| Co-op plan for farmers ready to go into effect
Green County Agriculture Agent Mark Mayer said the program offers more affordable health insurance for farmers, many of whom are without insurance due to high rates. The goal of the plan is to help farmers gain buying power in the insurance market with the promise of affordable comprehensive insurance plans. "With 18 percent of Wisconsin farmers uninsured and 41 percent unable to afford insurance for every family member, this insurance cooperative is badly needed," Mayer said. "The No. 1 reason people get out of farming is because of the lack of affordable, quality health insurance." Brad Lancaster of the Lafayette County Farm Services Agency said some farmers pay as much as $1,000 a month for insurance. The co-op will be available for all farmers and their families, farm employees and people who work in businesses such as feed mills or milk delivery.
New State Farm agent carrying on tradition
IRONWOOD -- The new agent heading the State Farm Insurance office in Ironwood isn't really new to the area, and, in fact, is carrying on a family tradition in the business. Pam Kauppila, who has been a State Farm agent in Marquette, will be operating full-time at the company's office in Sunnyside Plaza beginning in early May. Right now, she is working out of both offices before making the permanent move here. Kauppila's father, Ron Johnson, was a State Farm agent in Ironwood for 40 years, and her great-uncle was an agent in Iron Mountain. "A few people have asked why I'm moving here from Marquette," she said. "That's easy -- because I want to. It's a great opportunity." Kauppila says she views her work as "a mission" to provide the company's services and to help customers.
NTSB: Cause Of July 2004 CFIT Accident Remains A Mystery
Undetermined. That's the Probable Cause ruling from the National Transportation Safety Board regarding a suspicious July 2004 controlled-flight-into-terrain crash of a Piper Navajo in the eastern Adirondacks of upstate New York. As Aero-News reported, pilot Milton Marshall and passenger Michael Keilty were killed when the twin-engine aircraft flew into a heavily wooded area near Ticonderoga, NY under clear skies. In the days following the July 10, 2004 accident, it came to light Keilty was under FBI investigation for allegedly defrauding senior citizens -- and he had attempted to take out a life insurance policy on himself the day before the crash. The Connecticut Post reports investigators also found the magazine from a .380-caliber pistol at the impact site, with two rounds missing.
Insurance Profiling Faces Ban
TALLAHASSEE - Florida regulators are preparing draft legislation to ban the use of education and occupation in setting auto insurance rates they say leads to higher rates for minorities. The move comes after a report found that the practice "unintentionally harms minorities and low-income individuals." For example, some white-collar professionals get better rates, even though some blue-collar laborers tend to have fewer accidents. "Just because something might be legal doesn't make it right," Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said in response to the report issued Monday. The report by Office of Insurance Regulation found that some insurers use educational and occupational information to set rates, and customers who are penalized often don't know they're being placed in a more expensive policy.
Event Backgrounder: President Bush participates in a Meeting on ...
The President will participate in a meeting on Health Savings Accounts in the Roosevelt Room of The White House. Today, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released a report showing the number of individuals covered by Health Savings Accounts has increased by 43 percent over the last year, from about 3.2 million in January 2006 to about 4.5 million in January 2007. In addition, according to the report, twenty- seven percent of the new enrollees in the individual market were previously uninsured. BIOGRAPHIES OF PARTICIPANTS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Department of Health and Human Services Lucia Ward Alexander, Product Manager, CareFirst, Blue Cross Blue Shield (Pikesville, Maryland) Lucia Alexander, age 55, has worked for CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) (an affiliate of BCBS that services the DC Metro area) for 22 years.
USAA customer service is the best in the nation
Paul Grossman chats easily with a lieutenant calling USAA to buy insurance on a $7,500 engagement ring. The 24-year-old Grossman tells the military man that with a rock like that, she is sure to say yes. By the end of the call the ring is insured, Grossman has assured the lieutenant about the breadth of the coverage "from France to Atlanta or Timbuktu," and the deal is done with little fuss. "You guys are too easy," the lieutenant says as he compliments the San Antonio-based company on all aspects of its customer service. Grossman, a four-year USAA employee and part of the New Member Solutions Team, said those kinds of compliments from members are common in his day-to-day work. This is why USAA was named the best company in the country for customer service in any industry in a recent cover story in Business Week magazine.
Rebuilt lower floor raises questions
NEW PORT RICHEY - Back in 1999, a tropical storm damaged Ray Rossi's waterfront home so badly he couldn't live there. He obtained a federal grant to build a new, elevated home so if it flooded again, he would be out of harm's way. But he kept his old house underneath the new one and fixed it up with tile flooring and freshly painted walls. Now the City Council candidate's daughter and her family live there. Only one problem: "That's not habitable space," said Jerry Engel, New Port Richey's director of Development Services. Federal regulations, which are enshrined in city codes, prohibit people from living on the bottom floor of elevated homes in the flood zones. The intention is to protect people and property during floods. Flood-prone communities such as New Port Richey must adopt these regulations in order for their residents to qualify for federal flood insurance.
Allstate Accuses Couple of Misrepresenting Claim after Katrina
Allstate Insurance Co. says a Louisiana couple misrepresented their claim after Hurricane Katrina damaged their home and is asking a federal judge to throw out their lawsuit against the insurer less than a week before trial. Allstate, in court papers filed April 4, said policyholders Robert and Merryl Weiss of Slidell are seeking at least $34,000 from the insurer for a boathouse the company says wasn't located on the insured property when Katrina hit Aug. 29, 2005. A lawyer for the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer argues the couple voided all coverage under their policy when they allegedly misrepresented their claim. A lawyer for the Weisses declined to be interviewed. Allstate made the same argument in February during the first federal trial for a Katrina insurance case in Louisiana.
