‘Are you immune?’ The new class system that could shape the COVID-19 world In the absence of a vaccine, immunity is emerging as a potential key to resuming normal life after the pandemic – leading some to believe that testing positive may not be such a bad thing. Providing they survive, they will at least - they hope - be immune. But as states and countries slowly reopen businesses to the public, how important will it be? Read more... 'Something isn’t right’: U.S. probes soaring beef prices Supermarket customers are paying more for beef than they have in decades during the coronavirus pandemic. But at the same time, the companies that process the meat for sale are paying farmers and ranchers staggeringly low prices for cattle. Read more... Business Interruption Claimants Like How Some Localities Worded Emergency Orders Cities and counties across the country may have handed plaintiff’s attorneys an argument to use in lawsuits against insurers that seek business-interruption coverage for losses caused by coronavirus closure orders. Read more... Requiring Insurers To Cover Pandemic-Related Shutdowns Would Jeopardize Industry’s Solvency, Experts Say Most insurance experts believe legislative proposals that would require insurers to cover business-interruption (BI) claims stemming from COVID-19 related shutdowns, even if the insurance policies exclude pandemic-related losses, threaten the solvency of the insurance industry. This is the finding of a survey conducted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the Wisconsin School of Business Center for Insurance Policy and Research. Read more... Under Social Distancing, Rural Regions Push For More Broadband In 1936, roughly 90% of America’s urban areas had access to electricity, while roughly the same proportion of rural America was still in the dark. The Rural Electrification Act, signed that year as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, turned on the lights in isolated rural areas. Read more... Fed chair: US economy will rebound from coronavirus, but not by end of 2020 Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a Sunday interview that the U.S. economy is unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic strength before the end of 2020, but may begin gaining strength in the second half of the year. Read more... Rising meat prices slamming Midwest business, consumers COVID-19's impact on the meat industry has left people across the Midwest unable to buy burgers from some major fast-food chains and led to prices doubling in some cases within a few weeks. Read more... Future of American Insurance & Reinsurance Will Educate Public On The Industry's Role and Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic NEW YORK, May 18, 2020 – Today, a leading and trusted voice on insurance announced the launch of the Future of American Insurance & Reinsurance (FAIR) campaign. An initiative of the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), FAIR will focus on ensuring the insurance industry is able to sustain its longstanding role as the country's backbone of economic growth and stability. Read more... NAMIC COVID-19 State Advocacy: Business Interruption, Workers’ Compensation Surge Again As we enter the third month of the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry continues to battle through multiple legislative and regulatory challenges in the face of unprecedented economic headwinds. In just the last two weeks, insurers have been faced with the prospects of multiple expansive workers’ compensation proposals, an extensive and short turnaround NAIC business interruption data call, and a very concerning business interruption mandate in the nation’s capital. Read more... To Restart Business, Protect Workers States that are reopening their economies even as cases of Covid-19 are still rising are threatening their own residents and the whole country. But they are also running into two challenges that all states will face: Employees don’t want to return to work if they fear exposure to coronavirus on the job, and employers don’t want to get sued if their workers or customers end up sick. Both concerns are reasonable, and both could further cripple the economy unless Congress steps in. Read more... Celebrity Chefs Are Feeding You a False Narrative About Business Interruption Insurance The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the U.S. economy. Millions have lost their jobs and many large and small businesses alike have been shuttered for weeks now. The restaurant industry, like many small businesses, has been acutely affected, with employees nationwide out of work entirely or with dramatically reduced hours. Read more... Insurance March Employment Figures At Odds With Other Industries On May 8 the Labor Department reported that the U.S. labor market lost a historic 20.5 million nonfarm jobs in April, sending the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent. The worst affected sectors are leisure and hospitality, which lost 7.7 million workers. Read more... Insurers Promote Federal Pandemic Insurance Plan to Congress The U.S. insurance industry is promoting the idea of an insurance plan backed by the federal government that would help businesses that in the future suffer losses from a pandemic, people familiar with the effort told Reuters. Some ways to think about virus’s long-term impact on insurer profitability How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect auto insurers in the longer term? No one knows for sure, of course, but a new McKinsey study provides a framework for considering the question. Read more... States weigh workers' comp for frontline workers against the cost SACRAMENTO — State policymakers praising the heroic efforts of frontline workers are quietly making grim calculations about which professions should gain access to lost wages, hospital bills, or even burial costs — changes estimated to top $11 billion in California alone. Read more... Most Firms Neglected Pandemics in Annual Risk Assessments: Study The risk of a pandemic was known prior to the current health crisis, yet in disclosing their risk factors to shareholders in 2018, public companies showed little foresight in terms of the impact and likelihood of a pandemic, according to research from the University of Notre Dame. Read more... The True Cost of Rewriting Business Income (Interruption) Policies COVID-19 has brought the U.S. economy to a standstill. Are U.S. insurers so well-capitalized they can pay claims on insurance policies for which they collected no premiums due to virus and bacteria exclusions? The short answer is no. Read more... How COVID-19 is impacting restaurant risks The restaurant business is really feeling the burn from the novel coronavirus pandemic. As countries around the world order societal lockdowns, social distancing, and non-essential business closures, restaurants have been forced to either close their doors altogether or to reduce their volume greatly by only offering delivery and/or takeaway services. Read more... COVID-19 P&C insurance industry loss estimated $40bn – $80bn: Dowling The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry loss from Covid-19 pandemic related claims is estimated in a range from $40 billion to as high as $80 billion by analysts at Dowling & Partners. Read more... Coronavirus Will be Largest Event in Insurance History, Says Chubb CEO Chubb Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg warned that the impact of the virus and related economic turmoil will likely be historic for the industry. Read more... Kudlow: Businesses shouldn't be held liable for employees and customers getting coronavirus White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow on Wednesday said that businesses should not be held responsible for employees or customers getting sick as governors move to reopen state economies. Read more... 6 types of employment lawsuits to expect in the wake of COVID-19 Transitioning to a work-from-home model. Furloughing and laying off workers. Complying with new regulations from the CARES and Families First Coronavirus Response Acts. Protecting employees’ personal medical information while ensuring the health and safety of the overall workforce. Read more... Travelers, Insured Law Firm Spar Over Civil Authority Business Income Loss Claim Travelers Cos. has gone to federal court in California seeking a declaratory judgment that it is not obligated to pay any business income losses of a law firm it has insured under two business owner policies. Read more... NAIC working group approves flexible COVID-19 accounting rules A panel of state insurance regulators has issued accounting guidelines that insurers can use to support customers and borrowers hurt by COVID-19-related disruption. The panel is called the Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group. It is part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The working group has adopted three interpretations that allow for temporary exceptions from the usual problem reporting rules. Read more... Some Insurance Regulators Skeptical About Business Interruption Claims Insurance commissioners in at least seven states have advised business owners not to get their hopes up if pursuing business-interruption claims. Read more... Banks warn that new small-business funding could evaporate in 2 days Lawmakers are nearing a deal to restart an emergency small-business loan program that exhausted its funding last week — but it may buy only a few days before the program screeches to a halt once again. Read more... Beef farmers see prices plummet amid pandemic La Crosse, Wis. (WKBT) – Some farmers are dumping milk down the drain and beef farmers are seeing their dollars flushed as well. Two beef experts say demand is great, but there are fewer resources to get the product to the kitchen table. Read more... COVID-19 To Unleash Torrent Of Lawsuits Against Insurers Businesses and not-for-profits in Indiana and across the country have begun suing their insurers in coronavirus-related claims disputes—and attorneys predict a flood of additional cases will follow. Read more... USPS ‘may never fully recover’ from sudden drop in mail volume MADISON, Wis. — Postal service employees handle mail and packages six days of the week. But because people are now encouraged to stay home, the postal service is experiencing an extremely low volume of mail which is hurting its finances. Read more... Chuck Chamness with NAMIC Response to CBS news story In the midst of this pandemic, insurance buyers and their brokers are looking for COVID-19 pandemic coverage, which is like buying property insurance when your house is on fire, according to Tracey Gibbons, senior vice president, Underwriting, at Third Point Re. Read more... CBS News Story - As pandemic hits restaurants hard, some chefs sue insurers over denied claims: "We need help" A group of chefs who said they have paid millions in insurance premiums over the years is now organizing to lobby for their claims to be paid. They say their insurance companies have denied claims in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Famed Chef Thomas Keller said his insurance company turned down his claim for the "Business Interruption Insurance" he opted for, even though the pandemic has forced the closure of his three restaurants. See story here... Suddenly There Is Big Demand for Pandemic Cover, Says Underwriter In the midst of this pandemic, insurance buyers and their brokers are looking for COVID-19 pandemic coverage, which is like buying property insurance when your house is on fire, according to Tracey Gibbons, senior vice president, Underwriting, at Third Point Re. Read more... Businesses Warn Fear of Lawsuits Could Stall Rebooting of Economy; Urge Coordination Litigation surrounding coronavirus responses is already underway and businesses are warning that the fear of more lawsuits could hinder the reboot of the U.S. economy. Read more... Can’t keep up with insurance premiums? Here’s what to do Under normal circumstances, failure to pay any type of insurance premium results in a loss of coverage fairly quickly. These aren’t normal times. Read more... Separating Reality From Perception on COVID-19 - Chuck Chamness, NAMIC Last Friday afternoon, a group of senators led by Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, wrote President Trump to make clear they oppose any mandate to force insurance companies to cover losses related to COVID-19 under business interruption insurance coverage. The high costs, they noted, would threaten the very solvency of the entire insurance industry at a crucial time of year, and forcing retroactive coverage would lead to litigation so that any relief for businesses would take years to arrive. Read more... Texas storm attorneys transitioning to virus