Financial impairments in the US property and casualty (P&C) industry in 2013 slid to their lowest level since 2007, according to original research by A.M. Best.
These amounted to little more than half of both the historical average and the 2012 impairment count. Risk retention groups (RRGs) operating in a variety of fields represented half of the 2013 impairments.
There were 14 known P&C impairments in 2013 compared with 25 in 2012, with most of the impaired companies hurt by several years of volatile and generally unprofitable underwriting results.
The industry overall turned a corner in 2013, posting its first underwriting profit since 2009.
A.M. Best has also predicted continued interest in the stop-loss market from employers with an appetite for risk on employee health care costs.
This is primarily due to the fact that stop-loss plans are not subject to the health insurance industry fee component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts or their minimum loss ratio requirements.
