Insurance news

• UVM Study Finds Health Insurance Tops Farmers' Concerns - Vermont Public Radio

  12-07-2017 22:48
  
  Vermont Public Radio
  UVM Study Finds Health Insurance Tops Farmers' Concerns
  Vermont Public Radio
  Taylor Hutchinson of Footprint Farm in Starksboro, Vermont, was one of those surveyed in the UVM study. Taylor says she relies on Medicaid for insurance because their farm income doesn't bring in enough to buy coverage. Kathleen Masterson / VPR.
  
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• State Workers Who Smoke Won't Be Charged More for Insurance - U.S. News & World Report

  12-07-2017 21:58
  State Workers Who Smoke Won't Be Charged More for Insurance
  U.S. News & World Report
  Louisiana's health insurer for 230,000 state workers, teachers, retirees and their family members has scrapped plans to charge smokers more for their coverage. July 12, 2017, at 3:43 p.m.. MORE. LinkedIn · StumbleUpon · Google +; Cancel. State Workers ...and more »
  
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• Insurers condemn Cruz-Lee plan to loosen insurance rules - Politico

  12-07-2017 20:34
  
  Politico
  Insurers condemn Cruz-Lee plan to loosen insurance rules
  Politico
  Health insurers are blasting an effort by conservatives to modify the Senate Obamacare repeal bill and set up a two-tier market in which companies could sell plans that don't meet Obamacare's coverage requirements. Their big concern, according to ...
  Utah's Mike Lee compares Obamacare to car insurance in online town hall discussing health care billSalt Lake Tribuneall 88 news articles »
  
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• Health Insurance Marketplaces: Looking Forward to 2018 - Bloomberg - Bloomberg

  12-07-2017 20:09
  
  Bloomberg
  Health Insurance Marketplaces: Looking Forward to 2018 - Bloomberg
  Bloomberg
  Every summer, insurance companies are required to submit their Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for the upcoming year to state insurance agencies.
  It's insurance companies, not ObamaCare, that's making healthcare sickThe Hill (blog)
  Where you live will soon determine what health insurance you can getCNBC
  Trump Is Already Driving Up the Cost of Health Insurance for Millions of AmericansSlate Magazine (blo
  
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• Failing or Doing Fine? How Obamacare's Marketplaces Are Shaping Up for 2018 - Bloomberg

  12-07-2017 20:09
  
  Bloomberg
  Failing or Doing Fine? How Obamacare's Marketplaces Are Shaping Up for 2018
  Bloomberg
  Every summer, insurance companies are required to submit their Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for the upcoming year to state insurance agencies. Companies are still deciding where to offer plans in 2018—and how much to charge for them.
  It's insurance companies, not ObamaCare, that's making healthcare sickThe Hill (blog)
  Trump Is Already Driving Up the Cost of Health Insurance for Million
  
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• GOP Drops Insurance Executive Tax Break in Health Bill, Aide Says - Bloomberg

  12-07-2017 19:25
  
  Bloomberg
  GOP Drops Insurance Executive Tax Break in Health Bill, Aide Says
  Bloomberg
  Senate Republicans have dropped plans to provide a tax break for health-insurance executives' pay in a revised health-care bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has sent to the Congressional Budget Office, according to a Republican aide ...
  Paul a 'no' on healthcare bill, blasts GOP 'superfund' on insuranceWashington Examiner
  Senators Discussing Bipartisan Health Insurance BillInsurance Journal
  
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• CFC Partners With CyberScout on Specialty Lines Identity Protection Services

  12-07-2017 18:59
  
  CFC Underwriting has partnered with CyberScout, an identity management and data theft service company, to offer cyber support services to its customers internationally. CyberScout provides CFC customers with help in three areas: identity theft remediation, consumer notification and cyber fraud …
  
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• Court: Nebraska Bank Broke Equal Pay Law, Must Pay $30.5K in Restitution

  12-07-2017 18:40
  
  A Nebraska bank will pay $30,598 to a woman whom it unlawfully paid less than a man, pursuant to a federal court judgment in a pay discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency …
  
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• Feds Sue Louisiana Candle Maker for Retaliation

  12-07-2017 18:33
  
  Amy’s Country Candles L.L.C., a Harvey, La.-based manufacturer and purveyor of scented candles, violated federal law by firing an employee for complaining about sexual harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has charged in a lawsuit. The EEOC’s suit …
  
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• Nearly 19K Reports of Cybercrime in Arkansas in 2016: FBI

