Life insurance agents consider fit, relationship with carriers vital

One in five life insurance agents would consider changing carriers if the new one was a better fit, and the majority of producers that do switch blame it on an eroding relationship with the carrier, a new study suggests.  Read Story

Md. Insurance Administration safe in latest round of budget, job cuts

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Jan. 19 that the state should continue furloughs, lay off several dozen employees, raise college tuition and transfer nearly a billion dollars from sources that include its capital fund in order to close a projected $2 billion budget shortfall.  Read Story

Insurance industry ‘quality assurance’ bill now law in New Jersey

Insurance producers licensed to operate in New Jersey must now report any disciplinary action against them, even those by non-governmental regulators, within 30 days of the final outcome or face up to $100,000 in fines for failure to do so.  Read Story

Preliminary figures show Medicare Advantage plan enrollment declining

Medicare Advantage plan enrollment fell 2.8% in January, compared to the prior month, leading one analyst to call the preliminary results for the 2010 open-enrollment period “troublesome.”  Read Story

New York man arrested on same fraud charge as seven years ago

A Morrisonville, N.Y., man is again in trouble with insurance fraud investigators after falsifying a medical examination to access workers’ compensation benefits, his second such insurance fraud charge in the last seven years.   Read Story

Maryland insurance regulators stripped the license of a former Washington, D.C., agent who failed to return $50,000 in payments and $7,110 in commissions paid to him by Sun Life Financial.  Read Story

The Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) Risk Management Programs has denied a request by Gloucester County officials to collect $171,000 through insurance coverage for legal fees to defend four of its employees.  Read Story

Noting the company’s diversified business profile, large excess surplus and solid-risk adjusted capitalization, A.M. Best has affirmed the ratings of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. and its Delaware-based subsidiary.  Read Story

In a previous post, I wrote about President Obama’s proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, which is designed to make large banks — and the insurance companies that own banks — ...  Read →  Read Story

According to an article posted during the mid-afternoon today (Wednesday) on the Washington Post website, President Obama has told Democrats not to “jam” health care reform legislation through Congress. He ...  Read →  Read Story