SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL May 9, 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 16, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org.

 

Chatzky, best known for her regular Today Show appearances, interviewed the I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore for a Cash Call segment on the five most common insurance mistakes people make. It aired on Tuesday, May 1, on RLTV, the only national cable network that provides “information and entertainment that helps you redefine Life after 50.”

On Monday, May 7, Nevada announced it was licensing a driverless car for use on public roads, the first state to do so. The news prompted AP TV’s Joseph Frederick to interview the I.I.I.’s Mike Barry on Thursday, May 10, about the insurance issues that could emerge as driverless cars become more common. The I.I.I. focused primarily on explaining how an auto insurance policy is priced currently. The story will become available to the AP’s subscribers during the week of May 14-18, Frederick told the I.I.I.  In addition, the I.I.I. developed talking points on the driverless car issue and Insure.com’s Ed Leefeldt has, since the media call, contacted the I.I.I. about the topic as well.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released estimates showing that, in 2011, traffic deaths fell to 32,310 nationwide, a 1.7 percent drop from 2010. The final data will be released in the fall of 2012, according to this Monday, May 7, USA Today story.

New York City-based Bloomberg reporter Elizabeth Ody has been corresponding with the I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters about typical D&O coverage limits, and whether former directors and officers can be covered under these policies. It is unclear whether a story will eventually run, or if Ody is pegging her piece to a specific event.

The National Flood Insurance Program: The Need for Long-Term Reauthorization and Reform was the title of a Wednesday, May 9, U.S. Senate Committee hearing.

The I.I.I. issued a same-day media advisory to help reporters explain Governor Rick Scott’s Friday, May 4, decision to sign into law a significant piece of no-fault fraud legislation.

 

The San Diego Union Tribune published on Sunday, May 6, a story citing a study that said if ex-football players start winning judgments, “insurance companies might cease to insure colleges and high schools against football-related lawsuits.”  The piece was pegged to the apparent suicide of 43-year-old Junior Seau, a former star player for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers.

 

Nearly a year after tornadoes swept through the state, Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate broadcast stories about the storm-related disputes which arose after May 2011. A Wednesday, May 2, segment examines policyholders who filed bad-faith lawsuits, and this Sunday, May 6, story focuses on vendors who tried to scam policyholders after the tornadoes damaged their home.

 

The Texas state Senate’s Business & Commerce committee is expected to convene in Austin on Tuesday, July 10, for a public hearing on the state of the homeowners insurance market.

 

The Fox affiliate in Albany broadcast on Tuesday evening, May 8, a segment on how the Republican-controlled state Senate wants the state Assembly, where Democrats are in the majority, to approve no-fault auto insurance fraud-fighting measures that have already passed in the state Senate.

 

The I.I.I.’s Salvatore  discussed the reasons an insurer might issue a non-renewal notice in this Buffalo CBS affiliate story on Monday, May 7. The story focused on a Wales, NY, man who was non-renewed by his insurer after filing two homeowners claims over the past three years.

 

Alabama’s House of Representatives joined the state’s Senate in passing four insurance bills, and Governor Robert Bentley is expected to sign them into law, the Mobile Press-Register reported, in this online article posted on Tuesday, May 8.  In addition, the Alabama Senate’s Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee approved a fraud-fighting bill that has already won approval in the House. 

Insurance Director John Huff gave a lengthy interview to KWOS, 950 news radio in Jefferson City, Missouri, on the ‘Lessons of Joplin.’ The segment aired on Thursday, May 3.

 

Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jacqueline K. Cunningham announced on Tuesday, May 8, that the State Corporation Commission has issued a directive lifting the three-plus year moratorium on cash withdrawals by Shenandoah Life policyholders. Shenandoah, after encountering financial trouble in 2009, was purchased by United Prosperity Life Insurance Company.

The Minnesota workers compensation claim rate fell to 4.9 per 100 employees in 2010, a significant drop from the 8.7 claims filed on average for the same number of employees in 1997, this Tuesday, May 8, St. Paul Pioneer Press article explained.

Thirteen new auto insurance companies have entered the state since it launched its “managed competition” initiative in 2008, according to this Monday, May 7, Boston Business Journal article.

 

Maryland lawmakers want all new homes to have sprinkler systems installed, according to this Friday, May 4, story. It aired on Washington, D.C.’s ABC affiliate.

May is National Bike Month and there has been chatter on Twitter from insurance agents about bicycle safety and insurance tips. The I.I.I.’s online article about bicycle safety and insurance is among the shared content.

 

Another noticeable trend this week is one the I.I.I. has seen periodically over the past few months: social media conversations about the increase in extreme weather and the impact this can have on insurance. Journalists and insurance organizations are sharing information about the increase in the number and severity of storms, especially in Midwestern states, and how home and business owners should have up-to-date policies to protect their assets. 

 

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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