Insurance news
Friday, 1 February 2008
Last Updated: Monday, 18 February 2008
Wild weather to hit insurance premiums
Mike Preston
Insurance premiums paid by Australian businesses and consumers are likely to be driven higher by extreme weather caused by global warming, a new report has found.
An issues paper prepared by Ross Garnaut, the man charged with advising the Rudd Government on its carbon emissions trading system, says insurance premiums will rise due to the increase of frequency and severity of cyclones, floods, bushfires and hail storms.
Rising sea levels could also heavily affect insurance premiums paid by owners of coastal property, the report says.
Greater information on potential dangers of extreme weather and possible changes to building and other regulations to diminish the damage caused by such events are recommended by the report.
On the broader question of what form a carbon trading system will take, Garnaut told The Australian Financial Review that he does not support firm interim targets for greenhouse gas cuts.
While the ultimate goal of a trading regime should be firm, interim goals should act only as guides in setting-up the carbon trading market and may not be achieved from year to year.
“What matters to the environment is the amount of emissions that are put into the atmosphere over time, not the amount that happens to go into the atmosphere in any one year,” Garnaut says.
“If the goal is to achieve an environmental objective at minimum cost to the economy, you would specify the total emissions budget and let the market determine when permits were used.”
More than $1 billion of losses in flooded Queensland
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Jacqui Walker
More than two-thirds of Queensland is now drought-declared and the damage bill is expected to top $1 billion.
Yesterday Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the damage to public infrastructure alone would be at least $100 million.
The insurance industry is saying it is too early to evaluate the damage bill for the state’s floods.
The full scale of the damage to agricultural and mining production, roads and bridges, will not be known for weeks until the waters finally subside.
Hundreds of cattle are stranded on higher ground and will die within the next few days unless food is airlifted.
Some Queenslanders are still waiting for flooding. Rockhampton is bracing for flood waters to arrive on Monday.
Give the gift of health
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Only in the US? Patchy health insurance coverage and very limited public health services available in the US mean that many people are unable to access medical care when they need it. According to Springwise, one enterprising US insurance company has moved to turn what some may consider an unfortunate situation into an opportunity by putting a pre-paid healthcare gift card on the market.
The Highmark insurance company’s Healthcare Gift Card can be charged up with up to $US5000, usable to pay for a range of medical care, from visits to the doctor to dental work or cosmetic surgery.
In many cases, of course, it would just be better to use the money to take out a comprehensive health insurance policy for a person. But for rich parents who want to give their kids an expensive cosmetic surgery procedure for Christmas, the Healthcare Gift Card could be perfect.
Workcover premiums plea
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Jacqui Walker
Victorian businesses are calling for cheaper workcover premiums following a bumper $1.17 billion profit for the Victorian Workplace Authority in 2006-07.
The increased profit came despite marginal growth in investment returns and as a result of improved insurance operations. Victorian businesses have won a cut in premiums in each of the past four state budgets.
Meanwhile, NSW businesses hope that occupational health and safety is one of the issues the NSW Government will reform in the spring session of parliament that started today. But not before the federal election.
Paul Ritchie, NSW Business Chamber spokesman, told the Australian Financial Review that he is resigned to the fact that the NSW Government will be in a holding pattern under after the federal election.
Insurance premiums could level out
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Amanda Gome
Insurance premiums are under intense competitive pressure from the arrival of new foreign players entering the local industry. But the market may level out as soon as next year as the sub-prime crisis in the US claims some insurance companies.
Prices for commercial insurance products that include professional indemnity have dived since 2005. Now they are set to fall further. The latest National Claims and Policies Databases report shows public liability insurance premiums and professional indemnity insurance fell on average by about 9% in the 12 months to December 21, 2006.
Some underwriters are predicting another 5–10% fall. But Nicholas Scofield of Allianz Australia says he expects a leveling off in 2008 after three years of substantial reductions in the market.
The sub-prime crisis in the US and the collapse of some players including Westpoint, Bridgecorp and ACR will have an impact, he says. There are big claims hanging around that will have an impact on rates, maybe as early as next year. “The level of reductions of the last two or three years may not be sustainable,” he says.
While business owners are going to be essentially tied into renewal cycle, he advises people to ensure they have good risk-management procedures in place to make sure they are offered better rates.
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