In this new realityof overlapping interests, brokers on both sides are keeping an eyeon new ideas, regardless of which market adopts themfirst. 

Over the years, the once-separate worlds of property andcasualty insurance and employee benefits have, if not collided, atleast moved closer together. As consolidation reshapes the market, it's becomemore common for firms to sell both books of business, andinnovations and strategies from one area have often bled into theother.

In this new reality, brokers on both sides are keeping an eye onnew ideas, regardless of which market adopts them first. Here aresome areas of the P&C world that benefits brokers are watchingcarefully.

Marijuana—P&C finds a market while benefits abstains

The legal issues around marijuana have probably never been morecomplicated. Cannabis products are legal in some states, illegal inothers, with differing types of legality for medical usage. Thefederal government currently still classifies marijuana as aSchedule 1 drug, but has so far declined to prosecute companies instates that have legalized commercial marijuana businesses. Theuncertainty and potential legal liability is keeping most benefitscarriers and health plans on the sidelines for now as the marijuanaindustry continues to grow.

Related: What employers need to know about the U.S.'sevolving marijuana laws

The P&C world, however, is a different story. Thelegalization of marijuana in certain states has created boomingbusinesses that need insurance coverage for property and product.In states where medical or recreational marijuana has beenlegalized, marijuana-based businesses needing P&C coverage havefound some partners willing to work with them.

One such partner is Cannasure, an Ohio-based agency that workswith the carrier Topa Insurance Group to offer basic policies incommercial, product, and property liability. According to KieranO'Rourke, director of underwriting for Cannasure, his company isaware of the federal stance on the legality of marijuana, but ithas taken the position that if a state says a company is doinglegal business, it can be insured.

"These owners should be able to buy insurance products; they'rein real businesses," O'Rourke says. "We've looked at the angles andconsidered the exposure and have decided to move forward."

O'Rourke stresses that marijuana-related business owners are notanything like the "stoner" stereotype from popular culture. "Thecannabis space is financed by very smart, professional people.These businesses have a robust, modern business approach and arerun by entrepreneurs who see it for what it is: a great opportunityto experience capitalism at its finest."

On the benefits side, industry experts still express caution.Unlike insuring a company operating in a single state wherecannabis is legal, health benefit carriers, and many self-insuredbusinesses, operate across multiple states.

Craig Hasday, national employee benefits practice leader forEPIC Brokers, says demand for cannabis products is rising, but thatthe area is still too hot for benefits carriers to touch. "Healthplans are taking a hard line that it isn't covered at all," he saysof medical marijuana. "It's against federal laws, and the plans arefederal contractors. I don't see that changing until there'sfederal action on legalization."

Technology, wearables and wellness

Another area that is exploding with new players and innovationsis the technology space. In both the P&C and benefits world,mobile apps are all the rage, providing consumers with quick andeasy access to and interaction with carriers, and allowing carriersto manage data in ways not possible just a few years ago.

Some observers note that telemedicine, although it's been available indifferent forms for a while, is being used more on the workers'comp side. "Technology has lead to an increase in usage of nursetriage and other forms of video communication for injured workers,"says Briggs Orsbon​, vice president of commercial lines forIndiana-based Shepherd Insurance. "Injured workers are getting carequicker, easier, and with less expenses, which should minimizeemployers' expenses for workers' comp insurance and employeebenefits."

Wearables and tracking devices have beenadopted on the P&C side to help with safety, efficiency andpersonalization. On the benefits side, wearables may also behelpful in wellness efforts, some say. "Telematics in the auto andtransportation industry are being used to monitor driving habitsand promote safer driving," Orsbon says. "This feels similar to thefad of employers requiring employees to wear tracking devices suchas FitBits, to promote healthier lifestyles."

