Day One - The "I" Does Stand for "Insurance"

Here is a recap of our first presentation - April 27, 2009 - as written by PICA, Inc. Vice Chairman, Patrick:

As the insurance industry is hardly immune from the financial difficulties of the rest of the country, PICA workshop members were presented with an overview of what's taking place industry wide from Glen Cryan and Beverly Messer of the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.

As Chief Operating Officer of The National Alliance, Glen took the group through a number of issues that will affect companies and consumers going forward. One huge issue, of course, is the beating that many company portfolios are taking as a result of the drop in the stock market. Since companies use stocks as a way of adding to surplus, these significant drops in the market have resulted in large surplus losses for many carriers. These surplus losses could prove vital in the wake of severe catastrophe losses. Credit issues that affect consumer insurance scores may also catch the eye of legislators in various states and may result in calls for further limitations on the use of this discount tool for consumers.

Glen also noted the PR hit the industry as a whole has taken as a result of the AIG bailout, even though AIG's insurance operations were not the cause of its problems. As a result, "AIG's issues become everyone's issues," he said.

Beverly is the Vice President of Education & Research and, as a former two-time agent of the year, also brought a unique agent perspective to PICA members. As you might expect, she notes that it's important for companies to listen to agents for a number of reasons, including to find out more about consumer concerns.

She also reiterated a point that we, as insurance communicators, need to take back to our offices and repeat to management: The industry needs to do a better job of reporting all the good things the industry does, instead of sitting back and letting the media dictate the story and only report bad things. After all, as Beverly noted, nothing happens without insurance. Or, even better, her direct quote was that "insurance companies are the enablers of people's dreams."

So get back to your management, and let people know about your teen driving programs, or safety enhancements and support of organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and even the work of your SIU teams to save policyholders money through the detection of insurance fraud. Most companies also invest heavily in their communities, supporting good works that make a location a home. Finally, what about all the jobs the industry provides? Many companies have tightened their belts, but still there are a lot of grateful employees working in the insurance industry who are thankful for their paychecks these days.

Thanks again to Glen and Beverly for spending time with us in Austin. It was good information that resulted in a spirited discussion after their presentations, and we're better insurance communicators for having been a part of it.

- Patrick