Interest in captives, and in Bermuda, continues to grow as measured by the number of visits to the Bermuda insurance market booth at the annual conference of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) '97.

Held recently in Atlanta, more than 400 managers and healthcare specialists visited the Bermuda booth, an increase from 250 visits during ASHRM '96.

The largest US healthcare event of its kind, ASHRM is attended by some 2,000 risk managers.

But Roger Gillett, chairman of the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee (IAC) that coordinated the Bermuda delegation, said that despite increased interest in Bermuda, there is much to do to get the Bermuda message across to healthcare risk managers.

Surveys of those visiting the Bermuda booth led Mr. Gillett to conclude that an overwhelming majority of risk managers interviewed knew little or nothing of the healthcare insurance capacity available here.

Mr. Gillett said, "About half the people we surveyed seemed to be familiar with aspects of the captive insurance industry in Bermuda, but less than a quarter of the 400 who visited our booth knew about the market's commercial healthcare insurance products.'' He said that out of more than 200 insurance buyers, more than half indicated they purchased the kind of high-layer products in which the Bermuda market specialises.

Mr. Gillett added, "In addition to knowing that we are marketing in the right arena, what was also gratifying for us was our finding that about 25 percent of the people who visited the booth were forming or planning to form captives.

"That means we are reaching the right people at a potentially crucial stage in their risk management decision-making process.'' Bermuda has a growing healthcare captive market of more than 75 captives of which just 39 percent of last year's respondents were aware of. This year, thanks to more marketing, some 53 percent of the larger group of respondents were aware of the Bermuda trend in healthcare captives. The Bermuda market's 12-strong team at ASHRM included president of the Bermuda Insurance Management Association Alan Cossar, Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood, representatives of Skandia International, Triangle Insurance Management, Independent Management, AON, XL, Cox & Wilkinson, Price Waterhouse, Smith, Barnard & Diel, Ernst & Young and the Bank of Butterfield.

Visiting risk managers to the Bermuda booth were eligible for a prize draw of two round trip tickets to Bermuda on USAir and four days at Marriott's Castle Harbour Hotel.

The prize was drawn by ASHRM president Peggy Nakamura and went to Gerry Rakes, assistant vice president for risk control at Nashville-based Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.

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