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Tag: Coverage
Piecing Together Coverage in Live Events Tough Insurance Market Remains as COVID Restrictions Ease
The upcoming summer months promise to bring a resurgence of festivals, concerts, and community events after the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shut down the live entertainment industry for the past two years.
Pent-up demand for in-person events is fueling cautious optimism among specialists in the entertainment and event space, who say they are busier than ever trying to secure adequate coverage for their clients.
“The market is absolutely rebounding and it’s exciting to see,” said Debbie Spinner, underwriting manager in the Entertainment division of Alive Risks, which is part of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers.
But getting back to pre-pandemic event normalcy will be a slow process for the insurance market, entertainment specialists say. Market conditions for mid-size and large events were extremely challenging before the pandemic began and with little to no event business for carriers to write and a slew of claims to pay, the market’s hardening has accelerated.
Several carriers left the market altogether and those that remain pulled back on their capacity, leaving agents and brokers scrambling to place business with fewer markets to choose from.
Those looking for coverage for large events are finding markets offering lower limits, higher rates and strict underwriting requirements, according to experts.
“On average, we are experiencing rate increases for nearly all coverages as carriers need additional premium to support increased losses and expenses,” said Hub International’s “2022 US Insurance Market and Rate Report.” Rate increases average 5% to 20% or higher, depending on the line of business.
The event cancellation/contingency market has been hit hardest, said Christian Phillips, president of Paragon Insurance Holdings’ Contingency Practices. The pandemic caused more than $6 billion to $8 billion in event cancellation losses. Overall, coverage has become significantly more restrictive and there are zero options available to purchase coverage for communicable diseases, Phillips said.
“The whole market was hit dramatically, whether you were a small event organizer or a large event organizer — everybody was impacted in the same way,” he said.
Carriers are scrutinizing all event risks much more closely than they were before COVID, said Martin Ridgers, president of MKR Specialty Insurance Brokerage, an independent agency in Long Island City, N.Y. Experienced event organizers who can demonstrate they are prepared in terms of safety and security will be prioritized by underwriters.
“It is a hard market and underwriters will ask questions and let risks go,” he said.
Spinner said risk transfer has become extremely important to carriers for events of all sizes, which includes requiring vendors or third parties to have their own insurance that indemnifies the insured.
“It is essentially like a puzzle … and every piece of that puzzle has to be underwritten,” she said.
What that means for agents and brokers is significantly more work and time spent on policy submissions, and time is of the essence when it comes to securing coverage, Spinner said.
“We’re seeing an influx of new business submissions, and everybody wants to see that, but unfortunately the underwriters are extremely inundated with the amount of business coming across their desk and now the challenge is actually turning those quotes around for insureds in time,” he said.
Communicable Disease
Prior to the pandemic, event organizers could easily buy event cancellation coverage with an optional endorsement for communicable diseases, typically for an additional premium, Phillips said, but that is no longer the case as companies deal with “dramatic” losses.
“What’s happened post-COVID is there’s no option now to purchase it because obviously COVID is an ongoing thing, and everybody knows about it … it would be almost like saying ‘that building’s got smoke coming out of it — would you like to insure it with a fire policy?’” Phillips said.
Aristotle Moulopoulos, a production specialist in Alive Risk’s Entertainment division, said companies are not only excluding the coverage, but requiring “written confirmation that the insured understands there is no coverage for COVID or communicable disease” when quoting event cancellation coverage.
“It’s just another protection for the carrier because it’s an uninsurable risk right now,” he said. “They want transparency with the insured that they’re not trying to sell any product that’s misleading.”
While some insureds are asking for coverage to protect them against COVID-related cancellations, most understand it’s “an impossible placement,” Moulopoulos said.
At some point, underwriters may look at insuring communicable diseases with a COVID exclusion, Moulopoulos said, but he doesn’t see that happening as long as the virus is a prevalent issue.
There are other exposures besides COVID making underwriters nervous in the event cancellation market, as well, such as extreme weather and security threats.
The pandemic tipped the scales for those companies that were already pulling back on capacity and limits on bigger events, said Phillips. For smaller events, underwriters have adapted with new policy forms that specifically exclude communicable disease coverage, new rates and deductibles, and the market is more able to absorb losses.
“The market I would say right now is struggling from the point of view of capacity, especially with the larger events.
Obviously smaller events are much easier to deal with,” he said. “When you get to the medium-size and larger events it’s a real struggle to get 100% of the limit placed, especially for certain types of events.”
However, Phillips noted, some of the markets that left are being replaced with a few companies that were holding back while rates were low.
“For many years we were in a soft market within our industry, so this was a perfect time to come into this industry as rates went up massively, coverage narrowed and capacity reduced,” he said.
Risk Management, Education Critical Components
Safety has always been a major underwriting component in the event space, noted Alive Risk’s Spinner, but it’s more important than ever in the midst of the current hard market and COVID-19.
Underwriters have stepped up their underwriting requirements but those vary depending on the type and size of the event.
Underwriters want detailed information on event safety and emergency plans, as well as what COVID protocols are in place even though COVID is not a covered exposure, Spinner said. COVID vaccine or testing requirements are lightening up, but underwriters still want to know if appropriate health and safety precautions are being taken to minimize the event’s overall exposure.
“They want to make sure that [the insured] is trying to create a safe and well-run event,” she said.
MKR Specialty’s Ridgers said event organizers have learned “more than they probably wanted to” in the last two years on how to make their events safer, and the good news is they’ve taken a number of steps to improve in that area.
Those risks that can demonstrate they are experienced and well-organized will get quicker responses from underwriters, better policy terms and better coverage, he said. It is up to brokers to represent their customer in a proper manner, as well.
