Insurance Exec: Upheaval Could Affect Group Plans, Too

While more than 80 counties with 92,000 enrollees had been at risk of becoming “bare” in 2018, residents of all but one county in the U.S. now will have access to an ACA health plan next year thanks to the lobbying efforts of state officials in both red and blue states, according to Politico. Such is the case for Centene, which signed up to sell plans in more than half of…

The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, or CCIIO, has published the agent and broker registration figures for the 2018 open enrollment period on its registration status verification website. CCIIO is using the National Association of Health Underwriters, America’s Health Insurance Plans and Litmos, a unit of Callidus Software Inc., to…

NASHVILLE– Sharon Barker isn’t used to recruiting new health insurance customers in deepest summer, long before the enrollment season for the Affordable Care Act. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to end billions of dollars in payments to insurance companies, but his administration decided this week to continue them for another month.

Another 52 feet, and the gleaming new building at the end of E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee would have surpassed the nearby U.S. Bank Center, which has stood as the state’s highest building for more than 40 years. But as project architect Jon Pickard talked with Northwestern Mutual Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Schlifske and others during the…

“We continue to see a decline in issuer participation in the health insurance exchanges, leaving consumers with fewer and fewer insurance options,” Seema Verma, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare& Medicaid Services, said in a report issued in late July. “My fear is that regardless of what Congress does, it will be to the detriment of the carriers,” says…

—Rhode Island officials have approved health insurance premium rates for 2018, giving the OK to increases ranging from 5 percent to 12.1 percent. The biggest premium hike will be for those who purchase plans from Blue Cross& Blue Shield of Rhode Island on the individual market. She says Rhode Island has a better outlook than many other states.

Covered California, the health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act, will take the unprecedented step of offering insurance companies financial incentives, and guardrails, to encourage them to continue selling health plans through its program.

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Investment Weekly News– According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by VerticalNews journalists, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing by White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd was posted on August 4, 2017. The SEC file number is 0000776867-17-000029.. A U.S. Securities and Exchange…

The student loan debt crisis is worsening in ways that go well beyond the size of the debt that has ballooned to more than $1.4 trillion, according to a new report from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. More than 40% of borrowers leave school owing $20,000 or more, double the percentage from 2002, and the share of borrowers owing $50,000 or more has more than…

The uncertainty about the future of national health policy reverberated in Massachusetts Wednesday when state regulators delayed approving insurance rates for individuals and small businesses that are set to kick in Jan. 1. Typically, the Division of Insurance makes the rates public in mid-August. “If the cost-sharing reductions go away, they would need to…

A federal district court in Illinois has ordered Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company to pay a $4.5 million judgment, plus interest, notwithstanding its policy’s $25,000 limits– and despite the fact that it did not find that the insurer had acted in bad faith in declining to defend a 16 year old in a negligence action. Her friend wanted to leave, but Ms. Risby did…

John Bel Edwards announced Wednesday he wants to broaden Louisiana’s flood aid program to include homeowners whose flood insurance proceeds didn’t cover their rebuilding costs and to boost grant amounts. Initial limits setting homeowner eligibility for the rebuilding aid granted by Congress after the March and August 2016 floods were set based on…

Minuteman Health Inc., a small Boston- based health insurer, has failed to raise enough money to continue selling plans next year, forcing thousands of people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to find new health insurance for 2018.. “Today, despite the incredible efforts of many people, was unable to meet the deadline to secure licensing approval to participate…

As a consequence, the district court decided, the insurers had to pay the insureds $62,717,069.00, plus prejudgment interest, for the attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses the insureds had incurred to defend themselves against the heparin litigation between January 18, 2009 and June 14, 2016. Under a supply agreement entered into in 2001, Scientific…

The rapid emergence of autonomous vehicles– with Stevens Institute of Technology predicting that as many as 23 million fully autonomous vehicles will be traveling U.S. highways by 2035– has the automobile insurance industry worried. But recent analysis from Accenture indicates that the switch to autonomous vehicles presents the auto insurance industry…

