Posted on Thu, Jul 01, 2010
July 1, 2010
Insurance Journal
The U.S. Senate last night approved a temporary reauthorization of the federal flood insurance program until Sept. 30. The reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is retroactive to June 1, the date the program was halted.
The unanimous Senate vote sent the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature. The House had previously approved reauthorization.
Once President Obama signs the bill into law, the NFIP should return to normal operations, according to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big "I"). Also, since the extension is retroactive, any new policy applications or renewals that were signed and submitted during the hiatus will be effective from the date of application or, in the case of waiting periods, the waiting period will start from the date of application.
The Big "I" said that while the resumption of the program is welcome, the spring lapse -- the third time this year it has been forced to halt operations-- has caused difficulties for homeowners and small businesses.
"It is alarming that the NFIP was allowed to remain expired for so long, causing so much confusion and potentially leaving desperate homeowners and small businesses unprotected for almost a month," said Robert Rusbuldt, Big "I" president and CEO. "While the Big 'I' is appreciative of Congress extending the program on a temporary basis, we are also greatly concerned that these short expiration periods and patchwork of temporary extensions will negatively impact the market."
The industry has urged Congress to act on a long term extension of the program.
Read more: Insurance Journal
Posted on Thu, Jun 17, 2010
Insurance Journal
June 16, 2010
The Senate today voted against legislation that included a provision to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Along with short term extensions for numerous other federal programs, the NFIP extension was passed by the House just prior to the Memorial Day recess. It was voted down by the Senate today amid concerns that other, unrelated provisions in the bill would add to the federal budget deficit. Should the Senate approve an amended version, the legislation would have to go back to the House for another vote in that chamber.
The Senate vote drew criticism from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).
"It's been over two weeks since the National Flood Insurance Program was allowed to expire, and the program is still being held up because of unrelated issues," said Jimi Grande, NAMIC senior vice president of federal and political affairs. "This lack of action by Congress is unacceptable, particularly when we're in the first few weeks of the 2010 hurricane season."
The Atlantic storm season began June 1 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecasted that 2010 will be among the most active seasons ever. The NOAA predicts that 2010 will see 14 to 23 named storms, with eight to 14 of those developing into hurricanes. Of those, the NOAA has said that three to seven may develop into Category 3 or above hurricanes with winds of over 110 miles per hour.
"We cannot afford to have political disagreements get in the way of protecting millions of Americans from flood losses," Grande said.
Source: NAMIC
Source: Insurance Journal
Posted on Mon, May 10, 2010
(Reuters) - Representative Barney Frank introduced legislation on Friday to extend the National Flood Insurance Program through September, which would give Congress more time to fix the troubled program.
The insurance program, important to more than 5 million homes and businesses in flood plains, has been in debt since major hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. Reform efforts stalled in Congress last year.
"This program is too critical to our housing recovery to be allowed to lapse," Democratic Representative Maxine Waters, who chairs a subcommittee working on the issue, said in a statement.
Twice this year, the program -- which provides flood coverage through more than 90 companies that sell policies and collect premiums for a fee -- has lapsed, affecting people trying to buy homes in flood-prone areas, Waters said.
Insurers like Allstate, Travelers, Hartford Financial Services and Fidelity National Financial are closely watching the debate.
The House Financial Services Committee, which is led by Frank, is working on reauthorizing the program for five years and wants to make a series of changes to help it work better.
Frank's bill would extend the program's ability to write and renew flood insurance policies from its May 31 deadline through September 30.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton)
Reuters
Posted on Tue, May 04, 2010
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Houston, May 2010
When Bob Dean started Dean & Draper Insurance Agency LP some 30 years ago, he started from scratch. Those days are long done, and as the company has grown, he's had the challenge of keeping the small business environment with the demands of a larger company.
"That's been a very difficult task," says the founder, president and CEO of the insurance agency, which posted about $13 million in 2008 revenue. "But you've got to continuously work at it to do it."
Dean and his team established principles that the entire company will try to accomplish as a way of keeping everyone on the same page and avoid departments breaking into silos.
"If you isolate yourself into too many little silos of operation where no one is communicating with each other, then they all have separate goals and it just doesn't work," he says. "So we try to keep the communication flowing."
Smart Business spoke with Dean about how to delegate and how to set goals.
Encourage delegation. I do it by empowering my managers and delegating to them, and in our management meetings, we have one every Wednesday, I've told them several times about delegation as far as getting the most out of your folks. I tell a story about when I was in high school. I was a high school quarterback and I said, ‘If I handed the ball to somebody on a play and I didn't turn loose the ball and I had to tell them what to do, like turn here, turn there, run or whatever, then how are they ever going to be able to use their natural talent?' You've got to turn loose the ball and let the people's natural talent happen. So I try to encourage it through my managers and then hopefully that filters down to where the people ... feel empowered to perform their job because they are all professionals.
Monitor what you delegate. It's a judgment issue on the delegation issue as far as trying to evaluate what the skill set is of the person you are delegating to. While you delegate, you always follow up, too. I was a safety engineer for 10 years. One of the things that I did in establishing safety programs a lot was when I was talking to company owners, I would tell them, ‘If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.' So you need to be able to, when you delegate, No. 1, know if they have the ability or skill set to do it so you aren't setting them up for failure. But then you have to be able to measure it so you can quantify it some way to find out if the job got done and what kind of quality or quantity, depending on what you are looking for.
