David Paul, a principal at Windsor, Conn.-based
Alirt, says two factors cannot be overlooked.
About 15 percent of the 248 public exchange plan issuers
ALIRT analyzed have four or fewer years of operating history.
Although the report did not specify what "gentle" meant, David Paul, principal at
ALIRT, said that premium increases in 2013 would probably be in the low-to mid-single-digit range.
The
Alirt P&C Composite is comprised of 50 large U.S.
Total surplus rose 4.0 percent (7.9 percent on an annualized basis) during the first half of 2014 for the
ALIRT Life Industry Composite.
[Related: Overall, 2014 was a pretty good year for the P&C industry, says
ALIRT report]
ALIRT hypothesizes that the cycle is different this time, for the following five reasons.
ALIRT proposes the reason may be the amount of capital insurers are generating.
Additionally, surplus growth remained solid--although not quite as strong as 2012--among the insurers
ALIRT follows.
ALIRT reports this is the best result since the first quarter of 2007, when sizeable reserve releases from the previous hard-market cycle were benefitting results.
The year's reported results continued to benefit from reserve releases, which were down from 2011 levels, but remained substantial, according to
ALIRT.