Main Street Industry News - February 2023

INSIDE

Fourth Quarter 2022 Commercial

Rates: Looks like the Rest of 2022 » 7

A Problem that Keeps Growing Worse: Replacing Workers that are Retiring or Leaving » 11

Healthcare in the U.S.: We Don’t Think it’s All that Good » 16

Very Frightening & an Insurer

Nightmare: Positive Drug Tests in Commercial Drivers » 19

Did you know that PIA’s company council, The PIA Partnership, has conducted nationwide research about the insurance buying preferences of small business owners?

The research is encouraging because it found that small business owners strongly prefer independent insurance agents as they make choices in today’s online world.

However, the results also serve as a wake-up call that agents must take steps to continue to demonstrate their value and also be more engaged online.

PIA and the companies belonging to The PIA Partnership have created a public website that helps agents understand PIA’s findings.

PIA members also have access to a private website containing a series of strategies and tools to help them stay ahead of online competition in commercial lines.

To access the newest PIA Partnership project, Small Business Insurance & The Internet — The Voice of the Commercial Lines Customer.

If you are not a PIA member and want to access all of the tools available through this program, contact us for a membership application or visit us online at www.pianational.org/header-utility-items/join/Join-PIA

National Association of Professional Insurance Agents

400 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314-2353

www.pianet.com | membership@pianet.org | (703) 836-9340

Fourth Quarter 2022 Commercial Rates: Looks like the Rest of 2022 | 7

MarketScout has just released an analysis of commercial insurance rates for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The FTC Pushing for Non-Compete Agreement Ban | 8

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking at enacting a total ban on non-compete agreements.

Learning From Other Insurance Agents. Listen As They Share Their Stories About Technology. | 9

Are you looking to learn how other professional insurance agents use technology in their agencies?

The Most Reliable Autos | 10

Buying a new or used auto can be a bit daunting. We all worry about whether we’re purchasing the right one.

A Problem that Keeps Growing Worse: Replacing Workers that are Retiring or Leaving

| 11

The nation’s unemployment rate isn’t bad right now. For the last several months it has been low and in December the rate was 3.5%.

PIA National

—

PIA Advocacy Day

is

BACK!!! | 13

PIA National says it is excited to resume the large, in-person, PIA National Advocacy Day Event. The advocacy day events are scheduled for Tuesday, May 9 and Wednesday, May 10, and are the same week as PIA National’s annual mid-year leadership conference.

say the system is excellent or good. That means more than half of us have a very low opinion of the healthcare we’re getting.

Auto Insurers to Stop Writing Policies for KIA & Hyundai |

17

Progressive and State Farm have announced they will stop insuring some Kia and Hyundai autos. A lack of the anti-theft specifics in models made between 2015 and 2019 is the reason.

Hackers Hacked & the Operation Sacked |

18

The ransomware group is called Hive. They’ve been hacking and attacking people for too long. The FBI says their ransomware has gotten more than $130 million from over 300 victims in the U.S. and over $100 million from 1,500 victims in 80 other countries.

Very Frightening & an Insurer Nightmare: Positive Drug Tests in Commercial Drivers | 19

A report titled, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse December 2022 (whew, that’s a mouthful) report says positive test for commercial vehicle drivers jumped significantly in 2022.

January’s Commercial

Rates — Still

Risin’ | 16 Ivans Insurance Services produces a monthly index showing insurance rates. For the last few years, those rates have been rising every month. January of 2023 is no exception.

Healthcare in the U.S.: We Don’t Think it’s All that Good | 16

A new poll from Gallup looked at how we feel about healthcare and the U.S. healthcare system. Just 48%

Professional

Attention:

Email: office@pianeia.com

Ph: 402-392-1611

www.pianeia.com

FOURTH QUARTER 2022 COMMERCIAL RATES

Kerr isn’t sure the rate hikes are going to stay on the upside. He thinks the economy slowing down and interest rate hikes by the Fed could push a moderation in rate increases.

That happened in the 1980s.

Looks like the Rest of 2022

MarketScout has just released an analysis of commercial insurance rates for the fourth quarter of 2022. The firm says the composite rate jumped 5.1%. That’s down a small amount from the 5.28% rise in the third quarter.

The positive conclusion for 2022 means commercial rate increases have gone steadily up for six straight years.

The fourth quarter of 2022 for property insurance saw rates rise an average 9.3%. MarketScout founder and now CEO of Novatae Risk Group, Richard Kerr said properties that are exposed to potential catastrophes, are seeing hikes of 25% to 30%.

