HAWK Advisers: Blog
What Are the Disadvantages to Self-Funded Health Plans?
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), states that employers who self-insure health plans are directly responsible for paying medical claims rather than paying for conventional health insurance policies. A self-insured employer chooses its plan design and...
What Are the Advantages of Self-Funding Your Health Benefits Plan?
According to an article by Collective Health, nearly 1 in 2 Americans – that’s 151 million of us – receive our health care coverage through an employer-sponsored health benefit plan. Of those, 3 out of 4, or about 108 million of us, receive health coverage through a...
Traditional vs. Self-Funded Health Plans
What is self-funding? According to the Health Care Administrators Association, in practical terms, self-insured employers pay for claims out-of-pocket as they are presented instead of paying a pre-determined premium to an insurance carrier for a fully-insured plan....
Not-At-Fault Car Accidents & Workers’ Compensation
Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of catastrophic injury and death to persons of all ages in the United States. Many of these motor vehicle accidents happen during the workday and involve people going to and from work or completing job-related tasks. If you...
What Do the Initials Behind My Insurance Adviser’s Name Mean?
There are many advisory positions where industry professionals have designations – doctors, lawyers, realtors, and your insurance adviser. Why? Because these industries require professionals to hone in on an area of expertise. You would not want to speak to a...
Seminar Recap: Surviving Workers’ Compensation & Employee Benefits in 2019
Stephen Hamilton and Tori Doss unpacked their “Survival Kits” at our seminar on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 to help businesses prepare for workers’ compensation and employee benefits survival in 2019. Here is what they believe are the most important items packed in...
Meet Susan, our Claims & Commercial Lines Specialist!
Susan Carter, CIC, CISR Claims & Commercial Lines Specialist Susan Carter leads the HAWK Commercial Lines team in our efforts to deliver responsive and engaging claims management support. Susan’s distinguished insurance career includes 3 decades of underwriting,...
Do You Own Your Energy?
What do others think of you? I know, we have been told many times in our lives “don’t worry about what other people think of you.” While there is truth to this statement, the reality is that YOU have control over what others think of you. How? Because we “own our...
ACA Compliance Seminar: 5 Key Takeaways
Over the last 2-3 years, employers and employees alike are facing compounding challenges over rising healthcare & benefit costs. Recent legislative reform and emerging healthcare trends are rapidly changing the employee benefits landscape. At HAWK Advisers, we...
Smoking Fire Safety
Yesterday, our mulch caught on fire. I know, I know, that sounds like it’s not that big of a deal, but it was, and here is why. What started as a relatively small fire turned into a fire that “hopped” from one mulch section to another around our building. The weather...
Invasion of Privacy: Protect Your Business from Cyber Attacks & Sexual Harassment Claims
What is considered an invasion of privacy? This is a legal term used to describe a circumstance where an individual or organization knowingly intrudes upon a person or an organization. In our most recent seminar, "Invasion of Privacy," was the central theme in a two...
Lions, Tigers, and Billions…OH MY!!!
2017 ended the year with approximately $306 Billion in catastrophic losses as a result of global disasters. The insured portion of these global losses is projected to land somewhere north of $135 Billion, making 2017 one of the three most costly years in recorded...
Do you understand your Business Insurance Policy?
Insurance is confusing, so when terms like schedules, endorsements, liability, package policies, exclusions, conditions (you get the idea), get thrown around its natural to feel overwhelmed. That is why it is so important to have an independent insurance adviser as...
Pet Exclusions
Why does my insurance adviser ask me what kind of dog I own? Did you know that Americans file tens of thousands of home insurance liability claims each year due to dog bites and other dog-related injuries? As a result, insurers spend approximately $570 million dollars...
What’s Your Why?
Founder & CEO of Blue Mobius Marketing, Caitlyn Scaggs, spoke at a recent Marketing Workshop in Blacksburg, VA on “The ‘Why’ of Marketing.” As you can imagine, this spurred my interest and I want to share my insight on this topic with you. By now businesses know...
Little Things Go a Long Way
Do you have a heart for service but aren’t sure where to start? There are so many wonderful and worthy organizations in the Roanoke Valley that sometimes it can feel overwhelming to determine where your time would be best spent. Time is a valuable asset, and as a...
Seminar Recap Part 3: Cyber Security
Our third and final speaker at our “Protecting Your Business” seminar was Rob Garbee from the Roanoke Information Security Exchange (RISE). He spoke about cyber security – a topic that is so important but often neglected. According to Keeper...
Seminar Recap Part 2: Workplace Violence
Officer Johnson and Officer Hodges from the Roanoke City Police Department spoke about workplace violence on August 23, 2017. Their focus was on how to respond to an active shooter or violent intruder in the workplace. There is no right thing to do in this...
Seminar Recap Part 1: Financial Protection for Your Business
HAWK Advisers hosted a seminar on August 23, 2017 on “Protecting Your Business” from potential disasters such as financial threats, workplace violence, and cyber-crimes. How can you protect your company from the loss of an essential employee? By making it a priority...
Farm Use Tags or F-Tags
As a farmer in the state of Virginia, you have a choice when it comes to registering the vehicles you use on your farm—you can get farm use tags or F-tags. Farm use tags have the least requirements for registration and fees, however it comes with the most...
The Value of an Independent Insurance Adviser
We live in a world where we have access to everything right at our fingertips and we have come to expect this in the computerized world that we live in. Pre-ordering Chipotle to avoid the long line, paying for your Starbucks drink through an app so you don’t have to...
Big Things Have Small Beginnings
HAWK Advisers is excited to announce the launch of our volunteer program. Employees will volunteer four paid hours towards a local nonprofit of their choosing. We are thrilled to provide our employees with an opportunity to support a cause that they are passionate...