While Democrats and Republicans gear up for a showdown on health care reform legislation, a national association representing insurers says the proposed solution raises prices and stalls necessary treatment.

While the U.S. House and Senate agree that the National Flood Insurance Program should be extended, how to achieve that goal and for how long seem to be areas of disagreement in Washington, D.C.

About 40% of employees in a recent study indicate that they enrolled in their benefits through Web-based technology only, an increase from the 12% who used online enrollment five years ago.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new reconciliation package she wants the full House of Representatives to pass in a few days includes greater insurance reforms and warned that insurance companies will be “poisoning the well” with “misrepresentations” and “misinterpretations” designed to kill the bill.

With hurricane season approaching, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. plans to sell $2 billion in tax-exempt bonds to add to its reserves for claims.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is urging Democrats in Washington, D.C., to reconsider the use of the “deem and pass” rule to approve health care reform and is threatening a state suit against any such comprehensive bill.

Noting that Washington, D.C., is “working out their scheme” to pass a health reform bill, the governor of Idaho has signed into law a bill blocking any individual mandate to secure health insurance and give the state the right to sue to protect that freedom.

An organization representing about 75,000 financial planning professionals “strongly urged” the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to include financial planner consumer protections that include increase regulation, oversight and competency and ethics standards for anyone calling himself a “financial planner.”

On the heels of releasing the first of four reports on Pennsylvania’s four Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and possible anti-competitive practices, state regulators face a suit by Highmark for what it calls an “unlawful and unauthorized” examination.

In a move it says “dramatically accelerates its national growth,” Marsh & McClennan Agency has acquired Roanoke, Va.-based Thomas Rutherfoord Inc., one of the nation’s largest independently owned firms.