A state senator in Texas is taking the insurance industry to task for what he perceives as its disinterest in coming up with new approaches to solving coastal windstorm insurance issues.
In a Senate committee meeting on March 12, Sen. John Carona, a Republican from Dallas, scolded property/casualty insurance industry representatives saying,
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All Risks, Ltd.’s National Specialty Programs unit has introduced an ice rink insurance program, called RinkPro. This nationwide insurance program is supported by a program manager and a carrier rated
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While Superstorm Sandy did highly visible damage to homes, boardwalks and roads, it also walloped the Northeastern fishing industry, whose workers are hoping for a small piece of any future disaster assistance that Congress might approve.
The storm did millions of dollars’ worth of damage to docks, fish processing plants and restaurants. But it also caused millions more in lost wages to boat employees who couldn’t work for two to three weeks, to truck drivers who had nothing to transport, and to other assorted industries that service commercial fishing.
The $9.7 billion measure to fund the National Flood Insurance program, passed by Congress last Friday, did not include anything for the fishing industry; a bill the Senate passed in December would have allocated $150 million for that purpose.
Some of the worst damage to fisheries in the region occurred at the Belford Seafood Cooperative on the Raritan Bay shoreline in Middletown, N.J., where the pounding waves destroyed a 75-foot-long dock, gutted a popular restaurant, and ripped away all five garage doors and parts of the exterior of office and storage buildings. The co-op’s manager, Joe Branin, estimates the damage at close to $1 million.
“We went three weeks before we were able to pack a fish,” said Branin, whose business was still without electricity in mid-December. “We lost almost all our equipment. It was three weeks before anybody could do anything.”
The restaurant, where diners could eat scallops and fillets literally right off the boat, had provided $5,000 to $8,000 a week in revenue that is now gone.
The co-op supported 50 families who either work directly for it or in supporting roles. Many of those workers simply did without a paycheck for weeks afterward. The situation was the same at New Jersey’s Viking Village port on Long Beach Island’s Barnegat Light, where boats were idled after the storm.
“We couldn’t get to work for two weeks because the infrastructure was all torn up here,” said Bob Brewster, who owns three of the port’s 45 fishing boats and estimates he lost between $10,000 and $20,000 in lost catch. “We were just twiddling our thumbs, waiting to get back out on the water. Everybody wants to make a living, and for a while, we couldn’t.”
In Hampton Bays, N.Y., Doug Oakland estimated two marinas he owns suffered between $800,000 and $1 million in damage. He estimates about a dozen other marinas in the eastern Long Island community were similarly affected.
“The marinas got beat up pretty hard. There’s a 75-foot section of our pier that’s just gone,” he said.
“There was about three to four weeks right after the storm where all the fish kind of disappeared,” he said. “The first two weeks, fishermen couldn’t even get out because a lot of their gear was buried in sand. With the gas shortage, there were no fuel trucks, and there really was no market to sell the fish to because nobody had power. There was no sense in even trying to catch them.”
Though most of the individual boats up and down the East Coast escaped damage, they were forced to stay at the dock because of a combination of problems.
That included damage to their home ports; torn-up roads that forced street closures and kept workers, truck drivers, and customers from reaching the docks; the disruption to normal fishing patterns after the storm that saw many profitable species chased away until the following year; and even difficulty in getting in and out of ports because of new sand bars.
A strong nor’easter a week after Sandy just made things worse.
“We couldn’t get trucks to transport the product,” said Dwight Kooyman, who manages two of Viking Village’s scallop boats. “I have five guys that work for me that couldn’t work that entire time. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid.”
They’re all waiting to see whether Congress includes them in the billions of dollars in storm reconstruction aid it is considering. Less than three weeks after the Oct. 29 storm, the U.S. Commerce Department declared a fishery resource disaster for New Jersey and New York. But all that did was authorize the federal government to disburse any aid that Congress approves. Specific plans for applying for and distributing any aid to fishermen still have to be formulated.
