First, I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. The Karlen’s had the normal family get together. Weather cooperated, and we all arrived at the right place at the right time. That in itself, is something to be thankful for.

This is a busy time of year where we deliver renewals to over 300 members. During these deliveries and renewal discussions, I keep a list of frequently asked questions. Here’s one of the top three that you may find interesting. The question is, “What are the benefits of being an MTMIC member?” There are several answers to this, so here are a few.

• MTMIC is a mutual company operating only for the benefit of its mutual member owners. There is no out of state home office or investors that must be satisfied before the needs of our members.
• The MTMIC Board – The Board of Directors is made up of 10 men and women. All are members of MTMIC. 7 are CEO’s/owners, 2 CFO’s and 1 HR VP. A nice mixture of talent and representation of MTMIC members. The Board sets the MTMIC vision and major programs. The Board directs (and reviews ME) on how well the staff and management team take care of MTMIC members.
• MTMIC staff – The average MTMIC staff member has been with the company 17 years. This is a well-seasoned and focused group. Our newest employee has been with the company two and a half years (that would be me). So, whether the focus is claims, loss control, coverage/ policy question or billing, members are dealing with smart, highly experienced, long term MTMIC staff.
• The best way to reinforce our member value and ownership is to return profits to the people that earned them; that would be our members. Through your loss control efforts and support of aggressive claims handling, when MTMIC makes money it goes back to its owner members. In 2015, the board reviewed loss years of 2010 through 2012, and declared a dividend that on average was 19% of the members paid premium. One quarter of our members received dividends exceeding 50% of their premiums. The dividend in March was based on two factors; one factor was loyalty which all members with coverage during 2010 – 2012 shared and a second calculation based on each member’s loss history for those same years.

While 2015 has not yet closed, our CFO just completed the monthly financial through November 30th and the dividend prospects are good. The board will review the December 31 numbers at the February meeting and make a determination about a dividend for payment in March of 2016.

Whether it be the board focus, the staff experience, or our member dividend value, there are many good reasons to be a member at MTMIC. These reasons also validate our 98% renewal retention ratio. That is in 2015, 98% of the MTMIC members renewed their MTMIC policies. Thank you for recognizing the hard work and focus we have on your workers compensation coverage needs.

The MTMIC staff and I wish you the best this holiday season.