| AM Best Launches New Online Consumer Insurance Information Center
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2007--A.M. Best Co. has launched Best's Consumer Insurance Information Center, an online resource designed to inform consumers about the various insurance options available to them, and to demonstrate the importance of an insurer's Best's Financial Strength Rating in determining how likely the company is to fulfill its financial obligations to policyholders. Overview information on life insurance and annuities, health and accident insurance, and auto, home and personal property insurance is currently available in this Center. Visitors can also expect to find answers to basic questions that may arise when deciding on the line of coverage that would best suit their needs, such as: "What does it protect against?" "Who needs it?" and "When should I buy it?"
This Center features a convenient tool that lets users search for an insurer and view its Best's Rating, basic contact information and its top five lines and states of business (by direct premiums written).
President of Health Insurance Agency Advises Businesses on What ...
There are so many types of plans available to small businesses today. Knowing how to chose the right one should not be hard if a logical approach is used, according to Chuck Mondrus, President of American Health Insurance, a top-producing agency in the United States. (PRWEB) March 15, 2007 -- Chuck Mondrus, President of top-producing insurance agency, American Health Insurance, says buying quality self employed health insurance coverage that's right for any stage of business growth with an eye to the future, is easy to do. An employer may be the only employee of the company but still needs the peace of mind provided by a quality insurance plan. Before the employer ask for a self employed health insurance quote, though, look at these three business growth scenarios.
Lending a helping hand
Christopher Harper said he learned the hard way that medical insurance doesn't cover all expenses when making a home handicapped accessible. They said it was not a medical necessity, Harper learned after making claims to his insurance company. A Blue Cross/Blue Shield spokeswoman said that home improvement projects are not covered under health insurance plans. But an idea from his 16-year-old son, Joey, gave Harper hope that other families won't have to face the same problem. Joey, who has lived with Duchenne muscular dystrophy since he was 6 years old, founded The Wheeled Scotsman Foundation. The nonprofit organization aims to provide families with equipment needed to make a house more comfortable for a person using a wheelchair, Harper said. The installment of pull bars and ramps as well as the widening of doors are all projects the organization hopes to fund.
RI to debut small business health plan
Two new health plans available to employees of small businesses this fall will offer discounted coverage to people who agree to keep fit and quit smoking. Details of the plans were released Tuesday and will be offered in October by Blue Cross & Blue Shield for $323 a month and UnitedHealthcare for $309 per month. Both require customers to get a health screening, select a primary care doctor and create a plan to monitor long-term illnesses such as diabetes. People who are overweight will have to enroll in a weight-management program or show they're losing weight. Smokers would have to enroll in a program to stop. Those who don't will have to pay more. "There really is no free lunch," said Christopher Koller, the state's health care commissioner. "If you want to lower costs, there are going to have to be some commitments." Any insurance company that wants to insure the state's work force must offer the discounted plans, which can't exceed 10 percent of an average person's annual wages.
Independence Holding Company Announces Acquisition of Actuarial ...
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2007--Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC) today announced that it has closed on the previously announced acquisition of Actuarial Management Corporation ("AMC"). AMC is a leading, full-service actuarial firm headquartered in Concord, CA that focuses on fully insured health coverage for small groups, individuals and families, short-term medical and employer medical stop-loss. AMC is responsible for all actuarial aspects of IHC's entire book of fully insured health business, but will remain an independent business unit providing services and resources to clients outside the IHC Group of Companies. AMC's team of 19 professionals has extensive experience providing clients in the health insurance industry with development and management services, underwriting and benefit design review, data reporting, compliance support and strategic and tactical management services.
Employer-built ‘wellness’ plans
How much does your company spend on health insurance, and what does it get in return? How would you like to pay $309 per employee per month for a plan with only a $750 deductible, free annual checkups and immunizations, and 90-percent coverage for hospitalizations? If that sounds like an employers dream, its because employers, for the most part, were the ones who put it together, with guidance from Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher F. Kollers office and plenty of feedback from insurers. So when a reporter asked Donald R. Nokes, president of NetCenergy LLC and one of the plans architects, whether he planned to offer this coverage next year, he answered promptly: Oh, absolutely! The new wellness health plans unveiled by Koller last week, which are expected to be available to groups of up to 50 by Oct.
Sun Life Financial Expands Stop-Loss Cost-Containment Program
WELLESLEY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. division of Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) announced today that its Group Division is expanding its industry-leading Stop-Loss cost-containment program with new features. The company is also renaming the program to SunResourcesSM to reflect this expansion. "Through SunResources, we help employers lower their total cost of health care," said Christopher Brown, Vice President, Stop-Loss Products. "With the new services we are adding today — along with more in the near future — we can save our customers even more." Sun Life Financial is one of the nation's largest providers of stop-loss insurance, which protects employers who self-fund their employee health care plans against unexpectedly high claim costs. SunResources works by linking employers to money-saving vendors and services that can lower the cost of employee health care.
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