UnitedHealth has filed suit against the U.S. Defense Department over its awarding of the Tricare South Region contract to Humana, who it took the contract from two years ago.

Congressional hearings on a proposal to increase fees on Tricare, a lifetime health benefits program for military retirees, are scheduled for March 16.

Three insurance agents appealed the revocation of their insurance licenses by Illinois insurance regulators several weeks before state regulators announced the actions taken against them.

The National Council of Insurance Legislators wants to ensure that “minefields – embedded with danger” in any retained-asset accounts are prevented by the adoption of a “Beneficiaries Bill of Rights.”

New Jersey insurance regulators say an insurance company based in the state properly handle life insurance benefits in a case involving a soldier that has sparked several reviews of how insurers pay out benefits to members of the military.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have begun to investigate life insurance companies’ profits from retained death benefits. The New York State Insurance Department also is exploring insurers’ practices.

Illinois insurance regulators revoked the licenses of a Lake Bluff, Ill., insurance agency and three insurance agents for improperly marketing and selling life insurance policies to members of the military.

Saying it is “extremely disappointed” with the decision, Aetna plans to determine why it was disqualified from winning a multi-billion dollar contract to provide health care to members of the military.

President Barack Obama signed legislation this week ensuring that members of the military and their dependents don’t get penalized for not having private insurance in the first of what could be several efforts to mop up small inconsistencies in the federal health care reform legislation.

In light of military deployments nationwide, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, through its Bureau of Insurance, is encouraging servicemembers to review their insurance coverage to ensure they and their families are properly protected.