To recap the issues raised during this week’s conference call, here are the key media stories we discussed, and the messages we’re conveying.
If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, December 23, please email me at michaelb@iii.org.
I.I.I. RELEASES PULSEPOINTS SURVEY; WHAT HOMEOWNERS, RENTERS AND DRIVERS KNOW—AND OUGHT TO KNOW—ABOUT INSURANCE
The news release and paper were issued on Tuesday, December 15, and reflect the findings of an I.I.I. poll on consumers’ knowledge of insurance coverage, risk mitigation and emerging auto technologies. For sharing on social, the hashtag is: #IIIPulse.
USA TODAY BRINGS NATIONAL ATTENTION TO I.I.I. PULSEPOINTS FINDING ON DRIVERLESS VEHICLES
More than half (58 percent) of Americans are reluctant to ride in a driverless car and amongst older drivers it rises to 70 percent. The statistic was featured in a front-page USA Today Snapshot graphic on Monday, December 14.
I.I.I.’s PRESIDENT TAPED INTERVIEW WITH NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (NPR) ABOUT TERRORISM INSURANCE IN WAKE OF SAN BERNARDINO MASSACRE
The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig discussed terrorism risk insurance with NPR Morning Edition correspondent John Burnett on Monday, December 14, and Tuesday, December 15. Burnett has been reporting on the aftermath of the San Bernardino event.
PROPUBLICA READYING ANOTHER LOOK AT THE U.S. WORKERS COMPENSATION SYSTEM
The I.I.I.’s Hartwig briefed ProPublica’s Michael Grabell on how workers comp (w/c) insurers seek to contain their administrative costs while also financing essential health care services to injured workers. Grabell is also looking at how the Affordable Care Act has changed the w/c system in the U.S.
MARSH ISSUES REPORT ON REFORMING FEMA’s NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM (NFIP)
The NFIP’s current authorization expires on September 30, 2017. Marsh believes the program’s reauthorization ought to include more risk-sharing with the private sector and significant upgrades to the NFIP’s existing technology.
STORIES IN THE WORKS
The I.I.I.’s Michael Barry spoke to Nerd Wallet’s Aubrey Cohen about how auto insurers and auto body repair shops negotiate the cost of repairing a damaged vehicle. Cohen said his article will likely appear in USA Today.
The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian provided information to the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram’s Mitch Mitchell on the insurance implications of an arrest or a conviction for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Mitchell is focusing on first-time offenders.
The I.I.I.’s Steven Weisbart is talking today (Wednesday) with A.M. Best’s Dennis Gorski about how an interest rate hike, such as the one being considered by the Federal Reserve, could impact U.S. life insurer portfolios.
The I.I.I.’s Barry provided college tuition insurance information to the Scranton, Pennsylvania, Times-Tribune’s Terrie Morgan-Besecker.
CAPITOL HILL
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this week a web-based aircraft registration process for owners of small unmanned aircraft weighing more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds.
A U.S. House subcommittee held a public hearing today (Wednesday) on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mass data collection program.
STATES
Alabama
The state’s Insurance Department will not have the information it needs to establish new insurance discount benchmarks for homeowners who mitigate against windstorm-caused losses until the first quarter of 2016.
California
The Los Angeles public schools were closed yesterday (Tuesday) due to a bomb threat. The1994 Northridge earthquake was the most recent event to have caused this to happen, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Five people died after a fire swept through an abandoned home in Fresno early on Sunday morning, December 13.
Insurers who made capital investments in Oakland and East Los Angeles were awarded tax credits through California’s Organized Investment Network (COIN) program, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced.
Florida
“The Uber model of ‘sharing’ a driver’s personal insurance to accommodate their commercial business plan means essentially every UberX driver in Florida is committing insurance fraud,” stated a news release issued by the Florida Taxicab Association.
Three insurance companies have been approved to remove more than 70,000 personal residential policies and nearly 3,000 commercial residential policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation starting in February 2016.
FEMA said it will share with the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation information on how FEMA sets its Florida flood insurance rates, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Louisiana
Lawyers for thousands of people who say defective Chinese drywall made their homes uninhabitable told a federal judge yesterday (Tuesday) the Chinese manufacturer held back critical information for years.
Maryland
The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig testified today (Wednesday) before a state Senate Economic Matters committee task force on “Reducing the Rate of Uninsured Drivers.”
The historic Annapolis Yacht Club was severely damaged by a fire on Saturday, December 12. The on-site presence of a sprinkler system would likely have saved the property, according to the Fire Marshal’s office.
Jeffrey Cohen of Reisterstown, the former president and chairman of Indemnity Insurance Corporation, was sentenced to 37 years in prison for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, making false statements to insurance regulators and obstruction of justice.
Massachusetts
The I.I.I.’s Hartwig discussed with The Boston Globe why a Massachusetts insurer tried to incorporate an ice-dam deductible into its home insurance policies.
New York
Ms. Shirin Emami is the newest acting superintendent of the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Ms. Emami served previously as the DFS Banking Division’s executive deputy superintendent and general counsel.
Ohio
Governor John Kasich is being urged to sign into law House Bill 237, which would establish auto liability insurance coverage requirements for the state’s transportation network company (TNC) drivers.
Sandy Collins, widow of the late Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins, says she is entitled to his workers compensation benefits. The 70-year-old mayor suffered a fatal heart attack while driving home from a press conference in February 2015.
South Carolina
A year-long McClatchy investigation into U.S. nuclear workforce illnesses dating back to the 1940s had a Jackson, South Carolina, dateline and appeared last weekend in Columbia’s The State.
Tennessee
A Texas-based consultant is one of the few people who would benefit from enactment of a law (SB 721/HB 997) that would allow employers to opt-out of the state’s workers compensation system, an insurance agency’s general counsel wrote, in this Tennessean op-ed piece.
Texas
A tornado touched down in Lindale (Smith County) on Saturday, December 12, damaging upwards of 50 homes about 90 miles southeast of Dallas. Another tornado hit Willis (Montgomery County), about 50 miles north of Houston, on the same day.
Nearly half of the 1,300 lawsuits filed against insurers after a May 2013 hail storm in Amarillo are still pending, and continue to clog Potter County’s legal system. The May 28, 2013, hail storm caused more than $500 million in insured losses.
MEDIA MATTERS
The New Orleans Advocate is cutting expenses in its Baton Rouge office.
The Las Vegas Review Journal was sold for $140 million to News + Media Capital Group LLC. It is one of Nevada’s leading newspapers.
The Washington Post has moved into its new headquarters.
The Connecticut home of Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes was severely damaged by a fire last weekend. Time Warner is the world's second largest media company with major Internet, publishing, film, telecommunications and television divisions after Disney.
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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