President's Message

California Healthcare Insurance Company, Inc., A Risk Retention Group (CHI) wrote its first insurance policy nearly 20 years ago.  Since that time, the health care professional liability landscape in California has gone through many changes, but some things have not changed.  One thing that has not changed is CHI has been there for its owner/insureds regardless of the insurance marketplace.  During the soft market in the 1990's when there were more than a dozen commercial carriers writing professional liability insurance in California and Nevada, CHI provided consistent value to its owners.  When the insurance market turned hard and the commercial carriers fled from the market, CHI provided security for its owners.

The vision by the founders of CHI was to create an insurance company not only owned and controlled by the health care industry, but to be a long term solution to their professional liability needs.  The only way to provide long term pricing stability and maintain a financially secure insurance company is to focus on claims, risk management and superior underwriting.  CHI's consistent financial results and the loyalty shown by its owner/insureds through all types of insurance market conditions have proved to be a winning formula.

As the insurance cycle turns to another soft phase and our marketplace is full of new entries fighting for market share with glitzy presentations that seldom come to fruition, CHI will continue to provide our owner/insureds with competitive prices, superior claims and risk management, while delivering reliable account services through its wholly-owned brokerage and service company, Optima Healthcare Insurance Services.  The question for insurance buyers  becomes, "which carriers will be in this market five years, ten years or twenty years from now and which carrier can reduce my claim costs?"  CHI will because our focus is on what truly matters when premium rates are determined.

Jeff Sousa
President