Brazilian butt lifts, hanging crepe and the thriving jobs market

What a difference year makes. The U.S. property and casualty insurance industry posted a nasty $8.5 billion loss in the first quarter of 2023, only to stage a remarkable reversal to a $9.3 billion profit in the same period this year, according to a fresh report from AM Best . Read the full story for more details.

USAA is a specific example of that broader industry turnaround. Last year, the company turned in its first annual loss in a century, and not just any old loss. We're talking an historic $1.3 billion in red ink spilled. But then the San Antonio-based insurer followed up with a 17% surge in revenue to $42.5 billion and almost doubled its investment returns to $4.7 billion, explaining that "actions taken and investments made over the past few years enabled a return to profitability."

Good times aren't just happening in insurance either, according to Chubb Chairman and Chief Executive Evan Greenberg. "The U.S. economy overall is very strong. It’s in very good shape. It’s broad based," he was quoted as saying at an insurance conference this week. "We hang crepe around it every other day, but the reality is we have low unemployment. This country is a jobs machine." Greenberg predicted that economic inflation will remain above 2%, with interest rates around 4.5% to 5% being the new normal before eventually declining.

In another bit of good news, the verdict is in, and it's favorable for the insurance industry. The U.S. Supreme Court just affirmed, by an 8-0 opinion, that insurers have a significant role to play in bankruptcy proceedings. This ruling, penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, is a big win for Truck Insurance Exchange , allowing them to challenge Kaiser Gypsum's $50 million settlement. The Court's decision emphasizes insurers' interests must be considered, potentially reshaping future mass tort bankruptcies like those of the Boy Scouts and Catholic dioceses.

Of course, all this optimism isn't without some gathering clouds. According to a report from Bloomberg Intelligence, a major space storm could soon deliver an historically costly blow as it potentially disrupts radio communications, power grids, spacecraft and satellite navigation. “Evidence from May 10-12 suggests the level of disruption caused by the solar storm on this occasion was relatively modest," BI's Charles Graham said, referring to a space storm last month that could be seen as a precursor to a much bigger event.

Once taboo, psychedelic drugs are emerging as promising treatments for PTSD and substance abuse. Of course, with the growth and the rising interest in investment comes the need for insurance. “One of the main uses of our capacity is for companies in these early stage clinical investigations for the use of things like MDMA and psilocybin,” Relm Insurance 's Joseph Ziolkowski told Insurance Business America . “This is really part of their capital raising initiative.”

In keeping with new challenges in this business, it turns out practitioners of Brazilian butt lift surgery have to obtain medical malpractice liability insurance, thanks to a bill signed into law last month. Butt-lifting clinics that transfer more than 1,000 cubic centimeters of fat now must secure liability coverage of at least $250,000 per claim and an annual aggregate of at least $750,000.