Natural disasters cost insurance companies more than $32 billion in direct insured losses in the first nine months of 2011, nearly double the average of other years, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

A plurality of insurance agencies expect their revenue for 2011 to mirror that of the prior year, according to the latest IFAwebnews.com poll.

Life insurance application activity showed a meager 0.5% gain in November, although researchers said the “no change” status signaled a “positive tone.”

OneAmerica Financial Partners says its enterprise sales growth for the year was 29% through the third quarter over the same period the prior year.

Variable annuity (VA) sales rose 16% in the third quarter, totaling $40.2 billion, according to the LIMRA’s third quarter 2011 U.S. Individual Annuities Sales survey.

The string of three straight months of increased application activity for individually underwritten life insurance was broken in September, and an industry expert is forecasting a “rollercoaster” ride in the future.

Private U.S. property-casualty insurers’ net income fell 71%, fueled in large part by losses from catastrophes.

The percentage of people without health insurance last year was not statistically different from 2009, although the number of people enrolled in employer-sponsored plans and private health insurance decreased, a government agency says.

Net income for the U.S. property-casualty insurance sector fell 67% in the first half, sagging under the weight of catastrophic losses.

The number of questionable property-casualty insurance claims filed in the first half of the year increased 4.5% over the prior year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.