Eco-friendly car insurance said to cost more
Products marketed as eco-friendly car insurance can cost up to 44 per cent more than standard policies, it has been claimed. Moneysupermarket has warned that motorists who are concerned about their impact on the environment may be "stung" by expensive premiums. The group stated that although insurers who offer green policies promise to offset 20 per cent of the driver's carbon emissions, they also charge up to 21 per cent more for insuring the car. Richard Mason, director of insurance at the price comparison group, said that as drivers are increasingly concerned about their environmental impact, many are tempted by eco-friendly car insurance. He added: "But until insurers make green premiums more competitive, my advice is to shop around for the cheapest deal that meets your needs and give some of the money you save direct to eco-friendly causes." In related news, a recent survey conducted by More Than found that 80 per cent of drivers are trying to minimise the use of their cars due to the rising price of petrol.
'Dirty' auto rates? No thanks
STRIDENT CALLS to scrap Massachusetts' auto insurance system are giving way to a more thoughtful discussion about how to stimulate competition without driving premiums through the roof for young and urban drivers. A recent report by a study group convened in January by Governor Patrick manages to point the way toward reform while maintaining basic protections for the drivers of the state's estimated 4 million private cars. The seven-member study group, chaired by state consumer affairs director Daniel Crane, argues for measured change in the only state where the commissioner of insurance sets the annual rate that all insurers use to calculate premiums. But this is not an invitation to large national insurance companies to waltz in and set rates as they please. The authors encourage Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes to maintain subsidies for urban and inexperienced drivers who might otherwise hit the road without insurance.
NBC, NewsCorp Take Programming Online
Seven charter advertisers have already signed on: Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel, General Motors, Royal Caribbean and a sponsor who asked not to be identified. Chernin and Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal, said the joint venture would offer a different experience from that offered by their respective media Web sites. The yet unnamed company will be located in New York and Los Angeles. NBC Universal's Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff will lead the transitional management team. Details of permanent management and branding are expected soon. The partners said they were open to business with anyone who met their economic and copyright protection terms, and noted they had spoken to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who was considering the proposition. In announcing the venture to the press, Chernin and Zucker gave three reasons why rival content providers would consider distribution deals: reach, a good revenue share, and content protection.
Take control of your health care
It has been 11 months since I wrote my first article about Health Savings Accounts (HSA). In case you have slept since then, HSAs are accounts designed to assist with the cost of a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). A company may choose to lower their premium and raise their deductible on employee health insurance. Although this can appear to be somewhat scary, companies can sometimes save a considerable amount of money, allowing them to help fund their employees' HSA. Sometimes, companies save enough money to fully fund their employees' HSA providing minimal costs to the employee. .
Staying with Medicare will help keep it alive
Regular reader Martin Selig of Carle Place reminded me of a warning I had intended to convey about the problems with so-called Medicare Advantage plans.
The deadline for enrollment is March 31. He wondered whether an advertisement for one such plan - Liberty Advantage - isn't intended to "lure people away from government controlled Medicare and put them in the hands of private HMOs." The short answer, of course, is yes.
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Dental insurance doesn't hurt
Healthy teeth are important to Alison Westlake. She makes sure that she and her three children have regular check-ups and have visited the same dentist for many years. But like thousands of others, she faced a tough choice when her trusted dental surgeon joined the exodus from the NHS. .
Some landlords require insurance
Tenants attorney Steven Kellman replies: The name of the game for landlords is to shift as much of the cost of maintaining their investment to the renter without raising the rent. As we know, adding costs to the tenant is like raising the effective "rent" you pay each month to live there anyway. We get it. We see such cost shifting when landlords try to deduct routine maintenance costs from a security deposit, which we all know is improper. They also pass the costs of water on to the tenant without individual water meters. (The Legislature has not decided whether this is improper.) Now many landlords are trying to pass the liability protection costs (renters insurance) to tenants for damages that have not even happened. While common in commercial tenancies, requiring this for residential tenants is still relatively rare but does not appear to directly violate any law.
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Owner of Durham's much-loved Starlite Drive-In dies at 55
DURHAM - The unexpected death of Starlite Drive-In owner Robert Franklin Groves could mean a final curtain call for one of the Triangle's most nostalgic landmarks.Groves, 55, died early Friday after a brief hospital stay.For many, the loss was a gloomy passing of a bit of Americana in Durham that had not fallen victim to the multiscreen mall cineplexes changing the suburban landscape."That's the only drive-in movie theater that I even know exists," said Kelly Caudill, a Bahama resident who lived next door to Groves for three years. "I don't know what we're going to do without him because he made the Starlite. He was the Starlite."Groves, an Army veteran, was born and raised in Cumberland, Md.He left Maryland in 1970 for North Carolina, said his brother, James R. Groves of Cartersville, Ga.After several years in the Army, Groves was drawn into the movie business that he would stick with for the rest of his life.That commitment would be difficult at times.
Obama gets rock-star treatment in city tour
The lanky, sly-smiling man walked briskly across the courtyard outside the Challenger Discovery Center, and was promptly mobbed by shrieking college students, high schoolers, and tourists. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama doesn't recoil from the rock-star treatment he's received from New Hampshire to Oakland, Calif., since making his White House run official. And when ''Starship Obama'' landed Friday in Tallahassee, he didn't hesitate to take the stage. .
Laying down the line
After two long and fruitless days of negotiations as their union representative, Jose Luis Alcala on Wednesday rejoined his co-workers on the picket line outside Fox Valley Forge. Nothing had changed in the scene at the Aurora factory that had employed most of his 50 striking co-workers for a decade or longer. .
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