Formulae For the Future

Republican legislators in Washington have been floating the idea of using Social Security to provide paid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The proposal would allow a new parent to essentially borrow from their Social Security retirement to take leave for 12 weeks and 45 percent of their pay.  While a federal solution for paid family leave may seem positive, we have our doubts as to the simple math. The Republican concept is for limited paid leave relying on individual social security funds that some have argued  adversely affect low-wage workers who have a limited Social Security savings to begin with, due to pay disparity, and are more likely to need these funds for retirement. In New York, California, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. PFL programs use a broad payroll tax to provide a more generous leave. We favor PFL, but believe that the financing model needs work.… Next Insurance, a leading digital insurance company for small businesses, has raised $83 Million in a Series B Round. Led by Redpoint Ventures, this funding will enable Next Insurance to continue its protracted expansion throughout the US as a full service carrier, with new formats for handling claims, offering coverage to many more classes of business, and significantly growing internal operations in both the US and Israel. The Series B Round brings Next Insurance’s total funding to $131 Million in just two years. Other investors that participated in the round include Nationwide, Munich Re, American Express Ventures, Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners, SGVC and Zeev Ventures. Elliot Geidt, Managing Director of Redpoint Ventures, will join  the board of Next Insurance. Next Insurance is currently a licensed carrier in Delaware, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, Maryland and Utah, and is rapidly expanding to all 50 states. As a carrier, Next Insurance is now writing policies independently, with more freedom over underwriting, setting prices, and configuring policies, providing entrepreneurs and small businesses insurance that is simple, affordable, and tailored to their specific needs, they report. Next Insurance “champions technological innovation never before seen by the small business insurance market, and these funds will enable the company to become the preeminent insurer for all small businesses, offering additional lines of insurance, claims paid within 48 hours, on-demand coverage, and more sophisticated uses of AI and machine learning to improve customer experience and streamline the insurance purchasing process.” Sounds like a tall order, but the Millions should help.… Willis Towers Watson has launched a tailored cyberinsurance coverage for construction industry that augurs the kind of menu agents and brokers will need to work from as the Cyber cover extends its reach into the various sectors of business. “As the industry migrates toward “smart” operating systems that rely on sophisticated automation and enhanced technologies for project design, modeling, safety management and project delivery.” The advanced formula coverage plays a key role.  Additionally, many construction companies increasingly hold sensitive data and rely on digital connectivity with business partners and subcontractors to exchange information, including employee records and business plans.. The Willis  solution includes a blend of first- and third-party coverages with specific enhancements tailored to the industry. Key features include:  a. Contingent bodily injury, and first-and third-party property damage due to cyber events; b. Coverage for insureds’ loss of business income as a result of a breach or attack; also applies to an outage due to a cyber event at a third party on whom the company relies for operations;  c. Coverage for extra expenses, including expenses associated with procuring products or services from alternate sources and overtime costs; d. Expansion of the “system failure” definition to include intentional shutdowns to mitigate a cyberattack; e. Coverage for expenses resulting from contractual penalties that an insured may be obligated to pay if a cyber event causes a job delay. Expansion of the privacy breach, and security and privacy wrongful act definitions to include the wrongful retention of private information; g. Expanded definitions of computer systems to include third-party hosted sites, building information modeling and design software; h. Coverage for privacy claims due to the use of drones in mapping and surveying projects.  “CyCon is the latest Willis Towers Watson industry-specific cyber solution and was created as a result of close collaboration among our construction group, our cyberinsurance team and our partners at NAS,” said Joe DePaul, head of FINEX Cyber/E&O, North America, Willis Towers Watson.… Enjoy August.