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, August 3, please email Loretta Worters at lorettaw@iii.org.
I.I.I. LAUNCHES A MULTIMEDIA CAMPAIGN ON PETS AND EVACUATION
The goal of the initiative is to use pets as a news hook to get the media interested in the importance of disaster planning. In addition to providing specific disaster planning tips for pet owners, the campaign includes the industry’s key messages on: knowing where to go and what to take when ordered to evacuate; having an up-to-date home inventory; and the importance of having the right type and amount of insurance. The details, and related links, can be found in this Tuesday, July 26, news release. The I.I.I. encourages all of you to promote the information and video on your websites and through your social media network.
I.I.I. TAPES CONSUMER PIECES FOR BLOOMBERG SERVICE THAT PROVIDES VIDEO TO SELF-SERVE GAS STATIONS NATIONWIDE
The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore taped a series of segments on Tuesday, July 26, with Bloomberg TV’s Linda Bell. They will be aired on Gas TV. Bloomberg has a contract with gas stations nationwide to produce short consumer pieces for their use at self-serve gas pumps and highway rest stops. Bell spoke with Salvatore for short segments on: how to save money on auto insurance; the biggest insurance mistakes consumers make in a down economy; the problems of shopping for auto/home insurance on price alone; and how changes in your life should trigger a call to your insurance company. Bell got the ideas for these segments by reviewing the I.I.I.’s website.
FLORIDA’S PROPERTY INSURER OF LAST RESORT COMPLETES $900 MILLION BOND ISSUANCE
This Friday, July 22, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) article weaved that news into a broader look at Florida’s property insurance market. I.I.I. president Bob Hartwig is quoted in the piece.
I.I.I.’S UPDATED WHITE PAPER ON PROPERTY INSURERS OF LAST RESORT GENERATES BEST DAY AUDIO INTERVIEW REQUEST
The I.I.I.’s Hartwig spoke with A.M. Best reporter Diana Rosenbergabout what the I.I.I. found when analyzing U.S. residual property insurance markets. The segment was posted on Wednesday, July 27 (subscription required).
MAY 2011 TORNADO IN JOPLIN IS EXPECTED TO GENERATE THE LARGEST CLAIMS PAYOUT IN MISSOURI’S HISTORY
More than $500 million in claims for residential and commercial property damage have already been paid out, according to this Tuesday, July 26, article in The Joplin Globe. In a related development, FEMA issued a news release on Friday, July 22, reporting more than $40 million in state and federal assistance have supplemented the private-sector insurance monies being disbursed to the residents of Missouri’s Jasper and Newton counties.
JUNE 2011 TORNADO IN SPRINGFIELD, MA, CAUSED $200 MILLION-PLUS IN INSURED LOSSES; REINSURERS TO PAY A BIG PART OF THE TOTAL
The Boston Globe used that piece of information to revisit Rep. Richard Neal’s (D-Massachusetts) bill—which has little support in the U.S. House of Representatives—that would “prevent foreign insurance companies from moving premiums collected from U.S. policyholders to offshore tax havens,” according to a Wednesday, July 27, article.
‘INSURANCE OVERSIGHT’ DISCUSSED BY REGULATORS, INDUSTRY AT U.S. HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE GATHERING
The Thursday, July 28, agenda links to the testimony delivered at the session and can be found at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s website.
U.S. SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE HOLDS CONFIRMATION HEARING ON PRESIDENT’S FSOC NOMINEE
Former Kentucky Insurance Commissioner S. Roy Woodall Jr., President Obama’s choice to fill the insurance expert seat on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), appeared before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, July 26.
CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE CORP’S BOARD WEIGHS SUBSTANTIAL PREMIUM RATE HIKES FOR SINKHOLE COVERAGE
State lawmakers rescinded the cap for sinkhole premiums, prompting Citizens to contemplate rate increases for sinkhole coverage that would average 429 percent statewide. Since the call, the Citizens board approved these premium rate proposals, according to this Thursday, July 28, St. Petersburg Times article. Robin Westcott, the newly-appointed insurance consumer advocate, will now review the proposal along with the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation.
I.I.I.’s FLORIDA MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE TO APPEAR ON NPR’s ‘FLORIDA MATTERS’ ALONG WITH CHAIRMAN OF CITIZENS BOARD
This WUSF radio program is affiliated with National Public Radio (NPR) and reaches a wide audience in the central part of western Florida. The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian will be one of the four insurance industry representatives taping a 30-minute ‘Florida Matters’ program at WUSF’s Tampa studio on current trends in Florida’s property insurance market. The air date has not as yet been finalized. Jim Malone, chairman of Citizen’ board, Sean Shaw, a former Florida insurance consumer advocate who is now with the Merlin Law Group, and Florida State Senator Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) are the other panelists scheduled to join McChristian.
FLORIDA’S ATTORNEY GENERAL FILES ‘UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES’ CHARGE AGAINST HURRICANE SHUTTER INSTALLATION COMPANY
The Hallandale, Florida-based Rolladen Windows and Doors is the defendant, according to this Monday, July 25, news release from AG Pam Bondi’s office.
