Auto insurance premium rates rose 5.3 percent between April 2009 and April 2010:
The number came from the U.S. Department of Labor.
NOAA scientists considering the effects of a major storm hitting the expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is assessing how the oil spill caused by the Deepwater Horizon disaster could affect storm formation by limiting water evaporation in the Gulf of Mexico, and how hurricane-strength winds might move the spill, according to this Monday, May 17, New York Times ClimateWire article. Robert Twilley, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University, expressed concern to the NYT that a hurricane may bring oil and salt into interior parts of the U.S. which would not otherwise have been hurt by the spill.
Dow Jones Newswires examines potential long-term insurance repercussions of Deepwater Horizon explosion, sinking:
Erik Holm was doing some research to this effect early in the week of May 17-21, and it led to this Friday, May 21, article.
Mobile Press-Register assesses what constitutes a ‘legitimate claim’ against BP:
Alabama businesses and coastal homeowners are starting to ask that question, according to a Sunday, May 16, Press-Register blog item. The story highlights a point that the I.I.I. has made clear to the Florida media when the issue of business interruption coverage arises: there must be physical damage to the covered property before a policyholder can file a claim.
I.I.I.’s president addressing Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Florida on Wednesday, May 26:
Robert Hartwig’s presentation, Elephants in the Room: Big Problems in Florida’s Insurance Markets that Nobody Wants to Discuss, will be delivered at the Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL. The annual conference’s opening general session gets underway on Wednesday, May 26, at 1:30 p.m., and plans are in the works for Hartwig to speak with insurance reporters for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald who are covering the event.Chinese drywall manufacturer reaches settlement with Atlanta-based home builder:
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd.’s settlement with Atlanta-based national builder Beazer Homes was for $800,000, according to this Wednesday, May 19, Sarasota Herald-Tribune story. “Beazer has publicly acknowledged it built about 50 homes with Chinese drywall in Fort Myers and Tampa, and was investigating another 50 as of February [2010],” the article states.
Hail storm injures more than 20, causes property damage in Oklahoma:
Oklahoman highlights state law forbidding non-renewals or premium rate hikes based on the filing of a first claim:
Pegged to an interview with Oklahoma assistant insurance commissioner Marc Young, a front page business section story in the Tuesday, May 18, edition of The Oklahoman also offered an assessment of why Oklahomans pay the fifth-highest homeowners insurance premiums in the nation, according to 2007 data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Wall Street Journal assessing value of longevity insurance policies:
WSJ reporter Brett Arends (email: brett.arends@wsj.com) asked for I.I.I.’s input on ‘longevity insurance,’ asking whether the product is a good buy, for instance, for a 71-year-old woman. What are the odds that she will live to be 85, the year in which many of these policies start to pay out? Arends asked. The reporter has received the I.I.I. PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Steven Weisbart from mid-March 2010, which touches on longevity issues.Money Magazine prepping online video on banks offering customers ‘free’ life insurance coverage:
Donna Rosato (donna_rosato@moneymail.com) is preparing an online video piece for the magazine on banks that offer their customers ‘free’ life insurance, with benefits totaling $1,000 or more. Rosato spoke with I.I.I.’s Weisbart on background as she finalized the video’s script. Her line of questioning: is this offer too good to be true; and what do banks get out of it?Newseum readying exhibit on Hurricane Katrina’s fifth anniversary:
Rick Mastroianni (email: rmastroianni@freedomforum.org) told the I.I.I. that the Newseum in Washington, D.C., is conducting research on the aftermath of the nation’s largest natural disaster in advance of an exhibit they are developing for the Katrina anniversary in August 2010.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focusing on June 1 Wisconsin law mandating purchase of auto insurance liability policies:
Journal-Sentinel reporterPaul Gores (email: pgores@journalsentinel.com) spoke with Andrew Franken, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, and other industry figures for an article Gores is preparing on Wisconsin’s mandatory auto insurance purchase law, which takes effect on Tuesday, June 1.Dallas Morning News intrigued with I.I.I.’s presence on Texas police department’s Web site:
Dallas Morning News freelancer Kathleen Green spoke with I.I.I. about the I.I.I.’s home inventory application, Know Your Stuff, for an upcoming ‘Live Better Here’ column, which appears in the DMN on Mondays. Green became interested in the topic because the Richardson, TX police department touted the I.I.I.’s product on its Web site, and thought it was unusual that law enforcement was promoting hurricane preparedness and insurance coverage issues (email: dmngreen@sbcglobal.net).Indiana TV station exploring fate of the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP):
The I.I.I. connected Jodi Juhl (email: jjuhl@lakeshoreptv.com), news anchor for WYIN, a public television station, with Steve Duff, who works for the Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana, for a taped interview Juhl wants to conduct on the NFIP, and how some Indiana homeowners were unable to buy flood insurance policies when Congress allowed the program to lapse a few weeks ago. Juhl specifically sought an Indiana-based subject matter expert and we recruited Duff through our Indiana contacts.
