Daschle Cites TerrorismReinsurance As Priority

Washington

Insurance industry representatives are praising Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., for identifying terrorism reinsurance as one of his legislative priorities for this year.

“Sen. Daschles statement is a crucial development, insofar as it recognizes that there has been significant displacement in the insurance marketplace,” said Ken Crerar, president of the Washington-based Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. “Given the Majority Leaders statement, we now believe that the successful conclusion of this debate can be reached in the next two months.”

Mr. Crerar was reacting to comments from Sen. Daschle quoted by Congress Daily AM in which he identified terrorism reinsurance, which the Senate failed to approve last year, as a priority.

Sen. Daschle was quoted as saying, “Efforts to solve this complex problem last year were impeded by some who sought to use this issue to push through other extraneous issues. This year, we need to work together to assess the real needs of the marketplace and provide real solutions–the sooner, the better.”

Mr. Crerar said that the Councils own surveys demonstrate that the risk of terrorism has been transferred from reinsurers to primary insurers, and now much of that has been moved from insurers to major consumers. “This alone justifies a temporary federal backstop to restore normalcy,” he said.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, January 28, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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Daschle Cites Terrorism Reinsurance As Priority

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