In an explosive news conference overshadowed by questions about his response to a white nationalist rally over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., Mr. Trump tried several times to steer the conversation back to infrastructure. “We will end up getting health care, but we’ ll get the infrastructure, and actually infrastructure is something that I think we’ ll have…

California’ s insurance regulator said Tuesday that it would begin a probe into Wells and its insurance vendor, National General; regulators in New York subpoenaed Wells last week. “Why would we think that National General was limiting its crappy practices to its biggest client? ”said Birny Birnbaum, a former economist with the Texas Department of Insurance who…

Aug. 15–* Story updated Aug. 15 to clarify that the bill does not cover abortions where a female has cancer, or where the woman is impregnated as a result of rape or incest. Seven states already allow such “rider plans” be sold for abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank that supports abortion rights. But that doesn’t mean the plans can be purchased,…

The Ohio auditor’s office and some county prosecutors are investigating the Ohio Public Entity Consortium Healthcare Cooperative, a self-insurance program with headquarters near Plain City. Local members include Plain City and West Jefferson in Madison County and Orange Township in Delaware County. As a council of governments, the Healthcare…

Byline: John L. Olsen and Michael E. Kitces. Example: Mr. Jones has chosen five investment subaccounts from among those available in his variable deferred annuity. The accumulation unit values of these accounts on the day his premium is received are set forth in the table below, along with the changes in the subaccounts that will occur when Mr. Jones makes a premium…

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has proposed raising premiums next year by 22 percent on average, while AmeriHealth of New Jersey wants increases ranging from 6 to 59 percent. AmeriHealth says nearly half of its proposed increase is driven by changes to health-care provider fees. The proposed increases must be approved by the state Department of…

Aug. 14– A majority of doctors nationwide now support a single-payer health care system– an almost exact reversal of their stance nine years ago. Fifty-six percent of the 1,033 physicians who responded to the Aug. 3 Merritt Hawkins survey said they either strongly supported or somewhat supported a single-payer system. We’ve always heard the opposite, “admitted…

Federal health officials said the deadline for insurers to file their rate requests would be extended by nearly three weeks, to Sept. 5. The extension was announced in a memorandum that insurers received on Friday from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the federal insurance marketplace and regulates insurers under the…

“If they fail to authorize, it’s a seismic event that just hurts children,” said Dan Mendelson, president at Avalere Health. But he added that Congress is likely to renew spending for CHIP because there are no good alternatives. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services held a call with state officials to discuss contingency planning if Congress deadlocks,…

Myths are an interesting mix of a little fact and a lot of fiction– they’re often a way to validate long-held beliefs, regardless of their accuracy. One of the myths surrounding disability income insurance is that it’s too expensive. Early in my 50- year insurance career, I represented Berkshire Life–now owned by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America–…

Summary paragraph: The denial of the class certification motion goes into some detail regarding what it takes to establish class standing under ERISA. A federal district court judge has denied class action status to an ERISA challenge filed by a retirement plan participant invested in a stable value product offered by Prudential. The suit, filed against…

Byline: Debbie Michel, Doug Manwaring. Making matters worse, auto loss costs increased a cumulative 20% between 2012 and 2015, according to the Insurance Services Office. *More traffic– The number of miles driven is at an all-time high, growing 3.3% year-over-year in the first half of 2016, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

In its June filings, Harvard Pilgrim requested an initial 39.7 percent rate increase that it later lowered to 29.2 percent, Community Health requested a 19.6 percent rate increase, and Anthem sought an increase of 21.2 percent. The controversial health care act initiated under former President Obama was the target of multiple repeal and replace efforts this…

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News– The Jacobson Group and Ward Group, a part of Aon plc, will reveal the results of the Mid-Year Insurance Industry Labor Outlook Study in a complimentary webinar presentation on August 10, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. CDT. “This study has developed into an accurate predictor of the industry’s staffing outlook,”…

—A former Bismarck securities and insurance agent accused of defrauding investors out of more than $3 million is facing criminal charges in federal court. An investigation by the North Dakota Securities Department accuses Wanner of selling counterfeit CDs to his clients and recruiting them to an investment group called the Bulls and Bears Investment Club.

