SIIS changes name; ready for competition

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller doesn't think the newly named Employers Insurance Company of Nevada will lose a lot of business when it goes into competition with private companies next year.

"This is probably more competitive than any other company," Miller said after a Wednesday ceremony in which the 85-year-old State Industrial Insurance System changed its name in an effort to give it a new image.

"They have the experience and they are financially sound at this point," said Miller who oversees the restructured system that writes workers compensation policies.

Employers Insurance collects premiums from 47,000 employers in Nevada to pay for medical and rehabilitation costs for workers injured on the job. The state's monopoly ends in July next year and so far more than 100 insurance companies have indicated they may try to lure business away.

Douglas Dirks, general manager of Employers Insurance, estimates that in a three- to five-year time span, the company will end up with 35 to 50 percent of the business. When Nevada changes its system, there will be only five states left where there's a monopoly on workers compensation policies.

Those attending the unveiling ceremony previewed television, newspaper and magazine advertisements with the motto "Experience that comes with the territory" that will start in mid-July.

"We're changing because our customers asked us to change," Dirks said.

The 1997 Legislature authorized an advertising budget for the beleaguered system of $400,000, which Dirks said was one-half of 1 percent of its operating budget. Private insurance companies spend up to 5 percent on advertising, he said.

Toward the end of 1992, SIIS was more than $220 billion in the red. In a recent report, however, it is showing a surplus of $250 million.

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