Claims payments by homeowners insurers in Louisiana for the hurricanes of 2005--expected to top $12.4 billion--exceeded premiums collected by the insurers in the last 25 years, the Insurance Information Institute announced today.

Although the I.I.I. announcement did not provide the exact figure for aggregate premiums collected since 1981, the group said that every dollar of homeowners insurance profits ever earned there would be erased also.

The $12.4 billion claims total from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is nearly 13 times the estimated $969 million in homeowners premiums paid last year, I.I.I added.

Since 1985, total profits, including investment income, were $17.3 million, according to I.I.I.

While NU's records don't date back 25 years, according to figures compiled using information from National Underwriter Insurance Data Services, based on regulators' data, direct premiums written for the six years ended 2004 (the latest available full year) totaled $4.5 billion, while direct incurred losses over the same six-year period totaled $2.8 billion.

In the latest full year, 2004, premiums were $925 million, while losses totaled $316.7 million.

These figures, however, exclude Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state's insurer of last resort, which according to financial reports on its Web site, collected over $100 million in premiums in 2004.

The largest writer--State Farm--reported $1.5 billion in premiums and $1 billion in losses for the six years ending 2004. Loss adjustment and underwriting expenses would be required to give a complete picture of underwriting profit for the carrier--or the industry--for these years.

In the I.I.I. announcement, Robert Hartwig, chief economist of the I.I.I., said the mega-catastrophes of 2005 will force insurers and reinsurers to undertake a "multiyear process" of reassessment that would ultimately prompt them to limit homeowners writings, pushing more homeowners to the residual market--Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Consumer Federation of America President Robert Hunter, reacting to the announcement, said the CFA had anticipated such potential actions on the part of insurers, sending a letter to the Louisiana Commissioner's office soon after the hurricanes to warn regulators to get ready. In particular, pointing to experience in Florida after Andrew, he suggested imposing moratoriums on non-renewals and increases that otherwise threatened to erode market stability.

Mr. Hartwig said that insurance rates in Louisiana are based on individual insurer experience in the state. "Profits from other types of insurance in other states--auto insurance in Illinois for example--cannot be used to subsidize hurricane-related losses in Louisiana," he said.

In addition, Mr. Hartwig said, insurers would likely consider meteorological predictions of more frequent hurricanes and intense hurricanes when assessing the risk/return possibilities of writing in Louisiana going forward.

Mr. Hunter noted that when he was an insurance commissioner in Texas, insurers had come to him with models and proposals to redistribute their writings in coastal areas of the state--actions that he had did not have a problem with.

But all the modeling was done after Andrew, he said. "We've already gone through all that," he said. "We've known that hurricanes activity is cyclical," with increased activity every few decades. That should already be in the models, he said, rejecting the notion that a wholesale redo of models is now necessary.

Mr. Hartwig noted that insurers will also consider building codes and the strength of rebuilt levees in New Orleans as they reassess their risks in Louisiana.

In addition, he commented that lawsuits seeking payments for flood damage are creating concerns of potentially increased liability in the state.

Special Reports /

Louisiana Hurricane Loss Cancels 25 Years Of Premiums

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