The News Review:
- Court won’t revisit Holocaust insurance settlement
- First Insurance to offer prepaid cards
- Mass. health system is being tested by recession
- AIG Gets Bids For Life Insurance Unit: Report
- Insurance chief: rates must rise
Court won’t revisit Holocaust insurance settlement
The Associated Press -
Acting Monday the justices refused to consider undoing a settlement agreed to by other survivors and Assicurazioni Generali over the company’s refusal to honor policies held by Holocaust victims. The company has paid more than $135 million to resolve claims but eight Holocaust survivors say that insurance policies with an estimated value of at $2 billion remain unpaid. They asked the court for a ruling that would eventually force Generali to defend itself at trial and possibly pay punitive damages. A settlement approved in 2007 followed a Supreme Court ruling that sharply limited survivors’ ability to sue over unpaid insurance claims. The case is Rubin v. Assicurazioni Generali 08-780.
First Insurance to offer prepaid cards
Bizjournals.com NC -
us Digg This First Insurance Company of Hawaii customers will be able to get immediate help through a new partnership with a prepaid card program. InsurCard a wholly owned subsidiary of Service Network Design and First Insurance offer prepaid cards to cover eligible policyholders’ immediate needs in the event of a hurricane or other major disaster. “We believe providing a branded card to our policyholders when they are in need will greatly simplify a very difficult situation for them. The catastrophic relief card from InsurCard gives our policyholders immediate access to make purchases and simplifies their lives when they are in turmoil” said Ben Bondroff vice president of First Insurance in a statement. Traditionally policyholders are issued a check but in many natural disasters there is nowhere for the check to be cashed InsurCard said.
Mass. health system is being tested by recession
The Associated Press -
health system is being tested by recessionBy STEVE LeBLANC – 16 hours ago BSTN (AP) — Massachusetts’ pioneering health care system which requires nearly everyone to carry insurance or face fines is about to be put to the test by this bad economy. Unemployment in the state has climbed over the past three years from around 4. 8 percent to close to 7 percent meaning 72000 more people are out of work now than when the law was signed in 2006. Many of the newly jobless may have to buy their own insurance. Will they do it? Will the state penalize those who don’t? And will this recession-battered state be able to bear the added costs of supporting the program?With the bama administration hoping to expand health care nationally the fate of Massachusetts’ program is being watched closely.
AIG Gets Bids For Life Insurance Unit: Report
TheStreet.com -
2 billion for American Life Insurance a price that may drop to about $8 billion because of deterioration in the unit’s financial condition according to Bloomberg. A bid from Axa excludes operations in Japan American Life Insurance’s biggest market. AIG may shelve the sale of the life-insurance unit if it doesn’t find a buyer at the right price Bloomberg reports citing one of the people close to the matter. Spokespeople at MetLife Axa and AIG declined to comment for Bloomberg.
Related from Vistra-corp: Malaysia Petronas Gas to call bids for new plant-report
Insurance chief: rates must rise
News & bserver NC -
The increases approved late last year have the biggest impact on homeowners in beach and coastal counties and have raised hackles among some homeowners. Legislators from the region both Democrats and Republicans have responded by sponsoring bills that would delay much of the increases until May 1 2011. Goodwin took aim at those bills at a news conference Monday arguing that the increases are necessary to ensure the viability of the state-created Beach Plan which offers homeowners policies in beach and coastal counties. In addition he said some insurers may stop writing homeowners policies in the state if they think rates aren’t sufficient to cover their risk.