Additional Cover For U.S. Civilians In War

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, April 1, 10:48 a.m. EST?Civilian employees of U.S. companies who are injured or killed in the Iraq war zone in some cases can get coverage that extends beyond limited workers' compensation benefits, according to insurance industry sources.

Hiscox Syndicate in London is actively promoting war personal accident insurance for persons traveling in the vicinity or within the "war zones" surrounding the conflict with Iraq.

Hiscox said it is offering the coverage for news correspondents and non-military medical support personnel with no territorial restrictions.

The coverage would include terrorism, ?dirty bombs' and biological/chemical attack, but would exclude full nuclear explosion. Hiscox told brokers it was offering the coverage with limits of $1 million a person, $5 million per occurrence.

Saul Landesberg, managing director for global sales and marketing XN Holdings based in Tampa Fla., a managing general agency, said London market brokers are still providing life and health protection for companies involved in and near the war zone, at a prohibitive price.

As an example, he said a $300,000 life insurance policy for a civilian located in Kuwait would have a weekly premium of $3,000 a week or $10,000 a week for a $1 million policy. "In Iraq, it would be double that," he advised.

XN, which offers life, health and disability coverage for expatriate employees and also writes political risk insurance, is not offering those coverages in U.S.-sanctioned countries, such as Iraq or Cuba, according to Mr. Landesberg.

(XN's political risk insurance policies cover loss of personal property due to war, revolution, insurrection, politically-motivated civil strife, terrorism or sabotage.)

Most firms that need coverage in the area around Iraq, already have it in place, Mr. Landesberg said. His company recently turned down a company seeking political risk insurance that had "50 people in Kuwait they were telling to leave that day. At that date, it was too late to bind the coverage."

Mr. Landesberg said while it is difficult for companies to get additional life insurance with a war exclusion deleted, in the case of a large company, with only a few employees in the risky areas, it is more possible.

Among companies in the war zone, Mr. Landesberg noted that firms like petroleum companies generally self insure their employees in foreign jurisdictions.

"I was recently with a big oil company in Houston and they are used to taking a $25 million deductible on all risks," he said.

Among media firms who have correspondents in the war zone, some like Associated Press would not comment on their arrangements. The New York Times, however, said it provides more than workers' compensation.

"We do have an insurance policy that does pay additional compensation if a reporter has a loss of life or is injured in the line of duty. This would provide for an individual who was killed in a war area or injured in a war area," said Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis.

Given the workers' compensation patchwork system of individual states with differing comp regulations, the kind of coverage for death or injury "is not so cut and dried," according to the National Association of Independent Insurers.

According to the Alliance of American Insurers, only Pennsylvania has a specific exclusion that can be viewed as a war exclusion.

The variance between states is considerable. Death benefits paid to a single spouse, for example, amount to 35 percent of the deceased's weekly wage in Arkansas and 80 percent in Alaska.

States also have varying time limits on death benefits. For example, 250 weeks is allowed in Massachusetts and 700 weeks in New Mexico.

Special Reports /

Additional Cover For U.S. Civilians In War

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