Pat Speer can attest to the growing impact the legalization of cannabis, which includes both marijuana and hemp, is having on insurance. "Cannabis is a sleeping giant," says Speer, a longtime insurance-industry journalist and communications specialist who was tapped to moderate a session on the topic during IASA 2019, held this year at the Phoenix Convention Center in June. "It will have a major impact, from a recreational and medicinal standpoint, on claims and underwriting across almost all lines of business." Roughly 75 carrier representatives and insurance technologists attended Speer's session, titled "Cannabis: Insurers Capitalize on Effective Management of Growing Niche." Speer was joined for the event by California Department of Insurance Director Camille L. Dixon; Kathleen Brown-Hurtado, vice president of specialty programs with International Excess Companies; Continental Inheritance Insurance Co. CFO Wes Gilbreath; and Lee Mashore, COO of CHSI Technologies Inc. Together the panel addressed some of the insurance industry's pressing cannabis concerns. "Insurers providing cover for cannabis growers ask if their current core systems technology will be adequate to deal with the layers of complexity/channels," Speer says. "Workers' comp carriers are concerned about claims disposition and decisioning, processing and reporting." Some insurers remain gun-shy about delving too deeply into cannabis business insurance because the drug remains classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic by the federal government. "In my opinion, once the Fed removes the Schedule 1 classification, the industry will break open," Speer says. The slideshow above reveals some of the issues raised during the IASA 2019 cannabis insurance session. These 13 insurance challenges surrounding the tremendous growth of the legal marijuana and hemp industries were outlined in the March 2019 A.M. Best report, "Cannabis: New Opportunities for Insurers, But with Burgeoning Risks." Claims magazine, National Underwriter Property & Casualty and PropertyCasualty360.com are sponsoring a free webinar on Tues., July 23, 2019 at 2 p.m. ET that will examine many of the issues insurers must address as they venture into this area. Related: |

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