US insurers use lofty estimates to beat back coronavirus claims – By Reuters Staff (FOX Business) / June 12 2020
Insurers say business interruption policies only apply when actual physical property damage prevents a business from operating
U.S. property and casualty insurers have cast the coronavirus pandemic as an unprecedented event whose massive cost to small businesses they are neither able nor required to cover.
The industry has warned it could cost them $255 billion to $431 billion a month if they are required, as some states are proposing, to compensate firms for income lost and expenses owed due to virus-led shutdowns, an amount it says would make insurers insolvent.
The estimate, made by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), a trade group, was recently used by the industry to successfully lobby against state and city lawmakers’ efforts to legislate to make the sector pay.
Insurers say business interruption policies only apply when actual physical property damage prevents a business from operating and any attempt to apply cover beyond that, for a pandemic, are unconstitutional.
Continue to article: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/us-insurers-use-lofty-estimates-to-beat-back-coronavirus-claims
