For all its absurdity, the debate over Obamacare has accomplished something positive: It has educated people that insurance is really about risk pooling — as in you need both healthy and sick people to participate if it’s going to be affordable for the sick. Continue reading
Are employees worried about losing their health insurance from their employer? The ongoing political turmoil around “Obamacare” all but guarantees they’ll still be able to do that.
Ask Walt Rowen, whose business is etching glass but whose experience managing century-old, family-owned Susquehanna Glass makes him something of an expert on health care. He’s provided coverage to employees, then canceled it, steering them to the health insurance exchange. But with those premiums rising, Rowen this year is again covering his 70 or so workers under the umbrella of employer-sponsored health insurance.
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Subrogation is the legal doctrine which allows one party, usually an insurance company, that pays a loss by its insured which was caused by a third party, to take over the rights of its insured against the third party and recover its claim payments. It wouldn’t make much sense if, after paying a first-party insurance claim that its insured was partly responsible for, an insurance company could sue its insured to get their money back. It would defeat the purpose of insurance. Preventing precisely that sort of inequitable scenario is the purpose of the anti-subrogation rule (ASR). Sometimes known as the “suing your own insured” defense, the ASR was originally developed based on the logical premise that because the carrier stands in the shoes of it’s insured, it would essentially be suing itself. Therefore, no right of subrogation can arise in favor of an insurance company against its own insured. Wager v. Providence Ins. Co., 150 U.S. 99 (1893); The John Russell, 68 F.2d 901 (2nd Cir. 1934); Sherwood Trucking, Inc. v. Carolina Cas. Ins. Co., 552 F.2d 568 (4th Cir. 1977); Peavey Co. v. M/V ANPA, 971 F.2d 1168 (5th Cir. 1992) (insured or additional assured); Prestige Cas. Co. v. Michigan Mut. Ins. Co., 99 F.3d 1340 (6th Cir. 1996). Continue reading
U.S. teenagers are more reckless after their first few years of driving, often becoming overconfident in their abilities and putting themselves at higher risk for accidents, a new study shows.
More than half of high school seniors have car accidents or near misses, compared with 34 percent of sophomores, according to the study conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and the group Students Against Destructive Decisions. Continue reading
In July 2017, premium renewal rate change for the majority of standard commercial lines products remain in positive territory. Workers’ compensation was the one product that trended negatively, dipping below -1.00 percent for the first time this year.
IVANS, a division of Applied Systems, released its IVANS Index for July showing the following premium renewal rate change by line of business for last month.. Continue reading
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday that “no decision’s been made” on whether to continue key Affordable Care Act subsidies to health-insurance companies, but that the administration’s job is “to follow the law of the land.” A top White House aide said President Donald Trump will decide soon. Continue reading
A report released earlier this year by research and advisory firm Novarica highlights how digital opportunities, analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are driving changes in claims.
Customer service standards set by other industries is contributing to the digital transformation in the insurance industry and in claims, stated the report, The Digital Evolution of P/C Claims. Continue reading
The state Supreme Court on Thursday issued two rulings bolstering homeowners associations’ ability to sell houses through foreclosure. Nevada’s highest court unanimously ruled that a 2014 decision upholding HOAs’ ability to foreclose ahead of mortgage lenders can be retroactively applied to foreclosures that took place before that ruling. Continue reading
