September 11, 2001 the world as me knew it changed forever. This was a date that I and everyone else will remember for life. A tragedy so unspeakable, and destruction so unimaginable that I still can't believe that it happened. Our lifestyle and way of life has been changed, if not forever, certainly for the future. This is the most devastating event that has caused us all to take a pause and consider every aspect of our lives. Have we been making the best of our time? Are we spending too much time at work, and not enough with family? Should we cancel our Vacations and travel plans? This act had really affected many people in many ways. It had a damaging affect on our way of life, stock markets, traveling and most importantly our economy. Our government was placed in a position where spending was on an increase and unemployment is on a rise. Each of us must draw our own meaning and decide what this means to us, but for insurance industry this is a whole new ball game.

Who would have considered that plane would be used as a missile to kill thousands of civilian people. Who would have thought that 19 people would willingly give their lives to take thousands of others? Terrorism, the random

acts of violence used to bring attention to a cause, has been taken to a whole new level. Instead of affecting tens or hundreds of people, we are talking about thousands of people. But what does this mean to our life insurance policies?

The tragedy has taken many lives. Those of whom may have had an insurance policy or some sort of policy to protect them and their loved ones.

Because of the fact this was an act of terrorism but most policies do not cover terrorist attacks. Most policy coverages donate mention these types of incidents. Most policies offer accidental death. The acts of terrorism put a financial strain on these companies and some of these companies are not covering the policies. Insurance policies have no mentioning of acts of violence of this sort but some companies are covering the deaths of loved one's as accidental. It has been reported that the losses could end up in the billions, this would include property losses, workers compensation claims, and also includes payments made to families of the deceased. Other claims that will follow are business interruption claims that will certainly affect the years to come. The final cost to the world trade centers insurers will depend on the fine print of the coverage. More than likely it there will be an increase in rates for the nations businesses, according to experts. There is a great chance that some of the insurers in the syndicate insuring the world trade center have applied “terrorism exclusions†these are clauses that say they will not grant expenses for certain losses caused by terrorism acts in their policies. This has become

very effective in commercial property, which have implemented such clauses in recent years as terrorism has risen worldwide.

One company named Tillinghast Towers-Perrin has become the latest in the insurance industry to push the insured loss estimates up for September 11's terrorist attacks. The figures are at $30 billion to $58 billion. The financial quarter reports: Tillinghastas range of estimated losses, by lines, are as follow

Commercial property, $10 billion to $12 billion; liability, $5 billion to $20 billion; business interruption, $3.5 billion to $ 7 billion; Aviation, $ 3 billion to $ 6 billion; Workers' compensation, $ 3 billion to $ 5 billion; life, accidental death and disability, $ 4.5 billion to $ 6 billion; other, $ 1 billion to $ 2 billion. Even Best Wire is losing billions of dollars. They estimates there losses to be about $30 billion to $ 58 billion. In Best wires statement of losses included the twin towers ad other world trade center properties; business and personal property of tenants and their employees; workers' compensation; claims for the lost business income; the cost for establishing alternative, temporary operations at other locations, loss of life and liability for negligent acts. Worker injured or killed on the job, except for firefighters and police officers, have mandatory workers' comp coverage. The estimated $ 5 billion workers comp payout is extremely preliminary because a maximum payout or maximum benefit per a claim will depend on many variables such as number of dependents and their ages.

One of the many problems that the insures are facing is that it is standard for the insurance companies to have a death certificate when people are going to collect benefits. Some people have no bodies to even get a death certificate. They may never find a body in all of that mess and if they did the family members have to try and identify the person. Because positive identification would likely delay delivery of a death certificate, insurance companies may use alternative, nonstandard documents as credible evidence.

Many people are wondering just what the effects have done to their insurance policies and the insurance industry? As in all communities across America, the life insurance community is grieving. They have families, friends and policy holders affected by the terrible tragedy on September 11. The insurance companies are expecting increases in there premium in the next year or so.