SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL February 8, 2012

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 15, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org

 

 “U.S. Treasury, Labor Departments Act to Enhance Retirement Security for an America Built to Last” was the headline of this Thursday, February 2, news release.

The Thursday, February 2, announcement came as part of a settlement agreement Prudential entered into with Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation and other Florida state agencies

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore taped a series of segments at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios in Manhattan on Tuesday, February 7, with NBC Today Show contributor Jean Chatzky. The segments focused on insurance issues faced by Americans aged 50 and over.

The I.I.I.’s Bill Davis will be taping the interview at the Weather Channel’s Atlanta, Georgia, studio on Friday, February 10. The story is scheduled to air on Monday evening, February 13. The top five 2011 weather-caused disasters, and the insurance claims payouts they generated, can be found on slide #20 of this Bob Hartwig PowerPoint presentation from January 2012.

 

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Members Darrell Issa (R-California) and Zoe Lofgren (D-California) have introduced House Resolution 3889, the Promoting Automotive Repair, Trade and Sales (PARTS) Act, legislation that “will benefit consumers by providing greater availability and competition in the automotive collision repair parts market and preventing car company monopolies on repair parts,” according to this Thursday, February 2, news release from Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

 

The Federal Insurance Office’s report on regulatory modernization, which was to have been issued last month, is weeks away from being released, insurance trade publications are reporting.

 

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty’s Tuesday, February 7, press conference on the need for reform of the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) provision in the state’s auto insurance policies touched on many of themes the incorporated into this Friday, January 27, letter to the editor.

 

The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian worked extensively with Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reporter Leslie Scism prior to the publication of a Monday, February 6, article on the growth of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s property insurer of last resort, and the financial condition of Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

 

The Tampa Bay Times reported in its Wednesday, February 8, print edition that several Florida homeowners have filed a class-action lawsuit against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, alleging that Citizens systematically overvalued the rebuilding cost of their properties in an effort to increase insurance premiums.

Five private-sector insurers took nearly 41,000 policies out of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation because of a Louisiana grant program, The Baton Rouge Advocate reported, on Monday, February 7.

 

The Associated Press is reporting that the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s board may end its legal efforts to overturn a $100 million-plus ruling made against Citizens. The judgment was upheld by Louisiana’s highest court but Citizens recently retained a law firm to try and get the case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

 

The 2012 National Tornado Preparedness Summit will be held in Oklahoma City from March 11-13. The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore and Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak are among those scheduled to speak at the event.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in its Wednesday, February 8, edition that Sterling Vineyards, a big wine producer in Calistoga, California claimed an uninsured loss of $27 million after an arsonist torched a storage facility on Vallejo’s Mare Island in October 2005. The blaze destroyed wine valued at $100 million, which was owned by 92 Napa Valley wineries and 43 collectors, according to the article.

Since our call, a Colorado state committee voted, 6-5, against a piece of insurance legislation that arose out of September 2010’s Fourmile Canyon wildfire, one of the costliest in the state’s history. KUNC, a National Public Radio affiliate in northern Colorado, covered the Wednesday, February 8, hearing on House Bill 1057, which called for requiring insurers to offer their policyholders additional living expenses (ALE) for up to two years, among other things.

 

The importance of purchasing a life insurance policy is a trending topic this week. The issue is being discussed on blogs written by insurance professionals and local journalists. The focus is on the fact that ownership of life insurance policies in the U.S. is at a 50-year low, with the economic downturn prompting many Americans to hold off on buying a policy. About a third of U.S. households have no life insurance coverage at all, a number of the blogs noted. 

 

There is also chatter about auto insurance premiums in North Carolina, which will not be increasing in 2012. This is the second year in a row that the state’s auto insurers have not sought a rate increase and bloggers, consumer groups and local journalists are sharing this story.   

 

Super Bowl parties and host liability laws also continued to be a hot topic in social media over the past few days. The I.I.I. did a release on this issue last week that has been getting some shares around Twitter via insurance agents and journalists.  

 

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

 

For an I.I.I. Blog search, click here.