The federal government owes health insurer Molina $52 million for payments it was supposed to receive involving losses under Obamacare, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled Friday. The payments, called “risk corridors,” were diminished as part of a spending bill advanced by Republicans, who referred to them as a “bailout” for the insurance industry.

The workforce of the 21st century is priming itself for an automated future, and the consequences that follow: a shift toward strategic collaboration with intelligent software that will deeply impact insurance brokers. Deep Learning and advancements in Artificial Intelligence have been the driving force behind the evolution of computer-customer…

—Massachusetts officials promised a crackdown Thursday on marijuana-impaired driving as the state prepared for full implementation of the voter-approved law legalizing adult use of recreational pot. Arthur Kinsman, regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the goal isn’t to “demonize” marijuana use, but change…

Maxine Waters, D-Calif., recently called on the chairmen on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees to hold hearings in September with Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan and Chairman Stephen Sanger as witnesses. In their letter to Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R- Idaho, Democrats noted a series of “significant developments” related to…

The water from Saturday’ s flooding in New Orleans overwhelmed streets and managed to seep into a fair share of homes, restaurants and businesses from Mid-City to the 7th Ward, Lakeview and Gentilly to Treme. Could the flooding in New Orleans send rates soaring? Not any time soon, said Marc Eagan, president of Eagan Insurance Agency, which sells auto insurance…

The average 5 percent hike is modest in comparison to the double-digit premium increases that insurers that sell plans in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces have been requesting, citing the financial challenges of the marketplace and threats by the White House to discontinue federal subsidies. It’s not great, because it’s still multiples of wage…

They may like you, your agency, or your funny commercial, but they don’t like insurance. When I attended my very first insurance training course back in 2000, the instructor said something to us I will never forget. He said, “Congratulations, you get to sell a product that nobody likes, understands, thinks is too expensive, and only use when something bad happens.”

What would you do if there was a clause in your insurance policy that said if you want to pursue arbitration you’d have to do it in the British Virgin Islands? Nick Roxborough of the firm, which represented the San Francisco based Luxor Cabs, said the first step was to ensure that arbitration will happen in California and not overseas. That first victory came for the…

Aug. 08– Employees of most Maine companies have seen their health insurance premiums and deductibles continue to rise in recent years, but that’s not the case for workers at two midsize manufacturing businesses in Guilford. Hardwood Products Co. LLC and Puritan Medical Products Co. LLC, sister companies that produce wooden sticks for consumer and medical…

Establishing rule certainty, expanding plan flexibility, and providing reinsurance can stabilize and expand the health insurance exchanges.

WASHINGTON— The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration. The National Academy of Sciences has signed off on the draft report, and the authors are…

The Medicare Advantage program helped and hurt insurers reporting their second-quarter earnings last week. Aetna and Humana both reported that their respective Medicare Advantage books of business were bolstered by growth in Medicare Advantage membership. The Hartford, Conn.- based insurer grew Medicare Advantage premiums due to membership gains in the…

PHILADELPHIA– Congress is on vacation, but state insurance commissioners have no time off. For administration officials and many in Congress, the subsidies are a political and legal issue in a fight over the future of the Affordable Care Act. But for state officials, gathered here at the summer meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the…

Atop asset management, retirement, financial advice and insurance, Voya, which manages $48 billion in assets, has multiple business goals. So it has to move beyond the perception that it is a singular service provider, says Voya Financial Advisors’s Tom Halloran, president of its broker-dealer. One way the firm is doing that is by tying together its institutional…

Byline: By Jonathan Charak, FCAS, MAAA. Automated vehicles have been a hot topic of conversation in the news and at industry conferences recently. In the midst of this activity, and with the hope of bringing about rapid– but safe– deployment of driverless technology, policymakers in the U.S. Congress and in many state legislatures have taken steps to address testing…

Summary paragraph: This is up from 8% in 2011.. People making more money tend to own Roth 401 s, with 16% of those earning $60,000 to $79,000 owning one and, again, 16% of those earning $80,000 to $99,000 having one. It ticks down to 13% of those earning $100,000 or more and is a mere 10% among those earning $20,000 to $39,000 and 12% among those earning $40,000 to $59,000.

