Insurance Level News and Press

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US Senate to Question PBMs, Including Cigna and UnitedHealth, Over Drug Pricing
A U.S. Senate committee has invited five of the country’s largest pharmacy benefits managers — including units from Cigna Corp., and UnitedHealth Group — to testify April 3 on how they arrive at the ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

International General Insurance CEO: Market Conditions Present New Opportunities
International General Insurance Holdings Ltd. saw a “strong recovery” in 2018 from catastrophe losses in the previous year “Current market conditions are presenting new and lucrative ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Strategist to London Conference: Blockchain Has Transformed Insurance
By offering underwriters and brokers an uninterrupted insight into business processes, blockchain has transformed insurance, Ryan Rugg, global head of insurance for software firm R3, told the ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Lloyd’s CEO Responds to Reports of Lloyd’s Sexual Misconduct: No Room for Workplace Harassment
John Neal, chief executive officer of Lloyd’s, has responded to published accounts of ongoing sexual harassment in the workplace in the London insurance market. “There is no room for workplace ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Study Says Reinsurance Plan Would Cut Colorado Health Care Costs 23%
A study commissioned by the Colorado Division of Insurance has found a state reinsurance program could save consumers on the individual health insurance market $250 million by cutting payments to ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

New Jersey Switches to State-Based Health Insurance Exchange
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is moving the state from the federal health insurance exchange into a state-based system. The governor wants the exchange ready for plan year 2021, he said in a ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Greenberg Traurig Partner: Insurers Stepping Up Efforts to Head Off #MeToo Claims
Paul Ranis, partner, Greenberg Traurig, said preventing workplace harassment issues means moving beyond employee handbooks and focusing on changing company cultures. Ranis spoke with AM BestTV at the ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Sage VP: Captives, Reinsurers Aligning Investments With ESG Principles
Gregory Cobb, vice president, investment strategy, Sage Advisory, said insurers of all types are showing greater interest in aligning their investment portfolios with sustainability, environmental, ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Lloyd’s Chief Risk Officer to Leave Post at End of March
Hilary Weaver, chief risk officer at Lloyd’s, will be stepping down at the end of March after 16 years, the company said in a statement. Weaver joined Lloyd’s in 2004 as head of internal audit and ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Milliman Consultant: Captive Board Members Need Crash Courses in Risk
Michael Meehan, a consultant at Milliman, said board members of captive insurance organizations often know more about the sponsoring organization’s activities than they do about risk and insurance, ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Willis Re Appoints Head of London Market Reinsurance Claims
Willis Re said Steve Robson has joined the company as head of London market reinsurance claims, effective immediately. His role is a newly created position, said a spokesperson for the reinsurance ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

RenaissanceRe Completes $1.5 Billion Tokio Millennium Re Acquisition
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has completed its acquisition of Tokio Millennium Re. The deal enhances RenaissanceRe’s product selection and access to attractive risk, according to President and Chief ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

European Commission Approves MMC Acquisition of JLT
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc by Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. — making it possible for the two brokers to close on their tie-up in about a ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

Suncorp Sells Australian Nonlife Insurance Broking Business
Suncorp Group Ltd. has divested its general insurance broking business in Australia as part of the group’s efforts to further simplify its business. The sale of the business, Resilium, was executed ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

FWD Confirms Talks to Acquire Thailand’s SCB Life Business, Completes Takaful Acquisition in Malaysia
Hong Kong-based FWD Group has confirmed it is in negotiations with Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank about a potential acquisition of the bank’s life insurance operations. “We can confirm that FWD ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

PICC Group’s Investment Chief Under Disciplinary Investigation
PICC Investment Holding Co. Ltd.’s senior executive Hong Liu is under disciplinary investigation, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party ...
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Source: BestWire

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Insurance Information Institute News (IIHS & HLDI)

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Insurance Journal News

Western Growers in California Names Floyd Employee Benefits Director
Western Growers has promoted Darcie Floyd to the insurance services team as the director of employee benefits. Floyd will be responsible for supporting the production employee benefits to new and existing customers. She will also oversee employee benefit account executives. …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

