In this newsletter you will see pictures of the MTM annual members meeting. This meeting was held October 19th at the Inn of St. John’s in Plymouth. There were over 80 members in attendance. It was the largest MTM meeting ever. At the meeting, attendees had a great meal and two short presentations. One of the presentations was from two of our nurse case managers on how they coordinate medical care for an injured worker, get the worker back to work and also save money for the employer. The second speaker was the president of an outside insurance rating organization, Demotech. He gave a brief description on insurance company rating and why it’s done. He then went on to inform the group of the MTM “A” financial rating. He went into some detail on why this rating of MTM’s financial finances was well deserved.

After our guest speakers, I, with the help of Chris Doebler, MTM CFO, gave a nine month 2016 update on company finances. This preliminary 2016 review was important to begin the thought process for our owner’s dividend which is reviewed by the MTM Board in February. Like past annual meetings, I gave a low, midpoint and high profit range. I gave the same review earlier in the day to the MTM Board of Directors. After that presentation, the Board elected to take a portion of the anticipated MTMIC profits to reduce the premium of members for 2017. This was not an overall or flat rate decrease, but rather was a by account review. What this means is that accounts with a great loss ratio will get higher credits and accounts that have loss ratio issues will not see additional credit. Essentially we are taking some of the dividend money and giving it to the members sooner. This policy change takes effect January 1, 2017. This does not replace or preclude the member dividend discussion in February. The Board saw this as a way to bring value quicker to our owner members.

The normal dividend review will occur at the February Board of Directors meeting. The Board will review the actual profit and take a look at past dividends versus what dividends could be declared at that time. As a small member owned company, the good news is that profits are owned by member owners and it is used as a member benefit. More dividend updates as the year closes.

In the meantime, continue to be safe. Your member dividend is counting on you.