  12-07-2017 18:27
  
  There were nearly 1,900 instances of internet crime in Arkansas last year, from nonpayment scams to cyberattacks on state agencies, according to the FBI. FBI officials said the state’s attacks are a small percentage of the nearly 300,000 cyberattacks tracked …
  
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• Brandt Succeeds Evans as Trusted Choice Executive Director

  12-07-2017 18:22
  
  Trusted Choice, the consumer branding program for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (Big “I”), has promoted Kevin Brandt as its next executive director. Brandt is succeeding Dave Evans, who has served in this role since 2006 and been …
  
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• Texas’ RHP General Agency Acquiring Homeowner Business from Sycamore Insurance

  12-07-2017 18:21
  
  Conifer Holdings, headquartered in Michigan, has agreed to sell the book of HomeValue business produced through Sycamore Insurance Agency to Texas-based RHP General Agency Inc. As part of this renewal rights transaction, the entire team at Sycamore Waco will become …
  
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• Republicans' Obamacare repeal bill would bar some immigrants from buying insurance on the exchanges - Washington Post

  12-07-2017 18:03
  
  Washington Post
  Republicans' Obamacare repeal bill would bar some immigrants from buying insurance on the exchanges
  Washington Post
  Hundreds of thousands of immigrants could be locked out of the health insurance marketplaces if the Senate's new health-care bill becomes law. Buried among the bill's provisions that roll back the Medicaid expansion and lower marketplace subsidies is a ...and more »
  
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• Around the P&C insurance industry: July 12, 2017

  12-07-2017 18:00
  
  News fromMcGowan Companies, Lemonade, SIAA and more.
  
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• IFG Companies Hires Hoffman as Executive VP, CFO in Chicago

  12-07-2017 17:50
  
  IFG Companies, based in Chicago, has added Joseph P. Hoffmann (Joe) as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Hoffmann, who will be located in IFG’s Chicago office, will report to Christopher Lewis, group president, and will serve as a …
  
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• Kansas’ Stephens Chapin Insurance Joins CAA

  12-07-2017 17:49
  
  Combined Agents of America (CAA) announced its newest partner and voting member, Stephens Chapin Insurance, based in Lawrence, Kansas. CAA is a privately held agency partner group comprised of independent insurance agencies located throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. CAA …
  
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• Stephanak Joins MJ Insurance as Analyst in Indianapolis

  12-07-2017 17:47
  
  MJ Insurance has added Matt Stephanak to the benefits consulting team as a health risk analyst in its Indianapolis office. Stephanak will utilize his technical aptitude to measure, analyze and make tactical and strategic recommendations on business issues. In addition, …
  
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• Heads up, Louisiana state employees: Changes to your insurance ... - Daily Comet

  12-07-2017 17:39
  
  Daily Comet
  Heads up, Louisiana state employees: Changes to your insurance ...
  Daily Comet
  BATON ROUGE -- The health insurer for a quarter million state employees, teachers, retirees and their dependents backed off a plan to charge smokers $600 ...and more »
  
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• Heads up, Louisiana state employees: Changes to your insurance are on the table - Daily Comet

  12-07-2017 17:39
  
  Daily Comet
  Heads up, Louisiana state employees: Changes to your insurance are on the table
  Daily Comet
  BATON ROUGE -- The health insurer for a quarter million state employees, teachers, retirees and their dependents backed off a plan to charge smokers $600 more for coverage. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry had challenged the legal authority of ...and more »
  
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• California Lawmakers Release Plan to Extend Cap And Trade

  12-07-2017 17:04
  
  Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders have released a plan to extend through 2030 California’s cap-and-trade program, a key piece of the state’s quest to fight climate change by drastically reducing emissions from greenhouse gases. The deal updates how refineries, …
  
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• California Wildfires Feeding on Grass That Flourished from Winter Rain

  12-07-2017 17:01
  
  Wildfires driving people from their homes in California and throughout the West have had help from an unlikely source: the rain. Major winter downpours that pulled the state out of years of drought also brought a layer of grass that …
  
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• California Wildfires Feeding on Grass Fed by Winter Rain

  12-07-2017 17:01
  
  Wildfires driving people from their homes in California and throughout the West have had help from an unlikely source: the rain. Major winter downpours that pulled the state out of years of drought also brought a layer of grass that …
  
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• Looming EU Cyber Rules to Provide ‘Shot in Arm’ for Cyber Market: A.M. Best

  12-07-2017 16:15
  
  The European Union’s looming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will require mandatory notification of serious data breaches and potentially massive fines for failure to comply. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the GDPR, to be rolled out …
  