“On January 1, 2023, property cat reinsurance renewals were completed except in cases of poor underwriting and continuous losses,” Kerr said. “Virtually everyone was assessed more restrictive terms and conditions. The trickledown will have a notable effect on the profits of property MGAs and program managers due to lower base commissions.”

The biggest increase was seen in cyber insurance rates. They skyrocketed 20%.

“As insurers accounted for the increased income from interest rate payments on premiums paid, rates were adjusted downward,” Kerr said. “Arguably, an insurer could write at a 100% combined loss ratio because the interest they received on booked premiums was 12% to 20%. We are a long way from seeing interest rates at those levels, but even at 5% it will have a positive impact on the ROI of some insurers, possibly resulting in a moderation of rate increases.”

Fourth Quarter Numbers by Class:

Numbers by Account Size:

Source: Insurance Business America and Business Insurance

THE FTC PUSHING FOR NON-COMPETE AGREEMENT BAN

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking at enacting a total ban on non-compete agreements. They — as most of you know — can prevent a worker from moving to a company that does business in the same field, or from starting a business in that field.

The FTC says a change in non-competes could impact some 30 million of us.

FTC head, Lina Khan is a huge proponent of the change and contends the restrictions put into non-competes push wages downward and prevent better working conditions.

She says they cost American workers somewhere around $300 billion a year.

“Non-competes are bad for workers and undermine labor competition,” she said when the FTC announced the proposed ban. “When one set of workers are locked in place, that reduces churn overall.”

Khan said the ban only applies to employees. It exempts co-owners of companies who sell and want to found a new, similar business, or join a competitor.

The FTC is going to take comments on the proposal for 60 days and then will move to make it final. After the non-compete agreement is deemed to be illegal, employers will have sixmonths to terminate any non-competes they have enacted.

18% of American workers are working within a non-compete clause

35% of tech workers are bound by a non-compete clause

Source: Quartz

LEARNING FROM OTHER INSURANCE AGENTS. LISTEN AS THEY SHARE THEIR STORIES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY.

Are you looking to learn how other professional insurance agents use technology in their agencies? If so, Part 3: Learning from Agents of PIA’s Winning@Virual toolkit has you covered.

In Part 3 of Winning@Virtual, you’ll find best practices and stories of real agents who are using digital technology to build and grow customer relationships as well as enhance employee communications and engagement. We've conducted interviews with agents who are taking advantage of some of the technologies highlighted in Part 1 of this toolkit, the insurance agency technology stack. Watch their videos and you'll learn about the benefits they are experiencing, the business results these agencies are realizing, and pitfalls to avoid.

The 8 agents we’ve already interviewed and the topics they discuss:

• Al Papalardo – Voice over IP

• Vonda Copeland – Videoconferencing

• Tyson Fuehrer – Email marketing

• Ariel Rivera – Virtual assistants

• Jared Morgan – Net promoter scores

• Jonathan Cross and Elizabeth Libby –Social media advertising

• Aaron Levin – Social media and podcasting

Home, National General Insurance, Progressive Insurance, Selective Insurance Group, State Auto Insurance Companies, The Hanover Insurance Group, Travelers, and West Bend Mutual Insurance Company.

THE MOST RELIABLE AUTOS

Buying a new or used auto can be a bit daunting. We all worry about whether we’re purchasing the right one. To level the playing field, we go to the Internet, and to other sources to research the vehicles we are thinking of buying.

One of them is Consumer Reports (CR).

The publication recently put out its annual list of auto rankings. The list has few surprises. The usuals are at the top of the heap and the usual not-as-goods are at the bottom.

The results of what CR finds every year is based on reports from members who subscribe to the magazine. This year’s survey comes from information on autos from the year 2000 to 2023 and is based on reports on 300,000 individual autos.

“Asian automakers are still leading reliability by a wide margin with an overall reliability average

score of 59 for the region, on a scale of 0-100,” CR said in the report and noted that 7 of the 10 most reliable autos come from Asia. “European automakers are in second place at 51, while domestic brands trail both with an average score of 40.”

The most reliable passenger vehicles are sedans, hatchbacks and coupes. They average a 58. SUVs are second with a 51 and minivans hit 44. Pickups are last on the reliable list with a 39.

One of the reasons pickups are not considered as reliable is because many are required to haul heavy loads and travel off road. It is assumed they get more abused than the average auto.

CR says hybrids and plug-in hybrids outperform traditional gas-powered vehicles. Their score averages 78 and hybrid SUVs have a 65.

RANKINGS 0-100 POINT SCALE

Source: MSN

A PROBLEM THAT KEEPS GROWING WORSE

Replacing Workers that are Retiring or Leaving

The nation’s unemployment rate isn’t bad right now. For the last several months it has been low and in December the rate was 3.5%.