Bloomberg Businessweek wrote a lengthy piece on the May 12 credit-based insurance scoring hearing in D.C.:
Congressman Luis Gutierrez’s (D-Illinois) skepticism about the validity of the link between a policyholder’s credit history and the likelihood of that same policyholder filing auto and home insurance claims was duly noted in this article by Margaret Collins.
Pennsylvania congressman with insurance industry oversight wins Democratic primary:
Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Pennsylvania), a 13-term incumbent, easily won a three-way Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 18, and faces a general election rematch in November 2010 with his 2008 opponent, Hazleton, PA, Mayor Lou Barletta. Rep. Kanjorski chairs the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.
Austin (TX) Business Journal prepping piece on the growth of Fiesta Auto Insurance, a TX-based brokerage that sells auto insurance and targets Mexican-American customers:
The catches: Fiesta insists on cash premium payments, and policyholders appear uncertain as to who their actual carrier is. The reporter on the story traditionally covers real estate and Fiesta has been expanding its branch network in the Austin, TX, area, explaining how the company got on the Business Journal’s radar. The story is being written by Mr. Francisco Vera-Orta (email: fvara-orta@bizjournals.com)..
Oakland Tribune endorses Poizner’s gubernatorial campaign:
The newspaper gave its support to Commissioner Poizner in the Republican primary contest, while holding off on who it favors in the general election, according to this Monday, May 17, editorial.
Whitman holds nine-point lead over Poizner as Republican primary election date nears, poll finds:
The Public Policy Institute of California found that Meg Whitman had 38 percent of the vote, and California insurance commissioner Steven Poizner 29 percent, according to this Sacramento Bee story on the Tuesday, June 8, California GOP gubernatorial primary race.
Mercury pouring more money into Proposition 17 campaign:
Mercury has invested upwards of $10 million to promote Proposition 17, mostly in the form of television advertisements statewide, according to this Sunday, May 16, Sacramento Bee story. The referendum comes before the voters on Tuesday, June 8, and is being opposed by, among others, the Los Angeles Times’editorial board, which outlined its concerns about the measure in this late April editorial.The Arizona State Workers Compensation Fund will convert into a mutual insurance company no later than January 2013:
Governor Jan Brewer signed the measure into law on Friday, May 7, and it got media attention outside of Business Insurance. The fund had 32 percent of the state’s workers’ comp market as of 2009, according to this story. The Arizona House vote in favor of privatization was 37-19, and the Senate tally in favor of the move was 26-1.
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper is stepping down from office on Wednesday, June 2:
His successor for now is acting commissioner Brett Barratt, who joined the Nevada insurance department in 2005 as counsel, the Insurance Journal reports.Mississippi’s governor vetoes bill that would have given the state wind-insurance pool an additional $20 million:
Some Mississippi state coastal lawmakers say the governor’s decision to veto House Bill 1642 will lead to higher property insurance rates in their districts over the next year or two. Governor Haley Barbour says that spending millions of dollars on the wind pool needs to stop and longer term fixes, such as stronger construction and retrofitting existing buildings, should be the focus. Mississippi state Representative Brandon Jones is quoted in a Saturday, May 15, Biloxi Sun Herald criticizing Barbour’s veto, saying the purchase of adequate wind pool reinsurance which would have been made possible by House Bill 1642 is crucial to stabilizing coastal primary insurance market. Insurance Commissioner Michael Chaney issued this news release on Friday, May 14 on the issue.
Phil Gusman named National Underwriter’s online news editor:
Gusman will succeed Dan Hays, who retired, effective Tuesday, June 8.Campbell Brown leaving CNN:
Brown acknowledged in her Tuesday, May 18, resignation letter (see the end of the blog posting) that she had trouble getting ratings against her Fox News Channel and MSNBC competition at 8 p.m., ET.
PBS’s Frontline to receive millions of dollars in new funding; will change program’s format:
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has pledged $6 million to finance Frontline, and the program is going to air three segments during every new 60-minute episode, as opposed to its previous focus on one story for the whole hour, according to a story in the Wednesday, May 19, edition of The New York Times.
