Self-Insured Membership

Last year, self-insured membership in AF's programs grew by nearly 25 percent from 1,667 members to 2,055. At the same time, arbitration filings by self-insureds grew by nearly 27 percent.

Self-Insured companies are increasing their use of inter-company arbitration to increase subrogation recovery and are realizing some unique benefits: Increasing subrogation recovery and reducing costs.

Benefits of Arbitration for Self-Insureds:

• Resolution of disputes takes only a fraction of the time compared to litigation. The time it takes from filing to hearing is usually less than 90 days.
• Dramatic reduction in legal cost/expense. There are no court costs, no legal fees and no membership fees. Arbitration Forums charges only a $40 case filing fee.
• Protection from litigation. Once an agreement is signed, all participating companies must forego litigation and use AF's arbitration process to resolve loss disputes related to each program. Simply, there are over 4,700 other carriers and self-insureds that cannot sue them for losses related to the program for which the agreement is signed.
• Often low value subrogation claims are abandoned as their value does not justify the expense of litigation. The low costs of arbitration allows you to pursue all cases.
• As signatories to AF's programs, more than 4,700 insurance companies and self-insured are required to arbitrate settlement. The result is a significant cut in the abandoned subrogation claim rate for self-insureds.

AF is currently working individually with self-insured members to determine what training tools are needed to help increase participation in arbitration programs.