Supplement 7
Circular Letter No. 3 (1986)

April 1, 1997

To:	Underwriting Manager
Of:	All Licensed Property/Casualty Insurance Companies
Also:	Insurance Producer Organizations
Re:	1997 INSURANCE AVAILABILITY SURVEY

The Second Supplement to Department Circular Letter No. 3 (1986), dated August 15, 1989, advised that pursuant to Section 308 of the Insurance Law, the Department had established an availability survey as a mechanism for the annual appraisal of insurance market conditions and trends. Accordingly, this Department mails updated survey forms to insurers and producer organizations annually.

The purpose of this Supplement is to provide the 1997 Insurance Availability Survey packet. The survey uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and a mainframe database to capture and utilize data.

For those types of risks/coverages which lend themselves to commercial and personal lines underwriting, responses may be given reflecting your writings on both bases.

Revised survey forms representing the 1997 survey, including instructions and sample forms are included herewith. Respondents" strict compliance with the instructions attached hereto will assist in the unencumbered processing of responses. Survey responses should be accurately completed in accordance with the instructions and returned no later than May 30, 1997 to the attention of:

To report suspected insurance fraud, call the NYS Insurance Department’s Frauds Hotline at 888-FRAUD-NY

Please note for future years that the Department will distribute a survey packet similar to this year's material. Insurers are not required to submit data prior to receiving such material.

Producer organizations are asked to advise members of the survey and inform the Department of admitted markets. It should also be noted that we are no longer requesting responses regarding reinsurance.

Industry cooperation has been the key to the Department's efforts to cultivate and maintain stability in the commercial insurance marketplace. In the past, responses have proven to be of great value in helping insureds find coverage appropriate to their needs. Survey information has also been a helpful tool in the Department's analysis of conditions of an ever-changing insurance marketplace. When survey results have evidenced constricted conditions for types of coverage and/or types of risks, the Department has been able to help develop availability by working with insurers and producer organizations.

The continued cooperation of the industry in furnishing timely and accurate responses is essential to the success of this endeavor and is appreciated by the Department and the people of New York.

 

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The Insurance Availability Survey has been formatted to facilitate data entry via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and data capture which will enable the Department to analyze market trends and developments more efficiently and thoroughly.

A. REPORTING FORMAT

As part of this packet enclosed is a Coverage Reporting Workbook. Respondents should use the workbook to gather information needed to respond to the survey. After completing the workbook, the survey response must be prepared on blank paper for submission to the Department. The response will consist of a heading (repeated on all sheets necessary), a list of companies, a list of contact persons and a list of the coverage reporting information.

In order to use OCR technology to process the Insurance Availability Survey, responses must conform to the following general requirements:

• Survey responses must be typed or prepared by word processor. Hand written responses cannot be scanned.

The orientation of each page of your response must be portrait.

• Responses should be on only one side of each sheet.
• Formatting should allow for a one inch margin from the edge of all sides.
• Only non-proportional fonts such as Courier, Letter Gothic and Ventura are acceptable. These fonts will print characters in equal columns regardless of the width of the characters. The font used should be either 10 or 12 pitch.
• Line spacing should be 6 lines per inch.
• Any part of a response that touches a line or column will impair the integrity of the response. Therefore, while responses for each type of coverage and risk must be submitted in columnar fashion, DO NOT create lines or columns on the survey response.
• Only original responses should be submitted; copies are not acceptable.

B. COVERAGE REPORTING WORKBOOK

Respondents should use the workbook to gather information needed to respond to the survey. For each risk/coverage coordinate that you provide a market, enter your coded response as described below. The workbook entries may be handwritten or typed. After completing the workbook, the survey response should be prepared on blank paper for submission to the Department. The workbook should not be submitted to the Department.

Workbook entries will consist of the following information:

1. LINE CODE

The line code is the two digit number, which precedes the type of coverage, in the column headed "Line Code", e.g., "01" is the line code for automobile liability.

 The line code is the two digit number, which precedes the type of coverage, in the column headed "Line Code", e.g., "01" is the line code for automobile liability.

2. RISK CODE     The code for the type of risk which is indicated in the box at the top of the column, e.g.,     "8322-001" is the code for Adult Day Care

2. RISK CODE The code for the type of risk which is indicated in the box at the top of the    column, e.g., "8322-001" is the code for Adult Day Care.

The type of risk codes were developed based upon the Standard Industrial Classification Codes    (SIC) published by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget.

 The type of risk codes were developed based upon the Standard Industrial Classification Codes    (SIC) published by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget.

3. ACTIVITY CODE The code indicating the company's position in underwriting the type of  coverage/risk. For the purposes of this survey the codes to be used are "A", "C", "S", "U" and  "Z". These codes are defined as follows:

3. ACTIVITY CODE The code indicating the company's position in underwriting the type of     coverage/risk. For the purposes of this survey the codes to be used are "A", "C", "S", "U" and     "Z". These codes are defined as follows:

4. CONTACT CODE The code(s) for the contact person(s). Paragraph 4 of Section C. LAYOUT OF SUBMISSIONS, below on page IV, explains how you are to develop these codes. A maximum of two contact persons may be indicated for each entry.

For each type of coverage/risk for which you provide a market, insert in the appropriate row/column of the matrix, the activity and contact codes after the line and risk codes which have been preprinted. In entering the codes the preprinted line and risk codes have been separated by a space; hyphens should separate the risk, activity and contact codes.

5. SUMMARY AND SAMPLE ENTRY

The following format should be used to enter each coverage reporting item:

LINE CODE(SPACE)RISK CODE(HYPHEN)ACTIVITY CODE(HYPHEN)CONTACT CODE(HYPHEN)CONTACT CODE

The elements of the response should be separated with a blank space or hyphen as indicated above. Please note that the line and risk codes have been preprinted on the workbook pages.

The following sample response indicates that the company provides an active market for general liability coverage for Adult Day Care providers and that the contact persons were the first and third persons listed on the response. (Note that large type is used here for illustrative purposes only.)

03 8322-001-A-01-03

C. LAYOUT OF SUBMISSIONS

1. Once the Coverage Reporting Workbook has been completed, your submission should be     prepared, on blank paper, in accordance with the instructions herein and the attached samples.     The submission is made up of three sections although no division is necessary between the     sections. The submission, except for the heading, is a continuing flow of double spaced lines as     illustrated in the attached samples.

2. HEADING

Each page should have a heading formatted as follows: The first line should read  "New York State Insurance Department". The second line should read "1997 Insurance Availability Survey". The third line should indicate the NAIC number and name of the company making the submission. In the case of groups or fleets this should be the lead company.

3. COMPANY NAMES

(a) List the companies for which the responses are intended to apply. For a group, the lead company should be listed first. This is in addition to the listing of the company name in the heading.

(b) Each Company Name should be listed in the following format:

C 123-45678 All Ways Insurance Company

(c) Companies not writing any of the types of coverages or risks listed in the survey, should type the word "NONE" in bold type on the line following the last company name listed. This will complete their submission. (See sample attached)

(d) Excess Line brokers responding should indicate the companies providing the applicable markets.

4. CONTACT PERSONS

5. COVERAGE REPORTING

03 8322-001-A-01-03

C. COMPLETED FORMS

All completed surveys should be returned by the date requested with a cover letter indicating the name, title and telephone number of the person to be contacted if questions arise regarding the completeness or accuracy of the submission.

D. SAMPLE FORMS

The following four pages contain samples of:

• a completed Coverage Reporting Workbook page,
• a submission based upon the data contained therein (two pages)
• and a submission for a group of insurers that do not provide markets for any of the types of   risks/coverages contained in the survey.