| On the road with Gov. Blagojevich
I was probably more surprised than anyone when I was invited to tag along on Gov. Rod Blagojevich's road trip last week. The governor toured the state to push his universal health insurance plan and his gross receipts tax on business. I was on the bus with him for three days, and we talked for countless hours. I had a cordial relationship with Blagojevich back when he was in the Illinois House, but that was a long time ago. Over the years, the governor granted interviews to almost every other news bureau in the Statehouse, but I was excluded. He has visited the editorial boards of every major, and quite a few minor, newspapers in the state -- but I was kept away. During one press conference a few years ago, Blagojevich refused to answer any questions from me at all, so I whispered my questions to a couple of willing Chicago TV reporters who relayed them on my behalf, knowing he couldn't ignore them.
Norvax Names Steve Greanias Director of Client Services
Today Norvax, the leading provider of online insurance marketing tools and sales technology to the health insurance industry, announced that Steve Greanias has joined the company as director of client services. Chicago (PRWeb) April 1, 2007 -- Today Norvax, the leading provider of online insurance marketing tools and sales technology to the health insurance industry, announced that Steve Greanias has joined the company as director of client services. Mr. Greanias joins Norvax from Wilson Dow Group, a marketing consulting agency focusing on internal communications and sales strategies for pharmaceutical companies. At Norvax, Mr. Greanias will oversee all client services, including support and training programs for insurance agents, general agencies, and carriers.
AM Best Affirms Ratings of Unitrin Inc. and Its Subsidiaries
OLDWICK, N.J.-(Business Wire)-April 6, 2007 - A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "a" of Unitrin Property and Casualty Insurance Group (Unitrin) and its members. A.M. Best has also affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and the ICRs of "a" of United Insurance Company of America (UICA) (Chicago, IL), Union National Life Insurance Company (Baton Rouge, LA) and The Reliable Life Insurance Company (St. Louis, MO), the three career agent life/health insurance subsidiaries of Unitrin's publicly-traded parent, Unitrin, Inc. (Chicago, IL) (NYSE: UTR). Additionally, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICR of "a-" of Reserve National Insurance Company (RNIC) (Oklahoma City, OK), Unitrin, Inc.'s independent agent life/health insurance subsidiary.
State to borrow out of veterans health insurance fund to pay death ...
CHICAGO - The state will borrow $1 million from a veterans health insurance program to compensate 22 families of fallen soldiers and Marines that have been waiting for death benefits, officials said Sunday.Under the 2004 Line of Duty Compensation Act, families of Illinois troops killed while on active duty are entitled to about $277,000 from the state, the same benefit granted to those of police officers and firefighters who die on the job.Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have been higher than expected, overwhelming the fund, state officials have said. So far, Illinois has paid more than $27 million in death benefits to 102 troops' families.Four families that have been waiting the longest will get the full benefit, Quinn and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth said at a news conference Sunday.Each remaining family will get $50,000, borrowed from the Veterans Care health insurance program, Duckworth said."We are taking immediate action to help these 22 families and as this war continues, we will be taking steps to address the needs of the growing number of families of our fallen heroes," Duckworth said.
Blagojevich fights for business tax plan
Businessman Duntai Mathews knows it's important to have healthy employees at his small woodworking company. It's finding the money to pay for their medical insurance that's the problem. So Mathews and his family go without insurance and he doesn't offer it to his 11 employees either. "I need it," said Mathews, who is backing Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $7.6 billion business tax plan to make access to health care affordable in Illinois and generate money for schools and property tax relief. Mathews said private insurance companies want to charge him $6,200 a month to cover his employees, and Blagojevich's plan to offer low-cost health insurance for workers would do it for $2,800 a month. But Blagojevich's tax plan has outraged many other business owners, who predict it would force them to raise prices and cut jobs.
Letters: Health care, Hetch Hetchy, etc.
