SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL March 30, 2011

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, April 6, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org

 

I.I.I. is quoted in Wall Street Journal analysis of how many Americans have insurance coverage for earthquake and tsunami-related losses:

In the wake of the recent disasters in Japan, many American homeowners are wondering if their standard homeowners insurance policy would cover them for catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and nuclear accidents. The answer in general is no, according to this Saturday, March 26, Wall Street Journal article (subscription required).

Los Angeles Times reports only 12 percent of Californians have a California Earthquake Authority (CEA) policy:

The CEA, an independent government agency set up by the California state legislature in 1996, is the largest provider of earthquake coverage in California. This Monday, March 28, Los Angeles Times article also lists key facts about earthquake insurance, including the kinds of structures covered, who sells the coverage and its cost.

U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in Wal-Mart v. Dukes; could become largest employment case in U.S. history:

If the nation’s highest court decides that the case can proceed, it will be the largest employment discrimination case in U.S. history, according to a front page print edition story in the Monday, March 28, Washington Post. The matter is being closely watched by major corporations and leading civil rights groups, which have submitted competing briefs in efforts to influence a ruling that could have far reaching effects on class actions.

AccuWeather.com releases its 2011 hurricane season forecast: 

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center is predicting an active 2011, with its forecasters saying this season’s storms will impact the U.S. coastline more than usual, this Wednesday, March 30, Mobile Press-Register story reports. The 2011 hurricane season will see a total of 15 named tropical storms, eight of which will become hurricanes. Three of those eight hurricanes will strengthen into major Category 3 or above storms, AccuWeather.com believes. The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season had 19 named storms, the third most-active season on record.

Kiplinger chronicles why Louisiana, Florida and Texas are considered most at risk for natural disasters:

The Kiplinger list was compiled based on ISO insured loss data, and closely tracks an I.I.I. Terms + Condition blog entry from Tuesday, March 29.  Those three states combined accounted for 37 percent of the natural disaster-caused insured losses over the past three decades, ISO found.

Florida’s sinkhole claimants spend more than half of their insurance proceeds on things other than sinkhole-related repairs, WSJ finds:

Florida policymakers say that much of the sinkhole-related claims payments from insurance companies are being used to pay mortgages rather than to repair properties, according to this Wednesday, March 30, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) article, which has been in the works since January 2011. Average sinkhole claims in Florida cost more than $140,000 per claim and, of the $1.4 billion that insurers have paid out in for these claims in the past five years, less than half has been used to repair the problem, according to regulators and county tax authorities. The I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian was a key source for WSJ reporter Leslie Scism on this story, even though the I.I.I. is not mentioned in the text.

Florida lawmakers vote to eliminate annual report card on property insurers; say it is duplicative of one already compiled by another state agency:

House Bill 4155, which passed Florida’s House last week by a margin of 83-34, calls for the elimination of the annual report card the Insurance Consumer Advocate’s office compiles on the state’s property insurers. This office has in the past assigned a grade to insurers based on the number of complaints an insurer received relative to its market share and the average time it took the insurer to pay claims over a five-year period.  Proponents of HB 4155 say the Insurance Consumer Advocate’s report card is unnecessary because the state’s Division of Consumer Services already tracks and distributes this data. The article on grading insurers in the Saturday, March 26, Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that one-third of Florida’s market is insured by carriers receiving low grades. The Tribune also posted the report card produced by the Insurance Consumer Advocate office using data from 2004-2008.

IBHS’s Wildfire Research Center Test generates national media coverage:

NBC’s Today Show aired a three-minute segment based on the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s (IBHS) Thursday, March 24, event at its South Carolina research facility.  

I.I.I. gives home insurance tips in live interview on Martha Stewart’s Sirius XM radio channel:

The I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters spoke about ‘what you don’t know about homeowners insurance’ during a segment that began at 8:10 a.m., ET on Thursday, March 31.

I.I.I. providing editorial content to national personal finance website: 

The I.I.I’s Worters was invited to serve periodically as a guest blogger for Think Glink, a national producer and distributor of consumer-related financial information. Worters’ first column, on the insurance coverage issues raised by the Japan quake and tsunami, was posted at Equifax on Thursday, March 31.

University of Minnesota law professor updates his white paper on homeowners insurance policy transparency:

Professor Daniel Schwarcz’s 67-page paper had its origins in his August 2010 presentation to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) consumer liaison committee.  In a follow-up appearance before that same committee on Saturday, March 26, in Austin, Texas, Schwarcz again argued that prospective home insurance policyholders need additional information about what they are buying before they purchase a policy.

