Ohio National named a new president/COO Tuesday and announced the surprise departure of Christopher Carlson just three months after he ascended to the top post. The company has had a turbulent fall after announcing in September that it would end trail commissions on certain variable annuities.

There are at least four voices taking part in a person-to-person sales process, and most advisors never notice or address them. Not accounting for those two extra voices, however, is like ignoring a third and fourth person in the room. The results can have a strong impact on the success or failure of the pitch.

To improve affordability for those who buy their own coverage, America’s Health Insurance Plans is offering 12 new policies that federal or state leaders can implement to drive down premiums, increase participation in the marketplace, and offer savings to consumers.

The Big I and the Professional Insurance Agents of New York filed a lawsuit today asking a New York court to throw out the best-interest regulation approved by state officials this summer. The new standard is “extremely troubling,” plaintiffs said in a press release.

With control of Congress divided between Democrats and Republicans, the efforts to reform health care will shift to the states over the next two years, a panel of consultants said.

A state insurance commissioners’ task force will consider a Pennsylvania court case involving insolvent LTCi claims. A request to limit those claims could have implications for life insurance and annuities if successful, an industry trade association says.

Indexes have increased in choice but with more choice comes greater complexity. Comparisons between indexes too often are made without a firm understanding of the structure behind the index. This causes both financial professionals and their clients frustration with something that should be viewed as a positive.

New York finalized its best-interest standard in July for both annuity and life insurance sales. A new report finds that insurers are facing higher compliance costs that come with retraining sales staff and other associates involved in annuity and life insurance transactions.

Veritas Independent Partners, an independent broker-dealer based in Conway, Ark., filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Ohio court asking the court to require Ohio National to continue paying trail commissions per their contracts.

Use a combination of high tech and high touch to drive strong benefits participation from millennial employees, who already comprise the largest share of the U.S. labor force at 56 million strong. And in many organizations, millennials are not just the worker bees, they’re already the decision-makers.

Expect “repeal and replace” to be a thing of the past now that Democrats will control the House. The advantage for agents and brokers is that they can tell their clients with certainty that no major changes to the law are expected any time soon, one analyst says.

The first lawsuit against Ohio National was filed this week by a Texas broker. Ohio National stunned the annuity sales industry with its September announcement that it will stop paying trail commissions on certain variable annuity contracts.

Election night yielded a little something for everyone. But what does it mean for insurance and financial services as a whole? We see three key takeaways, and not all of them are bad news.

Fifty-four percent of advisors say they will “very likely” increase compliance infrastructure as a direct result of the late Department of Labor rule, a new survey finds. Many advisors and firms are expected to stick with new ways of doing business, despite the DOL rule being tossed out by an appeals court.

Tuesday’s election is likely to be followed by about 20 new state insurance commissioners sometime in 2019. Given the state momentum for regulatory control of insurance rules, the election results are expected to have a major impact on the industry, experts say.

While the SEC revises its rule-making package containing regulation best interest, Form CRS and title reform, several states are taking matters into their own hands, establishing a fiduciary standard in the hopes of better-protecting investors.

Catastrophic losses are on the rise, but many insurance carriers remain unprepared. The good news: technology can help.