Sept. 11 insurance claims exceed $16 billion

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – As many insurance industry experts speculated, already the September 11 terrorist attacks are the most expensive tragedy ever for insurers. A recently released Insurance Services Office report finds that property and business interruption insurance claims have already reached $16.6 billion-and are still climbing. The report, from ISO’s Property Claim Services division, cites statistical data from actual claims, as reported by insurers. The data includes business interruption claims, but not claims from other lines, such as workers’ compensation, liability and aviation. According to the report, $16 billion comes from New York commercial property claims, $550 million from personal property claims, $40 million from automobile claims and approximately $7 million from property claims related to the Pentagon attack. When other insurance costs such as liability insurance and workers compensation are factored in, experts estimate the final cost of the attacks will be in the range of $40 billion to $70 billion.