Hasday agrees, but notes other challenges that come withwellness. "There's certainly crossover between P&C and benefitswhen it comes to devices," he says. "In the past, wellness was allself-reported; tracking makes it more difficult to game the systemand hopefully make wellness programs more effective. But there aredifferences. A device tracking whether a truck is going the speedlimit can have an impact on safety claims. But there's no ROI ontaking 1,000 steps a day."

Workers' comp: Bridging the gap

Debora Came, an agent with Amberg Insurance Center, based inPunta Gorda, Florida, has handled both workers' comp and healthbenefits insurance. She says her experience in the workers' compfield has underscored how important reporting and communicationsefforts are.

"Posted safety procedures are only good as the enforcementbehind them," Came notes. "What I have seen [in P&C] is thatsome folks, when taking a liability for business, don't like to beforthcoming."

Laying out clear standards and enforcing them has been key toreducing claims in the P&C/workers' comp area, Came says."Workers' comp in the past has been very misused. Now, withmandatory programs, using effective personal protective equipment,we see a dramatic decrease in losses, which saves companies andclients both."

"The biggest change has been the education of the employees thatsafety is everyone's business, not just the employer," Came adds."Being accountable for your health, maintaining a healthierlifestyle should be the goal of everyone. We all get sick or hurt.But to invite it because of laziness or negligence is not a benefitto anyone."

Although standards and best practices have been widelyestablished, Came says not all employers are doing their job intraining employees—including work places that should know better."Some health facilities do not enforce even the simplest of safetyissues: laundry on the floor (leading to falls and slips due tofluid), overfilled sharps containers, trash not emptied due tostaffing cutbacks, lack of training to the staff for movingpatients effectively and ergonomically," she says. "Incentives forhaving this training and enforcing this training module wouldsignificantly cut down on work-related illness and injury, savingemployers, employees and the general public millions of dollarseach year."

Cricket Thomas, senior vice president and program director withBlue River Underwriters in Las Vegas, Nevada, says that employersneed to be diligent about staying informed of theirresponsibilities regarding workers' comp insurance, because it hasan impact on their other areas of insurance.

"In the workers' compensation space, it is imperative thatinsured's are knowledgeable regarding the exposures related totheir operations and the necessary safety procedures/protocols theyshould have in place," Thomas says. "With the amount of informationthat is readily available from most insurance carriers in today'smarketplace, as well as sources such as the internet, I've observedmany changes in the past few years where insured's are implementingmore stringent requirements such as drug testing, completebackground checks and prior injury documentation as part of theirhiring practices. Not only has this reduced the claims exposure fortheir workers' comp coverage, thereby lowering their premium costs,it has made an impact on the expense related to the medical/healthplan benefits they provide for their employees."

The workers' comp/health benefit worlds remain stubbornlyseparated, which makes the system less efficient than it could be."There's a concept of 24-hour care—whether it's health careemanating from workers' comp or from health issues outside work;it's still health care," Hasday says. "There's potential for24-hour-health care to become a reality. It's been talked about for25 years. The issue with workers' comp coverages is that some ofthem are statutory; and benefits are covered by ERISA, so it's verydifficult to manage together."

Dan Thompson, CEO of the Clinical Wellness Network, whichspecializes in direct primary care networks, says his company'smodel has been gaining attention from multiple employers. Directprimary care allows businesses to contract for health care serviceswith primary care clinics, usually with a catastrophic health careplan built in for more serious health issues.

"With the increased attention on direct purchasing, the provideris building a relationship that's more holistic with the employer,"Thompson says. "The same provider could take care of the employees'medical needs and the occupational health needs. You could arguethere's a higher probability of a better outcome because they havea relationship with that patient."

It remains to be seen where new models like direct purchasingend up in the insurance world, but innovation on both sidescontinues. As P&C and benefits brokers continue to grapple withsimilar issues and concepts, expect to see more cross-pollinationbetween the two industries.

Read more: 

• P&C and employee benefits: A houseunited
• The logical connection between health benefits andP&C insurance
• Workers comp costs on the rise as mega claimsgrow