Insurance crisis - Mail call: readers sound off

Tools of the Trade, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Paul Burnett

I was disappointed to read your recent Editor's Note berating insurance companies and blaming then primarily for the problems facing contractors as they seek to buy liability coverage (July/August 2003, page 11). You should recognize that insurance companies, just as you, are in business to make a profit. When claims awarded by the courts increase rapidly as they have in recent years and simultaneously the financial markets tank, insurance companies must increase premiums in order to remain profitable. In the 1990s, their investments covered some of their claim losses. Tort reform is badly needed in this country. Otherwise, the cost of insurance will continue to escalate. I, too, find that all my insurance premiums have increased significantly, but unlike you, I don't think all the blame rests on the insurance industry.

Paul Burnett

Indianapolis