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• RMS Launches New Models for Tropical Cyclone & Earthquake in Asia Pacific

  12-07-2017 15:44
  
  RMS, the Newark, Calif.-based risk modeling and analytics firm, has introduced typhoon models for wind and flood for South Korea and Taiwan, plus four new earthquake models for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. This launch augments the company’s existing suite …
  
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• Insurance Startup Expands in Medicare With Obamacare in Limbo - Bloomberg

  12-07-2017 15:40
  
  Bloomberg
  Insurance Startup Expands in Medicare With Obamacare in Limbo
  Bloomberg
  Startup Bright Health is betting it can compete in the lucrative market of covering U.S. seniors as congressional debate keeps the future of Obamacare's insurance plans in limbo. Bright Health is preparing to offer Medicare Advantage plans in three ...and more »
  
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• A.M. Best Revises Outlook to Negative for New York’s Country-Wide

  12-07-2017 15:38
  
  A.M. Best has revised its outlook to negative from stable for Country-Wide Insurance Company, a family-owned auto insurance company based in New York, N.Y. A.M. Best also affirmed Country-Wide’s Financial Strength Rating of C+ (marginal) and its Long-Term Issuer Credit …
  
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• States See Mixed Results from Reforms Targeting Physician-Dispensed Drugs: WCRI

  12-07-2017 15:37
  
  A new study has found that state reforms to control the costs of prescription drugs by targeting reimbursements for physicians dispensing them are having some effect but that physician-dispensing still accounts for a large share of prescription drug costs in …
  
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• Leading InsurTech startup flaunts philanthropic business model

  12-07-2017 15:20
  
  Lemonade Insurance announced today that 14 charitable organizations selected by policyholders will benefit from its 2017 Giveback campaign.
  
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• XL’s Reynolds, Travelers’ Rea Join Hiscox USA Professional Risks Unit

  12-07-2017 15:10
  
  Specialty insurer Hiscox USA announced two senior executive appointments to its Professional Risks division. Joseph Reynolds has been appointed vice president, Architects and Engineers (A&E) product head, and Thomas Rea has been appointed vice president, Professional Liability product head. Reynolds …
  
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• Blockchain Could Make the Insurance Industry Much More Transparent - Harvard Business Review

  12-07-2017 15:06
  
  Blockchain Could Make the Insurance Industry Much More Transparent
  Harvard Business Review
  While Edward Lloyd is largely credited with commercializing the insurance industry, with the creation of his namesake firm, Lloyd's, over 330 years ago, the original concept of spreading risk (or “mutualizing”) goes back even further. Hundreds of years ...
  
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• New York’s U.S. Senators Urge Quick Federal Action on Flooding

  12-07-2017 14:23
  
  New York’s U.S. senators are urging officials in Washington to quickly approve a disaster declaration for areas along Lake Ontario affected by recent floods. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, said that they have written to the Federal Emergency …
  
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• New Insurance Products Could Cut Natural Disaster Costs in Poorer Nations: Report

  12-07-2017 14:19
  
  New types of insurance could cut the costs of natural disasters for poorer countries and reduce the amount of humanitarian aid needed, according to a report commissioned by Britain’s international development ministry. The cost of natural disasters to some of the world’s …
  
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• Hub International Limited Acquires Assets of New York’s Unilite

  12-07-2017 14:15
  
  Hub International Limited (Hub), a global insurance brokerage, has acquired the assets of Unilite Insurance Agency Inc. (Unilite). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Based in Lake Success, N.Y., Unilite was formed in 1991 and specializes in providing insurance products …
  
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• Insurance could cut $29 bln natural disaster bill for poor nations - Reuters

  12-07-2017 14:13
  
  Reuters
  Insurance could cut $29 bln natural disaster bill for poor nations
  Reuters
  LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - New types of insurance could cut the costs of natural disasters for poorer countries and reduce the amount of humanitarian aid needed, according to a report commissioned by Britain's international development ministry. The ...and more »
  
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• Buying cyber insurance: buyer beware - CSO Online

  12-07-2017 13:50
  
  CSO Online
  Buying cyber insurance: buyer beware
  CSO Online
  The recent NotPetya ransomware was a “shot heard around the world.” I have seen reviews to support a range of theories that the code was sloppy to the author(s) significantly had their revenues limited by having the email count taken offline ...
  
