SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL September 14, 2011

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, September 21, please email Mike Barry at michaelb@iii.org.

 

Modeling firms such as Risk Management Solutions have raised their Irene-related insured loss estimates to as much as $5.5 billion, a figure that includes damage to U.S. states from North Carolina to Vermont, as well as the Caribbean, according to this Tuesday, September 13, Wall Street Journal article. Damage to properties on the verge of being sold prompted some prospective homeowners to delay closings so that they could make new inspections, another WSJ story explained.

 

The deadline for story ideas and submissions to the I.I.I. is Friday, September 30. They can be sent to either Diane Portantiere (dianep@iii.org) or Jeanne Salvatore (jeannes@iii.org), and we will try to incorporate them into the next issue of Impact, which will focus on the industry’s extraordinary efforts in response to the spring 2011 tornadoes and the late August 2011 hurricane that hit the Eastern Seaboard.

The I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters and the Insurance Research Council’s David Corum are among the sources quoted in this Monday, September 12, USA Today story.

 

The testimony delivered at the Wednesday, September 14, hearing of the subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment can be found at the subcommittee’s website.

We mentioned during the call that the story was in the works; it was posted on the Wall Street Journal website on Tuesday, September 20, as Dow Jones also owns Smart Money.

This was another story mentioned during the Wednesday, September 14, I.I.I. media call; it appeared in The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, September 17, and quotes the I.I.I.’s Salvatore.

Broad coverage is anticipated because the event, which is being coordinated by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, is being held at Oklahoma’s State Capitol Building.

Insurance adjusters are not yet allowed into the Bastrop area, where damage was most severe, according to this Tuesday, September 13, article, which appeared in the Houston Chronicle’s print edition.  The Texas wildfire-related claims payouts for 2011 have already exceeded the previous record of $115 million, which was set in 2009, the story reports. The I.I.I.’s Hartwig is quoted in the piece saying that the effect on the industry will be greater if wildfires and losses become more frequent in the near future. 

The sparsely attended public session on Tuesday, September 13, generated little media interest, with only about 15 people in the audience at Boulder County Courthouse, Colorado.  Insurance Commissioner Jim Riesberg, a former state legislator, was joined by two current legislators, State Representative Claire Levy, and State Senator Jeanne Nicholson. The Fourmile Canyon wildfires occurred in September 2010, and groups such as United Policyholders successfully generated media coverage earlier this month through releases such as this one.

Robin Westcott, the state’s insurance consumer advocate, outlines the group’s goals here.  Their first session was held on Thursday, September 15, in Tallahassee, and additional meetings are set for Monday, September 26, and Monday, October 10.

The sinkhole hikes were the result of the Florida Legislature’s approval earlier this year of Senate Bill 408, which, among other things, requires Citizens to charge actuarially sound rates to make it financially sound. The board’s action will keep the earlier rate hike approval, but allow the rates to be phased in. Even with the cap, Citizens policyholders in some sinkhole-prone areas will still see annual increases of more than $700. Citizens has 1.4 million policies in force and has become a major provider of the optional sinkhole coverage, collecting $32 million in sinkhole premiums last year but paying out nearly $250 million in claims, according to this Monday, September 12, St. Petersburg Times article.

Zink, who covered insurance periodically while focusing on state government, will be the airport’s new communications director.

The increasing amount of property damage from floods throughout the country in recent years has pushed the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) into the red, according to a Sunday, September 18, article in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Most affected homeowners and businesses do not have flood coverage, either because they underestimated the risk or mistakenly thought they were covered under their homeowners insurance policy. Federal officials say the NFIP, created in 1968 because private insurers had generally stopped offering flood coverage, likely will not be able to repay the billions of dollars it borrowed from the U.S. Treasury to pay Hurricane Katrina claims in 2005. At the end of August of this year, the NFIP was $17.75 billion in debt, the story notes.

 

This Monday, September 12, Birmingham News story explained that the commission was originally set up to address coastal area insurance problems but Governor Bentley expanded its focus to cover all of the state after the spring 2011 tornadoes spurred fears that insurance rates could increase and coverage choices decline in the northern parts of Alabama.

 

The Sacramento Bee was one of the first to report on the campaign filing made recently by Mercury’s chairman. Consumer Watchdog has already criticized the effort to bring back a measure comparable to the one which lost almost two years ago in a statewide vote. Proposition 17 would have changed the state’s law governing the way auto insurance premium rate discounts are calculated.

A gubernatorial news release from Tuesday, September 13, provided advice and information to residents of the state’s Southern Tier, which includes cities such as Binghamton, on what to do if they suffered property damage caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. “It is important for those who have suffered property damage as a result of the recent storm to file an insurance claim as quickly as possible,” Governor Cuomo said. “The very next thing people should do is apply for disaster assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). New Yorkers must look protect their financial futures and begin rebuilding, and state government is here to help in that process.”

The newly-created office will provide workers compensation insurance advice and assistance to employees and small businesses, according to this Wednesday, September 7, news release.

 

–Two I.I.I. items got widespread pick-up this week. The first was an I.I.I. news release from last week about how businesses need to be prepared for disasters with the proper insurance coverage and a disaster recovery plan. The second was a release from Tuesday, September 13, about lessons learned from Hurricane Irene. 

Both were popular topics on Twitter with references to the Hurricane Irene piece appearing in the feeds of many journalists and insurance agents.

 

–Trending insurance topics included a USA Today story about uninsured motorists, which had a significant impact on the blogosphere, with insurance-themed blogs carrying the story and talking about how higher unemployment means more drivers are going without coverage to save money. Other comments on blogs mentioned the fact that state penalties for driving while not having auto insurance are not that harsh so the motivation for people to be insured is low.

 

—Time magazine has calculated that about 150 million of the nation’s 308 million residents have been on, or are regular visitors to, Facebook.

 

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

 

For an I.I.I. Blog Search, click here.