The opioid crisis potentially poses a considerable threat of loss to multiple re/insurance lines of business, according to a conference panel moderator.

Kirsten Beasley, the head of healthcare broking at Willis Towers Watson North America, is the moderator on a Bermuda Insurance Institute conference panel looking at the opioids issue.

“This affects casualty, healthcare liability, personal health insurance, directors and officers insurance and managed care errors and omissions insurance,” Ms Beasley said. “This multi-line clash exposure necessitates that carriers understand and appropriately address the risk.”

She added: “A measured response from the markets requires that they be fully cognisant of the complex interplay of corporate culture, medical culture and accreditation standards that have driven the crisis.”

As well as the opioid panel, the BII conference, on October 3, will also feature panels on cannabis (How high is the cost), wellbeing in the workforce (The benefits to healthy workforce), climate change (the storm approaches), a Bermuda healthcare panel — (The challenges and opportunities) and a CEO panel (The view from the top).

The theme of the conference is transformation and Ms Beasley said systemic risks, like the opioid crisis, have been substantial contributors to the transforming nature of the insurance market.

“That transformation, from a prolonged soft market into a continuously tightening state, is marked by the resurgence of underwriting discipline, a focus on profitability and rate, retrenchment of authority and tightening of insurance policy terms and conditions as markets seek to understand, mitigate and appropriately price their clash exposure,” she said.

The conference takes place on October 3 at O’Hara House, on Bermudiana Road, from 8.30am to 4.30pm, and people can register at bii.bm/CourseStatus.awp?&course=194CONF1003R