Posted February 25, 2014 by 
Background – Oklahoma Option was passed mid-year 2013 to be effective 02/01/14, but was challenged in the Oklahoma Supreme Court in September 2013. Due to that challenge, insurance companies stopped working on plans and rates due to fear the law would be overturned. The Supreme Court ruled on 12/16/13 that the new law would stand and would go into effect on 02/01/14 as planned. As this was in the middle of the Holiday season, no company resumed work on their plans/rates until January.
As of 02/24/14, the Oklahoma Insurance Department has not approved any plans/rates yet for the Oklahoma Option. There are approximately 6 insurance companies that are or will be filing plans to be approved…there is no real “uniformity” to these plans and it is thought they will vary in both benefit and price rather substantially.
MIG is currently working with 2 “reputable” companies that are filing plans/rates…Great American and Safety National; both of which currently offer TX non-subscriber coverage as well. Both companies hope to be able to roll out their plans in late March or early April, but admit it could be May or even June depending on the OID (Ok Ins Dept).
Although they are not making the public aware of it, as of 02/24/14, the OID does not yet have their procedures in place to even “approve” the application from employers to opt out. They do expect to be ready in conjunction with the new plans approval in late March/April/May-ish.
MIG is watching the development of the new plans very closely, and we are already appointed with the carriers who will be offering plans in OK. We will be informing clients of the availability to move to the OK Option as soon as it’s available.
The decision to move to the Option will be based on each individual business’ claim history, so we will need to schedule a visit or conference call at that time. Generally the Option will initially be best suited for mid to large size employers whose claims are neither frequent nor severe (ie 3 to 10 claims per year depending on employer size with no or very few claims over $15K).
For specific questions regarding whether the Oklahoma Option may be a good fit for you please contact:
Heather McGregor heather@mig-ok.com
