SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL March 28, 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, April 4, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org

 

This Tuesday, March 27, Colorado State Forest Service memo chronicles the location and severity of the wildfires, which are believed to have started after a controlled burn undertaken by the government. Nearly 900 homes were evacuated this week, and another 6,500 families have been told to prepare to leave their homes. The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association issued this news release, offering advice to Colorado residents who have been impacted by the wildfires.

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore, Lynne McChristian and Steve Weisbart were among the panelists and presenters at the annual NHC gathering, held this week (March 26-29) in Orlando, Florida. Salvatore spoke with The Weather Channel’s Bryan Norcross about incorporating insurance information into the channel’s hurricane preparedness coverage, and McChristian taped an interview with the chief meteorologist at Tallahassee’s ABC affiliate on insurance and hurricanes. It will be broadcast prior to the start of hurricane season on June 1, 2012.

The I.I.I.’s Tuesday, March 26, media advisory gave journalists links to the institute’s NHC PowerPoint presentations and extensive information on natural disasters and insurance. In addition, the I.I.I. collected the names of media attendees at the conference and will be sending them additional I.I.I. hurricane-related resources.

The I.I.I.’s Salvatore will be in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, April 4, to tape a video on this topic. The final product will appear at http://www.designingspaces.tv/. FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program and their PR agency, Ogilvy, recruited the I.I.I. for the assignment.

These editions include charts on insurance industry employment and insurers’ other contributions to the economy in both states.

Although overall recalls fell, injuries and other incidents related to these recalls increased 7 percent, according to Kids in Danger, an advocacy group, explains a Monday, March 26, USA Today story.

Lisa Gibbs, a senior writer for Money magazine, received from the I.I.I. data showing homeowners insurance premium rate trends in the U.S. over the past 10 years. The publication wants to create a graphic illustrating these numbers on a national map….Saskia de Melker (sdemelker@newshour.org) of PBS was given the I.I.I.’s Issues Update paper on Climate Change: Insurance Issues after requesting some basic information on the topic. PBS’s News Hour may do a multi-part series on how climate change is, or is not, changing the way major U.S. industries do business….Carol Guensburg, a Washington, D.C-based writer (email: guensburgc@shns.com) for Scripps Howard News Service is exploring the insurance implications of more women being gun owners….Newsday’s Tom Incantalupo is prepping a piece on how coastal property insurance is available, but not necessarily affordable, for New Yorkers who receive a non-renewal notice and reside on Long Island….George Ford of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, having already written about this Tuesday, March 20, tornado-related statement from Iowa’s publicly traded United Fire Group, is readying an article that looks at U.S. natural catastrophes and their impact on property insurance markets….Since the call, San Francisco’s KPIX-TV, a CBS affiliate, taped a segment on whether auto insurers are offering discounts to policyholders who complete online defensive driving courses; Tully Lehman of the Insurance Information Network of California (IINC) was interviewed for the story. 

The Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI) is convening for the first time since its formation on Friday, March 30, at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.

 

The front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Sunday, March 25, edition featured a story with the following headline: ‘Insurance may not cover legal costs of self-defense shootings.’  The article makes no mention of the 20-year-old man who was shot and killed in Slinger, Wisconsin, on Saturday, March 3, but that is why this coverage issue arose in the state.

Baltimore Sun columnist Eileen Ambrose had a piece in the paper’s Monday, March 26, print edition on Maryland’s House Bill 1105, which calls for prohibiting the state’s homeowners, renters, and auto insurers from “denying, refusing to renew, or canceling coverage” solely because a policyholder does not carry another form of coverage with the same insurer. The I.I.I.’s Weisbart is quoted in the story. HB 1105 was passed by the General Assembly on Monday, March 19, and came before the Maryland state Senate on Thursday, March 29.

The Missouri state Supreme Court is hearing a case in Jefferson City that challenges a 2005 state law limiting the non-economic damages awarded in medical malpractice cases at $350,000. This Springfield News-Leader article from Tuesday, March 27, explains that jurors, because of one of law’s quirks, are not told during judicial proceedings about the non-economic damage cap.

On Monday, March 26, the Alabama Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission announced three initiatives that policymakers ought to pursue to keep premium rates under control, according to this next-day Mobile Press Register story.

MEDIA MATTERS
Ricky Mathews will become the publisher of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans later this year. Matthews is the current publisher of Alabama’s Mobile Press-Register.

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT
The National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Florida has been an important topic on social media platforms this week. Journalists, insurance groups, meteorologists, disaster preparation and response groups have all taken to Twitter to share information about this week’s NHC speakers and events. Much of the focus has been on the importance of hurricane preparedness and the increasing costs of natural disasters. All of these tweets have had a neutral, informative tone to them.

Other trending topics this week include insurance agents and home safety groups sharing the I.I.I.’s Know Your Stuff – Home Inventory software on Facebook. There has been a major uptick in the visibility of this software in social media over the past month with people promoting it as part of their basic disaster preparedness efforts.

 

Also this week, the topic of spring cleaning and seasonal home repair is trending with an article from Yahoo! Finance that cites the I.I.I. and is being reposted to blogs about ways to save on home insurance by making home improvements. All of these blogs are geared towards advising consumers on ways to save money.    

 

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.