SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL March 27, 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, April 3, please email me at michaelb@iii.org

 

The keynote speakers at the conference, to be held on June 12-14, 2013, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, will be Patricia Sellers, editor-at-large, Fortune magazine, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, a professor of politics & international affairs at Princeton University and a former director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State.

The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian moderated panel discussions on Monday, March 25, and Tuesday, March 26, and taped interviews with The Weather Channel and a Fort Myers, Florida television station while in New Orleans this week. The Associated Press reported on FEMA chief Craig Fugate’s warning to conferees about an upcoming increases in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) premiums and the National Hurricane Center’s Rick Knabb said the federal government will enhance its tropical storm forecasts and storm surge warning systems.

The I.I.I.’s news release was issued on Wednesday, March 27.  NBC’s Nightly News broadcast a segment on the topic on Thursday evening, March 21.

The I.I.I.’s Bill Davis gave a live interview to WWL in New Orleans on Friday, March 22, about an Insure.com survey which found Louisiana’s drivers pay the highest price for auto insurance in the U.S. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Consumer Watchdog’s Harvey Rosenfeld challenged the website’s findings in a Tuesday, March 26, KFWB, News Radio interview.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its U.S. Spring Outlook on Thursday, March 21, stating “odds favor above-average temperatures across much of the continental United States, including drought-stricken areas of Texas, the Southwest and the Great Plains.” The Souris River in North Dakota is likely to flood again in 2013, NOAA believes.  Severe hailstorms during the first few days of spring prompted The Weather Channel to interview the I.I.I.’s Davis on Sunday, March 24, about insurance coverage for hail-caused damage.

The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig was interviewed for this Tuesday, March 26, CSM story, which sought to answer ‘seven questions about mandatory gun insurance.’

So-called black box devices, already installed in 96 percent of new cars, record details prior to a crash, including a vehicle’s speed and the driver’s seatbelt use, raising privacy concerns, according to this Monday, March 25, USA Today article.

FEMA must change the way it analyzes and manages flood risk to give public officials and individual property owners a more precise idea of the perils they face, the report found. Gerald Galloway, a University of Maryland engineering professor, and David Maustad, formerly of FEMA, held a free webinar on Tuesday, March 26, to discuss the findings.

Dr. Richard Victor, WCRI’s executive director, is delivering the report at the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit, on Tuesday, April 2, at the Omni in Orlando, Florida.

The I.I.I.’s Hartwig spoke with WSJ reporter Erik Holm as part of a story Holm is preparing for possible publication during the week of April 1-5 on out-of-state trial attorneys who have shown an interest in filing lawsuits on behalf of Sandy claimants. The Austin American Statesman and a recent Wall Street Journal Law Blog item have also touched on this issue.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), chair of the U.S. House’s subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, sent a letter dated Tuesday, March 26, to Michael McRaith, the Federal Insurance Office’s (FIO) director, saying the current international standard setting proposals could impose unnecessary costs on the U.S. insurance industry, National Underwriter reports.

Federal taxpayers will fund $11 billion of 2012’s $16 billion in U.S. crop insurance claim payouts, an Iowa State economist told the Associated Press, for this Friday, March 22, story.

 

NOAA conducted tsunami warning communications tests on TV and radio stations on Wednesday, March 27, as part of National Tsunami Preparedness Week (March 24-30). 

 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)  released a study on Community Exposure to Tsunami Hazards in California.

Furniture sold in the state will need to withstand a “smoldering” fire source, rather than an open flame, if a regulation considered at a Tuesday, March 26, public hearing is adopted. “The upshot is that furniture would no longer need to contain fire-resistant chemicals that advocates single out as a significant health hazard,” the Sacramento Bee reports.

 

The Fort Collins Coloradoan published in its Sunday, March 24, print edition a piece on June 2012 wildfire victims who are dissatisfied with the way insurers have handled their claims, and how state lawmakers have amended the original Homeowners Insurance Reform Act of 2013, House Bill 1225.

 

The Colorado Senate’s Local Government committee will publicly discuss HB 1225 on Tuesday, April 2, at 2 p.m., in Senate Committee Room 253, at the State Capitol, Denver.

Linda Masterson, who lost her Fort Collins home during a 2011 blaze, has written Surviving Wildfire, a book offering homeowners insurance tips, Denver’s CBS affiliate reports.

 

Acupuncturists, massage therapists and chiropractors scored a win last week when a circuit court judge placed a temporary ban on the part of the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law [House Bill 119] that restricted them from receiving payment for treating auto accident patients, according to this blog item posted at The Tampa Bay Times’ website on Friday, March 22.

 

The state’s Bond Commission adjourned on Thursday, March 21, without voting on the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s bid to borrow $100 million, although commission members questioned whether Citizens needed the money because the state-created insurer can draw down funds from an existing line of credit, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.

 

The state’s $1 million cap on non-economic damages in civil cases has survived various court challenges, and will likely come before the Mississippi Supreme Court at some point, according to this Sunday, March 24, Jackson Clarion Ledger article, which was first published in the Mississippi Business Journal.

Ken Serrano, an Asbury Park Press reporter, told the I.I.I.’s Mike Barry that his paper is trying to quantify how many homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties were damaged by Sandy. The reason: Serrano hears that federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Sandy monies are not being disbursed to homeowners unless the property is their primary residence.

 

A Staten Island policyholder was paid $30,000 by their insurer to repair Sandy-caused damage but is upset because neither their home’s insurer nor FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program will pay out another $12,000 for a sinkhole related loss, according to this Tuesday, March 26, New York City CBS affiliate story. The I.I.I. is cited briefly.

 

New York City is investigating possible overbilling by AshBritt Environmental, a company the city retained to tow and store stranded boats and cars after Sandy hit, The New York Post reported, in its Monday, March 25, print edition.

Senator Tom Davis’s (R-Beaufort) Competitive Insurance Act will, if enacted, provide tax credits to coastal insurers and arm consumers with better information to shop for coverage, a Tuesday, March 26, article in the Charleston Post & Courier reports.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s (TWIA) board of directors has tabled until its Tuesday, May 21, meeting any decision about having TWIA enter into receivership to resolve its financial problems, this Monday, March 25, Houston Chronicle blog item reports.

The Vermont House of Representatives passed a bill requiring life insurance companies to make a good-faith effort to locate beneficiaries after a policyholder dies, according to a Sunday, March 24, Times Argus article.

A Mashable piece on home inventory apps that features the I.I.I.’s Know Your Stuff app has been shared over 1,300 times through Twitter and Facebook this week. The importance of having a home inventory continues to be a popular topic of discussion, especially in the wake of recent natural disasters. The article quotes the I.I.I.’s Andréa Basora.

 

Another trending story is how to pick the right type of life insurance policy, with the information being featured on the I.I.I.’s homepage and being picked up on Twitter, Facebook and blogs by insurance agents and consumer advocate groups. The conversation around this topic is about how important life insurance is to families, with people trying to make it easier for the typical consumer to understand how to buy this type of coverage. 

 

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation wants to purchase The Los Angeles Times but will likely need the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval before doing so, according to this article in The New York Times’ Monday, March 25, print edition.

 

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.