The News Review:
- Helvetia Buys Swiss Life French Transport Insurance
- Health Reform: Costs Variations in Care & Public Insurance
- Neb. officials propose grain-insurance fund
- Taxing Insurance Isn’t the Answer
Helvetia Buys Swiss Life French Transport Insurance
Wall Street Journal
) ZURICH (Dow Jones)–Swiss insurer Helvetia Holding AG (HEPN. EB) Wednesday bought Swiss Life Holding AG’s (SLHN. VX) French transport insurance unit for an estimated EUR30 million reflecting the industry’s continued hunger for deals in spite of the weak economic environment. The estimated size of the deal for L’Europeenne d’Assurance Transport or CEAT is relatively small – the unit generated a premium volume of about EUR30 million in 2008 – but the move reflects that the industry is sound enough to.
Health Reform: Costs Variations in Care & Public Insurance
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Congress is aiming to pass legislation by August and deliver a single bill to President bama by ctober. Two key debates remain central the WSJ notes. ne is whether to include a national government-backed insurance plan; a group of Republicans from the powerful Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to bama on Monday reiterating their opposition to a public plan which the administration backs. The other debate is of course how to pay for health reform. ne possibility to keep an eye on: taxing some health-benefit plans an option we discussed in.
Related from Bmkf999: Budget a lost chance for reform
Neb. officials propose grain-insurance fund
Forbes
– Nebraska officials are moving forward with a plan to establish a multimillion-dollar insurance fund to protect farmers when grain elevators go broke. Last year some farm groups gave the idea a cool reception partly because the fund would be paid for by farmers. John Fecht of the Public Service Commission’s Grain Warehouse Division said efforts to start a fund will stop if there is significant opposition.
Taxing Insurance Isn’t the Answer
Wall Street Journal
Yes Capitol Hill Democrats would like to encourage longtime Republican backers of capping the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance to come up with some of the money needed to finance an expansion of health insurance for everyone else. In other words re-enlisting as “tax collectors for the welfare state” under Democratic management.