Government Survey Gets Piddling Insurer Response

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, March 16, 4:20 p.m. EST?Insurers have responded so apathetically to a U.S. Treasury Department survey designed to gauge the industry's ability to provide terrorism coverage if the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act expires, that the deadline for answering has been extended.[@@]

A treasury representative said that the date for mailing in answers is now April 1. Initially the agency had asked the firms that were surveyed to have answers back by Jan. 31, 2003.

Don Griffin, an assistant vice president for commercial lines with the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America's Washington office, said in a conference call last Thursday that Treasury officials told his group only 52 of 400 insurers surveyed had returned the 53-page form.

Mr. Griffin said PCI plans to put out a bulletin urging its members to respond to the survey with as much information as they can before the deadline because "from an industry standpoint it's advantageous."

A Treasury official said last September that the survey being done by Westat of Rockville, Md. should take two hours to complete. However, according to Mr. Griffin, it can only be done in that time span "if you have the information at hand. If you don't, it may take more time. Some of it is rather data-intensive."

The Treasury Department is mandated by law to provide Congress with a report on TRIA's impact. At this point responses from insurers are voluntary, but to use the survey information, Treasury must meet the statistical reliability plan standards of the U.S. Office of Budget and Management.

Mario Ugoletti, deputy director for the Treasury Office of Financial Institutions Policy, said in September that if the information were not forthcoming, it might be obtained by requiring companies to provide premium information to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Treasury, in addition to voicing concerns to PCI, has also expressed them to the American Insurance Association and others, according to a report by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

The Boca Raton, Fla.-based NCCI noted that the submitted survey data will not be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Mr. Griffin said that a somewhat better response to the survey has come from commercial policyholders. Some 20-to-25 percent have provided answers, he said he was told by the Treasury officials.

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Government Survey Gets Piddling Insurer Response

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