Robert Hartwig Quotes (34 Quotes)

Unless there is some rationalization of the price of insurance relative to the risk assumed, there will be continued problems of availability.

You should assume that as charitable as it is, you have total liability for these individuals, in the same way as if a stranger came to your house just invited for a dinner party. If they slipped and fell, you're going to be liable for them. You do not enjoy any immunity from liability. It's a sad statement, but that's the world we live in today.

New Orleans is what it is because the federal government made it that way. And what it is today -- underwater.

Politicians are loath to do anything that would hurt development in their local district. Politically, it would be impossible to propose limiting development.

The bill is not substantially different in how we expected it to come out in that the government backed away involvement to extent that it could. But if there is a failure in all of this, it is in that insurers and their partners, including real estate interests, were unable to make the government realize that large-scale terrorism losses are not insurable. They are acts of war.

Rising medical costs are the principle driver behind higher auto insurance prices in the U. S. and a significant share of that pressure is due to abuse and in some cases outright fraud.

The state of Florida is living in denial. Florida is not living up to its obligation to control growth and shows no signs of living up to its obligation.

The vast majority of people know an earthquake is likely to occur but willingly turn down the coverage. They're playing Russian roulette.

It's all location dependent. In the northern half of the states, it will be minimal. But in areas prone to hurricane-related risks, it's likely that insurance will rise substantially, probably for several years.

This is not a new issue in the industry. For a number of years, insurers have found it necessary to adjust their exposure in certain catastrophe-prone segments of the United States.

Insurers have never collected a penny in flood-insurance premiums. If they're forced to pay, it could quite possibly be destabilizing and lead to the insolvency of smaller insurers in the area.

The definition of 'flood' is fairly ironclad. It's essentially water that comes from below,

The local, state and federal government are still at quite a distance away from a financially feasible solution. While there needs to be a way to assure the financial recovery of hurricane victims, you also need to make sure the risk is reflected in the p

If the nature of the report paves the way for some sort of permanent mechanism, that could help tremendously. But if its ambiguous or hostile towards the idea, then we will be in the exact same position as we were this time around.

We are certainly expecting that for the next 20 years or so we will be in a cycle of more frequent and intense storms. There's going to have to be an adjustment in the industry.

The industry is largely satisfied with the way the TRIA extension has taken shape although there is some consternation over the increase in trigger. But six months ago, even the possibility of extending TRIA was looking grim.

Hopefully, in two years we're not in this same position again, in the 11th hour trying to negotiate terms for an extension.

We are already at about 50 billion of insured losses from catastrophes in this country so far and that could be as high as 70 billion, depending on what Katrina does. Hurricane Wilma is a situation that is going to exacerbate what was already problematic for the insurance industry.

A lot will depend not just on where you live, but who your insurer is.

I'm skeptical that a lot of people will use them, and I'm even more skeptical that Congress is in a mood right now to pass anything that has a negative budget impact.

The industry is obviously happy and grateful. It backs the most important lines -- worker compensation and commercial property.

Based on recent precedents, compensation payments to passengers' families are running at about 2.4 million per passenger, which suggests the total cost to insurers could be between 250 million to 350 million,

There's evidence that many soldiers will exhibit mental stress from their experience, and it's important for employers to monitor them, particularly if they're operating heavy machinery or driving.

They can't get behind the wheel once without your insurance company knowing about it.

There are easily storm scenarios in New York that run to tens of billions of dollars. And structures on Long Island aren't as well built as new construction in Florida.

We dodged a bullet, ... But it's still probably going to cost insurers in the vicinity of 4.5 billion.

Many people would be surprised how many secret taxes are levied on automobile and homeowner insurance premiums, some of which have tenuous links on auto safety.

These soldiers put their lives on the line and deserve the utmost respect. But even big companies haven't thought about their obligations to these people.

This is an insurance adjuster's worst nightmare. We're seeing tens of millions of additional damage each day and the meter is still running.

Estimates of insured losses from Wilma range from 4 billion to 10 billion. The four hurricanes last year and the same number so far in 2005 in the state indicate that there might be more years like this ahead, ... That means that the risks associated with insuring properties in these areas have substantially increased.

Insurers benefited from the rising short-term interest rates to generate 40.7 billion on their investment portfolio in the first nine months of the year.

It's the price of paradise, ... People are drawn to landscapes.

On one side will be people who want to rebuild quickly and inexpensively, and on the other will be those who say, 'We need to do something different. We need to build all these homes up higher and make them more resistant to wind,

Typically, they want to know how many people are residents in your household. That creates a different liability situation, and you need to inform your insurance company about that.