INSURANCE CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY

According to a recent internet article by Mark Hofmann on the respected (Business Insurance) website, the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry's amalgamated net income for the first nine months of 2003 reached upwards of $21.11 billion, and its amalgamated earnings were quadrupled from the same time the year before. See www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=3829.

The study conducted by insurance Services Office Inc. and National Association of Independent Insurers, further concluded that the industry's consolidated surplus for the first nine months of 2003 rose to an estimated #319.9 billion; a $46 billion increase from the same period of 2002. Further, the net underwriting losses for 2003 were $5.7 billion, a huge drop from the $18.24 billion in losses during 2002.

All of this of course will not stop the surge of rate increase requests that are flooding into the department of financial services, nor will it stop the everlasting demand that disabled victims of negligence must give up even more rights, in order to enhance the availability of affordable insurance coverage, and the solvency of the insurance industry.