Jason Shafrin, our favorite Healthcare Economist, is hosting this week’s digest of risk-related posts Cavalcade of Risk #137: Risk Grabs the Headlines. Check it out!
S&P Downgrade Robert Hartwig of the Insurance Information Institute weighs in: Understanding the U.S. Debt Downgrade: No Significant Impact on Insurers: “The nation’s property/casualty insurers have very limited direct exposure to the U.S. government bond market and have collectively set aside hundreds of billions of dollars to pay unanticipated claims,” said Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I. and an economist. “Both of these factors will enable the industry to operate effectively despite the recent downgrade of long-term U.S. bonds.” Consequently, Hartwig added, “Existing policyholders, people and businesses filing claims and those seeking to purchase insurance will not experience any difficulties arising from the downgrade.”
Related:
- Roberto Ceniceros of CompTime: S&P’s credit downgrade & the cost of collateral for large deductible programs
- Phil Gusman, PropertyCasualty360: Indirect Impact of S&P Downgrade May Be More Meaningful for Insurers
- Mark Hoffmann at Business Insurance: U.S. debt downgrade will not affect insurer investment: Experts
- Bob Graham, Insurance & Financial Advisor: Investments of insurers ‘unaffected’ by S&P’s U.S. ratings downgrade
Lingering effects – 10 Years and a Diagnosis Later, 9/11 Demons Haunt Thousands – “One measure of the psychological impact of 9/11 is this: At least 10,000 firefighters, police officers and civilians exposed to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center have been found to have post-traumatic stress disorder, and in a kind of mass grieving, many of them have yet to recover, according to figures compiled by New York City’s three 9/11 health programs.”
One year ago… – Last week marked the anniversary of the shooting Hartford Distributors in Manchester, Connecticut. Here is a link to our post about the event, in which we discussed some of the comp-related aspects of the case and whether employer’s can take measures to inoculate against such events.
Not-so-friendly reminders department – Employers should be aware that workers’ comp related retaliation can get expensive. But that is chicken scratch next to the penalties that might be imposed for things like failure to carry work comp insurance, misclassifying employees, and violating stop work orders.
OSHA tool – Planning Ahead for Hot Weather: Employer Checklist.
