BIG “I” URGES ACTION ON TERRORISM INSURANCE PRIOR TO YEAR-END
Association submits testimony in support of legislation to protect economy
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 14, 2005—The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) today submitted testimony to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in support of federal legislation to continue a terrorism insurance program prior to expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) on December 31, 2005.
The Big “I” has consistently supported the continuation of a terrorism insurance program, and it noted in the testimony today that Congress should act as soon as possible since businesses and insurers are starting to make decisions that impact operations beyond the expiration of TRIA. Without the certainty that is provided by a terrorism insurance program, the market could experience potential gaps in coverage for policies that are being written now and extend beyond TRIA’s sunset date.
“With the risk of catastrophic attacks on U.S. soil still very real, and the capability of both insurers and reinsurers to offer comprehensive terrorism coverage for an uninsurable risk still very limited, we urge Congress to address these issues as soon as possible,” says Charles E. Symington Jr., Big “I” senior vice president of government affairs and federal relations. “We applaud the leadership and members of the Senate Banking Committee for examining this issue of critical importance to our nation’s economy.”
The Big “I” also noted that the availability and affordability of terrorism insurance is a business customer problem throughout the nation. In fact, take-up rates under TRIA have continued to grow across the country, and IIABA members have seen terrorism coverage purchased by a variety of interests, from small towns in Mississippi to small and large businesses in New York City.
“As the intermediaries between consumers and insurers, agents and brokers remain concerned that the needs of many policyholders will not be met with affordable and quality coverage for this peril if there is no terrorism insurance program in place by the year-end,” says Brendan Reilly, Big “I” director of federal government affairs. “There is an appropriate federal role to encourage a workable insurance mechanism in the event of cataclysmic terrorism losses since nothing has fundamentally improved in the private reinsurance market for terrorism coverage.”
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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