SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL February 20, 2013

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, February 27, please email me at michaelb@iii.org

 

The I.I.I.’s Salvatore is one of 15 outside contributors who have been recruited to “chime in on the agenda-setting topics covered in The Wall Street Journal’s newly redesigned Wealth Management vertical.”  The I.I.I. has been asked to broaden the online section’s personal finance expertise. 

Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which exploded and sank over a BP well in April 2010. The accident killed 11 rig workers and set into motion the nation’s worst offshore oil spill, according to this Tuesday, February 19, Associated Press article.

A natural gas explosion on Tuesday evening, February 19, started a blaze which injured at least 16 people and destroyed a decades-old restaurant, according to a same-day story in The Kansas City, Missouri, Star. This NBC News story says there may have been one fatality, and notes Missouri Gas Energy has a theory on what caused the accident.

 

The I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart was quoted in both the USA Today story, and another filed by Bloomberg. InsuranceQuotes.com retained Princeton Survey Research Associates International Survey (PSRAI) to assess the impact of moving violations on auto insurance premiums.  On Thursday, February 21, the I.I.I.’s Weisbart conducted a live, 10-minute interview on the same topic on Minneapolis, Minnesota’s WCCO, a CBS news radio station. He spoke with John Hines.

The U.S. life and annuity sector has maintained generally strong risk-adjusted capital positions and favorable GAAP and statutory operating earnings, while continuing efforts to improve balance sheet fundamentals through enhanced risk management and continued de-risking initiatives, according to this AM Best report, released on Monday, February 18.

 

The New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Ed Beeson is reportedly readying a new story on how Write Your Own (WYO) insurers are faring when it comes to closing out their pending National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Sandy claims; the I.I.I. is able to respond to Beeson’s inquiries if your company would prefer an industry response. The Associated Press’ David Caruso has also been writing about this issue as FEMA releases its Sandy data….Dawn Papandrea of Family Circle magazine interviewed the I.I.I.’s Salvatore for a May 2013 story on “what families should consider when purchasing various kinds of insurance,” such as car rental and identity theft coverage….Andrew Barksdale of The Fayetteville (NC) Observer spoke with the I.I.I.’s Weisbart about the insurance implications of a North Carolina Department of Transportation study that showed Fayetteville was second only to Asheville in 2011 when it came to the number of car crashes in the state, among NC cities with a population of at least 10,000 people….USA Today’s Charisse Jones spoke with the I.I.I.’s Salvatore about the pros and cons of buying a travel insurance policy; the story was pegged to this month’s aborted Carnival cruise to Mexico from Texas, which was eventually re-routed to Alabama….The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig talked with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sandy Bauer about the I.I.I.’s Issues Update paper on Climate Change: Insurance Issues, and Forbes’ Ni-Hai Tseng about mandating the purchase of liability insurance as a condition of buying a firearm.

 

U.S. farmers collected more than $14 billion in federal crop insurance payments in fiscal year 2012 after the worst drought in 70 years cut production, according to a Tuesday, February 19, Bloomberg news article. Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri were among last year’s hardest-hit Corn Belt states. The previous record crop insurance payout was $10.8 billion, in 2011.

 

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-California), a former state insurance commissioner, will serve on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Agriculture committee, which has oversight over the federal crop insurance program, according to this Wednesday, February 13, news release.

 

State Rep. Bryan Nelson (R-Apopka) was scheduled to attend a Wednesday, February 20, press conference at the Capitol Building in Tallahassee, where a group of consumer advocates gathered “to urge the Legislature to protect seniors from predatory investors and reject any legislative attempts that would bolster the stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI) market during the 2013 Legislative Session.”

 

The Tampa Bay Times posted on Sunday, February 17, a story on how senior executives at Citizens received double-digit percentage pay hikes as policyholders paid higher premiums.

Weston Insurance Company will assume for at least three years 23,000 wind-only homeowners policies, 3,000 condominium-complex policies and 5,000 commercial non-residential policies, all of which were issued initially by Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in coastal areas, according to this Monday, February 11, Miami Herald article.

 

The Palm Beach Post posted on Friday, February 15, a story on how Weiss Ratings gave Citizens one of its highest-rankings for financial strength among Florida property insurers.

 

The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce held a public hearing on Tuesday, February 19, to discuss a number of pieces of legislation, including Senate Bill 72 which would, if enacted, prohibit insurers from using credit-based insurance scores. Property Casualty Insurers Association of America issued this news release on its testimony to Texas lawmakers.

 

The Corpus Christi Caller Times said the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) posted an underwriting loss of $180 million in 2012 and, in a separate story on Sunday, February 17, found that “hundreds of state-licensed engineers, many frustrated with the Texas Department of Insurance, are dropping out of the windstorm certification program that allows structures to be insured by TWIA.”

FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders whose properties were damaged by August 2012’s Hurricane Isaac have until Thursday, February 21, to file a claim, according to this Monday, February 18, New Orleans Times-Picayune story. The NFIP usually requires that its claims be reported within 60 days but, in this case, three filing extensions were granted by FEMA.

 

Former Mississippi attorney Zach Scruggs, the son of Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs, has had an appeal of his conviction denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Mississippi Press reports. Zach Scruggs served a 14-month prison sentence, and lost his license to practice law, after pleading guilty to failing to report a conspiracy to influence a judge improperly.

The Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission recommended that $100 million of the monies Alabama could receive from BP as part of its 2010 Gulf oil spill settlement should be set aside to help coastal residents make their homes more resistant to wind damage from hurricanes, a story in the Friday, February 15, edition of the Mobile Press Register reported.

Missouri
Residents who bought travel insurance between 2007 and 2012 from Virginia Surety Company through Cheap Caribbean, one of its contracted agencies, may be entitled to a refund under a settlement agreement announced on Tuesday, February 19, by the Missouri Department of Insurance. Consumers who booked a trip on Cheap Caribbean’s website had to uncheck a box to opt-out of purchasing travel insurance. Those who bypassed this step often unknowingly purchased a Virginia Surety Company policy, the release stated.

 

The state Assembly’s Insurance committee is holding a public hearing on the industry’s Sandy claims settlement practices on Tuesday, February 26, at 11 a.m., in New York City.

 

For the first time in 44 years, the state is raising its mandatory minimum liability coverages for motorists to $25,000/$50,000/$25,000 from $12,500/$25,000/$7,500, according to this Friday, February 15, story in The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The first two numbers refer to bodily injury liability limits, and the third to property liability. 

 

The state’s Sea Level Rise Advisory Committee is holding its third and final public hearing on Monday, February 25, between 4 and 7 p.m. in Dover, according to this news release from Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

 

The insurance buzz on Twitter on Wednesday, February 20, was all about the IBHS research center and their full-scale indoor hail storm test, which took place earlier that day. Insurance agents, companies and journalists all expressed their excitement at the use of technology to better understand natural disasters and their impact on homes. 

 

Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have been filled with discussion, I.I.I. content, and postings about the meteor that came down in Russia on Friday, February 15.  Social media users are asking: “Am I covered if a meteor lands on my home or car?”  Most of these posts have a positive tone with insurance agents and consumer groups explaining that most policyholders are covered for falling objects. This event also sparked some conversation about how the industry could predict and prepare for a much more substantial object impacting the earth. 

Jake Tapper’s new show on CNN will debut in March 2013. It will be called The Lead and will be broadcast on weekdays at 4 p.m., ET.

 

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien will no longer be the host of Starting Point, the cable network’s morning program, but will remain affiliated with CNN, The New York Times reports.

 

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