 

American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) wants to know if the NAIC is investigating how life insurers handle their unclaimed policies: 

The ACLI posed the question to the NAIC’s life insurance and annuities committee at the very end of its Sunday, March 27, session. NAIC president Susan Voss, the Iowa insurance commissioner, said the ACLI would be hearing from the NAIC soon on this matter. ‘Are Unclaimed Property Exams in the Future?’ was the headline of a Monday, March 28, article in Insurance Compliance Insight (subscription required).

 

FEMA administrator scheduled to testify at Friday, April 1, U.S. House hearing on the future of the federal flood insurance program: 

Administrator Craig Fugate’s remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives’ subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity are committee’s website. The FEMA-administered National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2011, in the absence of Congressional action.

 

Former National Law Journal reporter joins D.C. bureau of A.M. Best: 

Correspondent Jeff Jeffrey, who covered the NAIC’s spring meeting, began his tenure with A.M. Best a few weeks ago and reports into Sean Carr, the D.C. bureau manager.  Jeffrey’s contact information in Washington, D.C.: Phone number: 202-347-3090; Email address: jeff.jeffrey@ambest.com.

New York Banking and Insurance Department merger wins legislative approval; integration is set for October 2011:

The new agency will be known as the New York State Department of Financial Services, and will not include employees from the state’s Consumer Protection Board (CPB), as originally proposed by the Cuomo administration.  Insurance & Financial Advisor offered a summary of what Albany lawmakers approved in a Friday, April 1, article.

New York State Senate’s Insurance Committee to host no-fault auto insurance hearing on Tuesday, April 26, in New York City:

The event will be held in lower Manhattan from at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The hearing notice is here.

Illinois’ top insurance regulator to remain in office until May 31, 2011; wants to focus on workers’ compensation reform before leaving:

The Associated Press filed this Tuesday, March 29, story on Michael McRaith’s planned departure from his current post to become director of the D.C.-based Federal Insurance Office (FIO).

Hawaii’s governor wants to access the state’s Hurricane Relief Fund to plug $232 million budget deficit:

Governor Neil Abercrombie wants to use the $117 million remaining in the Hurricane Relief Fund to close his state’s current budget gap but neither the state’s insurance commissioner nor the executive overseeing the fund like the idea, according to a Thursday, March 31, story that aired on KGMB, the CBS affiliate in Honolulu.

Study says Washington’s homeowners paid $190 million more in insurance premiums than they otherwise would have if The Insurance Fair Conduct Act had not become law:

That is the conclusion of the Insurance Research Council (IRC), which compared claims frequency and severity loss trends in the state of Washington during 2008-2009 with those of four other states with similar first-party bad-faith laws on their books. The IRC’s news release from Wednesday, March 30, generated some industry media coverage. 

 

—Julie Patel of the South Florida Sun Sentinel is tweeting about how a bill that would raise Citizens Property Insurance policyholders’ premiums by up to 25 percent a year, and make many policyholders ineligible for coverage, was approved by a 6-4 vote in the Florida state Senate’s insurance committee on Tuesday, March 29. The legislation aims to shrink the size of state-backed Citizens, Florida’s largest residential insurance provider, and even the playing field for private-sector insurers.

 

–Another item coming out of Florida is about fraudulent sinkhole claims and the debate between the insurance industry and consumers. Patel tweeted about a set of maps showing documented sinkhole activity vs. sinkhole claims. The areas with the most claims loosely mirror the areas with the greatest sinkhole activity, but legal representatives for larger property insurers still say too many people are “looking for a fast buck” and a sizable number of these claims are fraudulent. Homeowners, on the other hand, are saying their claims are legitimate and blame Florida’s ground movements for their insured losses. 

 

–The I.I.I.’s Wednesday, March 23, press release, “Few Homes Have Insurance Coverage for Earthquake or Tsunami, Although the U.S. Is At Risk for Both” is being shared via Twitter and Facebook this week as insurance agents are encouraging consumers to make sure they are properly insured.  There has also been some consumer response via comments to these posts, with people wanting to know how they can determine if they are at risk for these types of disasters where they live.

 

–The I.I.I. video “Spring Cleaning the Exterior for Your Home” has received a lot of attention and has been re-posted to about a dozen insurance agents’ websites this week as the seasons are changing and people are cleaning up after a rough winter.

 

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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