A.M.BestTV: Medical Professional Liability Insurers Keep Momentum Going

A.M. Best’s latest episode of “First Monday,” the monthly program featuring commentary by the company's leading analysts, looks at how medical professional liability (MPL) insurers were able to record a ninth straight year of underwriting profit, along with significant rate increases and stronger underwriting, in 2014. Senior Financial Analyst Dan Teclaw discusses how the MPL insurers that A.M. Best follows accomplished these favorable trends, which have been accompanied by declining premium and reserve risks.

Click on: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=mpli515 to view the entire video program.

Teclaw sees a change in the market due to physicians changing their practices. “The market is decreasing with prospective policyholders because more and more physicians are going into hospital employment or larger physician groups, which requires a different expertise than underwriting for smaller physician groups,” said Teclaw.

However, Teclaw is optimistic about the future for the MPL industry. “A.M. Best believes that this industry will continue to be pretty strong over the next few years. Continuing favorable reserve development has translated into excess capital, which many of the companies want to deploy, either through returning it to policyholders in the form of dividends, doing joint ventures to broaden their market profile or different types of activities that might gain them access to the market and allow them to grow organically.”

Recent episodes of A.M.BestTV include:

• Insurer Pessimism on a 2015 Interest Rate Hike Increasing, A.M. Best Survey Finds: Commentary on a recent A.M. Best survey of U.S. insurance companies on asset allocations, competition, capital management, enterprise risk management and interest rates: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fmsurvey515.
• ‘First Monday’: International Association of Insurance Supervisors Urged to Take Time on Insurance Capital Standards Work: The International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ development of international capital standards and the time frame for their adoption: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fmcapital515
• Industry Leaders Examine Katrina's Impact on Today's Market: The annual Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s conference in New Orleans, LA, wraps up with a panel discussion on the lasting impact of Hurricane Katrina 10 years later: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rims1515. View all wrap-ups and interviews from the event at http://www.ambest.com/rims2015.
• Attorneys Brace for a Range of Regulatory Issues: The New York City Bar Association’s annual program on insurance regulation issues looks at the largest regulatory topics that are touching every corner of the industry: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=nycbar2015.

A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

A.M. Best Company is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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