like, these insurers seek to confine how state funds operate. They seek to reduce capital resources of state funds or their ability to grow them.

Some of us have seen our customers’ changing needs lead to expansion in where we operate and serve them. Or, we’ve pushed for changes in how we govern ourselves to reduce vulnerability to shifting political whim and increase accountability for long-term financial integrity, service excellence and efficiency.

Most of us see a change in our organization’s range of risk. International terrorism was not on our radar until recent years. This has, of necessity, changed the scale and range of our risk assessment and—for many—also our public affairs involvement. We’re advocating at the federal level on issues, not just at the state level. TRIA enactment has been a successful outcome that will expire without our advocating extension.

I for one see this federal involvement as a permanent landscape change. There are other issues coming that will, I predict, make federal-level politics a permanent part of our engagement in the public arena. Whether we like it or not.

How does AASCIF change to serve these changing concerns and pressing needs of its members? This is much on my mind as I begin the last of my two-year term. We have been an idea-sharing, networking, education-driven organization.

We should continue to be. There are changes that have us less confined in the employers we serve and perhaps less comfortable about who might be available to serve them. But our diversity has always been a source of challenge and growth.

Streamlining our AASCIF structure and efforts for the idea-sharing, networking and education our members value today is an ongoing challenge, especially when delivered via volunteer effort. But it’s a challenge to embrace, and one I hope we here at “AASCIF Central” will help our organization meet for its future vitality.

AASCIF has also been interested in facilitating joint advocacy on common issues. In the past, this was primarily by connecting members who are facing similar issues at home. That networking approach has also worked for some federal issues. But will these issues be isolated and occasional as in the past? Or will they become more frequent and require a broader-based, more systematic approach? I believe the probabilities favor the latter, and we will probably be calling on our U.S. members more in the future to help on these important federal issues.

These are the issues before us, I believe. Difficult ones, yes, but things change, and AASCIF can change to address them effectively.