West Virginia to Receive $14.6M in Federal Funds to Fight Opioid Addiction
West Virginia will receive $14.6 million in federal funds to fight opioid addiction. U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the funding in a news release Thursday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Arkansas Plant Board Bans Older Dicamba Formulas After Mid-April
A state panel has voted to ban use of older versions of an herbicide, clarifying rules it previously agreed upon in February. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the state Plant Board on Friday unanimously approved an emergency rule to ban the …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Midwest Flood Risk Might Last for Months, Experts Say
Even as floodwaters receded in hard-hit places in in the Midwest, experts warned Saturday that with plenty of snow still left to melt in northern states, the relief may only be temporary. Rainfall and some snowmelt spurred flooding in recent …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Escalating War Over Ads, MillerCoors Sues Anheuser-Busch in Wisconsin
A fight between beer giants escalated after MillerCoors filed a lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch that accused its rival of trying to “frighten” consumers into switching to Bud Light with “misleading” Super Bowl ads. MillerCoors said in the lawsuit filed in Wisconsin …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Errors a Problem for Oklahoma Program Targeting Uninsured Drivers
Nearly 5 percent of vehicles flagged as uninsured in Oklahoma were identified by error, according to a prosecutor who leads a new program that includes automatic license plate readers. The Oklahoma District Attorneys Council sent warning letters to at least …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Company in Fatal Missouri Sinking Stops 2019 Duck Boat Operations
The company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer, killing 17 people, announced that it won’t operate the vessels this year because of the ongoing investigation and will instead open a replacement attraction in …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Weather Service Reports Record Gust During Colorado Springs Blizzard
The National Weather Service says winds reached a record 96 mph in Colorado Springs during last week’s blizzard. The 96-mph gust was measured at 1:04 p.m. on March 13 during the bomb cyclone storm that hit the state. The previous …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Washington Teacher Agrees to $850K to Withdraw Discrimination Suit
The Sequim School District in Washington has agreed that a former middle school teacher and athletic director will receive $850,000 to withdraw her sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit. The Peninsula Daily News reports the settlement agreement and a school district investigative …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

PG&E Pushes Back on Judge’s Proposals to Prevent Wildfires
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is pushing back on a U.S. judge’s revised proposals to prevent the utility’s equipment from causing more wildfires, saying it could not “monitor every tree at every moment of every day” to ensure they don’t …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Supreme Court Denies Amazon’s Bid to Halt Suit Over Hack of Zappos
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal by Amazon.com Inc.’s Zappos unit, letting a lawsuit proceed over a 2012 hack that exposed the personal information of 24 million customers. The online shoe and clothing retailer argued unsuccessfully that the …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Analysis: Warren Buffett Champions an Inferior Product in THREE Policy
Warren Buffett, often ahead of the curve, sounded like a disrupter in a 2004 shareholder letter. Fifteen years ago, Buffett wrote, “Insurers have generally earned poor returns for a single reason: They sell a commodity-like product. Policy forms are standard, …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires Virginia’s McLean Insurance Agency
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Potomac Falls, Va.-based McLean Insurance Agency Inc. Established in 1971, McLean Insurance Agency offers retail property and casualty, life and employee benefit brokerage and consulting services to businesses and individuals throughout the Eastern …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

Vermont Hospital Email Hack Exposes Info of More Than 72,000
Officials at a Vermont hospital say the information of more than 72,000 people may have been exposed during an email hack. Rutland Regional Medical Center says the email accounts had information such as patient names, medical records and contact information, …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

New Jersey Sues California Company Over ‘Ghost Guns’
New Jersey’s attorney general announced a lawsuit Friday against a California company that sells mail-order firearms parts that can be turned into working weapons, the first such action the state has taken since it banned so-called ghost guns last year. …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

This Corn Syrup Ad Lawsuit from MillerCoors Is For You, Bud Light
MillerCoors, maker of Miller Lite and Coors Lite beers, has sued Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Bud Light, claiming that Bud Light’s ads that debuted during this year’s Super Bowl over corn syrup are false and misleading advertising. The Bud Light …
Date: Monday, March 25, 2019

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