Re-Conn.-ecting state’s residents with pride as insurance capital

In August, a dozen Connecticut insurance companies and associations launched a non-profit coalition to reconnect the state’s own residents with its sizable insurance industry. Insure Connecticut’s Future hopes that its efforts — from newspaper advertising to a new website, www.bestpolicy4CT.com — will remind residents that the insurance industry remains essential to the state economy and an integral part of their everyday lives.

“For many, many years, anyone anywhere could tell you that Connecticut was ‘the insurance capital of the world,’ and state residents took pride in that fact,” said Brian MacLean, executive vice president and chief operating officer, St. Paul Travelers. “Today, many residents are unaware that the industry is still a top employer generating jobs in other industries, a leading taxpayer and a major contributor to the state’s quality of life — and that’s our fault. We need to be better communicators, about what Connecticut means to us, and what we mean to Connecticut.”

In addition to being a top employer, insurance premium taxes equal to almost half (45 percent) of what all other private companies paid in corporate taxes in 2004 combined. Insurance companies’ donations equal one-quarter of all corporate giving in Connecticut (more than $20 million in 2005), and employees of these companies contribute thousands of hours of time every year in their local communities.

Members of the coalition are Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, ConnectiCare, Genworth Financial, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co., MassMutual Financial Group, The Phoenix Companies, Prudential Financial and St. Paul Travelers. Coalition partners include the Insurance Association of Connecticut, and the Insurance and Financial Services Cluster.