What I usually do is I will give them a time frame. I don't believe in micromanagement at all. I'm more of a macro type of manager, and I will give them the project and the task and then I will tell them when I expect it. We will negotiate a time. If they say I can't do it, then we ask them why they can't do it. If they feel like they can do it during that time, then we both have an understanding about the time frame in which we have to get it done. Of course, I may follow up somewhere along halfway through it and say, ‘How's it going?' ‘Well, we're doing OK.' And if they are comfortable with that, then I'll usually let them run with it. If they have questions, they will come to me to ask me specifics about, ‘Is this what you really wanted?' Delegation is to try to let them feel like they are having an effect and that they are feeling good about what they do, as well. There's absolutely no way I can do it all.
Help employees. If we have issues, I will get involved in helping solve some of the details with the employees as well as handling the big decisions. You have to be involved. You cannot sit aloof in your position because they have to respect you. They have to have a respect for you and your skill set and that you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, as some of them may refer to it - to get down and work with solving some of the issues. We try to have a mentor for the managers, as well, if we have a new one. We've got various leadership training courses that some of the companies offer ... and we've sent some folks to that at various times when it was appropriate to help get them on board for things they are going to face.
Set goals. I tell folks here that we first of all have to operate between the white lines. We have to establish systems and procedures so everyone knows what is expected. We also provide employee evaluations on a minimum of an annual basis and sometimes semiannual and we try to provide goals for them and establish career tracks to help them see what their future can be. Again, we're kind of real big on training, and we negotiate with them the best we can to establish some kind of a time frame for them to establish their goals. I've always been real big on education and professional certifications, and I think the more that an employee learns and the more confident they become in what they are doing converts to self-esteem. To me, the self-esteem and how someone feels about themselves is directly beneficial not only to them but to the company.
How to reach: Dean & Draper Insurance Agency LP, (713) 527-0444 or http://www.deandraper.com/
Smart Business Houston
Posted on Fri, Apr 16, 2010
President Obama Signs Jobless Aid, Flood Insurance Extension
By Andy Sullivan
April 15, 2010
Congress Thursday voted to restore jobless benefits for hundreds of thousands of Americans who had lost them during a partisan standoff in the Senate over spending.
[The bill also reauthorizes the federal flood insurance program until the end of May and restores federal COBRA health insurance subsidies.]
The House of Representatives voted 289-112 to restore the lapsed programs and sent the measure to President Barack Obama, who signed it into law. The Senate had approved it earlier in the day after weeks of delay.
With the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent, some 6.1 million Americans rely on jobless benefits. Those benefits, which average roughly $300 a week, expired for more than 200,000 Americans on April 5 after Republican Senator Tom Coburn blocked a vote shortly before Congress left town on a two-week break.
The standoff also has disrupted a federal flood insurance program, which has held up 1,400 home sales each day in flood-prone areas and slashed emergency loans to small businesses, Democrats said.
COBRA health insurance subsidies for the unemployed and payments to doctors under the Medicare health program have also been disrupted.
[The provision reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is effective retroactively to Feb. 28 and extends the program until May 31, 2010, the day before the new hurricane season officially starts. Forecasters have warned that this coming season could be one with above-average storm activity.
The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big "I") said it is concerned that Congress has only extended the program for a brief period again.
Congress failed to extend the NFIP before leaving for recess last month, resulting in the program's expiration on March 28. Since March 29, the program has been in what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) calls a "hiatus period", meaning that no flood insurance policies could be issued or renewed. In addition, existing policyholders could not increase their coverage. This was the second lapse in flood insurance coverage this year. The NFIP also expired on Feb. 28, 2010, but Congress did not reauthorize the program until March 2.
"It is alarming that the NFIP was allowed to expire, causing so much confusion and potentially leaving desperate homeowners and small businesses unprotected for more than two weeks," said Robert Rusbuldt, Big "I" president and CEO. "The Big 'I' is greatly concerned that these short expiration periods, coupled with the uncertainty of temporary extensions, will negatively impact the market."
Since the extension is retroactive, any new policy applications or renewals that were signed and submitted during the hiatus will be effective from the date of application or, in the case of waiting periods, the waiting period will start from the date of application, according to the agents' group.
"This series of temporary extensions, last minute actions and service lapses during such a delicate period in our economy is of great concern to our agents, homeowners and small businesses," said Charles Symington, Big "I" senior vice president of government affairs. "Though we are grateful that Congress extended this program, we are increasingly frustrated by these repeated one-month extensions and the periods of expiration that sometimes result from them."
Insurers, too, expressed frustration with Congress.
"We are pleased that Congress made this a priority upon returning from recess this week," said David A. Sampson, president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). "But these short putts down a long fairway set a dangerous precedent that leaves homeowners vulnerable. We need a long-term, sustainable solution to the flood program. Over 5.5 million Americans rely on this vital program."]
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/04/15/109055.htm
