Greedy Trial Lawyer
Another Year Of Spectacular Insurance Profits And Higher Premiums
Category: Ho Hum
In good years and bad, big hurricanes or small, the profits of the insurance industry are spectacular.
The New York Times tells us we needn't have worried about America's insurance companies making their payrolls. And, we need not have hoped for lower premiums.
Earnings for Insurers Are Soaring
Insurance companies are expecting record profits in 2006 after predictions of another year of devastating hurricanes have so far come to naught.Industry experts are estimating that profits may reach $60 billion, on a combination of higher premiums along the coasts, no major payouts for natural disasters and strong investment returns. The insurers also had high profits on other lines of coverage like auto insurance, workers compensation and general liability.
The record profits expected this year come after a terrible 2005, when insurers paid out $61 billion for damage from Hurricane Katrina and other storms. Even so, the insurers ended up with a profit of $43 billion for the year because of exceptionally good results on investments, declining claims on policies on homes away from the coast and profits on other lines of coverage.
But homeowners and businesses along the coasts, hit with much higher insurance costs after the barrage of hurricanes, probably will not get any relief as a result of the much quieter season, industry experts and consumer advocates said.
...owners of coastal homes and businesses should not expect any easing of their insurance costs.
"Just because there wasn't a major storm this year, doesn't mean there won't be one next year or the year after," Mr. Auden said. "Certain coastal markets are probably still underpriced."
Consumer advocates, on the other hand, are crying foul.
"It's unfair," said J. Robert Hunter, the director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of American. "They have overestimated their losses and vastly overpriced. And now, when the money rolls in, there is no relief for consumers."
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Comments
Profit DOLLAR amounts are completely and utterly useless by themselves (for anything but propaganda). What's the PERCENTAGE of profit? Like the oil companies, big numbrs are just used to make them look lik the bad guys. In the case of oil, their actual percent profits was well below avrage for for-profit businesses. I don't know that that's the case here.. but I don't know that it ISN'T, either, and that article doesn't tell me.
In short, it's either ignorant or dishonest.
Posted by: Deoxy at November 16, 2006 05:09 PM