Daily Headlines: Thursday, December 13, 2012

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December 13, 2012 News By Region  National  International  East  Midwest  Southeast  South Central  West Video Today's Headlines National Only 15 States Plan to Operate Own Health Insurance Exchanges Only 15 U.S. states plan to operate health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, leaving Washington with the ... Best Affirms United Services Automobile Ass'n. and Subs 'A++' Ratings A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of 'A++' (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "aaa" of United ... Report Shows Increasing Concentrations of Insured Property Values in U.S. Insured building values in the U.S. now exceed $40 trillion -- including residential, commercial and industrial structures, according to a ... E&O Risks When Writing Long-Term Care Insurance As Americans do their best to plan for retirement, all it takes is a visit to a financial planner to realize the importance and value of ... Commentary: AIG 'Profits' an Insult to the Concept To say taxpayers made money from their investment in AIG is to libel the very concept of profit. Come to think of it, it may well be a ... NAS Launches New E&O, Abuse & Molestation Program for Tutors NAS Insurance Services has launched a broader professional liability insurance program for tutors that provides coverage for their E&O and ... Allied World, Alteris Launch WineryPlus Program Allied World U.S. and Alteris Insurance Services, Inc. have entered into an agreement to provide a coverage program to wineries in the ... Agents Can Benefit from New Homeowners Insurance Online Options Keeping up with the auto insurance industry when it comes to online quoting services has been challenging for homeowners insurers. The... More National News East N.Y. Banks, Lenders to Expedite Insurance Payments to Homeowners New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that major banks and mortgage servicers will take action to expedite insurance payments to ... IICF Northeast Division Awards Record Total of Grants The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Northeast division made its largest-ever distribution of charitable grants at its sixth ... The Hartford to Pay $81K in Restitution for Auto Claims in Vermont The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation says the Hartford Financial Services Group has agreed to pay more than ... More East News Midwest Smith Named President of Norman-Spencer Agency Marine Operations Norman-Spencer Agency Inc., a national property and casualty insurance provider based in Dayton, Ohio, announced that T. Clarke Smith III ... Illinois Work Comp Medical Fee Schedule Rates to Increase 1.69% Workers' compensation medical fee schedule rates in Illinois will increase 1.69 percent in 2013, according to the Illinois Workers' ... Asbestos Lawsuit Disclosure Bill Heads to Ohio Governor A bill headed to the Ohio governor aims to curb duplicate lawsuits over on-the-job asbestos exposure in a state with one of the nation's ... Feds Say Flood Control in Northwest Ohio Could Cost $150M Flood control for the Blanchard River, where there have been several major floods since 2007, could cost up to $150 million or more, ... More Midwest News Southeast Florida Cabinet Approves PIP Benefit Rule Sought by Insurers Florida officials have approved an emergency rule that will allow auto insurers providing no-fault coverage to use a form informing ... Judge Denies Some Medical Providers' Plea to Block Florida PIP Law A federal court judge has denied a motion brought forward by some medical providers who claimed that Florida's new no-fault auto law ... CNA Appoints Vice President of Alabama Branch Office CNA Financial Corp. appointed Rocco Orlando as the vice president for its Birmingham, Alabama, branch office. Rocco comes to CNA from The ... More Southeast News South Central Football Players Building Homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward Former professional football players are teaming with New Orleans area builders to construct at least three new homes in the Lower 9th Ward ... Louisiana Last Resort Insurer Weighing Options to Close Budget Gap Louisiana's state-run property insurer of last resort is considering ways to close its multimillion-dollar budget gap, and either option ... $14M-Plus Targeted for Orleans, St. Bernard Parish Recoveries Officials say New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish are to receive $14.3 million in hurricane recovery grants related to Hurricane Katrina. A ... Louisiana Medical Professional Liability Insurer Announces 10% Dividend Louisiana Medical Mutual Insurance Co. (LAMMICO), based in Metairie, announced a sixth consecutive dividend for all LAMMICO policyholders ... More South Central News West Fire Codes Getting Tougher After Damaging Colorado Blaze Fire codes could be getting stricter in the Colorado Springs neighborhood devastated by last summer's Waldo Canyon Fire. The Gazette ... Lawsuit Claims TV's 'Storage Wars' Show Is Rigged Some of the valuables found hidden in abandoned lockers on A&E's "Storage Wars" have been added by producers to deceive viewers, a former ... Profile: Workers' Comp Fraud Expert Takes Old School Approach When a Southern California family was convicted of workers' compensation insurance premium fraud, it wasn't due to sophisticated software, ... Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Western Benefit Solutions of Idaho Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Boise, Idaho-based Western Benefit Solutions LLC. