Rate increases for business insurance buyers in the United States were 4.5 percent in first quarter of 2020 as compared to 5 percent in the last quarter of 2019. Workers’ compensation rates were down 1.25 percent, the only coverage with a rate reduction.
The MarketScout Market Barometer includes premium movement in all sizes of businesses, industries and coverages.
Richard Kerr, CEO of MarketScout noted, “Rates in the first quarter of 2020 were mostly stable. The pricing impact of COVID-19 will be born out in the second, third and fourth quarter of 2020. Lower exposure base and the possibility of governmental intervention in coverage application will have a dramatic impact on the pricing for the rest of the year.”
The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research conducted pricing surveys used in MarketScout’s analysis of market conditions. These surveys help to further corroborate MarketScout’s actual findings, mathematically driven by new and renewal placements across the United States.