Declarations

All eyes on Allstate

“I will carefully monitor Allstate’s actions throughout this process to ensure that policyholders entitled to reinstatement are fully protected.”

— Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon commenting on the settlement his department reached with the insurer to help reinstate some homeowners insurance policies and give residents more time to repair homes and obtain coverage. Previously, many homeowners in four south Louisiana parishes lost coverage due to a flawed home inspection process.

Funds for farmers

“What it’s about is the impact on the economy of an entire region.When you come down to the human level, there is no question that there are farmers meeting with their bankers right now, and whether or not they can farm this year is dependent on whether this program is approved.”

— North Dakota Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, in Washington lobbying the federal Agriculture Department to support a war spending bill that would designate $4 billion toward agricultural disaster aid. Western and Midwestern members of Congress have been trying for more than a year to find a way to pay farmers for losses due to an ongoing drought, along with flooding and other disasters. House Republicans have opposed the idea, and Democrats have supported it. (Associated Press)

Humanitarian claims

“In the world of the Holocaust survivor and their families, there is little opportunity to obtain financial compensation for the torture and loss that is part of their wartime histories. In point of fact, we will never be able to make true reparation for the horror or misery they endured, but we can and have held insurance companies responsible to pay for the promise of protection offered by Holocaust-era insurance policies.”

— International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims Vice Chairman and former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken, announcing that more than $300 million in awards were distributed to more than 48,000 Holocaust survivors and their heirs at the conclusion of its claims and appeals processes. The

ICHEIC was established in 1998 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, in conjunction with several European insurance companies, European governments, representatives of several Jewish and Holocaust survivor organizations, and the State of Israel to ensure payment of valid insurance claims. The NAIC has led the states’ interaction with the ICHEIC, assisting claimants and their heirs with the process.

Regulatory modernization

“These are important developments in the march toward creating insurance markets all across the country where prices are governed by the market competition.”

— Ann Weber, vice president and regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, commenting on the New Mexico legislature’s passing of a bill that would establish a file and use rate regulatory system for most personal lines of insurance.