Keep Antitrust Exemption, Insurer Groups Urge House
Posted by: incur on: February 9, 2010
WASHINGTON?Insurance trade groups are asking the House to reject proposed legislation that would end the antitrust exemption afforded health and medical malpractice insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
A group of 10 trade groups, nine representing property and casualty and medical liability insurers and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers, sent the letter Friday in anticipation that the House will soon vote Read the rest of this entry »
Allstate Denies Agents’ Group Claim It Plans To Cut 3,300
Posted by: incur on: February 9, 2010
Allstate is denying a charge by an agent group that it has a goal of eliminating more than 3,000 agents in three-to-five years.
Jim Fish, executive director for the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents (NAPAA), said an internal company memo laying out the company?s strategy to grow its business in the future calls for the elimination of up to 3,300 agents whose business has not grown to between $3 million and $4 million Read the rest of this entry »
Industry groups seek delay in Medicare payer rules
Posted by: incur on: February 9, 2010
WASHINGTON?Two property/casualty insurance industry groups and a self-insurance group asked the U.S. government Friday to delay implementation of mandatory Medicare secondary payer reporting requirements.
The requirements that are to go into effect April 1 are designed to ensure that Medicare remains the secondary payer when a Medicare beneficiary has medical expenses that fall under the primary responsibility of liability insurance?including Read the rest of this entry »
Health Bill – ‘On Life Support’ – Continues To Highlight Political Divides
Posted by: incur on: February 8, 2010
President Obama’s State of the Union speech has so far failed to unite Democrats on a health reform strategy as they “stared down a political nightmare,” The Associated Press reports. “The grim reality opened a divide between the rank and file and congressional leaders, who insisted health care would get done, even though last week’s special election in Massachusetts denied Democrats the 60-vote majority they need to deliver in the Senate. Many Read the rest of this entry »
SEC Votes for Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Risk
Posted by: incur on: February 8, 2010
WASHINGTON?Political feuding over global warming reached the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday when commissioners, divided on party lines, voted to encourage companies to disclose the effects of climate change on their business.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, an Obama administration appointee, said the agency wasn’t weighing in on the global-warming debate and wanted to ensure that investors get reliable information.
N.Y. Insurers Outline Remedies For No-Fault System Problems
Posted by: incur on: February 6, 2010
A New York insurers? group plans to tell a legislative panel that bogus medical mills and unscrupulous medical providers, mostly in the New York City area, are inflating no-fault auto insurance costs.
The New York Insurance Association Inc. will say in testimony it will deliver to a Senate Insurance Committee hearing in Albany, N.Y., tomorrow that the no-fault system?s ?costs are spiraling out of control to nearly unprecedented heights.?
Poorly Worded Life Insurance Policies Can Cost Survivors Big Bucks
Posted by: incur on: February 6, 2010
Anyone with a life insurance policy they haven?t carefully read will want to do so ASAP after they learn about one widow?s unsuccessful fight with her dead husband?s life insurer.
It all started when Craig Bauer, an executive at manufacturer Omron Electronics, died in June 2006 of bacterial meningitis following a business trip that included stops in Brazil, China and Japan. Bauer had life insurance through his employer. The policy Read the rest of this entry »
Missouri cracks down on bogus health insurance companies
Posted by: incur on: February 6, 2010
Missouri regulators have moved to shut down more than a dozen companies that promise health plans but have allegedly left consumers with thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills.
The consumer affairs division of the Missouri Department of Insurance demanded that 14 companies and 12 individuals respond to charges that they defrauded Missouri consumers, according to an order from the department filed Monday.
The companies have Read the rest of this entry »
Citibank, in Settlement, Extends Free Checking
Posted by: incur on: February 5, 2010
Citibank?s EZ checking account will remain free for many customers for a while longer.
The Citibank EZ checking account is going to remain free a while longer for many bank customers.
Today, the New York State attorney general?s office announced that the bank would allow over one million customers to keep their free checking for another year. In November, the bank had decided that starting today, anyone who didn?t have an average balance Read the rest of this entry »
