To recap the issues raised during Wednesday’s conference call, here are some of the key media stories, and the messages we’re conveying.
If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, December 19, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org.
SANDY NEWS
This synopsis will replace today’s (Friday, December 14th) daily Sandy update. Starting next week, the I.I.I. will produce a bi-weekly, rather than a daily, Sandy update.
The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig delivered a presentation on the industry’s Sandy response to Congressional staff members on Monday, December 10, in Washington, D.C.
The I.I.I. and IBHS issued a joint news release the next day on the D.C. briefing. It generated follow-up calls from A.M. Best, New Jersey’s Star Ledger and Property Insurance Report.
The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore and Loretta Worters attended a Tuesday, December 11, Sandy town hall meeting organized by state Senator Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, one of the hardest-hit New York City neighborhoods.
The I.I.I.’s Mike Barry traveled to Old Westbury, New York, on Tuesday evening, December 11, for the Moreland Commission’s hearing on the utility industry’s response to Sandy. The commission is co-chaired by Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday, December 12, that major banks and mortgage servicers will take action to expedite insurance payments to New York homeowners. Insurance claim checks must often be endorsed by the banks or mortgage servicers before homeowners can cash them, occasionally causing delays when the money is needed for home repairs, according to the Cuomo administration.
SANDY-RELATED STORIES IN THE WORKS
The I.I.I.’s Worters was interviewed by Newsday’s Keiko Morris for an upcoming article on business insurance and what Long Islanders need to know about natural disaster-related coverage issues….the I.I.I.’s Barry taped a segment for New York University’s NYU-TV on the insurance industry’s response to Sandy….the I.I.I.’s Salvatore explained to Bankrate.com’s Tamara Holmes that auto insurers will be paying out 200,000-plus Sandy-related flood claims….Hartford, Connecticut-based Associated Press reporter Michael Melia is weighing whether to write a story about how Connecticut residents employed by insurers are working overtime to respond to Sandy.
INSURANCE INDUSTRY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION (IICF) RAISES MORE THAN $1 MILLION AT ITS BIGGEST FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR
More details on the IICF’s Wednesday, December 12, dinner in New York City can be found in this news release.
IN 2011 U.S. TRAFFIC FATALITIES FELL TO THEIR LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1949, ACCORDING TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on Monday, December 10, that traffic fatalities in the U.S. continued to decline in 2011, falling to their lowest level since 1949. According to NHTSA, 32,367 motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians were killed in 2011, a decline of 1.9 percent compared with the previous year and a decline of 26 percent since 2005. USA Today covered the story.
STATE NEWS
Louisiana
Over the next three years the National Hurricane Center (NHC) plans to roll out two new ways of alerting the public to the risk of hurricane-caused storm surges. The NHC hopes these initiatives will improve public understanding of, and response to, storm surge flooding, according to this Friday, December 7, article in The New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reports in a Wednesday, December 12, article that Louisiana’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation believes it can save $8 million by handling in-house certain services that are currently provided by outside vendors.
Florida
Governor Rick Scott believes Citizens Property Insurance Corporation should have its own inspector general, according to a Monday, December 10, Tampa Bay Times item.
Illinois
The I.I.I.’s Barry furnished Chicago-based Fox News Channel (FNC) producer Marla Cichowski with the Insurance Research Council’s study on uninsured motorists, information the FNC may incorporate into a segment on Governor Patrick Quinn’s support of a legislative plan to allow illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses, and buy insurance, without facing deportation.
Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi
Six tornadoes tore through those four states on Monday evening, December 10, according to this NBC News story. In Edgewater, Florida, (Volusia County), 40 homes were damaged by a tornado, and 12 completely destroyed. Most of the losses were incurred in Edgewater’s Terra Mar Village, a mobile home community.
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT
Vehicles flooded as a result of Sandy are still being talked about on Twitter. Insurance agents and groups sharing the I.I.I.’s tips on How to Avoid Buying a Flooded Car and the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s news release on the topic from earlier this week. Most of the concern is about vehicles that may appear on the market without consumers knowing they may have been flood-damaged.
Also trending is the topic of holidays and home safety, with insurance agents and groups on Facebook sharing tips on how homeowners can protect themselves from home break-ins and ID theft during this season. There are several consumer blogs discussing fire safety in relation to Christmas lights.
The I.I.I. is cited regularly in the media as an authoritative source of insurance information. To access the current I.I.I. press clips, click here
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