Dale Parsons is a fifth-generation fisherman at the Jersey shore, who owns a shellfish business in Tuckerton, and who used to own a commercial hatchery for tiny clams and oysters on the edge of Barnegat Bay — until Sandy destroyed it, causing several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of losses.
“It was millions of oysters and clams that won’t be spawned next year,” he said. “Even if we rebuild right now, it will take a good year, year and a half to get it together. It’s going to take a long time coming.”
The damage to seafood processors and docks is only part of the industry’s problems, Parsons said; he also fears reduced business from restaurants who see fewer tourists this summer and order less seafood.
“I’m just waiting to see what kind of business there’s going to be in the spring,” he said. “No one knows yet.”
Sandy also affected recreational fishing businesses, including coastal bait and tackle shops that were flooded. New Jersey officials are soliciting damage reports from individual businesses to help make the case that they need direct federal grants, not just loans. The state’s recreational fishing industry estimates it lost $160 million from the storm.
Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said charter fishing boats suffered greatly because people were just not taking fishing trips in the weeks following the storm.
“The trains weren’t running, there was no gas to get out to the docks, so I’d say they lost substantial income,” she said.
In some places, Sandy actually appears to have helped, rather than hurt, the fishing industry. Maryland environmental officials say an influx of fresh water into the Chesapeake Bay may benefit the oyster population by helping to keep the disease known as dermo in check.
Gibby Dean, president of the Chesapeake Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Association, said the oyster harvest is the best it’s been in a long time — so good that people are giving up crabbing to go after oysters.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: East NewsTopics: Sandy, Sandy loss for fishing industry, Sandy storm loss, Superstorm SandyHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Dallas-based Hotchkiss Insurance Programs LLC announced a $273,731 dividend to the Texas Green Industry Workers’ Compensation Safety Group (TGI), bringing total dividends paid to the group to $3,246,032. The group’s total premium volume and loss ratio are factors in determining its dividend.
The TGI Safety Group, formed in February 2004 exclusively for landscapers, nursery growers and other green industry businesses in Texas, provides workers’ compensation coverage that provides an automatic 10.9 percent premium discount to every policyholder.
The announcement marks the eighth dividend paid to the group’s policyholders by Texas Mutual Insurance Co., the program underwriter.
The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) allows employers in similar industries to reduce their workers’ comp premiums by purchasing their coverage as a group. The TGI Safety Group is a TDI-approved safety group that is open to most growers, landscape contractors, retail nursery, irrigation contractors and other green industry businesses.
Any licensed Texas insurance agent may submit a qualifying client for consideration in the group. Past dividends are not a guarantee of future dividends, and TDI must approve all dividends.
Source: Hotchkiss Insurance Programs LLC
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National interest in locally grown food and grass-fed beef are catching on in Hawaii, offering ranchers an opportunity to sell cattle in the islands and send fewer of them to states like California and Kansas.
But crushing drought is making it difficult for Hawaii’s ranchers to keep enough cattle here to capitalize on the demand.
Rancher and veterinarian Dr. Tim Richards has been trying for six years to raise more cattle on his family’s century-old ranch.
He holds back some calves he previously would have sent to Oregon, Texas or elsewhere for final feeding, or “finishing.” But eight years of below-normal rainfall have left little grass for the cattle to eat.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: West NewsTopics: agriculture, drought, HawaiiHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, has formed a new division, EPIC Motorsports. Operated by EPIC’s own collectors and racers, this division provides customers with insurance assistance for collector cars, racing, and associated industry vendors.
The initial concept for EPIC Motorsports came from the Historic Motor Sports Association’s (HMSA) President, Cris Vandagriff and David Alvarado, a commercial insurance broker with EPIC. A vintage racer and fellow auto enthusiast, Alvarado discussed the specific insurance needs of the motorsports industry with Vandagriff, and the shortage of necessary insurance products.
This conversation prompted Alvarado to develop HMSA Insurance Services and ultimately EPIC Motorsports. With this addition, EPIC, which specializes in insuring high net-worth customers, now offers coverage for the true stated value of a vintage vehicle along with other specific and manuscript coverages for collector and race cars.
