INSURANCE NEWSCAST "Headlines Only Edition" for: Thursday, 10/12/06

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INSURANCE NEWSCAST "Headlines Only Edition" for: Thursday, 10/12/06  

Here is a quick look at the stories that will be in Thursday's INSURANCE NEWSCAST.

 

1) Global warming seen pushing up insurance costs - By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent -- WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Global warming will push up insurance premiums in high-risk areas like coastal Florida and other hurricane-prone parts of the United States, an insurance company official said on Tuesday.

 

2) Aon Re Study: Hurricane Risk Reduces Prospective Profit of Homeowners Insurance  - CHICAGO, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Increases in homeowners insurance rates have not been sufficient thus far to provide an adequate return on equity on homeowners insurance, making further increases necessary, according to an analysis by Aon Re, the world's largest reinsurance broker.

 

3) Health Plans Expect 8.2% Increase in Premiums for 2007  - PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Health plans nationwide report that premium rate increases in 2007 will be 8.2%, 0.2 percentage points lower than last year. Before buy-downs, premium rate increases are expected to be 10.4% down from 11.1% last year. We estimate that the difference between before and after buy-down rate increases implies an 18.6% increase in employee contribution for 2007.

 

4) AIG Financial Products and Global Infrastructure Partners Agree on the Acquisition of London City Airport - LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIG Financial Products Corp. (AIG-FP), a wholly-owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc., and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the infrastructure joint venture between Credit Suisse and GE Infrastructure, announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of the company that owns and operates the business known as London City Airport (the ?Airport") from Airport Management and Investment Limited. Pursuant to the terms of the deal, AIG-FP and GIP will each own 50% of the equity interest of the company that owns the Airport.

 

5) Florida Condo & HOA Property Owners Call on Elected Officials, State Government To Take Action on Insurance Crisis  - Respondents in Community Association Member Survey Overwhelmingly Support Expanded Regulation of Private Insurers -- Association leadership warns communities near breaking point, as volunteer Boards struggle to cope with assessments, financing & unprecedented cash flow

 

6) Prime Holdings Launches New Excess and Surplus Lines Company with an A. M. Best B+ Rating  - CHICAGO & SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prime Holdings Insurance Services, Inc. (?Prime Holdings?) announced that its subsidiary, Prime Insurance Company (?Prime?), a new surplus lines insurance company funded with a cash infusion of $16 million in May, has received an A. M. Best B+ rating and has recently been authorized to write excess and surplus lines business in Colorado, Arizona and Utah.

 

7) SANTA CLARA MAN SENTENCED IN BOGUS INSURANCE COMPANY SCHEME - Charged with grand theft and operating an unauthorized insurance company targeting high-risk consumers in Alameda County  

 

8) INSURANCE NEWSLINK Articles - Recent articles added to INSURANCE NEWSLINK, the worldwide, strategic concise intelligence database of over 27,000 articles including interviews, uniquely analysed by company, market, research, regulatory, and IT topics. Please click here for a content overview and a 15-day free review.

 

9) 21st Century Auto Insurance and New Jersey Insurance Commissioner to Brief Reporters - WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--21st Century Insurance Group (NYSE:TW) Chief Executive Officer Bruce Marlow and New Jersey Insurance Commissioner Steven M. Goldman will hold a joint media teleconference Thursday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. EDT.

 

10) BancorpSouth Announces Insurance Expansion   - TUPELO, Miss., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BancorpSouth, Inc., (NYSE: BXS) announced today from its Tupelo headquarters that BancorpSouth Insurance Services' Stewart Sneed Hewes division has expanded into the Alabama market with the opening of a Mobile, Ala., commercial lines production and marketing office.

 

11) Napersoft Accepted Into the IBM SOA Specialty  - Service Oriented Architecture Approach Drives Business Agility and Flexibility  -- NAPERVILLE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Napersoft, the leading customer communications management solution provider, today announced its acceptance to the IBM SOA Specialty after successfully completing IBM?s rigorous SOA technical and business requirements. With this achievement Napersoft CCM integrates with the IBM SOA Foundation, a single, integrated platform that combines the industry?s top application server and integration capabilities

 

12) Actuate Accepted into IBM SOA Specialty Program  - Service Oriented Architecture Approach to Reporting and Analysis Drives Business Agility and Flexibility -- Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTU), the world leader in Enterprise Reporting and Performance Management Applications that empower 100% of users to achieve breakthrough corporate performance, and an IBM Premier Partner, today announced its acceptance to the IBM (NASDAQ:IBM) SOA Specialty after successfully completing IBM?s rigorous SOA technical and business requirements.

 

13) CHOICE Administrators® Dental Health Plan Provider Receives State?s First License for Discount Dental Plan - ORANGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CHOICE Administrators® today announced that First Dental Health, the provider organization for its discount dental plans offered at no additional cost to employers who are not currently offering dental coverage, has been awarded the state?s first license for a discount dental plan under a new regulatory program established by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC). CHOICE Administrators®, the nation?s leader in developing and administrating Employee Choice health benefit programs, offers discount plans from First Dental Health through its CaliforniaChoice and CaliforniaChoice 51+ programs.

