SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL May 16, 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, May 23, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org.

 

The I.I.I.’s Salvatore delivered a presentation in Washington, D.C., on the insurance ramifications of driving while impaired on Tuesday, May 15, the first day of the NTSB’s two-day forum on the topic. Traffic deaths are dropping, the NTSB reports, but the “percentage of those killed involving a substance-impaired driver has remained unchanged for more than a decade,” according to this April 3, 2012, NTSB news release.

Fort Lee, New Jersey, is issuing $85 fines to those observed walking carelessly, and the Utah Transit Authority is issuing $50 fines for distracted walking near trains. Delaware is approaching the problem by placing approximately 100 large stickers urging pedestrians to “Look Up” on sidewalks near cross walks in Wilmington, Newark and Rehoboth Beach, according to a front-page article in the Wednesday, May 16, print edition of USA Today.

 

The I.I.I.’s Hartwig talked about the extensive exposure a carrier faces when underwriting this type of risk, and Cook County, Illinois’ plaintiff-friendly reputation, as part of a larger Chicago Tribune story from Saturday, May 12, on how the city of Chicago switched its insurance brokerage contract to USI Insurance Services from Aon Risk Solutions after Aon was only able to secure one carrier willing to insure local police against lawsuits, and at a price higher than the NATO Summit organizers were willing to pay. 

Lisa Gibbs, a Florida-based senior editor at Money Magazine, interviewed the I.I.I.’s Hartwig, Weisbart and Salvatore on Monday, May 14, during a visit to the I.I.I.’s New York City office. Gibbs is exploring the reasons homeowners insurance rates are rising in some parts of the U.S., and why some homeowners policy provisions may change (e.g., because of court rulings). The I.I.I.’s Weisbart gave a phone interview regarding these same matters to Patricia Esswein, a D.C.-based reporter for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, on Wednesday, May 16.

Reuters’ Beth Gladstone (beth.gladstone@reuters.com) is trying to quantify the percentage of Americans who today have their auto and homeowners insurance company with the same company, and how that number has changed over time.

A U.S. House committee conducted a public hearing on Wednesday, May 16, on the Dodd-Frank Law and Systemically Important Financial Institutions.

 

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is due to expire on Thursday, May 31, and the U.S. House of Representatives wants to push the expiration date back to the end of June 2012, according to this Tuesday, May 15, article in The Hill.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) would fall $1.75 billion short of the monies the FHCF needs in the event of a major 2012 hurricane, according to this Thursday, May 10, Associated Press article. The AP story was filed on the same day the FHCF’s Advisory Council convened.

 

Those residing in the Florida Keys, many of whom are Citizens Property Insurance Corporation policyholders, are unhappy with state lawmakers’ efforts to allow Citizens to raise their rates, an issue that came to the fore when Florida’s Cabinet met in Marathon, Florida, on Tuesday, May 8.

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that Louisiana’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has spent, or budgeted for, almost $1.6 million since 2005 to contest a class-action lawsuit over late claim adjustments Citizens made after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

 

Should Governor Robert Bentley sign into law several insurance bills the Alabama state Legislature passed in early May, the 2012 legislative session will likely be viewed as one of the most successful in years for insurance reform legislation, according to this front page story in the Monday, May 14, edition of The Mobile Press-Register.

 

Crown King, Arizona, residents were being urged on Tuesday, May 15, to evacuate their homes because of an unpredictable wildfire that was headed toward their community. Crown King is a two-hour drive north of Phoenix.

Earlier in May, Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Levitt denied the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s request to liquidate Penn Treaty Network American Insurance Company and its sister company, American Network Insurance Company. The state petitioned to place both long-term care insurers into rehabilitation in 2009. 

The federal National Earthquake Hazard Reduction program is financing a Utah earthquake forecasting project, according to a Salt Lake City Tribune story posted online on Thursday, May 10. Fourteen scientists are working on the effort. The group is trying to assess when, and where, major temblors may occur along the Wasatch Front, the article states.

Connecticut Representative James Albis (D-East Haven) will preside at a shoreline preservation task force public hearing on Wednesday, May 23, in Hartford. When the task force was formed in February 2012, the group said property insurance would be one of the issues on their agenda.

Since the call, the Detroit Free Press published on Sunday, May 20, its article on the cost of insuring electric motor vehicles, such as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf.

Homeowners will have up to five days to cancel a roofing contract they expect to be paid by insurance, if the insurer notifies the policyholder within that timeframe that part, or all, of their roof-related claim is not covered, according to a new law that goes into effect in Kentucky in mid-July, the Louisville Courier Journal reported, in this Tuesday, May 15, story. 

 

The I.I.I.’s Thursday, May 10, news release about the cost of term-life insurance is enjoying some renewed interest this week with insurance bloggers posting it, and a mix of insurance agents and financial experts sharing the story on Twitter. Most are highlighting the message about how the benefits of having a policy far outweigh the cost of buying it. 

 

Another trend this week in social media is an uptick in insurance companies talking about the approach of hurricane season with an emphasis on homeowners updating their policies and having plans to prepare their homes and businesses in case a storm were to hit. 

 

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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