FWF Will Help Volunteer Firefighters Get The Benefits They Deserve

At the Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency, we understand the challenges that Pennsylvania locals face when obtaining insurance; a little change in a local policy or state law can make a big difference in the insurance recommendations we make for individuals, businesses, and municipalities alike.

One example of a local law that has affected our insurance recommendations is Pennsylvania Act 46, a law with good intentions that has sadly had a negative affect on our state’s volunteer fire departments and firefighters alike.

Act 46 is also known as the “Firefighters Cancer Presumption Law”; inspired by the long-term health risks 9-11 servers were facing, the law is meant to do a good service: provide benefits for firefighters who developed cancer in the line of duty.

Unfortunately, as more and more workers compensation claims are coming in, insurance companies, concerned over growing costs, are beginning to revisit their rates, which can result in municipality and local budget cuts due to an increased cost of their insurance packages; some insurance companies have even considered worker compensation for firefighters (especially volunteers) altogether. While this is not the case for every insurance company, it has happened enough to cause concern amongst the Pennsylvania firefighting community.

Any worker deserves to have workers comp insurance protecting them in case of an accident, but for firefighters, workers comp is more than that: it’s an essential protection that could provide income, medical benefits and rehabilitative services should that firefighter be injured on the job. For volunteer firefighters, who give their services for no regular pay, this benefit is all the more important.

We at the FWF want to make sure that no one as courageous and generous as a volunteer firefighter serves their community without the proper protection they deserve. We encourage anyone facing a loss of workers comp as a result of this act to contact us so that we can help you get back what you have earned and what you truly deserve: solid protection.

Our staff across the state are working to replace any coverage lost under Act 46; please contact us or one of our local representatives if your workers comp coverage has been canceled. Wherever you may be located – Blaire County, Cambria County, Somerset, Latrobe, and beyond – we’re there, and we’re ready to help you. Whether we need to work our connections at 15 other major insurance organizations to find your group a new plan with a new company, or work with the State Workers Compensation Fund, we can obtain new coverage that ensures your local volunteer firefighters continue to help their community with every benefit they deserve protecting them in return for their service.

Don’t Settle For Average: Get All Of The Coverage Your Municipality Needs

If you work within or under a municipality, county or city’s governing body, then you understand better than most just how much responsibility your organization carries on its shoulders every day.

Sometimes it’s easy for the general public to forget that the people working within these groups are in charge of ensuring an entire city’s basic services run smoothly – everything from sanitation, water and street maintenance to schools and food inspections, as well as transportation, safety and health department operations.

These governing bodies and their employees deal with unique challenges every day as part of their jobs. To further complicate matters, not only do municipalities tackle local issues as part of their job: they also deal with sad economic realities behind the scenes, often juggling to operate on budget while still keeping solid insurance plans in place to protect their communities and their employees.

We understand that today’s economy has created many challenges for our public service workers. That’s we believe that instead of relying on certain preordained and often pricey insurance plans, municipalities each need to look into customized insurance plans that protect and address what matters most to them.

That’s where we come in; the Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency is here to help ensure that all of central Pennsylvania’s counties are adequately covered and insured at an affordable cost.

Maybe you need to build a better health benefits plan for your employees, which covers everything from personal health support to treatment decision support. Maybe you need insurance that can help in cases of general liability, auto liability and physical damage, public entity management liability or law enforcement liability. Maybe you need protection against property damage. Or maybe there’s an issue unique to your area that you want to address and be prepared for.

Whatever your situation may be, we are here to help.

Whether you’re located in Blaire County, Cambria County, Somerset, Latrobe, or in any other nearby counties, we’re ready to work with you so that you can continue going about your daily operations without worrying about whether your insurance is good enough when it matters. Our representatives can use their connections to 15 other major insurance companies to thoroughly analyze your municipality and evaluate any current or future risks you may have to deal with – and then, we can create affordable and flexible insurance coverage plans just for you.

If you are a municipality looking for a competitive insurance proposal, contact us now to set up a meeting with one of our local representatives in central Pennsylvania. We’ll build the best plan at the best rate just for you – it’s what we do best!

ChamberChoice Insurance Programs Offer Protection and Extra Earnings For Business Owners

Does your business insurance earn dividends?

Dividends, or payments made by a corporation to its shareholders, are usually not a common staple in insurance packages. However, on some insurance policies, depending on the total group premium and total claims experience, policyholders can find themselves earning an annual dividend.

ChamberChoice, a service offered exclusively to members of chambers of commerce through Penn National Insurance, offers several service packages to chamber members, including but not limited to individual and group health insurance, dental and vision coverage plans, and a business insurance plan with a dividend potential through Penn National Insurance. In fact, a dividend of almost $500,000 was recently declared for the first program year.

If you run a business, you understand just how important it is to have a business insurance plan that protects you against operational losses. Why not sign up for a plan that offers great coverage through Penn National Insurance, with dividend potential? You have nothing to lose – but plenty to gain; ChamberChoice members often report that their ChamberChoice dividends are enough to fully cover a local chamber of commerce membership, plus a little more.

Now is the perfect time to consider your business insurance and look into potentially earning dividends back on your insurance plans. Maybe you’re just starting a business, or maybe you need to upgrade your insurance as your business expands.

Either way, our Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency staff members are here to help. We’ve worked with countless business owners in Blaire, Cambria, Somerset, Latrobe, and a multitude of other nearby counties; our representatives can use their connections with Penn National Insurance to ensure that your business insurance policy is just what you need and want.

