Question: When is a joint underwriting association not a joint underwriter? Answer: When it is the Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA). Unlike virtually every other workers' compensation market of last resort in the United States, insurance companies are not the ultimate financial guarantors of the Sunshine State's FWCJUA. Yet, despite the lack of state-mandated financial subsidies by the insurance industry — many would say precisely because it is not subsidized by the industry — the FWCJUA is undoubtedly one of the most successful residual market mechanisms in the country.

Since its inception in 1994, the FWCJUA has provided a market of last resort to hundreds of thousands of Florida employers unable to obtain workers' compensation coverage from private insurers. The FWCJUA has expanded and contracted as market conditions dictated. It has provided a reliable market to thousands of insurance agents. Its existence has encouraged many workers' compensation carriers to commit more underwriting capacity to Florida, thereby helping create the state's healthy workers' compensation insurance market. Moreoever, although historically many of its insurance policies have been issued on an assessable basis, the FWCJUA has never assessed a single policyholder.

Oh, and one more thing — the FWCJUA has paid cash dividends to policyholders who were insured in a year in which loss reserves were more than adequate to pay anticipated losses. How many residual markets can say that?