Buyers Brace For Long Haul Conditions in thereinsurance market may have a trickle-down effect to commercialinsurance buyers. But when National Underwriter contacteda group of buyer representatives about conditions in thereinsurance market and their implications recently, the activitiesof front-line insurance companies were also top of mind for theseexecutives.

Michael R. Mead, president of M.R. Mead & Company LLC, aconsulting intermediary in Chicago, said that finding coverage isstill possible for insurance buyers. “But it's like a game ofmusical chairs in which about half of the chairs are gone,” hesaid. “There are some classes of business, such as doctors andhospitals, where it is almost impossible to get coverage.”

Organizations forming captives can stillobtain reinsurance in London. “You may have to accept terms youdon't like,” he noted, however. Dismissing that problem quickly,“the problem is fronting,” he went on to say. “For many peoplethere is none,” he said, suggesting that this was more immediateand pressing issue for insurance buyers looking to get past hardmarket availability and insurance pricing problems withself-insurance and captive solutions.