10 events shape insurance history

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The American insurance industry existed long before American Agent & Broker, but the industry looked very different 80 years ago. The industry has mirrored the nation's economic, technological and political changes, and AA&B has covered them. Here are some of the most significant: Professional organization creation
The 1931 creation of the National Assn. of Professional Insurance Agents challenged the dominance of the National Assn of Insurance Agents, forerunner to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA), to represent the needs and interests of agents and brokers. The past 80 years have given rise to many other insurance organizations as well, including: Society of Chartered Property-Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) in 1944; Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) in 1950; Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 1959; Insurance Information Institute (III) in 1960; Assn. for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) in 1970; Insurance Services Office (ISO) in 1971; National Assn. of Professional Surplus Lines Organizations (NAPSLO) in 1975; Reinsurance Assn. of America in 1978; Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) in 1986; and Property Casualty Insurers Assn. of America, (PCI) a combination of Alliance of American Insurers and National Assn. of Independent Insurers in 2004. Glass-Steagall and Gramm-Leach-Bliley acts
Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, in the wake of the Great Depression when one in every five banks failed, to protect depositors. The law established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and forced commercial banks to choose between acting as a low-risk, short-term lender with their depositors' money insured by the FDIC, or as a higher-risk investment bank. The restrictions were extended in 1956 by the Bank Holding Company Act, to bar bank holding companies from non-banking activities or from buying banks in another state. Starting in the 1970s, after considerable industry lobbying, the pendulum began its swing toward deregulation. The Federal Reserve Board repeatedly reinterpreted Glass-Steagall, expanding a loophole to permit banks to undertake more activities and mergers. Though many attempts in the 1980s and '90s to repeal Glass-Steagall failed, the Fed's rulings rendered it effectively obsolete. Finally, in 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed Glass-Steagall, opening the way for more convergence of insurance, banks and securities firms–and ultimately for the growth of the complicated financial derivatives that fueled the financial meltdown of 2008. Crop insurance
In 1938, after the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl storms brought a double-whammy that drove many farmers off their land, Congress established The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. to test the waters of government involvement in insurance. The agency initially provided limited crop coverage in some areas of the country. Since then, the program has been expanded several times to provide widespread crop coverage and a broader role for private insurers, while limiting the agricultural industry's reliance on federal disaster relief. McCarran-Ferguson Act
Insurance is one of the industries most carefully regulated by the states, but federal antitrust legislation threatened to alter those regulatory powers and the ability of the industry to gather and pool the historic loss data necessary to successfully underwrite risks. The McCarran-Ferguson Act in 1945 retained state regulation of the industry and granted insurers a limited exemption from federal antitrust laws. Package policies
In the prosperous postwar era of the 1950s, demand for insurance was on the upswing. After a depression and world war, returning soldiers started families and bought homes and cars. Many started businesses, including insurance agencies. The industry looked for a more efficient way to write and sell policies. States had been passing legislation enabling fire and marine insurers to also write property and surety, breaking down the main barrier to multi line policies. Enter the homeowners policy, a combination theft, liability and fire insurance introduced in 1950. Changes in the law also paved the way for auto package policies, which can include six coverages: property damage, bodily injury, personal injury protection, collision, comprehensive and uninsured/underinsured motorist. For businesses, the commercial multi-peril policy, introduced in 1958, combined commercial property and general liability and coverages such as boiler and machinery or marine. A dozen years later it was expanded for small businesses into the inclusive Business Owners Policy, which combines protection from most property, liability and building risks, though not commercial auto or workers' compensation. FAIR plans
The social upheaval of the 1960s led to riots in big cities, which in turn led to a shortage of available property coverage in urban areas. States responded by establishing Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plans, sometimes called assigned-risk pools or FAIR plans, to serve people unable to purchase property insurance in the voluntary market because of excessive risk that may be beyond their control. These pools might provide insurance against fire, vandalism, riot and windstorm for businesses, homes and autos, depending on the state and its plan. Though plans vary by state, they all require property insurers licensed in a state to participate in the pool and share in the profits and losses. Alternative risk arrangements/unbundling of services
High liability awards, coupled with inadequate rates, caused insurers to limit writing liability insurance in the early- and mid-1980s and led to a liability crisis for many industries, especially medicine and day care. For coverage, buyers turned to alternative-risk arrangements, including risk pools and domestic and offshore captives. These covered losses, but did not provide specialized services such as claims handling and claims payment that had been included in insurance policies. Independent services companies emerged in the 1990s to fill these gaps. Meanwhile, large insurers recognized the fundamental shift in the way middle-sized and large businesses viewed and managed risk, so they responded by unbundling their service offerings from the insurance they provided, enabling businesses or risk groups to buy only what they wished. Tort reform
When plaintiffs' lawsuits started to boom and damage awards to soar in the 1980s, insurers began an ongoing state-by-state push for tort reform as a way to slow a rise in premiums. Lobbyists petitioned lawmakers to enact legislation that would place caps on economic, non-economic, and punitive damages, making it increasingly more difficult for victims to receive compensation for their losses. Some states have passed legislation to reduce liability costs by limiting damage awards and modifying liability rules.

Technology
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the information-heavy insurance industry adopted increasingly sophisticated technology. Not until the late 1990s, when the industry scrambled to protect its systems and information from the potential Y2K disruption, did its dependence on technology become so clear. Over the past 25 years, technology has moved well beyond record keeping to enhancement and support, from marketing to underwriting to claims. Some of the most instrumental types of technology include agent management systems, standardized forms and now, real-time.

Disasters, natural and otherwise
It's common belief that lightning–and by extension, other natural events–never strike the same place twice, but the hurricane season of 2005 dramatically disproved this theory. Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma each pounded the southeast U.S., generating more than 3.3 million claims and more than $57 billion in insured losses that took some 15,000 adjusters across the nation to settle.One storm that season–Hurricane Katrina–proved to be the most expensive in insurance history, with insurers paying an estimated $40.6 billion to settle 1.7 million claims in 6 states, dramatically surpassing 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which had cost the industry an inflation-adjusted $23.8 billion to settle 790,000 claims. The Northridge, Calif., earthquake in 1994 caused insured damages of $12.5 billion, or $18.2 billion in today's dollars, making it the third most expensive natural disaster.

No event has more personally affected the insurance industry than the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks, especially the attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Not only did it cost the lives of many insurance people who were in the buildings when the attack came, but settling the claims proved a gut-wrenching experience for even hardened brokers and claims professionals. The devastation raised many coverage issues and also proved the value of technology in documenting policies and losses. Insured losses totaled about $18.8 billion, or about $22.8 billion in today's dollars. The devastation of Sept. 11 also led to the passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance act in 2007, establishing a temporary federal program of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism.