This landed insurers with a $2 billion bill in March
Insured losses from natural disasters in the US in March are set to total $2 billion.
Aon Benfield’s Global Catastrophe Recap Report shows that almost every part of the country was hit with severe weather including around 1,000 tornadoes. Texas alone is facing $1.1 billion of insured losses from over 125,000 claims according to the state’s insurance council.
Elsewhere in the world, the most damaging severe thunderstorm and flood event in at least a decade impacted the United Arab Emirates and Oman in March. UAE local insurers anticipated claims to reach U$140 million with total economic losses forecast to be well into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Insurers praise police in Ontario
The Insurance Bureau of Canada has congratulated police in Ontario for exposing an alleged staged collision scheme which has led to 24 charges against 4 individuals.
"Staged collisions can draw innocent drivers into dangerous situations on the road," said Garry Robertson, National Director, Investigative Services, IBC. "Insurance crime adds unnecessary costs to our health care system, emergency services and courts, and it costs consumers in the form of higher insurance rates."
York Regional Police were supported by the IBC team. Robertson said that a single staged collision can result in more than C$100,000 in fraudulent payouts.
Workers would choose wage increase over health insurance
A survey of workers found that a fifth would prefer a wage increase rather than increased health insurance. The study by Greenwald & Associates revealed that over two-thirds of those with employer-sponsored health coverage were satisfied with their health insurance benefits but that is down from 74 per cent in 2012.
