We live in interesting times
It’s already been a busy year for insurers, and the number of claims will only escalate due to COVID-19, the protests and riots, and a busy hurricane season.
After several months of adjusting to remote work, telemedicine, using food delivery services for carryout and groceries, and spending quality time with our pets and families, businesses are slowly beginning to reopen. However, the losses have been devastating and no industry or company has been spared. The personal cost of the coronavirus has been high in terms of lives lost, individuals with residual health effects, businesses closed, schools and programs affected, graduations and milestone events missed, and a host of other impacts. For carriers, the challenges are just beginning.
Policyholder claims will escalate as companies seek to recover some of their losses. Policy interpretation and exclusions will play a critical role. As multiple states seek to legislate coverage where it may not exist, carriers will be forced into court to defend their decisions. If coverage can be legislated, it interferes with the contract between the insurer and the insured, and sets a dangerous precedent not just for the insurance industry, but for any line of business where a customer can sustain a loss such as investing or real estate. We will continue to watch these developments.
Technology has made the adjustment to telework a little easier and allowed companies to stay in touch with employees and customers, and it will continue to play a vital role in adjusting losses and communicating with insureds. Its role in terms of claims cannot be underestimated and it will continue to expedite the process from the first notice of loss through the investigation and well into closing and paying a claim.
It is already having an impact on auto claims, transforming the entire process based on information gathered from the vehicles themselves following an accident. On the horizon are autonomous cars. Once viewed as merely as a pipe dream, engineers have been working to bring that dream to life and while their use in the mainstream is still several years away, many vehicles already on the road have semi-autonomous features. We may not be able to sleep, read or play games on our phones while driving, but parking assist, lane control and automatic braking are already here.
While technology can prevent many accidents, they still occur. Who’s at fault? Is it the driver or the vehicle? Now is the time for insurers to start developing policies that answer these and other questions so that adjusters have some guidance when determining claims coverage.
To say we live in interesting times seems like an oversimplification, and yet the COVID-19 virus has produced the kind of havoc on a global basis I would have only thought possible with a massive cyber event. Stay safe and work smart.
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