Potential impact of Oklahoma tornado on property insurance market
The tragedy in Moore, Oklahoma is the latest in a series of massive tornadoes that have ripped through the U.S. in the last two years, causing billions of dollars in losses. While property damage continues to be assessed, insurance companies initially believe this week’s storm caused at least $2 billion in insured losses, based on preliminary estimates from other big tornadoes and analysts at Morgan Stanley. Replacement value of property within a mile of where the tornado struck is around $6 billion, according to AIR Worldwide.
The trend is a major cause for concern among business and homeowners in hard-hit areas who may not be able to afford repairs due to changes in storm policy coverage. Consumer activists say that due to the increase in severe weather and storms, insurers have raised deductibles and reduced coverage amounts, along with other changes to Read more…
El Nino and La Nina – are you prepared for hurricane season?
Over the past decade there’s been a lot of debate over the topic of global warming and how much of an impact it may have on weather patterns, and how it may impact weather phenomena. Recently, Hurricane Sandy has been correlated to a hurricane on steroids by some, while other scientists and meteorological professionals have a slightly different view. Gerald North, climate professor at Texas A&M University states, “mostly it’s natural, I’d say it’s 80, 90 percent natural. These things do happen, like the drought, it’s a natural thing.” A lot of debate and a lot of questions remain when it comes to global warming. Over the years, as scientists are able to gather more data, hopefully more questions will be answered.
One thing scientists do have more certainty about is two atmospheric and oceanic phenomena called El Nino and La Nina. The former of the two is primarily associated to the warming of the water in the Read more…
New Medicare payment data offers pricing transparency for patients
Last week, CMS released hospital charges and the corresponding Medicare payments for the 100 most common diagnostic codes at more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide. This database has received quite a bit of press, but what does it really show us? In Massachusetts, we have 56 hospitals represented. Of these hospitals, it shows how many patients received the procedure, what the average price billed was to the government and what Medicare actually paid. For those of us not accessing Medicare coverage, it may seem like data just for the sake of data, but in fact it can be quite useful to anyone accessing care at these facilities.
While a hospital may not actually receive the amount they are charging and your private insurance may not pay the amount that Medicare pays, it gives everyone a ballpark of how different facilities Read more…
Social media use as a means to communicate with investors is on the rise at banks and financial firms: beware the risks
With the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules governing disclosure of social media use, an increasing number of companies are using sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with customers. Financial firms and banks are among those that are allowing employees to use social media sites on the job to post market updates and communicate with investors through tweets and status updates. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc, and Goldman Sachs are among those on Wall Street incorporating social media use into their corporate communication strategies, granting stock analysts and traders use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in order to follow market trends and release financial information.
Despite the A.P.’s Twitter hoax last month, (which caused a brief drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after a false report about a bomb at the White House), social media use continues to expand Read more…
Terrorism coverage and understanding TRIPRA
Two weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings, questions surrounding terrorism coverage have become a cause for concern for many businesses impacted by the tragedy. Some are confused over whether or not their policies offer protection from business interruption and property losses related to terrorist attacks. Although the event has yet to be determined as an official act of terror, it’s important for businesses to become familiar with the current version of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) (now known as the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, or TRIPRA, of 2007) as well as to review the specific language of their policies.
Following September 11, 2001, terrorism losses were widely excluded from business interruption policies in order to protect insurers from exorbitant costs in the event of future terrorist attacks. In response, U.S. Federal lawmakers passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 in order Read more…
Zip codes added to Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently ruled that retailers may now be sued if they record consumer zip codes during credit card transactions and use the information for business purposes. The decision stems from a recent case, Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc. in which the plaintiff claimed the retailer (Michael’s) used her zip code to find her address and telephone number and send her unsolicited marketing materials. The woman said she was told she needed to provide her zip code when making a credit card purchase at the store, when in fact it was not required by the credit card issuer. In the case’s final ruling, the Court asserted that zip codes are “personal identification information” subject to the restrictions of The Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law governing credit card and check transactions. Chapter 93, Section 105(a) of the law states Read more…
Expatriate health plans temporarily excused from PPACA requirements
On March 8th, 2013, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury issued a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) indicating a temporary delay for fully insured expatriate health plans to comply with most Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provisions. Self-funded plans must comply with all applicable PPACA provisions.
The guidance specifically notes the challenges Expat plans may have in complying with the need for independent review organizations (that may not exist abroad), as well as the difficulty of providing for certain required preventive services – or even identifying certain services as preventive – given the varied medical terminology and code sets used around the world. Additionally, in some countries Expat plans require in-country governmental regulatory approvals that may conflict with aspects of the rules Read more…
Welcome to WGA InsureBlog
WGA InsureBlog is powered by William Gallagher Associates, a leading provider of insurance brokerage, risk management and employee benefit services to companies with complex risks and dynamic needs.
