Latest Pennsylvania Headlines

All the headlines from our Pennsylvania Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Pa. State Agencies Back in Operation After Budget Deal Struck

Jul 12 2007 // Thousands pf Pennsylvania state employees including those in the state insurance and motor vehicle departments were back on the job Tuesday after a one-day shutdown. The employees were called back to work after a tentative...

Pa. Government in Partial Shutdown

Jul 9 2007 // Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell late Sunday ordered a range of state government services shut down and placed about a third of the state workforce on indefinite unpaid furlough after frantic last-minute negotiations failed to...

Bill Limiting Pa. Farm Owners’ Liability for Hunting Accidents On Gov.’s Desk

Jul 5 2007 // A bill limiting Pennsylvania farmers’ liability for hunting accidents on their properties has flown through the House and Senate and been sent to Gov. Edward Rendell for signing. The measure was backed by...

Insurer Reported to Pay $20 Million to Settle Bad Faith Claim in Pa.

Jul 2 2007 // An insurer has agreed to pay $20 million in what is believed to be the state’s richest settlement of a bad faith claim. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, Robert Mongeluzzi of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett...

Oregon’s Ario tapped to be Pennsylvania commissioner

Jul 2 2007 // Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell has nominated Joel Scott Ario, the chief insurance regulator for the state of Oregon and a former consumer advocate, to serve as Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner. As the...

Pa. Hospitals Report Surgery Errors Caught Every Day But Many Occur

Jun 28 2007 // Pennsylvania hospitals reported making serious mistakes in the operating room — using the wrong procedure, operating on the wrong body part or even the wrong patient — 174 times during a 21/2 year period, according to...

Psychiatrist Not Liable for Patient’s Car Accident, Pa. Court Rules

Jun 26 2007 // A psychiatrist cannot be sued for a car crash caused by a patient, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled. The Superior Court ruling upholds a decision written by a Blair County judge dismissing the lawsuit filed by Matthew...

Pa. Lawmaker Seeks to Stop Insurers’ Use of Credit Scores

Jun 19 2007 // A Pennsylvania legislator has introduced a bill that would prohibit insurance companies from using credit scores to help determine how much customers pay for car insurance. “It’s a tool the insurance industry...

Oregon Administrator Ario Moving to Pennsylvania

Jun 14 2007 // Joel Ario, administrator of the Insurance Division in the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), confirmed he is leaving Oregon to accept the position of Insurance Commissioner for...

Oregon’s Ario Tapped to be Pennsylvania Insurance Regulator

Jun 13 2007 // Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell has nominated Joel Scott Ario, the chief insurance regulator for the state of Oregon and a former consumer advocate, to serve as Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner. As the...

FBI, IRS Probing Pa. Judge’s Car Insurance Claim Payment

Jun 12 2007 // The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating hefty insurance payments made to a Pennsylvania Superior Court judge. Judge Michael Joyce received $440,000 in insurance money in 2002 for injuries he said he...

Feds See No Antitrust Reason to Block Pa. Health Insurers’ Merger

Jun 1 2007 // Federal antitrust regulators this week approved a merger between Pennsylvania’s two largest health insurers. The Federal Trade Commission gave the green light to the marriage between Highmark Inc. of Pittsburgh and...

Pa. Gov. Urges Thorough State Review of Health Insurer Merger

Jun 1 2007 // Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell has renewed his call for a change in law to permit an in-depth state review of the proposed merger of Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc., Pennsylvania’s two largest...

Widows, Survivor of Explosion Sue Ky. Mine Owner, Pa. Company

May 23 2007 // A mine supervisor and a coal company put production over safety prior to an underground explosion last year that killed five miners, relatives and the sole survivor alleged Monday in a lawsuit. The lawsuit cited numerous...

Pennsylvania House Approves Ban on Emergency Services Fees

May 22 2007 // The Pennsylvania House has voted 190 – 7 to prohibit municipalities from billing insurers or citizens a fee when a police department is called upon to respond to a motor vehicle accident. The vote was cheered by...

ACE to Pay $9 Million in Pennsylvania to Settle Bid-Rigging Allegations

May 15 2007 // The parent company of ACE INA Holdings Inc., a Pennsylvania insurance company, will pay a record $9 million to settle allegations of bid-rigging and market collusion, according to Acting Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner...

Texas-based P/C Consulting Firm Acquires Pennsylvania’s Apteon

May 11 2007 // CastleBay Consulting Corporation, a consulting services firm headquartered in Austin, Texas, and specializing in providing high impact consulting services to the property/casualty insurance market, announced that it has...

Pa. Broker Arrested For Alleged Premium Finance Fraud

May 10 2007 // A former Bucks County, Pennsylvania insurance broker has been arrested by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office for allegedly defrauding four insurance premium companies and the state’s bureau of...

Study questions insurance cost effect on Pa. doctor supply

May 7 2007 // Spiraling-malpractice insurance costs appeared to have little effect on the number of doctors in high-risk specialties practicing in Pennsylvania over a 10-year period, according to a new study. Opponents of efforts to...

News Currents

May 7 2007 // Study questions insurance cost effect on Pa. doctor supply Spiraling-malpractice insurance costs appeared to have little effect on the number of doctors in high-risk specialties practicing in Pennsylvania over a 10-year...