A study of the impact of Hurricane Andrew on the property insurance marketplace in the United States

This is a study of the impact of Hurricane Andrew, the costliest insurance catastrophe in history, upon the property/casualty insurance industry in the United States as told by the people who were deeply affected by it personally and professionally and who have been intimately involved in dealing with its consequences.;It involves a study of the current knowledge of the causes of hurricanes and their formation, movement, intensification or break-up and tracking. It reviews the new relationships forged between the key players--insurance company executives, emergency managers, regulators and legislators seeking to cooperate and to coordinate their respective emergency response and recovery programs. It reviews the impact of Andrew upon the marketplace for property insurance and the escalation in prices that consumers who live and work in "high risk" areas must pay to protect their homes and their businesses.;It is a study of how government was forced to become a significant presence in the insurance marketplace both as a direct writer of coverage and as a reinsurer of last resort in an effort to restore stability to the market. It reviews the debate engendered within the primary insurance and reinsurance industries worldwide about the implications for the future of the business as a result of the activation of such government entities as the Joint Underwriting Associations (government run primary insurance companies whose operating losses are subsidized by assessments against insurance companies in the state pro rata to their market share), state Catastrophe Funds, proposed regional Catastrophe Funds and a federal government backed catastrophe reinsurance company.;It is a study of the dramatic changes in an industry that is vital to the United States' and the world's economic stability and growth--in response to a single, spectacular burst of nature's fury and the industry's efforts to rebuild and restructure itself in preparation for the next Big One.