Bush Victory Gives P-C Insurers Upper HandIndustry sees better chance for medical malpractice,class-action, asbestos reforms

When we ran a story last August showing how theproperty-casualty insurance industrys legislative agenda might bebetter served with a victory by President George W. Bush, we werecastigated by a number of readers for taking too narrow a view ofthe race for the White House.

While acknowledging the validity of such tunnel vision in asubsequent editorial, there is no doubt that industry lobbyists arepleased to see pro-tort-reformers remain in power inWashington.

However, whether continued Republican control of the White Houseand Congress will translate into passage of medical malpractice,class-action and asbestos claims reform is another story. All threeissues remain political dynamite, and have been trapped on theWashington legislative merry-go-round for years now. Plus thebitterness between Democrats and Republicans lingering after theelection promises to make compromise on any controversial issuedifficult to pull off in the filibuster-prone Congress.

Asbestos reform could prove to be particularly problematic,especially since the industry itself is somewhat divided over howto divvy up claims and make sure those who are ill are compensatedin a timely manner. The notion of putting together a trust fundfinanced by insurers remains the central pillar of reformlegislation in Congress.

However, at least one huge playerAIG Chairman and CEO MauriceGreenberghas called on Congress and the industry to drop the priceyand divisive trust fund concept and instead push for simplerprocedural reforms that will have a more immediate impact. Such amove would require that someone actually demonstrate symptoms ofillness before collecting on an asbestos-exposure claim, so thatthose who are definitely ill now get quicker compensation.

These arent the only insurance-related issues that will beraised in Congress next year, as other stories in this “Top 10″list will show. So fasten your seat belts, because 2005 promises tobe a bumpy ride indeed for the industry on Capitol Hill.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, December 16, 2004.Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.