Five years ago a whistleblower’s call to a company hotline brought about the downfall of The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co.’s board chairman and CEO, as well as one of its key managers, amid allegations of favoritism in workers’ compensation insurance rate setting, as well as toward select insurance brokers.
Results of the investigation and subsequent housecleaning of the insurer included lower premiums and rebates for policyholders.
General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo’s decision to engage an outside firm to audit the disability-pension system for state employees is likely to uncover wrongdoing as well.
Since the size of this problem is relatively small, with 556 disability-pension beneficiaries at the moment, according to the general treasurer’s website, removing retirees from the system who are undeserving of disability pensions is not going to have a significant effect on the state’s overall pension-liability shortfall of $9.4 billion.
But it’s a start, and just as it was in the case of Beacon Mutual, it could be the beginning of big, positive changes. •