Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Worker Fatalities up in 2015, Report Shows
Dec 16 2016 // There were more workplace fatalities in California in 2015 compared with the prior year, but worker deaths are below the average rate of fatalities prior to the recession, according to a California Department of Industrial...
Reinsurance Prices May Be Bottoming but Outlook Remains Negative: A.M. Best
Dec 14 2016 // The outlook for the reinsurance sector is being held at negative by A.M. Best, which cited continuing market challenges that will hinder the potential for positive rating actions and may eventually bring negative rating...
California Workers’ Comp Medical Mileage Rate Will Decline for 2017
Dec 13 2016 // The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the standard mileage rate for business miles will decline 0.5 cents per mile to 53.5 cents per mile as of Jan. 1, 2017. The California Workers’ Compensation Institute...
D&O Prices Down, Auto Up in Q3; Other Commercial Lines Stable
Dec 13 2016 // Price decreases accelerated for directors and officers insurance in the 2016 third quarter, a period during which commercial insurance prices generally remained flat once again overall. The latest Willis Towers...
Canada’s P/C Insurance Market Stable with Good Demand: Moody’s
Dec 12 2016 // The outlook for the Canadian property and casualty (P/C) industry is stable, driven by good demand, strong underwriting discipline and solid balance sheets, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report. However, these...
North Carolina High Court Dismisses Insurer Rate Increase Request
Dec 12 2016 // North Carolina’s Supreme Court is rejecting efforts by insurance companies to raise homeowners’ premiums. The state’s highest court on Friday dismissed arguments by the group that represents North...
Study: California Medical Payments Per Comp Claim Decreased After Reforms
Dec 9 2016 // California Senate Bill 863 may have contributed to decreases in medical payments per workers’ compensation claim in 2013 and 2014, according to a study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The WCRI study...
Survey: California Leads Nation in Insurers Contracting with Diverse Businesses
Dec 7 2016 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones hailed the results from the first national survey of the insurance industry around supplier and governing board diversity issued today. Insurance commissioners from six states...
Cleanup Costs of Oregon Train Derailment Along River Pilling Up
Dec 6 2016 // Six months after a train hauling Bakken crude oil derailed along the Columbia River Gorge, Washington, Oregon and other officials are still tabulating a bill to send to Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific said in a...
Rising Risks Could Cost Global Cities $1.17 Trillion of GDP in 2017: Cambridge Study
Dec 6 2016 // The costs of major shocks to the global economy from natural and manmade threats could put at risk $1.17 trillion of the total projected GDP of the world’s major cities in 2017, according to the findings of a report...
Despite Decline, Ohio Still Leads Country in Metal Thefts
Dec 5 2016 // The number of metal thefts in Ohio dropped during the period 2013 through 2015, but the state still leads the country in metal theft crimes, an Ohio insurance industry trade group says. Citing a report by the National...
County Farmers in South Carolina Uncertain of Future After Devastating Disasters
Dec 5 2016 // The Double R Farm in South Carolina has produced abundant crops for four generations of Rabon family farmers here, and despite the double whammy of record rains during the October harvest last year and last month’s...
Tennessee Wildfire Death Toll Rises to 7; City of Gatlinburg Surveys Damage
Dec 2 2016 // Three more bodies were found in the ruins of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses in the Great Smoky Mountains area, raising the death toll to seven, a Tennessee mayor said Wednesday. Search-and-rescue...
Oklahoma Earthquakes: The Emerging Risk from Induced Seismicity
Dec 1 2016 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. California is typically the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of earthquake activity in the U.S. In recent years, however, the central U.S. – especially...
Washington Workers’ Comp Rates for 2017 to Increase Less Than 1%
Nov 30 2016 // The average premium for workers’ compensation coverage in Washington will go up less than 1 percent in 2017, according to the Department of Labor & Industries. LL&I announced today the rate will rise by an...
Florida Appeals Judge’s Order Halting 14.5% Workers’ Comp Rate Increase
Nov 29 2016 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) is appealing a court order invalidating its approved 14.5 rate increase on Florida workers’ compensation rates that was set to take effect Dec. 1. OIR filed its Notice...
Study Explains How Winter Chill Contributed to Deadly 1919 Molasses Disaster in Massachusetts
Nov 29 2016 // The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 – one of Boston’s most peculiar disasters – killed 21 people, injured 150 others and flattened buildings when a giant storage tank ruptured. Now Harvard University...
Cyber Risk Awareness Rises Among SMEs: Zurich Survey
Nov 29 2016 // One way to reduce cyber risks is to boost awareness of them. In that regard, Zurich Insurance Group says, there has been big progress in terms of getting the word out among small and medium-sized businesses. At the same...
Emerging Markets to Drive Insurance Sector Growth in 2017: Swiss Re
Nov 28 2016 // The global economy is expected to grow moderately over the next two years, supporting continued growth in insurance premium volumes, according to a Swiss Re report. Growth in global non-life premiums is forecast to fall...
Hurricane Cleanup Costs Rise in County Along Georgia’s Coast
Nov 23 2016 // Cleanup costs keep rising in Chatham County, along Georgia’s coast, in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. The latest estimate of the funds needed to recover from damage in unincorporated parts of the county is now more...
