Economy News

Spinning Off, Not Out of Control

The new AIU will start out with $45 billion in total revenues — enough to be a Fortune 54 company all by itself. State insurance regulators, like Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin and Louisiana’s Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon, have …

South Carolina’s 2005 Reform Reducing Claims Against Doctors

South Carolina legislators considering restricting lawsuits against companies were told that fewer lawsuits are being filed since a 2005 state law limited costs for doctors. A company managing an insurance system for half the state’s doctors told a state Senate …

Shrinking Budgets Stem Fraud Fighting Efforts

Fewer Fraud Bills To Be Debated in West With the downtrodden economy rumbling through the West, momentous and game-changing fraud bills will be in short supply this year. Lawmakers’ time and patience will be soaked up by efforts to shore-up …

Doctors’ Flat Fee Plans Give Insurance Regulators Headaches

Veteran doctor John Muney says his flat-fee, $79-a-month medical practice is a formula for making health care affordable and patient-friendly. But New York regulators see it as self-styled insurance and have told him to shut it down. The dispute, which …

The Hartford Reported In Talks to Sell Life Insurance Unit

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is in talks to sell most of its life insurance subsidiary to Sun Life Financial Inc. of Canada, Bloomberg News reported, citing anonymous people. Splitting the Hartford, Conn.-based insurer in two and unloading most of …

National Flood Insurance Program Set to Expire Tomorrow

The U.S. Senate has yet to approve a measure extending the nation’s flood insurance program, which expires tomorrow. While the U.S. House of Representatives passed an extension to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through September 2009 under the omnibus …

Bernanke Defends AIG Rescue, Says U.S. Had No Choice

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Tuesday defended the government’s latest bailout of embattled insurer AIG, telling irate lawmakers that he was also angry, but that the failure to act could have triggered an economic disaster. Bernanke, in testimony to …

Best Maintains Stable Outlook on U.S. Personal, Commercial Lines Sectors

The rating agency A.M. Best Co. said it continues to view the outlook for both the U.S. personal and commercial lines markets as stable. Despite the ongoing soft period in the cycle in commercial lines, a contracting economy and the …

Delaware Captive Industry on Fast Growth Track; 40 Now Licensed

Delaware licensed 22 captive insurance firms in 2008, bringing its total number of active licenses to 40. This represents 122 percent growth during the calendar year and marks a significant increase over the five captives that were licensed prior to …

Marsh Issues Study on Managing Risk to Survive Current Recession

Marsh has launched a report highlighting the key risks companies face as the global economy slows and advice about how to tackle them. Entitled “Managing Through the Downturn,” the report highlights issues around capital management, liability and trading risks, addressing …