DeLea Founders Insurance Trust (DFIT)
Workers Compensation Group Self Insured Municipal Program
- DFIT is the First Statewide Group Self Insurance Workers Compensation Program Exclusively for Delaware Municipalities
- July 1st, 2008- DFIT started as a Group Retrospectively Rated Plan
- September 1st 2014- achieved the member’s ultimate goal and became a Group Self Insurance Program making insurance history in Delaware; Approval and Certificates of Authority were issued by the Delaware Department of Insurance and Department. of Labor
- Currently 31 municipal Members, Including Kent County and City of Newark
- Sponsored by the Delaware League of Local Governments
- DFIT has become the premier placement of municipal insurance in Delaware
The purpose and goal for the formation of the DFIT is to provide an insurance alternative for Workers Compensation for Delaware municipalities to:
- Manage Members’ cost of risk proactively by identifying the true cost drivers for each individual member
- Mitigate (manage & reduce) costs of risk by developing annual Risk Mitigation and Safety Plans for both the Group and the individual municipality Members
- Adjust these plans as necessary
- Implement the plan continuously and monitor regularly at Membership and Safety Committee meetings
- Develop a culture of safety awareness and best practices whereby all members commit to building and reinforcing these values within their local municipality
- Cultivate a joint and several relationship with fellow members - “All for one and one for all” shared mentality
- Provide better control of its members’ ‘Insurance Destiny’
- The DFIT Program organized as a Trust; a Board of Trustees consisting currently of ten members is elected by the Membership
- By Laws have been established for the Governance of the Trustees and Members
- Member Stewardship meetings held quarterly, to report financial, claims, and safety training performance of the Program; act as a consortium where Member peers can gather and discuss and vote on important issues, exchange views, ideas and resources
- Within the Program structure, there are in addition the following Committees:
- Claims Committee - meets monthly or as needed to review all claims, and approves claims exceeding specified financial thresholds; work with the Program and Claims administrators to determine plans of action for rehabilitation paths, return to work, Accident Board litigation
- Safety Committee - 9 meetings each year- their role is to create annual risk management plans; work with DFIT Program Administrator to implement training specific to claims trends of the group; promote a strong safety culture within the Membership and their employees
- Financial Committee - meets at least quarterly to review funding statements; their role is to provide additional oversight of the financial reporting of the Program, and explore financial and investment options in the future for surplus funds
- Over 40% reduction in overall group claims since Program Inception in 2008- the annual training and safety plans of the DFIT has shown proven results. Claims performance continues to be outstanding every year, with reductions in employee injuries and injury time
- Award winning risk control and safety programs continue to mitigate claims, reduce costs and improve overall claims performance of the members
- Over $1.8 million of dividends were returned to the members from the prior Group Retrospective Plan
- Since DFIT became self insured in September of 2014 the excellent claims performance, which is directly attributable to the efforts of our Safety Program, has resulted in an accumulated surplus funds in the millions. These funds belong to, and are available to the participating DFIT Members
- In 2022, the DFIT Finance Committee made a recommendation to release a portion of these funds back to the Members, which the DFIT Board approved.
- In March 2022, Delaware Department of Insurance approved a $1 million release of these surplus funds to the participating Members.
These funds were returned at the choice of each Member as either a dividend check or a premium offset. There is still a remaining healthy surplus balance for future years, which continues to increase. - DFIT rates have on average been lower than the State/DCRB rates, which has created cost stabilization for the DFIT Members. The DFIT rates have consistently reduced every year since the 2014 self- insured program inception.
- Long term stabilization of affordable Workers Compensation costs
- No longer subject to the DCRB/DOI rates- the group establishes its own rates, based on its own claims performance. DFIT rates have consistently been lower than the DCRB rates
- No longer subject to the claims performance of ALL employers in Delaware and nationwide, which impact insurance carrier costs each year to all insureds. The DFIT group has reduced their claims by 40% and are reaping the financial benefits of this performance
- Significantly reduced insurance company overhead costs. – Members have control over fixed costs; not subject to insurance carrier profit margins
- Profitability component- excess premiums from the claims fund, which are not spent, stay in the fund and are kept by the members
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The cornerstone of the DFIT’s success lies in its robust safety program, and the work of the DFIT Safety Committee. As part of their membership, each municipality receives the following benefits:
- Monthly Safety Committee ‘train the trainer’ meetings
- Regional training seminars and events such as Active Shooter, Flagger Certification, Chainsaw Safety
- Annual Snowplow Road-E-O competition /training event, held at the Dover International Speedway
- Annual Risk Evaluations, for both the DFIT group and individual members
- Web-Based Online Training Programs: Access to over 250 web-based online training programs including defensive driver and/or emergency response vehicle training resources for Police, EMTs, and other emergency vehicle operators
- The DFIT Program won a national award from Safety National in 2017 for it’s implementation of their S:ERVE Driver Safety training program for Law Enforcement and EMS
- Individual training and services, some of which include the following:
- Training as needed by Department
- Safety Policy Manual Support
- Loss Trending Analysis
- Industrial Hygiene (IH) Services
- Playground Inspections
- Environmental Assessments