Centers for Better Insurance
CBI makes available unbiased analysis and insights concerning key public policy and regulatory issues facing the insurance industry.
issues
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company’s Resources to Pay Hurricane Ida Claims
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company is the state’s residual market providing property insurance to homeowners and businesses that have been unable to procure insurance in the private market. Louisiana Citizens came out of the 2005 hurricane season n…
CBI Files Comments on Washington State’s Captive Insurance Registration Program
In the United States, insurance is largely regulated at the state level. In most cases, property and casualty insurance is provided by “admitted insurers” which are insurance companies licensed to do business in the state in which the policyholder resides or …
11th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of COVID-19 Business Interruption Claim
During the Spring of 2020, the Governor of Georgia ordered residents and visitors to “shelter in place” where they lived. People could leave their homes to attend to essential services, including necessary medical care. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) i…
Centers for Better Insurance - Issue #58
Executive SummaryCalifornia’s Commissioner of Insurance convened a Working Group to explore the role innovative insurance solutions may be able to play in helping communities and families manage the risk of climate change. One of the Working Group’s recommend…
The Regulatory Environment for Parametric Insurance
Parametric insurance proposals have emerged as potential solutions for managing a growing list of cutting-edge risks including pandemic, climate change, and even urban crime. For example, Chubb has proposed a $750 billion Pandemic Business Interruption Progra…
Pricing the Pandemic Risk in Workers Compensation Insurance
Each year NCCI revises its jurisdiction-specific loss cost filings by incorporating claims data from the last experience period. In plain-speak, NCCI updates the amount of expected claim payouts for the next year based on updated claims loss data from prior y…
U.S. Treasury Okay with $0 Terrorism Premium Disclosures (For Now)
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act requires participating insurers to provide “clear and conspicuous disclosure to the policyholder of the premium charged for insured losses covered by the Program.”[1] An insurer that fails to disclose the terrorism premium cha…
Insights from Latest TRIA Regulations
On June 9, U.S. Treasury released updated regulations reflecting the extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program through 2027. While many of the changes are straight-forward, Treasury’s reactions to public comments offer a few valuable insights.Economic…
First Decision from a Federal Appellate Court Favors Insurers
Earlier today the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit released the first federal appellate decision considering a business interruption claim arising out of COVID-19.In this case, the policyholder is an oral surgery practice with four offices i…
Framework for Evaluating the Role of Insurance in Managing Risk of Future Pandemics
Howard Kunreuther (Wharton Risk Management Decision Process Center) and I just released this issue brief providing stakeholders with a practical framework to define a meaningful role for insurance with respect to business interruption and other risks from fut…
U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Program: Small Insurers at Particular Risk
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act requires the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) to conduct a study of the program’s impact on small insurers. We have suggested FIO focus its upcoming report on two heighten program risks facing small insurers:Compliance with the …
CBI Warns FinCEN of Captive Insurer Loophole in Corporate Transparency Act
According to FinCEN, “U.S. government reports have consistently identified the ability to operate through legal entities without ready identification of their beneficial owners as a key illicit finance risk for the U.S. financial system.” Earlier this year, C…
TRIA / PRIA Eligible Insurers include Subsidiaries of a Sanctioned “Communist Chinese Military Company”
Every insurance company licensed by a state department of insurance to sell commercial property and casualty insurance is required to participate in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Under this $100 billion program, U.S. Treasury reimburses 80% of a pa…
How to develop a financial vaccine against future pandemics
In this article posted today on Insider Engage, I put last year's proposals for a pandemic risk insurance program into perspective and frame up the three questions Congress and the insurance industry must ask as they work to build a successful program in 2021:
An Anguillan Captive may Define the Future of the U.S. Insurance Industry
This case starts far from any sun-soaked beaches in Osburn, a town with fewer than 2000 residents nestled in the mountains of northern Idaho. There, Peak Mechanical & Components, Inc. and its employees (numbering in the mid-teens) manufacture “the best qu…
Pandemic Proposals Test the Boundaries of “Insurance”
Over the last year movie theaters have been forced to close, restaurants have reconfigured from dine-in to delivery operations, and other businesses have simply seen sales fall off a cliff as foot traffic disappeared. While revenue collapsed, payroll, rent an…
Secrecy Laws Leave Insurance Consumers Exposed
FIO is currently considering whether to create transparency over captive insurance arrangements for the benefit of:Itself as the administrator of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program;Congress as the overseer of this $100 billion program; andThe public as the …
News Organizations Should Donate PPP Legal Fee Award
Yesterday federal Judge James Boasberg awarded a number of news organizations $122,347.02 in legal fees and costs as a result of their successful effort to force the Small Business Administration (SBA) to publicly release “both dollar figures and borrower nam…
An Open Letter to the New York Times
Last year, The New York Times proudly and passionately led the fight to compel U.S. Treasury to release detailed records on the nearly 5 million small businesses participating in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Thanks to The Times’ commitment of its mo…
Three Reasons the Nashville Bombing will Not be Certified under TRIA
An Overview of the AttackAt 6:30 am on December 25, 2020, police reported an intentional explosion of a recreational vehicle outside 166 2nd Avenue North in downtown Nashville. Within days, state and federal investigators identified a 63-year-old Tennessee re…