EPIC Motorsports will provide auto collectors and vintage comprehensive insurance through the HMSA program. Offerings such as earthquake coverage, no mileage restrictions, “on track” protection, and higher policy limits are available.
In addition to collector and race car coverage, the HMSA program extends insurance to homes, regular use vehicles, art, jewelry, and personal umbrella/excess liability coverage.
Alvarado’s team includes Stan Sanchez and Beth Ward. Sanchez has spent six years focused on creating insurance products for luxury car collections as well as collecting and restoring cars himself.
Beth Ward brings twenty years of insurance experience and knowledge on the subject of all motorsports.
EPIC is an California-based retail property & casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm with eight offices across California (Los Angeles, Irvine, Fresno, Folsom, San Francisco, San Mateo, Petaluma and San Ramon).
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Torus has expanded its medical expense liability and medical professional liability coverage to the rapidly-growing reproductive medicine industry, which assists with reproduction via in-vitro fertilization and other technologies. The Torus product lines are available for medical providers who are board certified to provide IVF procedures to egg donors and or implantation recipients. Medical expense liability (MEL) iinsures the medical expenses arising out of medical complications. The insurance can be offered to respond to donors as well as implantation recipients.
The policy includes a service component to direct patients to a network of providers in the case of a catastrophic complication. Fertility clinics and hospital units are eligible insureds for the product. The MEL minimum retention is zero, with a MEL maximum limit of $250,000. The MEL minimum premium is $10,000. Coverage terms will be offered through limited distribution points.
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The chemical industry needs guidance in choosing alternative processing methods to reduce or eliminate hazards, a national panel said in a report.
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require chemical companies to follow certain procedures to ensure manufacturing processes are safe. But the report by the National Research Council said the industry lacks common practice protocols and understanding to identify safer processes.
It recommends that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board or other entity develop a plan to help chemical plant managers choose alternative processes to reduce or eliminate hazards.
One method, known as an “inherently safer process” assessment, aims to minimize or eliminate a hazard. But the assessment does not always provide clear guidance. The report said switching to a non-flammable solvent in a process would remove a fire hazard. But if the solvent is toxic, a new hazard is created.
Use of inherently safer process strategies would reduce the number of vulnerable areas around a company’s facilities, which would decrease the scope of emergency preparedness programs. But it potentially could narrow the focus too much and overlook certain outcomes, the report said.
Congress ordered the study following a 2008 explosion at BayerCropscience’s plant in Institute that killed two workers. The explosion occurred near a storage tank containing methyl isocyanate, a highly toxic chemical also known as MIC. The tank was not damaged and the chemical wasn’t released.
Bayer took measures to reduce risks associated with MIC manufacturing and storage at the Institute plant. But the company did not incorporate all possible methods to control hazards, the report said.
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Although insurance rates have been drifting upward in recent months, the property/casualty industry is unlikely to see a return to the traditional hard market this year or next, an insurance expert told reinsurance actuaries at the Casualty Actuarial Society’s Seminar on Reinsurance.
Robert Hartwig, president and economist of the Insurance Information Institute, noted that four criteria have to be present for a truly hard market, one in which rates climb sharply
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Republican candidates for governor said on April 19 at a forum that they would back key insurance industry legislation if elected, and largely held similar positions with each other on a variety of issues.
Most of the GOP candidates attended the event hosted by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
The candidates were largely supportive of industry legislation, such as the long-debated proposal to let insurance companies consider gender when evaluating risk. Attempts to repeal the state’s unique
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The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) is planning to expand its volunteer and charitable services to the Boston and New England region. The foundation will hold an informational meeting in Boston this month to introduce IICF to the local insurance community and discuss charitable opportunities in Boston and surrounding areas.
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By Arthur D. Postal PropertyCasualty360.com
May 14, 2012 • Reprints
NU Online News Service, May 14, 12:21 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON—The medical liability insurance industry has rebounded, and is reducing the intense peaks and valleys that it formerly endured, according to Brian K. Atchinson, the new president and chief executive officer of the Physician Insurers Association of America.
