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, October 28, please email Michael Barry at michaelb@iii.org.
Credit-based insurance scoring raises insurance costs for some in northern Texas, Dallas Morning News (DMN) story contends:
The paper’s analysis indicates drivers and homeowners in the northern part of the state with poor credit ratings pay on average at least 35 percent more for insurance than people with good credit, even when other factors, such as driving records and recent damage claims on homes, are the same, according to a front page story in the DMN’s Sunday, October 18, edition. The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig and the Southwestern Insurance Information Service’s (SIIS) Jerry Johns co-authored this response, which was published in the DMN’s Wednesday, October 21, hard-copy paper. It is worth noting the online reader responses to the I.I.I.-SIIS letter on the DMN’s Web site. The paper’s editorial board supported its reporters’ premise about credit-based insurance scoring when writing this Friday, October 23, editorial.
U.S. House committee approves measure to limit health and medical malpractice insurers’ exemption from federal antitrust laws:
Since the call, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee approved by a 20-9 vote a measure to limit the health and medical malpractice insurers’ exemption from federal antitrust laws and give the U.S. Justice Department enforcement powers to address problems concerning price fixing and market allocation. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s legislation on the same issue would go even further than the U.S. House bill. It would repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which provided the insurance industry with the limited exemption from federal antitrust laws from which it has benefited since 1945, according to a Wednesday, October 21, New York Times blog post.
I.I.I. offers information on McCarran-Ferguson Act; AIA says no changes to the act are warranted:
A quick primer on McCarran-Ferguson is on the I.I.I.’s home page. The I.I.I.’s Claire Wilkinson offered analysis on the current D.C. debate about the future of the act on Wednesday, October 21, in her blog. The American Insurance Association (AIA) issued a press release on Wednesday, October 14, stating no changes to the act are warranted. The AIA’s statement is here.
Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) appoints new media relations manager:
Ed Domansky, an insurance industry media relations veteran who was most recently director of communications for Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), joined IBHS this month as its new media relations manager. Based in Tampa, Florida, Domansky’s office phone number is 813-442-2845, and his email address is edomansky@ibhs.org.
Consumer Reports eyes fire threat posed by chimneys while This Old House readies piece on basics of homeowners insurance:
Consumer Reports’ Yonkers, NY-based Kimberly Janeway (Phone: 914-378-2628, email: janeki@consumer.org) is writing about how to secure the services of a reputable chimney sweep company but is having trouble finding data for 2007-present showing the number of U.S. fires and dollar amount of property damage caused by chimney fires. Meanwhile, This Old House’s NYC-based Deborah Baldwin (Phone: 212-522-3586, email: deborah_baldwin@timeinc.com) may welcome hearing from insurers who specialize in covering older homes for a Homeowners 101 piece she’s writing. Baldwin has already interviewed the I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore.
I.I.I. tapes consumer-oriented insurance segments for Telemundo, Univision:
The I.I.I.’s Spanish-language media consultant, Elianne Gonzalez (email: elianneg@iii.org), taped interviews this week with Telemundo’s Levantate (Wake Up!) as well as the a Tu Lado (On Your Side) team at Univision 41. One of the topics discussed was teenagers and distracted driving, and that story is going to air on Sunday, November 1, at 11 p.m., ET on Telemundo’s Channel 47 in New York City.
AP offers preview of P/C industry’s 3rd quarter, 2009 financial performance:
A recovering stock market and a hurricane season without any major storms so far are boosting the likelihood that property/casualty (P/C) insurance companies will post third-quarter earnings that compare favorably with those of the same period last year, according to a Tuesday, October 20, Associated Press wire story. The I.I.I.’s Hartwig is quoted, and I.I.I. statistics are cited.
Low-tech disaster prevention given more emphasis in Philippines, and on Indonesian island off Sumatra’s coast:
Disaster-prevention experts overseas have begun placing more emphasis on indigenous warning systems rather than focusing on high-tech instruments and computer modeling to prevent massive casualties from typhoons, hurricanes and other natural disasters, according to a Wednesday, October 21, Wall Street Journal article (subscription required).
Myrtle Beach Sun News assesses South Carolina homeowners insurance market after quiet hurricane season:
The relative calm has not affected the cost of homeowners insurance because premiums are based on long-term averages and risks, according to most of the experts quoted in a Monday, October 19, Sun News story. I.I.I. has heard that the Charleston Post-Courier is preparing a story on homeowners insurance, pegged to one insurer’s rate increases in South Carolina.
