| State orders insurer to cut rates further
VERO BEACH Cincinnati Insurance Co.'s proposal to roll back their homeowners property insurance coverage by 3.2 percent statewide was rejected by officials with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, who instructed the company to instead decrease rates by 31.3 percent. "They will have to make a new filing with us," said agency spokesman Bob Lotane on Wednesday. "The simplest way to put it is, they are going to have to get their math right." .
Most small companies fret over insurance
Small-business owners are increasingly concerned about rising health-care costs and are looking to government more and more to find legislative relief. That's according to a new poll of small-business owners nationwide who say they simply can't afford to offer health insurance because revenues are too uncertain and many of their employees can't afford their share of the costs. The poll, which was conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business, is based on a random survey of its members, 10,000 business owners. A vast majority, 95 percent, said the most important issue facing their business is rising health-care costs, said William Dennis, chief economist for the trade group, which has an office in Columbus and headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Insider's Guide: Employee Health Benefits
When Kara Trott set out to arrange health-care coverage for her employees she relied on her own expertise. Ms. Trott is the CEO of Quantum Health LLC , a Columbus, Ohio, firm that helps big companies organize and manage their health and related benefits programs. Before founding the company in 1999, she worked as a consultant in the industry. She started her firm with about five employees. Now at about 65, her current staff is still too small to justify the kind of big-company benefits programs she advises on. Rather, she's had to create a benefits system on a smaller ... .
Local Medical Leaders Develop Plan for Physician-Owned Insurance ...
In response to the growing health insurance crisis, local medical leaders have developed plans to create The Physicians Assurance Corp. (TPAC). The intended goal of TPAC is to provide a fair, equitable, and shared insurance solution primarily owned and managed by local physicians for both the medical community and small employer members. "Group medical insurance premium rates are not stable for small employers, especially in the central Ohio market. It is not uncommon to see price increases two to three times the trend," said Dr. Alice Epitropoulos, founder of The Refractive Center of Ohio and board member of TPAC. "This variance leads to significant employer uncertainty and in turn, uncertainty to their employees." "Small employers see larger premium rate increases because they lack the purchasing power of larger employers.
HealthMarkets Announces Newest Advisory Panel Members
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2007--HealthMarkets announced today the appointment of two new members to the Company's Regulatory Advisory Panel. Joining the panel are Susan Stead, a former Ohio Department of Insurance Assistant Director who has served in key roles at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and former Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor. Stead will serve as the panel's chairwoman. HealthMarkets is a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses through its subsidiaries, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company. Stead and Montemayor join current advisory panel members Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of the U.S.
CoverRx is taking no new patients
In a move that demonstrates the limits of the state's new programs for people without health insurance, Tennessee has stopped enrolling new patients in CoverRx, a prescription drug plan for people with low incomes. CoverRx started late last year but since early February patients who applied to join have been placed on a waiting list due to budget concerns. .
Insurance sector revs up building internal control system
At the begging of this year, three people from Risk Management Department of Taiping Life Insurance Co., Ltd. came to Beijing specially for demonstrating a whole set of "internal control scoring and rating system" to the Personal Insurance Regulatory Department of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). Taiping Life Insurance developed the system particularly for the purpose of strengthening internal risk control and management, and this could be a reference for supervisors to manage the internal control of life insurance companies. It was just one year since CIRC began to practice Measures on Evaluation of Life Insurance Company Internal Controls (hereinafter referred to as Measures). It seems that the internal risk management and control of insurance companies is their own business.
30th Annual Nationwide Insurance 10 Kilometer Run for ASPIRE
The 30th anniversary Nationwide Insurance 10 Kilometer Run for ASPIRE almost had to be something special, and it certainly was - featuring what has to be classified as one of the greatest duels to the finish in this and perhaps any other local road race in recent memory. The run was held on the roads of Plainview-Old Bethpage and Bethpage, on Saturday morning, March 31, with the start and finish at the H.B. Mattlin Middle School on Washington Avenue in Plainview. Bellmore Strider teammates Chris Fogarazzo and Chris Mammone ran together stride for stride for most of the 6.2 mile course, and it wasn't till the final stride and lean that Fogarazzo emerged as the winner. Both were timed in 31:46. Pawtucket, RI, speedster Janelle Kraus had a far easier time winning the women's division with a time of 35:25, nearly three full minutes faster than runner-up Tara Wilson of Lindenhurst, and only 30 seconds shy of the women's course record set by Angela Hearn in 1989.
Time to Reprice Your Life Insurance
If only everything you had to buy were like life insurance. Comparison-shopping for policies is easy, and prices have been going down for more than a decade. For example, a healthy 40-year-old man paid at least $995 per year for a $500,000 term-insurance policy with a 20-year rate guarantee in 1994. Now, the same policy would cost him as little as $355. And you don't have to be in the best of health to find good deals. Until recently, it was nearly impossible to buy life insurance if you had been diagnosed with cancer. Several years after completing treatment you might have been able to find a policy, but you would probably have had to pay two to three times as much as a healthy individual. Today, however, some patients who have had breast or prostate cancer, as well as diabetes and coronary-artery disease, are eligible for policies at standard rates.
Penn Treaty American Files Audited 2005 Financials & Form 10K - Final
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Penn Treaty investor's update conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. [OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Mr. Cameron Waite. Please go ahead. CAMERON WAITE, EVP STRATEGIC OPERATIONS, PENN TREATY AMERICAN CORP: Thank you very much. Welcome, everyone. We are very happy to have you join us this afternoon. I'm here with Bill Hunt, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mark Cloutier, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin today with Mr. Hunt's remarks and then questions and answers following, I'd like to read a brief forward-looking language statement.
Navy Splits Monday Doubleheader with Lafayette
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy freshman starting pitcher Yale Eckert (La Selva Beach, Calif.) tossed 5.1 innings of two-run baseball in the nightcap as the Midshipmen split their twinbill with Lafayette at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium on Monday afternoon. The Leopards won the opener, 6-3, before the Mids took game two, 4-3. The Midshipmen moved to 23-12 overall and 5-3 in the Patriot League, while the Leopards went to 16-11 on the year and 7-1 in league action. "I told our guys afterwards that this was our biggest win of the year," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Coming back from three tough games, we won in one of our best games of the year. As a coach, you can't be anything but happy about that." Eckert earned his second win in as many career Patriot League starts, as he scattered six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
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