For the insurance industry the rate is sitting at around 2.1%.

At least that’s according to a report issued in the third quarter of 2022 by The Jacobson Group and Aon’s, Ward. It looks at 270,000 employees working in the carrier market and for property casualty insurers, life and health and reinsurers.

The two organizations found that 1.56 million people work in the industry. That’s down

85,000 jobs from 2020. That drop — says Greg Jacobson who is the CEO of The Jacobson Group — reveals an interesting trend in insurance employee retention and recruitment.

“This is not because insurance companies are not hiring people; they’re trying to hire lots of people,” Jacobson said. “I looked at the percentage of people that are being laid off in the financial services industry, and the percentage of people that are quitting on their own volition in the financial services industries [and] we are at the lowest in the last 10 years in terms of the percentage of people who are being laid off, and we’re at the highest in the last 10 years in terms of the number of people who are quitting. The reason why we’re down 85,000 jobs is because companies cannot hire fast enough to replace the workers that are leaving.”

Jacobson’s Insurance Labor Market Study:

• If staff can be found, 68% of companies are going to hire in the next 12 months

• 71% of the PC segment is hiring

• Just 5% are going to cut jobs

Breaking things down by company size:

• 80% of medium-sized companies are going to hire

• 72% of large companies will hire in 2023

• 61% of small companies plan on hiring in the next 12 months

Aon’s Ward CEO is Jeff Rieder said looking at future staffing plans is very interesting because

it’s getting closer and closer to being aligned with revenue expectations.

“[We asked companies about] their next 12-month staffing plan from July 2022 to July 2023, and we can see that 68% of companies were expecting to increase staff, and [that] synced up very closely with the percentage of companies that are expecting to grow in revenue, which is at 73%,” Rieder said. “Only about 4% are expecting a decrease in revenue, compared to about 5% expecting to decreased staff. This is probably one of the most correlated metrics that we’ve seen over the last several years.”

Source: Insurance Business America

PIA NATIONAL PIA ADVOCACY DAY IS BACK!!!

PIA National says it is excited to resume the large, in-person, PIA National Advocacy Day Event. The advocacy day events are scheduled for Tuesday, May 9 and Wednesday, May 10, and are the same week as PIA National’s annual mid-year leadership conference.

No event sponsored by PIA National is more informative, and more important, than the annual advocacy day. That’s the day PIA members get to meet with their members of Congress in the Senate or House, or — at the very least — with important staff members, and advocate for issues critical to their own

businesses, insurance business in their states and important insurance issues.

Some background.

In 2022, PIA implemented a series of yearround advocacy events, which gave agents the chance to meet virtually with federal policymakers on the issues that matter most to them. These rolling fly-ins were critical in advancing the interests of PIA members on our most pressing issues of focus, even as Capitol Hill’s heightened access restrictions persisted, due to the pandemic and security concerns.

Thankfully, the access restrictions were substantially lifted beginning with the 118th Congress on January 3rd, paving the way for the return of larger, in-person advocacy events like PIA’s annual Advocacy Day.

The day will close with a welcome reception.

Who’s Hit Hardest DATA BREACHES

So save those dates!

On Tuesday, May 9, attendees will gather at the Westin in Old Town Alexandria to prepare for their congressional meetings, which will be held on Wednesday, May 10.

As part of that preparation, PIA National will be hosting two policy panels in the afternoon on flood insurance and crop insurance. Those sessions will feature stakeholders involved in both issues.

The panels will be followed by an issue briefing with details, background, and the very latest information on the status of critical insurance issues and those important to the independent agency system.

The next day, Wednesday, May 10, buses will transport you to Capitol Hill for your morning meetings. We have reserved an area at the Capitol Hill Club for you to stop in and relax between meetings; the Capitol Hill Club space will be available from approximately 10:00am to 3:30pm.

Then, our Capitol Hill Reception, also at the Capitol Hill Club, will begin at 4:30pm.

Registration for Advocacy Day (as well as registration for the separate PIA Spring Leadership meetings to be held later that week) will open in the coming weeks!

In the meantime, for more information, please contact Jon Gentile at jgentile@pianational.org or your state affiliate executive.

Source: PIA National

JANUARY’S COMMERCIAL RATES STILL RISIN’

Ivans Insurance Services produces a monthly index showing insurance rates. For the last few years, those rates have been rising every month. January of 2023 is no exception.

The insurance services firm notes that commercial property insurance had the biggest hike in January at 8.7%. That’s up .3% from December’s 8.4%. Umbrella rates jumped an average of 5.6%.

December of 2022 had umbrella policies rising 5.4%.

