Casualty Insurance.

Casualty Insurance.
No insurance development of 1949 created more public interest in New York and elsewhere than the nonoccupational disability benefits insurance law, signed early in the year by Governor Dewey and which was applicable to practically all business and industrial organizations in the state employing four or more people who were covered under the Workmen's Compensation Act for 'on the job' injury or sickness. Establishing a new private-enterprise pattern in the social insurances, the new law set up a program of basic benefits — ranging from $10 to $26 — which were paid for a maximum of 13 weeks for 'off the job' disability. Under a joint-contribution system employees were required to share in the cost of this protection with their employers at the rate of one-half of 1 per cent of average weekly wages (not to exceed 30 cents a week) paid to him on and after July 1, 1950, when the law will become fully effective. Flexibility of the law lies in the requirement that the cost of benefits, above the employee contribution, is to be borne by the employer. It was felt that this will afford an opportunity for the development of plans to meet particular employer-employee needs.
A salient feature of this program was that it provides for private insurance company participation on an equal basis with the State Insurance Fund for their share of the business. The estimate was that 170,000 employers in the state and an aggregate of 6,000,000 workers will be covered.
Still another aspect of the law was that temporary contributions at the rate of two-tenths of 1 per cent of wages (not in excess of 12 cents a week) were to be paid by each covered employer and employee during the period from January 1 to June 30, 1950. These funds were required so as to build up a special reserve fund to pay benefits to the disabled unemployed.
The New York Disability Benefits Law, which represented an amendment to the state's Workmen's Compensation Act, was so well regarded by insurance and business interests that many hope it will be followed as a pattern by other states adopting such legislation. Rhode Island, California, and New Jersey were the other states in which similar nonoccupational disability plans were operating.
Combination Policies.
Considerable impetus was given during 1949 to the multiple-line underwriting development which permitted financially qualified fire and casualty insurance companies to write all kinds of insurance, except life insurance and annuities. From the insurance buyer's standpoint the chief advantages of this trend were seen in the saving in expense through providing multiple coverages under a single policy: no twilight zones of coverage for which the insured will have difficulty in obtaining insurance; and more complete and attractive policy forms.
Already noticeable on the insurance horizon were various 'package' or combination policy appeals, particularly in connection with combination automobile policies covering specified perils on a scheduled basis. The ultimate in such 'package' contracts will be the comprehensive all-risk policy, written on a single-rate basis. However, many underwriters felt that caution should be exercised in achieving this multiple-line goal. From the standpoint of the insured alone, the premium rate for the complete coverage would be too high to be attractive. It was felt that in rate-making many new approaches will have to be taken and underwriting 'judgment' will have to be utilized to a considerable extent.
Introduction of a two-year family polio policy in mid-1949 captured the public imagination. The appeal of $5,000 in benefits for polio-incurred expenses for each victim in a given family was so strong that one company alone (the Continental Casualty) had sold over 700,000 policies by mid-November