Zach Finn, director of the Davey risk management and insurance programme at Butler University, has urged the US Congress and Senate to create a Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (PRIA) or to amend the Terrorism Risk and Insurance Act (TRIA).
Finn has asked the US federal government to “immediately amend TRIA to retroactively cover pandemics, quarantine, etc.”.
He stated that coverage needs to be retroactively offered to anyone who previously declined TRIA, and suggested that the government needs to trigger coverage and pay claims.
According to Finn, the US Government needs to create a risk pool that’s “fair, organised and underwritten”, adding that “we need the government to be the bank with other’s premiums, not necessarily taxpayer money”.
Finn has encouraged Americans to engage with their government relations team and call their representative.
He explained that if the US Federal Government immediately liberalised TRIA to include the peril of pandemics, President Donald Trump could make the TP-RIA declaration immediately and put capital in the market.
Additionally, Finn stressed that this applies to every business in the US, using Butler University as an example, noting that it is “out millions from the current COVID-19 pandemic”.
He revealed that if another event was to occur in the autumn, the university and many industries could become bankrupt.
“It makes sense to amend TRIA to include pandemics then create a new vehicle as it should be faster and more efficient to ensure two uncorrelated losses that reduce standard deviation around expected losses”, Finn said.
He added: “If coverage is not retroactive there will be years of claims litigation and it will only be a matter of time until a legislature or court invalidates coverage exclusions and destabilised insurance markets.”