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• Don't Assume That Private Insurance Is Better Than Medicaid - New York Times

  12-07-2017 13:16
  
  New York Times
  Don't Assume That Private Insurance Is Better Than Medicaid
  New York Times
  As we recently wrote, it's better for patients to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, contrary to critics of the program. But is having Medicaid, as those critics also say, much worse than having private insurance? This idea has become a talking point ...
  Hopkins: There's no getting around basic cost of health insuranceTallahassee.com
  What Enrollees Think of Medicaid | Health Care Reform | JAMA Internal Me
  
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• Tricky caveat: Homeowners insurance and damaged auto parts

  12-07-2017 13:00
  
  Should spare auto parts be covered by a homeowners policy?
  
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• Senators Discussing Bipartisan Health Insurance Bill

  12-07-2017 12:48
  
  More than half a dozen Republican and Democratic senators have discussed alternatives to the embattled GOP health-care bill, even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans a vote next week to muscle the Obamacare repeal measure through the Senate. …
  
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• Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia Names Chairman, Board Members

  12-07-2017 12:48
  
  During its recently held annual meeting at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia (IIAV) named Douglas B. Megill of McLean Insurance Agency chairman of the board of directors. Megil is a third generation insurance …
  
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• 5 worst states for insurance producer fines

  12-07-2017 12:30
  
  The number of insurance producer fines in each state ranges from none to 4,671.
  
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• In the insurance core systems hourglass, the sand is falling faster

  12-07-2017 11:30
  
  Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, and that includes the technology underlying the business of insurance.
  
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• XL Catlin Appoints AIG’s Ochsenkuehn as Head of Global Programs

  12-07-2017 11:03
  
  XL Catlin’s insurance operations announced the appointment of Sonja Ochsenkuehn as head of Global Programs with worldwide responsibility. Ochsenkuehn’s remit is to drive the network performance and best in class service delivery, said XL Catlin in a statement. She will have direct …
  
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• Making an insurance claim? Expect to see a drone - MarketWatch

  12-07-2017 10:56
  
  MarketWatch
  Making an insurance claim? Expect to see a drone
  MarketWatch
  After a windstorm tore roof shingles off his house, Nick Ragone of Rochester, New York, figured it would be a routine claim process. But then his insurance company asked if it could use a new tool to inspect the damage. Instead of a ladder, the claims ...and more »
  
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• 300-Plus Canadian Wildfires Force Closures of Lumber Mills, Natural Gas Facility

  12-07-2017 10:35
  
    More than 300 wildfires in British Columbia have forced Canadian lumber mills and an Enbridge Inc. natural gas compressor station to shut as hot, dry weather fans blazes across swaths of western Canada and the U.S. Enbridge said Tuesday …
  
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• Federal Judge Halts West Virginia $151M Water Crisis Settlement

  12-07-2017 07:42
  
  A federal judge has declined to grant preliminary approval to a $151 million settlement stemming from a 2014 chemical spill that sparked a water crisis in West Virginia. Local news outlets report Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. said in an …
  
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• EEOC Sues Florida Strip Club for Refusing to Hire Male Bartender

  12-07-2017 07:18
  
  A Florida strip club accused of hiring only women bartenders and refusing to hire a man is facing a federal lawsuit. A lawsuit filed June 28 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Sammy’s Gentlemen’s Club in Fort Walton …
  
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• Robo Advisers Gaining as Insurance Sales Agents: Chart

  12-07-2017 07:00
  
  While traditional intermediaries still dominate in distributing insurance, the advance in artificial intelligence means that so-called robo advisers have gained traction in recent years, according to Swiss Re. These web-based platforms — providing automated, algorithm-based advice without or with only …
  
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• Individual Health Insurance Market Stabilizing, Not Collapsing: Kaiser

  12-07-2017 07:00
  
  Insurer financial data through the first quarter of 2017 suggest the individual health insurance market has been stabilizing and insurers in this market are regaining profitability, finds a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Insurer financial results show no sign …
  
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• Agents Seek Better Understanding of Carriers’ Commercial Lines Underwriting Appetites

  12-07-2017 07:00
  
  Independent agents want to talk about underwriting, and they’re urging their carriers to listen. Preliminary results from the 2017 Channel Harvest Research survey indicate agents want to see companies put greater emphasis on how and what they’ll underwrite. The 10th …
  
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• Agents Seek Better Grasp of Carriers’ Commercial Lines Underwriting Likes

  12-07-2017 07:00
  
  Independent agents want to talk about underwriting, and they’re urging their carriers to listen. Preliminary results from the 2017 Channel Harvest Research survey indicate agents want to see companies put greater emphasis on how and what they’ll underwrite. The 10th …
  
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