“The industry has stabilized significantly,” Atchinson said during last week’s annual meeting of the PIAA’s Medical Liability conference, which is being held this year in Washington, D.C.
Atchinson attributes the new industry stability to a variety of factors, including state efforts to rein in out-of-control settlements of medical malpractice claims; increased emphasis by physicians and hospitals on patient safety; and strong loss-prevention activities by medical liability insurers.
“Formerly the medical liability industry was prone to peaks and valleys,” Atchinson said, “periods of time when claims soared.”
But, he said, for a variety of reasons there has been more stability over the past 35 years as insurers, practitioners and states have taken actions designed to reduce claims and the cost of reaching settlements.
Medical liability insurers began to focus on quality healthcare and patient safety at that time because coverage was becoming unavailable or because costs were becoming so high that the community marketplace was being priced out of the market.
An example he cited was the unwillingness of obstetricians to open practices in rural areas as a major reason states began moving to curb the soaring costs of medical liability coverage.
The fact that PIAA represents about 60 to 70 percent of the practicing physicians in the United States, as well as many community hospitals, has allowed its members to be ahead of this trend, he said.
Its members are mutual insurers or self-retention groups focused on reducing claims and their own costs, he noted.
The fact that physicians and hospital managers are members of boards of PIAA affiliates is important, Atchinson said, “…because these people are focused on patient safety and delivering healthcare, not on the bottom line.”
The fact that states are focused on containing healthcare costs through caps and limits on non-economic damages is also important, he noted. More than 30 states have acted to impose tort reform, led by California.
Another reason for this rebound he cited was government efforts to improve healthcare research and quality.
He said that the federal Department of Health and Human Services has established a specific group, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), has been a factor.
He also said that AHRQ has provided demonstration grants of $2 and $3 million to hospitals throughout the country aimed at medical liability reform and patient safety.
California has been a leader in medical malpractice reform, enacting a bill in 1977. Community hospitals, practitioners, and even unions and other forms of cooperatives are uniting to ensure the reforms are not eroded in California out of concern that otherwise quality medical care will become too costly, Atchinson said.
He cited the recent disclosure by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones that medical liability rates to providers have been reduced by $23 million annually.
The rate reductions followed a request last year by Jones, soon after he took office, to require medical malpractice insurers to submit rate filings to the Department of Insurance to justify their current rates. After review of those filings, Commissioner Jones called for rate reductions.
Jones said that, as a result of his rejection of excessive rates, five of the companies’ medical malpractice rates have been lowered substantially.
One change in the physician and practitioner’s practice that is helping to lower rates is when dealing with a bad medical result the medical professional will initiate contact with the families facing such a crisis immediately.
This has reduced the instances of lawsuits, Atchinson said. “In many cases, that is all a family dealing with a bad medical result is looking for.”
The result has been money refunds to hospitals and practitioners as insurers find they now have excess reserves.
Another factor in lower rates is providers are now focusing on emerging trends. For example, Atchinson said, providers recently found a number of bad results in bariatric or weight-loss surgery. As a result, providers quickly instituted procedures that improved patient safety, resulting in reduced claims, he said.
“As a result
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Eight out of 160 years of history may not seem like a big deal but for Hanover Insurance Group, founded in 1852, the last eight years have seen a series of big deals.
Eight years ago in 2004, the $2.4 billion heavily personal lines super-regional insurer was trying to regain momentum after a big venture into life insurance and annuities by its parent company at the time, Allmerica Financial, went sour.
Today, the Worcester, Mass.-based company has $4 billion in revenues, writes only property/casualty, conducts business on a nationwide basis, underwrites a balanced book of personal, commercial and specialty lines business, and is one of the country’s fastest-growing P/C insurers.
In recent years, the company has been expanding its footprint, diversifying its products, partnering with select independent agents, adding international and excess/surplus capabilities, and earning strong ratings
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An industry association is holding an online political summit to bring brokers and agents up to speed on political activities and new laws, along with lessons on lobbying, on Friday.
IBA West is hosting a
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