| Rest home health-plan sales criticized
State investigators are looking into complaints that insurance agents switched memory-impaired residents of a Cary rest home from traditional Medicare to private Medicare plans, resulting in higher costs and fewer benefits for the residents. Such tactics might be on the rise across North Carolina and the nation. Insurance regulators and advocates for older people say they have seen increasing evidence of inappropriately aggressive sales tactics for "Medicare Advantage" programs, which are private insurance policies that are paid by Medicare. People who switch to private Medicare policies often have to change doctors and hospitals and can face higher payments - circumstances that might not be fully explained by unscrupulous brokers, according to a January report by the Medicare Rights Center and California Health Advocates.
Travel Tips: Be Sure You Are Insured When Renting An Automobile
(NC)-Canadians renting an automobile may experience confusion about the insurance coverage. Before you leave home, says the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), it is important to familiarize yourself with some of the alternatives to the insurance offered by the rental company. Here are the main choices: Your Current Auto Insurance Policy: Most Ontario automobile insurance companies offer an option for additional coverage on automobiles not owned by the policy holder. If your policy includes the OPCF 27 (the Rental Vehicle Insurance Endorsement) you are likely covered for rentals in Canada and the United States. OPCF 27 does not insure your rental overseas so other coverage will need to be purchased. There are other terms too, so be sure to get all the details from your broker, agent or company representative.
Canadian pleads not guilty in $7mln insurance scam
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Canadian man accused of running an insurance-fraud scheme that netted more than $7 million pleaded not guilty on Friday to criminal fraud charges in U.S. District Court. Ian Stuart, who was arrested in Canada last May and extradited to New York on Thursday, was arraigned before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan. Stuart was accused of holding himself out to New York insurance brokers as a wholesale insurance broker able to place insurance coverage, and as an authorized agent for various insurance companies, including underwriters at Lloyd's of London, Great American Insurance Co., Tower Insurance, and Traveler's Insurance. The government alleged Stuart, using several fake agency affiliations and pseudonyms, collected more than $7 million in policy premiums from about 2000 through 2004 as part of the fraud.
Loss didn't curtail his humor
George R. "Dick" Callaghan of Fresno fought crime, loved the military, lectured about terrorism, survived a nearly fatal road rage assault and endured personal tragedy -- yet reveled to the end in corny jokes.Mr. Callaghan, 77, a one-time Las Vegas police officer, undercover alcohol control agent, veterans advocate, real estate broker, insurance agent and notary, died March 31 of internal bleeding. Friends and relatives recalled a man of incessant gags despite abiding grief over the 1970 death of his 6-year-old son, Timothy, who died of a blood infection.Mr. Callaghan would ask whether you wanted to see his pride and joy, then pull out his photo of bottled Pride and Joy detergents.He would show another photo, saying, "This is my wife." In fact, said daughter-in-law Shari Callaghan, it was "a God-awful shot of a woman, with his head pasted on, climbing out of a shower."Mr.
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