A Look at What’s in Store for Business and Workers : It won’t be dull, that’s for sure. The new year will see dramatic changes for U.S. industry and the American worker. Business writers at The Times polled experts on what is likely to happen in 1989. Here is their report. : INSURANCE
Property-casualty insurers--the type that cover homes, cars and businesses--face a giant challenge in dealing with a consumer backlash stemming from rapid rises in auto insurance rates. Spurred by the passage of the sweeping Proposition 103 auto-insurance initiative in California, consumer advocates are laying plans for similar measures in dozens of other states and have declared auto insurance the year’s biggest consumer issue.
Auto insurers may need to focus lobbying efforts on curbing fraud, rising medical and repair bills and other root causes of high premiums. Property-casualty insurers also will seek to reverse declining profits in commercial insurance lines, due to sharp price cutting.
As for life insurers, a major long-term issue will continue to be how to measure risks imposed by the rising incidence of AIDS. Life insurers also must find ways to replace slumping sales of single-premium whole life products, a once hot-selling product whose tax attractiveness was reduced in a tax bill passed by Congress last year.
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