“Put [the policy submission] together as early as possible and find out what underwriters are concerned about,” he said. “Don’t just throw it to the underwriters and hope they can give you an answer — you need to go through the questions the underwriters have.”
Brokers also need to take the time to read and clearly communicate the terms and conditions of their clients’ event policies, particularly given that policies are not as comprehensive as they once were, Ridgers said.
“Underwriters are going to include terms that keep them away from risk,” he said.
Paragon’s Phillips said he has found it helpful to bring together the event organizer and the underwriter so they can go through the policy and ask questions.
“Then you’ve got much happier clients because in the event of a claim they know if they are covered or if they’re not covered, and things will run much, much more smoothly,” he said.
It is up to agents and brokers to be the trusted advisor and educate their clients on what is required to effectively — and affordably — secure coverage, Spinner said.
“With a lot of these events, especially the larger ones, it’s going to be a lot of information required to obtain insurance,” she said. “Ultimately, what these requirements are there for is to protect the insured and help them run a safe event. And, by doing all this it can help them get a better quote and a better rate.”
Coverage Set for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 Briefing, Events, Broadcast
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission sending astronauts to the International Space Station.
The launch is targeted for 5:26 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, dubbed by Crew-4 as Freedom, is scheduled to dock to the space station at 6 a.m. Sunday, April 24.
Prelaunch activities, along with launch and docking will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The Crew-4 flight will carry Mission Commander Kjell Lindgren, Pilot Bob Hines, and Mission Specialist Jessica Watkins, all of NASA, and Mission Specialist Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), to the space station for a science expedition in microgravity.
The mission is the fourth crew rotation to fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket and the fifth SpaceX flight with NASA astronauts, including the Demo-2 test flight in 2020 to the space station, as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
All media participation in the following news conferences will be virtual except where specifically listed below.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):
Friday, April 15
5 p.m. (approximately) – Flight readiness review media teleconference at Kennedy (no earlier than one hour after completion of the review) with the following participants:
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Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
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Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
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Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
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Zeb Scoville, flight director, Flight Operations Directorate, Johnson
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Jared Metter, director, Flight Reliability, SpaceX
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Frank De Winne, program manager, International Space Station, ESA
Media may ask questions via phone only. The teleconference audio will stream on nasa.gov/live. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Friday, April 15, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Monday, April 18
12:30 p.m. (approximately) – Crew arrival media event at Kennedy on the NASA Television Media Channel with the following participants (limited to previously confirmed in-person media only):
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Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
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Janet Petro, director, Kennedy Space Center
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Frank de Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
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NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren
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NASA astronaut Bob Hines
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NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
No teleconference option is available for this event.
Tuesday, April 19
6:30 a.m. – Virtual crew media engagement at Kennedy with Crew-4 astronauts on NASA Television:
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NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren
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NASA astronaut Bob Hines
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NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of event at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Thursday, April 21
9:30 p.m. (approximately) – Prelaunch news teleconference at Kennedy (no earlier than one hour after completion of the launch readiness review) with the following participants:
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Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
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Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
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Zeb Scoville, flight director, Flight Operations Directorate, Johnson
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Jessica Jensen, vice president, customer operations and integration, SpaceX
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Frank de Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
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Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron
Media may ask questions via phone only. The teleconference audio will stream on nasa.gov/live. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 8:30 p.m. on April 21 at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Friday, April 22
10 a.m. – NASA Administrator Media Briefing on NASA Television with the following participants:
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
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NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana
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Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
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Kirt Costello, chief scientist, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
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Frank de Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
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NASA Astronaut
Media may ask questions in-person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, April 22, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Saturday, April 23
1:45 a.m. – NASA Television launch commentary coverage begins
5:26 a.m. – Launch
7 a.m. (approximately) – Postlaunch news conference on NASA Television
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
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Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
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Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
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Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
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Jessica Jensen, vice president, customer operations and integration, SpaceX
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Frank de Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
Media may ask questions in-person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 6 a.m. on Saturday, April 23, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Sunday, April 24
6 a.m.– Docking
7:50 a.m. – Hatch Opening
8:15 a.m. – Welcome Ceremony from the International Space Station with the following participants:
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Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
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Josef Aschbacher, director general, ESA
NASA TV Launch Coverage
NASA TV live coverage will begin at 1:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 23. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules, and links to streaming video, visit:
Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, -1260 or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.
NASA Website Launch Coverage
Launch day coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 1:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 23, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on our launch blog at:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
Launch also will be available on local amateur VHF radio frequency 146.940 MHz and UHF radio frequency 444.925 MHz, FM mode, heard within Brevard County on the Space Coast.
Attend the launch virtually
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following a successful launch.
Watch and engage on social media
Let people know you’re following the mission on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtags #Dragon and #NASASocial. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
Twitter: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASASocial, @Space_Station, @ISS_Research, @ISS National Lab, @SpaceX
Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, ISS, ISS National Lab
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @ISS, @ISSNationalLab, @SpaceX
Did you know NASA has Spanish language social accounts called NASA en Espanol? Make sure to check out NASA en Espanol on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube for more coverage on Crew-4.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo 321-501-8425 antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov.
NASA will provide a live video feed of Launch Complex 39A approximately 48-hours prior to the planned liftoff of the Crew-4 mission. Pending unlikely technical issues, the feed will be uninterrupted until the prelaunch broadcast begins on NASA TV, approximately four hours prior to launch.
Once the feed is live, you will find it here:
http://youtube.com/kscnewsroom
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has delivered on its goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States through a partnership with American private industry. This partnership is changing the arc of human spaceflight history by opening access to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station to more people, more science and more commercial opportunities. The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars.
For NASA’s launch blog and more information about the mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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SOURCE NASA