Whether you want Key Person Insurance to ensure that you’re protected if a key member cannot perform their duties; General Liability Insurance to help protect your business from liability claims to injuries on site; or Product Liability coverage to help protect yourself against the results of using a damaged product – our staff is here to make sure that the coverage you get is the coverage that you need.

Contact us now to set up a meeting if you want to learn more. Be sure to mention your interest in ChamberChoice’s special packages, including business insurance plans with a dividend potential. We will happily explain more about ChamberChoice’s programs and see if they’re a good fit for you and your business!

Are You A Renter? Make Sure Your Property’s Truly Protected.

When it comes to rented living spaces, it’s not just the landlords that need insurance coverage. If you are currently renting an apartment or even a home, it’s in your best interest to invest in an insurance plan made just for renters.

Rather than relying on any basic coverage that may come with your rented property, it’s in renters’ best interest to purchase additional coverage. Renters insurance plans protect you in unexpected situations, including fire, theft, water damage and so forth; with the national average of renters insurance working out to less than $14 a month, renters insurance is one of the most affordable and important insurance packages you can purchase if you live in an apartment or rented home.

Consider the protections that renters insurance offers:

1. Personal Property Protection: Renters insurance offers financial assistance if you have to replace any stolen or damaged items on your property – from furniture to computers to clothing – that result from a fire, windstorm, lightning, theft or vandalism.

2. Liability Coverage: Accidents happen. Whether you accidentally cause damage in your rented space, to your neighbor’s space – or even accidentally cause harm to a guest or neighbor – renters insurance covers your personal liability damages. 

3. Loss-of-Use Coverage and Living Expenses: Disaster can leave an apartment or rented home temporarily uninhabitable. People with renters insurance are provided living expenses for temporary relocation in these situations.

While some apartment complexes offer insurance programs to residents, it never hurts to get a third set of eyes to evaluate your coverage and make sure that it’s just right for you, as well as help you find the right insurance plan if you don’t have one yet. We highly encourage all renters to inventory their personal belongings and to meet with someone on our Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency staff.

Based on your feedback and on the risk factors of the area you live in, we can help you find or even customize the perfect renters plan for your needs. Whether you live in the Johnstown area or even in Blaire County, Cambria County, Somerset, Latrobe, and any other nearby counties, our local contacts will always be there to help you.

Don’t spend another day living in an unprotected apartment or rental home – contact us now!

**Image courtesy of Flickr user longlostcousin

Apartment Owners: Include Insurance In Your Business Plan

Do you own an apartment building?

If you do, you understand fully that apartment buildings are a landlord’s livelihood. Renting out an apartment complex is a strenuous business; it requires hours of work as landlords oversee building maintenance, pay various bills, and of course, work with tenants to ensure that everyone has as pleasant a living experience as possible.

With so many people living together under one roof, even a minor issue has the potential to become a bigger one of it’s not properly addressed. This is why owning the right insurance policy to help protect your building – a.k.a. your entire business – should be a vital part of any landlords’ business plans.

Solid insurance plans on an apartment building offer assistance when the unexpected happens, whether that means a minor incident such as a visitor injury, or an extreme catastrophe, such as a building fire. But what sort of insurance should an apartment building owner look into?

Currently there are four broad, popular insurance categories to consider:

Business Property Insurance: Business Property insurance helps to protect and cover the building, equipment and income you rely on each day. This insurance offers financial assistance when your building is damaged or your office contents – including leases and financial paperwork – are destroyed or stolen.

Business Liability Insurance: Your apartment building is not a bubble; tenants, workers, or visiting friends all walk the halls you’re responsible for. Should any of these people slip, fall, or injure themselves otherwise on your property, liability insurance offers assistance with legal defenses, as well as legal damage payments.

Business Crime Insurance: Sometimes, despite the best efforts to prevent it from happening, the wrong people get into an apartment complex – determined thieves may break in or vindictive employees may steal something important as they leave. At the end of the day, even the safest apartment needs protection from crime; business crime insurance offers coverage for when criminals – whether they’re an employee or a third party vandal – wreak havoc in your office or on your property.

Building Ordinance Insurance: Sometimes your building needs major repair or remodeling work done; maybe a storm damaged part of your complex, or maybe a new law means that your building is no longer up to code. Either way, ordinance insurance will help you cover the cost of any necessary rebuilding and maintenance work.

Of course, ideally a landlord’s insurance policy will offer a customized level of protection that considers all four of these popular insurance categories. Fortunately, forming an insurance policy that’s perfect for your building is extremely easy.

A quick consultation with our Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency staff can help you develop the policy that’s right for you. We’re proud to work with landlords and building areas throughout the Johnstown area, as well as in Blaire County, Cambria County, Somerset, Latrobe, and all other surrounding areas in central Pennsylvania.

We offer personalized assistance and have numerous local contacts across the state ready to help you at a moment’s notice. We also have connections with 15 major insurance companies, including our newest partner, Safeco Insurance, a Liberty Mutual-owned company that will work with our team to ensure that you receive the best Landlord protection insurance possible.

Using these resources, our insurance sales team at F.W.F. will always help you purchase the best apartment property insurance policy to ensure that your apartment complex – your business – continues to run as smoothly as possible. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you!

Image courtesy of commons.wikipedia.org