United Insurance Holdings Corp. has announced that its property-casualty division is submitting applications to write insurance in seven states, including New Jersey.

A new policy statement from a life insurers’ group, suggesting that the securitization of life settlements needs to be regulated, has sparked a sharp response from a life settlement trade group.

Several weeks after the big push failed, few people are talking about health care reform. The usual suspects – President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and other key Democrats, smarting still from the Scott Brown Senate victory in Massachusetts last month – continue to talk (it’s hardly a call or shout now) for change, but the average Joes and Joannes in middle-town America have moved on.

The Hanover Insurance Group announced the availability of a new ocean cargo product it says offers broader coverage, specialized claims, and underwriting and loss control services to help partner agents build their business.

Nine former employees and rival property-casualty insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings are the subject of a suit filed by Liberty Mutual, alleging a conspiracy to steal professional liability insurance business.

In a deal estimated at $180 million, New York-based Tower Group has agreed to purchase the personal lines division of OneBeacon Insurance Group, which includes two insurance companies and two management companies.

Two companies that provide insurance for hole-in-one contests at golf charity events have been ordered not to write policies in Virginia.

The newest member of Congress said health care reform was on its “last legs” before his election and is calling for Washington, D.C., to start from scratch on health reform, a stance echoed by one of the highest-ranking Republicans.

MassMutual’s retirement division is set to open the second quarter of 2010 with its new engagement platform.

Two reports – one prepared for two Maryland insurance industry trade groups and the other for a general agency operating in the state – reach a similar conclusion: that the Maryland system for delivering health insurance works better than the Massachusetts health exchange.