ORIGINAL: J_R
Abel
Why would you ask me again? I have done an analysis of the last audited statement posted on the AMA site. I posted my conclusions here way back when. You can look it up if you want my opinion. That is all that it was, and I stated that at the time... my opinion. If you do, you will find the words "about $" used frequently.
Then the figures are not available from the AMA CFO - only your opinion, based on your analysis.
The AMA made those complete audited statments available, so, yes, information can be found if desired. Is it complete? NO. If you want an accurate statement of insurance expenses, you must, as Dave Brown informed me, and I reported here, some time back, take into account about 5 years for all cases in a given claim year to clear. Only when all cases are resolved can you know what it cost for that year, regardless of the length of time it takes to resolve them. 5 years is about the average. If what you are looking for is instant numbers, they do not exist. That is the reason it is called a Self Insurance RESERVE. The money is reserved till the claims are resolved.
Well, if I read the insurance policy correctly, AMA isn't liable for more than the $1.5 million aggregate SIR in any given year, so while actuals may vary depending on the outcome of unresolved cases, the bounds are known. So the upper limit on required reserves is $7.5 mil less what has already been paid out of the SIR in those 5 years, and the amounts already paid are known. It shouldn't all that hard to bracket the cost to something more refined than about 6 bucks (no claims paid from SIR) and about 18 bucks (SIR exhausted every year). IIRC, your opinion was about 12 bucks, and that is neatly midway between those limits. I don't object to AMA stating a range where there are uncertainties involved, but providing essentially no information at all is derelict, given that most members are members because of the insurance whether they want/need it or somebody else tells them they need it. And I have an idea what is a prudent reserve. Now can you you point me to a source that discloses what the amount of actual reserves held by AMA is? I've heard figures for AMA's worth that range upwards to $25 mil. Makes me wonder why a $4 mil loan is needed to cover operating expenses. I had a wife (former) that paid our household operating expenses on credit, as she had already spent my paycheck before it was drafted. That isn't my way of doing business, and I question why AMA does it, given our resources that are being plowed into investments and otherwise held in reserve, in the name of the SIR.
Soooo.... yes, the data from 26 years ago is more availiable than todays data which is not complete and will not be for some unspecified time to come. Same answer I posted some time back. Could it have been speculated on accurately then? NO. Anyone involved at the EC level could have or should have known that, IMHO, and numbers should not have been published without explaination. As John Worth often said at the time about questions by AMA members, including the EC members, on various topics, all that was necessary was to ask.
And you seem to have made the presumption that Horrace did not ask. I would not presume so.
Abel