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. ... Utah Governor Asks Obama to Approve His State's Health Exchange Utah Gov. Gary Herbert asked President Barack Obama on Tuesday for help getting the state's small-business health insurance marketplace ... Heffernan Taps Smith as Assistant VP in Southern California Heffernan Insurance Brokers named Christian Smith to its Santa Ana, Calif. office as assistant vice president. Smith will specialize in ... Ryan Names Deitchman as Executive Vice President in Arizona Phoenix, Ariz.-based R.P. Ryan Insurance Inc. has made Mark D. Deitchman executive vice president. Deitchman's primary responsibility will ... More West News International Europe Deepens Union with ECB as Chief Bank Watchdog Europe clinched a deal on Thursday to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise euro zone banks from 2014, embarking on the ... Lloyd's, JLT to Cover Unprecedented Antarctic Winter Crossing Lloyd's of London announced that "broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) and a group of Lloyd's syndicates, alongside other major insurance ... P&I Club Renewals Face 'Perfect Storm' Says Willis' Report The upcoming Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club renewals are "poised to be the most challenging in a decade as a result of difficult ... XL's Preliminary Loss Estimate for Hurricane Sandy around $350 Million XL Group plc has announced that its preliminary net loss estimate related to Storm Sandy is around $350 million, pretax and net of ... Munich Re Announces Pischetsrieder to Replace Schinzler as Board Chairman Munich Re announced that the Chairman of its Supervisory Board, Hans-Jürgen Schinzler, will retire from office on age grounds, as of the ... Ratings Recap: Transsib Re, First General, Arab Re, TUCI A.M. Best Europe - Rating Services Limited has affirmed the financial strength rating of 'B' (Fair) and issuer credit rating of "bb+" of ... More International News Insurance Journal Blogs Creating a World-Class Insurance Sales Culture This post is part of a series on insurance marketing and training sponsored by Astonish. Selling insurance isn't like it used to be. Not ... More Blogs Join the Insurance Journal Network Insurance Journal TV Contractual, Regulatory Requirements Effects on Cyber Marketplace Federal and state privacy laws and contractual requirements are driving interest and demand of... Watch Now Rate Changes Coming to Healthy Railroad Industry At one time it seemed that the railroad industry was doomed, but thanks in part to the... Watch Now Watch more videos at InsuranceJournal.tv New Discussions in the Forums California Raw Milk Sales( Products Liability Markets ) Posted: Thu Dec 13 -- Looking for a surplus lines broker that has access to the Lloyds syndicate that writes the Raw Milk Products Liability. Santa Rosa Ins Broker Deposit into the trust account or operating account? Posted: Thu Dec 13 -- I wanted to get the opinion of other brokers and agents. If an insured pays with a check, and commission needs to be taken out of the... April2000 Contractor License Question Posted: Thu Dec 13 -- As a former WC Undewriter with State Fund, we did not allow others to say they were working under somebody else's license. In other words... Santa Rosa Ins Broker carriers for multistate trucking/warehousing work comp Posted: Thu Dec 13 -- $250K-$500K consult1 Earn Six-Figure Income as Long Term Care Insurance Agent Posted: Thu Dec 13 -- One of the biggest problems of insurance agents is finding leads. These can either make or break a career of an agent, so it's just right to... BeatrixLewis Insurance directories?? Posted: Wed Dec 12 -- I agree you're not likely to get decent business from online directories, but getting your name, phone number, and address in directories... Robert742 Can an employer fire an employee because their pre-convicted Posted: Wed Dec 12 -- I agree with Jazz's posting. Most employment applications have a statement that if any false information has been given on thye application... Presl70 Partnership Questions Posted: Wed Dec 12 -- "I'm thinking about partnering with a former co-worker who has an independent agency. We both went out on our own... joelm WC account Losses 189 X-mod hard class codes Posted: Wed Dec 12 -- Guys we don't have enough data to label this customer as having a bad safety program. This may be one claim where fraud or a recurring of an... JohnnyLaw Go to Forums Reader Comments Former Brooke Corp. Execs Again Indicted on Financial Fraud Charges Posted: Fri Dec 7 -- String 'em up! They are responsible for ruining hundreds, maybe thousands, of people's lives. They're nothing but a bunch of crooks. Libby New Jersey Lawmaker Seeks to Cap Public Adjuster Fees in Wake of Sandy Posted: Thu Dec 6 -- It wouldn't be a bad idea if they extended that proposed law to the lawyers as well (preventing them from getting more then 10% of any... caffiend Dallas Cowboys Player Death Raises Question of Safety Net Posted: Wed Dec 12 -- Fanucci, you are right. A star athlete is catered to from grade school, jr high, high school, college and then the pros if they are good... Agent Despair after Climate Conference Inaction, but UN Still Offers Hope Posted: Mon Dec 10 -- AS long as the UN keeps doing nothing, the world is on the right path. Carbon-trading schemes and UN-intervention are sure proof that... Tony Treasury Selling All of Its Remaining AIG Common Stock Posted: Tue Dec 11 -- D, what is it called when taxpayer money is extended to a company to keep it from going under? We have a pretty good idea on why AIG was... 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