attorneys? Law firms start trolling for COVID-19 business interruption claims HOUSTON – Hurricane season isn’t quite here yet, but there may be a different kind of disaster to feed the appetites of storm chasing attorneys for the time being – COVID-19 business interruption claims. Read more... Forced By Coronavirus to Close, River Twice Skips Over Insurance Claims and Goes Straight to Court Philadelphia, PA - River Twice, a five-month-old restaurant on East Passyunk Avenue, sued its insurance company to recoup losses resulting from the current ban on dining out. Across the country, insurance companies are denying claims from restaurants that were forced to close in the face of the coronavirus crisis. The River Twice suit was filed on Friday, April 10, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania federal court. Read more... As Wisconsin faces severe economic turmoil in the weeks and months ahead, the state is in a better position to confront the challenges than it was before the Great Recession. From handling long-term debt to immediate bills, the state established a sounder financial footing in 2019 than at any point in years. Despite the gains, however, Wisconsin remains no better than the average state on many measures and like other states will need federal aid to help cope with reduced tax collections and massive increases in emergency spending. Read more... Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative request includes USDA payments for milk disposal GREEN BAY, Wis. — Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, one of the largest dairy co-ops in the country, continues to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to act quickly to help farmers and people struggling to afford food during the national emergency caused by COVID-19. Read more... Dairy Experts Don't See Pandemic Woes as 'Long-Term' The Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin welcomed two more dairy marketing experts to its Dairy Signal webcast on Thursday who both painted a more optimistic picture about the times we live in. Ag Economist Dan Basse of AgResource Company says he estimates that the value of Class III milk has dropped nearly $4.00 per hundred since the COVID-19 pandemic began. But he said the day will come where the world gets back to more stable times. Read more... Businesses call on governor to begin reopening state April 24 RACINE COUNTY — It’s now been four weeks since Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency, which from there led to the closure of schools, restaurants and bars and then eventually all businesses deemed “nonessential.” Read more... Dana Investment Advisors - Viewpoint Dana Investment Advisors CEO Mark Mirsberger shares his perspective on the impact COVID-19 is having on the stock market and investments. Read more... NICB and Cybercrime Support Network Partner to Warn the Public About COVID-19 Scams DES PLAINES, Ill.—The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and the Cybercrime Support Network (CSN) are partnering to educate online users about scams surrounding COVID-19, and what consumers need to watch out for when surfing the web, working online, or e-learning from home. Read Press Release Insurers can’t cover the cost of the pandemic shutdown — and shouldn’t be asked to Everyone seems to agree on two things when it comes to controlling the novel coronavirus: It is going to be monstrously expensive, and someone else should be paying the cost. Particularly if “someone else” is an insurer. Legislators in at least four states are already working on legislation that would force business interruption insurance to pay for losses incurred by the current shutdown. Read more... In letter to lawmakers, insurers say pandemic cost is too great Insurers don’t have enough resources to cover business interruption losses in a disaster as comprehensive as the one posed by widespread small business closures from the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of insurance industry associations told two members of California’s congressional delegation. Read more... COVID-19: How to manage your personal automobile As the world hunkers down to ride out the novel coronavirus crisis, some of us still need to venture out, even if it is just to do a quick grocery run. When you do go out, follow these driving safety tips to stay safe on the roads and minimize your risk of picking up the virus. Read more... SPECIAL REPORT | Business Interruption, Workers' Compensation in the States As the nation continues into an extended pandemic-related lockdown, our economy struggles to find vigor to make it through the crisis. Policymakers at every level of government are grasping for solutions to assist their ailing communities with any funding source they can identify. NAMIC is joining with other industries to become part of the solution to assist our country during the outbreak as well as identifying a path forward to sustain our economy in any future pandemic. Read more... This Coronavirus Insurance Bill Could Crash the U.S. Stock Market Coronavirus has already chopped 30% off the Dow Jones since February, but a new bill in Congress threatens to cause yet another massive drop in the U.S. stock market. Read more... Buyers, insurers call for 9/11-type fund to relieve COVID-19 impact More than 30 policyholder groups from retail and other sectors hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday joined with major insurance organizations to call on the Trump administration and Congress to create a federal recovery fund to provide liquidity to businesses. Read more... P/C Insurers Put a Price Tag on Uncovered Coronavirus Business Interruption Losses The property/casualty industry estimates that business interruption losses from the coronavirus just for small businesses in the U.S. could be between $220-$383 billion per month — or a quarter to half of the total industry surplus available to pay all P/C claims. Read more... NAIC Statement on Congressional Action Relating to COVID-19 The NAIC issued a statement on the recent congressional actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more... Stay up to date on the latest Coronavirus scams! The Coronavirus outbreak has global attention and is a national emergency in the United States. Since cybercriminals prey on fear, we can expect to see more and more COVID-19 scams as the situation progresses. Read more... |