In May, a piece of ransomware known as “WannaCry” paralyzed businesses, government entities and Great Britain’s National Health Service in one of the largest global cyberattacks to date. Related: WannaCry and the dawn of large-scale business interruption. The following month, it was “Petya,” another massive cyberattack that crisscrossed the globe, bringing…

More insurers have been pulling out of the Affordable Care Act-enabled exchanges, and recent counts suggest that 45 or more counties may soon have no ACA market options at all. “I think the main reason companies are pulling out is due to the restrictions that require them to insure people with pre-existing conditions,” says Garrett Ball, owner of Secure Medicare…

Today the average is about 79 years old and in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there were more than 72,000 American over 100 years old. Add into the mix the uncertainties surrounding Social Security as well as the fact that, as the Pew Charitable Trust noted in a January 2016 report, more than 40% of workers don’t even have access to a retirement…

Minuteman Health Inc., an insurer launched with millions of taxpayer dollars, said Friday it is seeking to ditch its nonprofit structure next year and sell plans under a new for-profit entity. Executives of the Boston- based company said the change is necessary because the company faces regulations that are too burdensome. About two dozen such insurers were…

CHEYENNE, Wyo.— President Donald Trump has approved a disaster declaration for Wyoming’s flood-affected Fremont and Park counties, including the Wind River Reservation. The White House announced Trump’s declaration on Sunday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has named Thomas McCool as coordinating officer for the Wyoming disaster assistance.

The company, which has 37,000 members in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, is now fully under the control of acting Massachusetts insurance commissioner Gary D. Anderson. “This proactive step was taken by the commissioner in order to protect policyholders and their health care providers,’’ Chris Goetcheus, spokesman for the Division of Insurance, said in a…

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News– Arch Capital Group Ltd. reports that net income available to Arch common shareholders for the 2017 second quarter was $173.8 million, or $1.25 per share, compared to $205.6 million, or $1.65 per share, for the 2016 second quarter. The Company’s book value per common share was $59.60 at June 30, 2017, a…

Lloyd’s, the London- based insurance underwriter, is proud of its reputation as the company that “specializes in unusual risks.” They include: the legs of Betty Grable, Rudolf Nureyev, Michael Flatley and David Beckham; the breasts of Dolly Parton; the hands of Keith Richards and, moving away from body parts, the 69.42 carat diamond Richard Burton bought for Elizabeth…

A string of record 401 and IRA account totals now stretches across three consecutive quarters, according to second-quarter data from Fidelity Investments. The average 401 account balance stands at $97,700 as of June 30. Average IRA totals, meanwhile, rose to $100,200 from $89,600 a year ago and $73,100 in 2012.

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at VerticalNews Health– Washington– The American College of Physicians is gravely disappointed that 50 Senators plus Vice President Pence voted to begin debate on still-secret legislation that could result in tens of millions losing insurance coverage. The Senate can still restore honor to itself and the country, and…

Washington— Ohio insurers want big premium hikes next year for individual health care policies in the Affordable Care Act market, with typical average increases of 20 percent or more. These rate requests, and requests in other states, are likely to intensify public debate about Obamacare at a time when Republicans in Congress have failed to repeal and replace…

If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon! As explained by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt:. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost of these payments at $7 billion in fiscal year 2017, rising to $10 billion in 2018 and $16 billion by 2027..

Even the best salespeople fall into a slump sometimes. The trajectory to greatness is never a straight line. Instead, people falter and fall all along their way to achieving their higher life insurance, disability insurance and anuity sales goals.