INCOMING TEXAS INSURANCE COMMISSIONER TURNED TO INSURERS WHEN RAISING MONEY FOR SOUTH CAROLINA OFFICE LAST YEAR
Governor Perry’s new insurance commissioner nominee, former South Carolina insurance commissioner Eleanor Kitzman, collected from insurance industry sources more than 60 percent of the approximately $150,000 she raised for an unsuccessful bid last year for South Carolina lieutenant governor, according to a Monday, July 25, Austin American-Statesman article.
OKLAHOMA’S INSURERS HAVE BEEN HIT HARD BY THE STATE’S SEVERE WEATHER, ESPECIALLY HAIL STORMS
The state’s insurers paid out far more than they took in each of the past three years, according to this Monday, July 25, article in Tulsa World.
NEW ORLEANS NEEDS TO REDUCE ITS CARBON EMISSIONS TO COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING, STUDY ARGUES
The Times-Picayune posted on Tuesday, July 26, an article pegged to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The water in the Gulf of Mexico bordering New Orleans could rise by as much as four and one-half feet by the Year 2100, the NRDC report’s authors stated, unless the city reduces its carbon emissions.
ALABAMA: I.I.I.’s CHIEF ECONOMIST IS GUEST SPEAKER AT SOUTHEASTERN REGULATORY CONFENCE; HOMEOWNERS COMMISSION PRAISED
The I.I.I.’s Dr. Steven Weisbart will be giving a presentation in Montgomery, Alabama, on Friday, July 29; the final day of the 2011 Southeastern Regulators Association Conference.
In advance of its first meeting on Monday, Aug. 1, the Huntsville Times published a Tuesday, July 26, editorial praising Alabama’s governor for expanding the Alabama Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission’s mission to include statewide concerns, rather than just coastal ones.
NEW YORK: OBSERVER PROFILES NEW INSURANCE REGULATOR; AAA LOOKS AT ‘THE TRUTH ABOUT MEN AND WOMEN DRIVERS’
The New York Observer’s July 25, 2011, edition has a profile of Ben Lawsky, who, effective October 2011, will become the state’s first superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, a newly-formed state agency that combines the Insurance and Banking Departments.
Car and Driver magazine, a monthly AAA publication circulated to AAA members in New York State, offered a look at the differences between men and women drivers in its August 2011 issue.
CALIFORNIA’S STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND (SCIF) IS ON THE VERGE OF SELLING A SAN FRANCISO BUILDING FOR $48 MILLION
The proposed transaction, involving a 17-story tower SCIF owns in the city’s Tenderloin District, was the subject of a Wednesday, July 20, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) Deal of the Week column.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE REPORTS ‘RENTERS INSURANCE GAINS TRACTION AS MARKET EXPANDS’
The I.I.I. was cited as a source in this Sunday, July 24, Chicago Tribune article.
NEW YORK TIMES, INSURANCEQUOTES.COM AND CLAIMS ADVISOR MAGAZINE REACH OUT TO THE I.I.I.
The NYT’s Mary Walsh spoke with the I.I.I.’s Hartwig on Tuesday, July 26, about the prospective link, if any, between a rating agency downgrade of the U.S. government’s AAA rating and the operations of U.S. property/casualty insurers…the I.I.I.’s Mike Barry briefed former Reuters reporter Ed Leefeldt about force-placed homeowners insurance policies for an insurancequotes.com article he’s writing on the topic…Claims Advisor has asked the I.I.I. to submit an article on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) pegged to 10th anniversary of 9/11.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL’S SERENA NG MOVES OFF OF THE INSURANCE BEAT
Ng will now focus on Wall Street-related stories, meaning the WSJ’s Leslie Scism will for now add P/C insurance to her portfolio, which already includes life insurance and annuities.
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT
–Ben Berkowitz of Reuters had a tweet this week which read, “Insurance companies nearly $3 billion short on reserves for 2001-10, particularly workers comp and product liability.” It linked to an article that quoted some analysts saying insurers did not set aside enough in reserves to cover claims for losses from 2008 through 2010.
–Julie Patel of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweeted, “Now you can compare home insurance rates in Florida once again.” A website allowing consumers to compare homeowners insurance rates for the top 20-plus property insurers in each Florida county has been re-launched after it was temporarily taken down earlier this year to allow Governor Rick Scott’s staff to review it, a move that prompted complaints from some consumers.
–Another tweet this week from Patel is about how “Citizens will raise sinkhole premiums 429%. 13-fold & 21-fold average rate hikes for parts of South Florida & Orlando area.” There was a significant amount of consumer outcry in social media platforms over these hikes.
–The I.I.I. released a video about “Disaster Planning with Pets.” Since its release on Tuesday, July 26, there have been lots of shares on Facebook and Twitter and also postings on blogs by insurance groups/agents. The video and related article are all about properly preparing for disaster evacuations with your pets and are getting great pick up.
–The I.I.I.’s recent news release on the insurance implications of sending a child off to college is also being shared in various social media platforms. NY1, the Time Warner Cable-owned 24 hour news channel in New York City, interviewed the I.I.I.’s Salvatore for a Sunday, July 24, story on the topic.
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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