SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL May 15, 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, May 22, please email me at michaelb@iii.org.

 

The company’s forecast was summarized in a Wednesday, May 15, USA Today story. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that, since 1950, an average of 12 tropical storms have developed in the Atlantic basin each season, with seven of them becoming hurricanes.

Eduardo Porter’s piece appeared in the Wednesday, May 15, print edition of The New York Times. Because the federal government assumes most flood risk in the U.S., and property/casualty insurers remained profitable in 2012 despite Sandy, the industry has been slow to focus on climate change issues, Porter believes.

The seven people killed nationally by tornadoes between May 2012 and April 2013 represents the lowest number in a 12-month period since five people died in the period September 1899–August 1900, according to Harold Brooks, research meteorologist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, who is cited in this Friday, May 10, USA Today article.

A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future was released on Tuesday, May 14, by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and generated articles such as this one in The New York Times. Baby boomers are retiring, and younger adults favor mass transit, the group’s report states.

The study was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reported in June 2013’s Pediatrics. USA Today filed a story on the report in its Monday, May 13, print edition.

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore taped a number of consumer-oriented radio segments on auto and homeowners insurance with Herb Weisbaum, who hosts a radio program on KOMO 1000 News in Seattle, Washington, and writes the Consumer Man column for NBC’s Today Show website. Salvatore also met with KOMO 4 news anchor Connie Thompson while in Seattle this week; the station is the ABC affiliate in that city….the I.I.I.’s Elianne Gonzalez taped numerous interviews for future broadcasts with NY1 Noticias, Time Warner Cable’s Spanish language news channel, on Friday, May 10. The stories focused on flood insurance, sewage back-up coverage, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and how to prepare for a hurricane.

 

The Fostering Resilience to Terrorism Act of 2013 was introduced last week by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi). If enacted, it would extend TRIA for 10 years effective January 2015, and make the Department of Homeland Security the lead agency when determining whether a covered act of terrorism had occurred.

 

The 2014 Subaru Forester and the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport were the only two small sports utility vehicles (SUV), out of the 13 tested, to qualify for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Top Safety Pick, after the IIHS put these SUVs through its challenging small overlap front crash test, according to a Thursday, May 16, IIHS news release.

 

Since the call concluded, the U.S. House’s Agriculture committee approved a farm bill which makes some changes to the federal crop insurance program, according to this Thursday, May 16, New York Times Caucus Blog item.

 

The Social Security Administration’s oversight of the U.S.’s Death Master File was analyzed by the Government Accountability Office, which released its findings on Thursday, May 8.

 

The fuel for potential wildfires in southern California emerged after four days of rainfall in late January, according to this Monday, May 13, Los Angeles Times article, which noted that NASA satellite photos indicate those rains prompted a substantial growth in the region’s vegetation soon thereafter.

 

About 30 homes in Lakeport, California, situated 100 miles north of San Francisco, are sinking and may have to be abandoned, according to this Saturday, May 11, Associated Press story.

 

The Tampa Bay Times reported on the state Legislature’s passage of SB 1770, which creates a clearinghouse to steer Citizens Property Insurance policyholders into the private insurance market while adding accountability measures for Citizens, the state-run property insurer, in this Saturday, May 4, end-of-session summary.

 

The House did not act on a Senate-approved bill (SB 1832) which would have rescinded an insurance industry tax break so the measure “died on calendar” when the 2013 legislative session concluded on Friday, May 3.

 

Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens is inviting the public to attend the 12^th annual Hurricane Preparedness Expo on Saturday, June 15. The purpose of this free event, to be held in Savannah, is to promote severe weather awareness, safety and hurricane preparedness. 

 

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack expressed concerns about the potential severity of the upcoming wildfire season in this Monday, May 13, joint news release. It was issued while both of them were on a two-day tour of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 

 

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), co-author of a 2012 law that Louisiana officials say is leading to significant hikes in federal flood insurance premiums, promised on Saturday, May 11, to work with her Congressional colleagues and the Obama administration to resolve the problem, according to this same-day story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

 

The Louisiana House Insurance Committee has rejected a bill that would require legislative review of annual rate increases of over 25 percent for wind and hail coverage by the state-created property insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, according to this Tuesday, May 14, Baton Rouge Advocate article.

 

The Baton Rouge Advocate has made inroads into the New Orleans newspaper market because of numerous Times-Picayune missteps, a New York Times media columnist stated, in a Monday, May 13, article.

 

The estates of those killed, and all of those injured, in the aftermath of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings will receive compensation from the monies pledged to The One Fund Boston, according to fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg, who made the announcement on Wednesday, May 15, the Washington Post reports.

 

The state’s Insurance Division is compiling a report detailing the number, type, and dollar amount of insurance claims filed after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, according to this Tuesday, May 14, article in Best Day News (subscription required).

 

Attorney general Bill Schuette announced on Friday, May 10, that his office had brought felony charges against two officials who allegedly stole $2.6 million over an 11-year period from an organization which provides administrative and customer service support to the Michigan Workers’ Compensation Placement Facility.

State Farm has formally asked a judge to vacate the jury verdict, or grant a new trial, in the Rigsby sisters’ case, the Associated Press reported, in this Thursday, May 9, article.

 

Marc Craw of the New York Insurance Association briefed the group on a Wednesday, May 8, meeting he attended at the state Department of Financial Services along with the I.I.I.’s Salvatore, the American Insurance Association’s Gary Henning, and Property Casualty Insurer Association of America’s Kristina Baldwin. The focus of the session was on the industry’s post-Sandy consumer education efforts.

 

The $30,000 in federal monies being offered to Sandy-impacted coastal homeowners who must elevate their residences to meet the new base elevation standards are finding the $30,000 will pay for only a small portion of the project, according to this Saturday, May 11, New York Times print edition article.

 

DeWitt Stern, an insurance broker, is selling policies to protect businesses if the February 2014 Super Bowl, to be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, is disrupted, according to this Tuesday, May 14, New York Daily News story.

 

The Charleston Post & Courier was one of the few media outlets to cover the state Department of Insurance’s Thursday, May 9, insurance information session in that city.

 

The Memphis City Council and the Shelby County of Commissioners want building code revisions aimed protecting structures from earthquakes, first approved in October 2012, to take effect on December 31, 2013, to “allow time for evaluation of modifications to these codes, in coordination with the state Fire Marshal’s office,” this Wednesday, May 15, resolution states.

 

National Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 19-25 and the coalition of organizations involved in this initiative distributed their individual press releases this week with 2012 statistics. The I.I.I.’s Wednesday, May 15, news release showed a decrease in the number of claims but an increase in the dollar amount for dog-bite related payouts in 2012. Insurance companies, pet-related groups and journalists are all sharing this information on Twitter and Facebook with the conversation expected to grow and continue into next week.

 

Another trending topic is hurricane season preparation, the primary emphasis being on consumer education around flood insurance. This has been a trending topic on Twitter for the past few weeks as insurance groups and agents try to inform homeowners about how to protect their assets from flood-caused damage.

CNN will launch New Day, its new early morning program, on Monday, June 17.

 

Time Magazine posted an op-ed from Mashable’s CEO Pete Cashmore on how younger adults see themselves not only as media consumers but also content creators.

 

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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