Re "Elder care outrage," editorial, March 31: Insurance companies and HMOs have been denying claims in all phases of insurance, including for the elderly but also medical care for other patients, injured workers and the military for decades, all for evil profit. Deregulation and lack of enforcement of laws for insurance companies are a direct result of legislators. Self-insured employers and their third-party administrators are denying medical care because they have been given impunity by agencies and legislators. .
As premiums go down, pick up life insurance
The next time your party guests linger past your bedtime, ask them how they feel about life insurance. Watch that they don't trip over your cat as they sprint to the door. Nobody wants to talk about life insurance. But if you have young children or others who depend on you, you should have it. Millions of Americans have no life insurance, and millions more don't have enough to provide financial security for their loved ones. That's a shame, because if you're reasonably healthy, you can buy a lot of life insurance without spending a lot of money. Average premiums for individual life insurance have been falling about 5 percent a year since 2000, and they're expected to drop an additional 4 percent in 2007, according to the Insurance Information Institute. "The rates are as low as I've ever seen," says Byron Udell, CEO of AccuQuote, an online insurance broker.
Housing Bubble and Real Estate Market Tracker
Judy Weil submits: Here's our summary of articles and data points on the housing market. It's part of Seeking Alpha's coverage of the real estate market and homebuilder stocks. Like all other topics and stock coverage from Seeking Alpha, you can get this sent to your Blackberry or desktop email by signing up for our no-spam free email subscription service. Quote of the Day- "From the House's Mouth" "Everyone has a new word in their vocabularies, and that's subprime. The bigger question is: Will credit tighten up everywhere and will the housing slowdown be more dramatic?"- Morningstar analyst John Coumarianos, referring to the increase in mortgage defaults for people who struggle to qualify for loans. (Asbury Park Press, Apr. 8th) Real Estate Sales and House Prices Even in Sky-High Market, Buying Beats Renting (Boston.com, Apr.
Elsewhere: Giuliani, Obama, Ravitch
It's unlikely Rudy Giuliani will be asked to testify before Hillary Clinton's congressional committee, according to Glenn Thrush. Barack Obama won't attend the Congressional Black Caucus/Fox debate in September, which is pretty much the end of it, says Ben. The roster of Hillary Clinton's press team is here. Mike Bloomberg thinks Eliot Spitzer is off to a good start. Chuck Bennett doubts the Brodsky-for-Speaker storyline. Diane Ravitch said that the achievement gap is closing, in part, because white students are scoring lower. Comparing lawmakers to Twinkies is wrong, says the Brennan Center. Al Sharpton's radio listeners heard a 10-minute rambling explanation from Don Imus for his offensive remarks.
Nigeria: Standard Alliance Insurance PLC - Building a Mega ...
With over N5.6billion capital base, Standard Alliance Insurance Plc. with two licenses from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to operate separately, general and life (Standard Life Assurance Company Limited) insurance businesses, is one of the 71 life and non-life underwriting firms in Nigeria recently re-licensed to do insurance business. Reports say the company has its eyes on a minimum of #10billion capital base after its series of acquisitions and all-round consolidation activities. For any serious minded investor to venture into the insurance sector in Nigeria still largely regarded as virgin and as an investment goldmine, certain indices must first be put on the scale. .
The single-payer solution
It is no secret that health care in this country needs a fix. About 47 million people don't have any health insurance, including more than a third of families with incomes of $40,900 or more. And for those who can get a policy through their jobs, premiums are sky-high, with cutbacks in benefits. Many jobs don't provide health insurance anymore, and the cost of private insurance is prohibitive. Americans pay more for health care than people in any other country, and there is a reason: Administrative expenses, created largely by the many layers of the health-insurance system, and insurance-company profits take one out of every five health-care dollars. Many Pennsylvanians welcomed Gov. Rendell's announcement in February that he had a health-care plan. What many did not know is that there is another plan our state legislature could pass and that it offers a cheaper, better fix.
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