University of Florida, CNN focusing on repercussions of defective Chinese drywall:
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) is the luncheon speaker on Friday, November 6, at a University of Florida-sponsored corrosive drywall symposium. The agenda for the two-day event (November 5-6), to be held at the Mainsail Suites and Conference Center in Tampa, Florida, is here. On the same subject, the I.I.I. prepared a fact sheet for media and the general public. The I.I.I. sent this document to CNN’s Miami-based senior producer, Rich Phillips (Phone: 954-635-6860, email: rich.phillips@turner.com), who is tracking the issue closely. Phillips indicated to the I.I.I. that CNN will cover the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s upcoming report on Chinese drywall.
USA Today front-page story says U.S. auto theft rate is at 20-year low:
The number of vehicles reported stolen in the U.S. each year continues to decline due to new antitheft technologies and police efforts to uncover organized auto theft, even though the number of vehicles on the road has doubled over the last 20 years, according to a Monday, October 18, USA Today analysis. According to the FBI, 956,846 vehicles were stolen nationwide in 2008, or 315 for every 100,000 people. This represents a dramatic drop from the 1.66 million vehicles stolen in 1991, a figure equal to 659 for every 100,000 people.
U.S. highway fatality rate is lowest since the federal government began tracking the issue in the mid-1970s:
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2009. “By comparison, the deaths-over-miles-traveled ratio was 1.46 for all of 2005—a year in which 43,510 people died on the roads. If current trends continue, it is possible that fewer than 35,000 people will die on U.S. highways this year,” the Wall Street Journal’s Joseph B. White writes, in this Wednesday, October 21, column (subscription required).
Citizens, Florida’s property insurer of last resort, seeking first rate hikes in years:
A three-year rate freeze for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation policyholders is coming to an end in 2010 as state insurance regulators have begun examining proposed Citizens rate hikes. This was made possible by a new law allowing Citizens to raise rates up to 10 percent a year, according to a Wednesday, October 21, article in the Daytona Beach News Journal. Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) will hold another hearing on Tuesday, November 10, focusing on planned rate hikes for Citizens’ wind-only policies.
Louisiana court case alleging insurers overbilled National Flood Insurance Program after Katrina enters new phase:
The subpoenaing of claim filings may be the next step in a case that began in 2006 and which pits a group of insurance adjusters against some of the state’s property insurers, according to a Tuesday, October 20, New Orleans Times-Picayune article.
Alabama legislative panel ready to offer recommendations on coastal property insurance issues:
Alabama’s House and Banking Committee will soon receive a letter from a group of fellow state lawmakers on how the committee should proceed on property insurance availability and affordability issues, according to a Wednesday, October 21, Mobile Press-Register story. The proposals on the table would keep insurers from requiring policyholders to pay deductibles for damage from certain wind storms, allow more insurers to write policies in Alabama, implement a policyholders’ bill of rights to explain insurance rules and coverages, and create tax friendly savings accounts to help coastal area residents pay for hurricane damage.
Launch nears for Mississippi’s Hurricane Wind Damage Mitigation Program:
Mississippi’s Insurance Department and AIR Worldwide are said to be finalizing a cost/benefit study which “will be used to develop a grant program for homeowners to implement the recommended measures to protect their homes.” The department’s contract with AIR was announced in April 2009.
Washington insurance commissioner asks commercial flood insurers to refrain from invoking exclusion:
In a Thursday, October 15, letter to about 200 commercial flood insurance carriers in Washington, Insurance Commissioner Michael Kriedler requests that insurers refrain from invoking an exclusion regarding losses arising out of “governmental actions,” even though the letter specifically references flooding which may be caused by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project at Howard Hanson Dam. The Washington Insurance Department issued a press release on the issue on Monday, October 19.
New York Times says it will reduce the size of its newsroom 8 percent by year-end 2009:
The percentage equals about 100 positions, and the NYT is trying to avert layoffs by first offering voluntary buyout packages, according to a Tuesday, October 20, New York Times story.
John Stossel debuted this week on Fox:
Stossel’s first day on the air at Fox News Channel was Monday, October 19, TVNewser reports.
New book looks at 1910 wildfire, one of the largest in U.S. history:
Timothy Egan’s just-published Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) revisits an August 1910 wildfire that moved through drought-stricken national forests in Idaho, Washington, and Montana. The Wall Street Journal published a generally favorable review in its Wednesday, October 21, edition (subscription required). The Seattle Times had a story on the book on Sunday, October 18.
Real Simple, Consumer Reports Money Advisor have insurance stories in the works:
Freelance reporter Alex Kay (Phone: 914-552-5164, email: kayalexandra@gmail.com) is writing both stories. She has spoken with the I.I.I.’s Salvatore about saving money on homeowners insurance for her Real Simple story, and with the I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart for insights into what consumers need to know when shopping for a life insurance policy.
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