Most other lines saw a slowdown over December of 2022. BOP policies rose an average of 6.9%. That’s down from 7.2% in December of last year. Commercial auto jumped 5.8% but in December of 2022, that figure was 6.1%.

General liability rose an average of 5.3% compared to 5.7% in December of 2022.

Only workers’ compensation rates fell in January. They dropped 1.9%. That’s just a tad less than the 1.7% drop in December.

Source: Business Insurance

HEALTHCARE IN THE U.S.

We Don’t Think it’s All that Good

A new poll from Gallup looked at how we feel about healthcare and the U.S. healthcare system. Just 48% say the system is excellent or good. That means more than half of us have a very low opinion of the healthcare we’re getting.

It’s the first times since 2001 that Americans have been on the negative side on the issue. That said, our opinion has been slowly dropping since 2012 when 62% of us had a positive opinion.

Since 2012 the views of the positive side have sat around 55%. Last year it fell to 50% and now has dropped to 48%.

Gallup has found the biggest drop to be with Republicans who’ve put thumbs down on healthcare since President Trump left office. In 2019 the tally was 75% of Republicans approving of how healthcare is done in the U.S. Today, just 56% of Republicans say it’s good or excellent.

Traditionally, Democrats aren’t all that satisfied with the system and this year their level of satisfaction is 46%.

One of the big problems people have with healthcare in the U.S. is the price. Just 24% say they’re happy with how much total healthcare costs. Of those appreciating the cost, 56% say they’re satisfied with the price they pay for healthcare.

That’s also the lowest number since 2016.

Source: The Hill

Auto Insurers to Stop Writing Policies for KIA & Hyundai

Progressive and State Farm have announced they will stop insuring some Kia and Hyundai autos. A lack of the anti-theft specifics in models made between 2015 and 2019 is the reason.

Matt Moore of the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) said his organization and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IHHS) found there are twice as many thefts for those vehicles than the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.

“Car theft spiked during the pandemic,” Moore explained. “These numbers tell us that some vehicles may be targeted because they’re fast or worth a lot of money, and others because they’re easy to steal.”

He said these vehicles don’t have the electronic mobilizers that deter theft which makes them very easy to take. All a thief has to do is break into the car and bypass the ignition.

Moore noted that once immobilizers are added to those cars, thefts “plunged.”

The report from the two entities said in 2015 close to 95% of all manufacturers had immobilizers installed in their vehicles. For these Kia and Hyundai models, the number is 26%.

Source: MSN Money

Help Build Your Family’s Financial Future With PIA Trust Insurance Plans

Hackers Hacked & the Operation Sacked

$130 million from over 300 victims in the U.S.

The ransomware group is called Hive. They’ve been hacking and attacking people for too long. The FBI says their ransomware has gotten more than $130 million from over 300 victims in the U.S. and over $100 million from 1,500 victims in 80 other countries.

No more says U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa

Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Using some legal maneuvers, government cyber wizards worked their way into the hacker’s system and found digital keys to unlock the Hive’s data banks.

Monaco said once they had the data, potential victims were notified so they could find ways to protect themselves from an attack. “Using lawful means, we hacked the hackers,” Monaco told reporters. “We turned the tables on Hive.”

Just after the government’s attack, the Hive’s website flashed a message that said, “The

Federal Bureau of Investigation seized this site as part of coordinated law enforcement action taken against Hive Ransomware.”

The criminals from Hive were working out of Germany. That nation’s Police Commissioner Udo Vogel said Hive’s servers were grabbed by the German Federal Criminal Police and the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit.

“Intensive cooperation across national borders and continents, characterized by mutual trust, is the key to fighting serious cybercrime effectively,” he said.

At the news conference announcing the attack on Hive, Garland, Monaco and Wray said the group was one of the most prolific cybercriminal groups working today. While no arrests were made, the three said we need to “stay tuned.”

Source: Insurance Journal

Very Frightening and an Insurer Nightmare

Positive Drug Tests in Commercial Drivers

A report titled, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse December 2022 (whew, that’s a mouthful) report says positive test for commercial vehicle drivers jumped significantly in 2022.

Positive tests for THC hit 40,916 in 2022. That’s up from 31,085 in 2021 and 29,511 in 2020.

MONACO TOLD REPORTERS, “WE TURNED THE TABLES ON HIVE.”

Test for cocaine that ended up being positive numbered 10,953. For methamphetamine the number was 5,569. Commercial drivers were also found to be overdoing prescription meds like oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine.

The state of California, Texas and Florida has the most positive tests.

By the way, to date over 120,345 commercial drivers sit in “prohibited” status because of driving while under the influence of one or more drugs.

Source: Business Insurance

powered by

Events Calendar 2023