 

14) National Claims TPA Firm Announces New CEO and Company Name Change  - SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ward North America, LP, a national provider of outsourced claims solutions, announced today that it has changed its name to NovaPro Risk Solutions, LP and that in conjunction with the name change, Randall Goss has succeeded Jeffrey S. Ward as the company?s president and chief executive officer. Mr. Goss is the founder, chairman and CEO of NovaPro?s parent company, U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. He will be responsible for driving NovaPro?s strategic growth initiatives, including the ongoing leveraging of U.S. Risk?s significant market presence in various insurance industry sectors in order to direct new business opportunities to the Company.

 

15) Dallas Entrepreneur Establishes Foundation to Combat Growing Insurance Coverage Issues  - Foundation Tackles Growing Insurance Problem of Capping Transplant Coverage; Forcing Many Families to Choose Between Life With Significant Financial Debt or Even Death

 

16) Health Advocate: A Remedy for Healthcare Confusion  - HealthNow New York is the nation's first health insurance plan to embed advocacy service for its entire membership

 

17) AmeriHealth Benefits Customers With Sweeping Changes to Prescription Drug Program  - Local health insurer announces FutureScripts(TM), also gives members a break on generic drugs with first-ever three-month 'No Pay Copay' waiver

 

18) Anthem Selected to Cover Aged, Blind and Disabled in Ohio - Expands State Coverage to Population in Six Regions -- COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Partnership Plan was selected by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to participate in the readiness review process to obtain a contract to provide health care benefits to the state's aged, blind and disabled (ABD) population. This represents the fifth award in four months nationwide for WellPoint State Sponsored Business (SSB), Anthem's Medicaid-dedicated business unit.

 

19) Unified Capital Solutions Selects GoldenCare USA As LTC Solutions Provider - PLYMOUTH, Minn.?Unified Capital Solutions?, a leading provider of employee-paid voluntary plans, has selected GoldenCare USA as provider of long-term care solutions for their clients.

 

20) INSURANCE NEWSCAST ?Pictures Of The Day?

 

21) BRICKSTREET MUTUAL TAPS ISO FOR WIDE-RANGING DATA-MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE - JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 11, 2006 ? ISO has signed a licensing agreement to provide BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. a wide variety of ISO?s Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS) solutions. 

 

22) Great-West Healthcare CD Eases Implementation, Drives Participation in Workplace Wellness Programs - GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2006--Great-West Healthcare, a national employee benefits provider, today introduced its interactive wellness CD to help employers set up and administer the Great-West Healthcare wellness program. Sixty-two percent of companies surveyed in the 2005 Deloitte Center for Health Solutions/ERISA Industry Committee study said they implemented wellness programs to improve employee health, and another 33 percent said they were considering such programs. Despite widespread adoption, implementation of a wellness program can be a daunting proposition.

 

23) Securita Launches Vital Records PortaVault - Portable Record-Keeping System Centralizes Critical Personal, Financial and Health Records for Disaster Recovery, Daily Use

LOS ALTOS, Calif., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Securita Inc., a provider of innovative solutions for

 

24) October is National Work and Family Month.  - What Your Company Can Do? -- New York, NY, October ##, 2006 -- ? October is National Work and Family Month, designated by the Senate in 2003 to provide education and heighten awareness of work/life effectiveness as a key business issue. 

 

25) Providing a "Lifetime of Smiles" - and Better Overall Health  - Assurant Employee Benefits takes the lead in adding features to make dental benefits an integral part of overall health care

 

26) With Life Insurance Rates at an All Time Low, Now Is the Time to Purchase Life Insurance - The I.I.I. Offers Tips to Shop for a Policy to Suit Your Specific Needs -- NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- With term life insurance policy premiums continuing to drop, there has never been a better time to consider purchasing life insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).

 

27) DSPA Software signs three new life insurance company clients - Toronto, Ontario ? October 10, 2006 ? DSPA Software Inc. today announced that Foresters?, RBC Insurance (United States) and Woodmen of the World have licensed DSPA?s Field Administration Support and Tracking system, FASAT, to provide distribution management services to their sales forces.  

 

28) TILLINGHAST RELEASES NEW TAS-MOSES SOFTWARE APPLICATION GIVES INSURERS A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO FACE CHALLENGES IN MANAGING RISK AND CAPITAL - STAMFORD, CT., OCTOBER 10, 2006 ? The Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin recently released a new actuarial software application, TAS-MoSes, to help insurers and financial services companies gain competitive advantage and satisfy forthcoming regulatory requirements. The unmatched comprehensive functionality in TAS-MoSes helps these companies save time and money in arriving at a complete solution. Because it is developed and supported by Tillinghast, the world?s largest actuarial practice focused on insurance, TAS-MoSes gives insurers confidence in its trustworthy methodology.

 

29) Canada's Manulife sees fast China growth, expansion - SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Canada's Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it expected to sell insurance products in about 40 Chinese cities by 2010 as its total premiums in China will see 20 percent growth this year.

 

30) Protect Your Income with Disability Insurance Say Financial Experts  - ProtectYourIncome.com Offers New Features and Advice on How to Protect One?s Greatest Asset: Future Income  

 

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