TRIP Claims System Ready
Should there be another major terrorist attack within the United States, the system through which insurers can file their claims with the federal government is ready to spring into action.
Created by Paragon Strategic Solutions Inc.a Minneapolis-based subsidiary of reinsurance intermediary Benfield Inc. and the Insurance Services Office of Jersey City, N.J.the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Claims Management Facility and Statistical Agent Capability would be activated by the Treasury Department in the event of an attack.
Effectively, according to Paragon Chief Executive Officer Theresa Schugel, the system is designed to "gather all claim information from insurers" and transmit those complete claims to the Treasury.
To have a complete claim, Ms. Schugel said, insurers would have to file five separate forms.
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, or TRIP, was created under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which was passed to provide insurance companies with a federal backstop for terrorism-related losses. TRIA will sunset at the end of next year unless its extended by Congress.
Paragon was brought in to design the claims management system in the spring, roughly halfway through the TRIA legislation's scheduled lifetime, Ms. Schugel noted.
Insurers will be able to file their claims online or they can download the necessary forms and file their claims by mail, she said.
Jeffrey Bragg, TRIPs executive director, said the online facility is "very functional and easy to use," noting that he personally submitted test data.
While a test by Mr. Bragg would not compare to the volume of traffic the system would see in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack, Ms. Schugel said it would stand up to a sudden surge in use.
"We did extensive testing with several major carriers," she said, although she declined to name the companies involved.
Steve Ward, Paragons marketing director, said there are "dedicated servers for the system." In the event of a major attack, "we'd be ready," he said.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, December 16, 2004. Copyright 2004 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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