Subscribe RSS FeedProgressive’s Pet Insurance has existed for over a year now. Here’s one of their earlier commercials mentioning it:
Tags: friday filmstrip, pet insurance, Progressive
Archive for March, 2011
Friday Filmstrips: Pet Insurance
March 11th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance, friday filmstrips, pet insuranceMaine Gets Health Care Waiver
March 10th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in health insuranceThe state of Maine has been granted a waiver for one of the core provisions in the health care overhaul that was passed last year, due to the likelihood that enforcing the provision could completely destabilize the state’s market for individual health insurance.
According to a letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it is waiving the requirement that insurance companies must spend a minimum of 80 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and quality improvement. Maine is being allowed to maintain it’s current standard of a minimum of 65 cents of every dollar, though HHS has stated that it will review the figures in two years, and could revoke the waiver at that point.
This decision has made Maine the first state to receive a waiver of this requirement. Requests from Kentucky, Nevada, and New Hampshire are currently pending.
Maine Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman said the waiver was requested out of the fear that one of the three major insurers in the state would withdraw from the market completely. That insurer, MEGA Life and Health Insurance Co, currently holds 37% of the state’s individual health insurance policies.
Tags: health care, health care reform, health insurance, Maine
Progressive Adds Pet Coverage to Commercial Auto
March 9th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance, pet insuranceThanks to Progressive, “Take Your Dog to Work Day” just got a little safer.
Progressive Insurance, the first company to include specific pet coverage for animals traveling in their owners’ vehicles, has extended their pet insurance coverage. Now, business owners with auto insurance from Progressive can have their pets protected as well.
Under their Pet Injury coverage, Progressive will pay up to $1,000 in vet bills if a dog or cat is injured in a car accident. The coverage is free with collision coverage, and applies to cats and dogs traveling in a vehicle and injured in a crash, theft, flooding, or a fire.
Why extend this to business customers?
Cory Fischer, Progressive’s product manager, explains: “With one in five companies allowing dogs at work, Fido or Fluffy are more likely to tag along in our commercial customers’ vehicles.”
Progressive’s Pet Injury coverage is also available with RV and boat insurance customers.
Tags: commercial auto, pet insurance, Progressive
AIG Repays $6.9 Billion More
March 8th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance facts, insurance news, insurance specialistsIt’s been a while since we wrote about AIG, but Reuters is reporting today that American International Group has returned another $6.9 billion of it’s bailout money to the U.S. Treasury, which means that 70% of the original $411 billion under the TARP plan (Troubled Asset Relief Program) has now been recovered.
According to spokespeople for AIG, $6.6 billion of the latest repayment came from selling its shares in the insurance company MetLife – shares that were initially acquired when it sold its international unit Alico to MetLife last year. Another $300 million was leftover from expenses related to the Alico transaction.
After this most recent payment, the U.S. Treasure still retains about $11.3 billion in preferred interests in AIG, as well as roughly 92% of the insurance group’s common stock. If that stock were to be sold at today’s closing price, it would generate almost $14.22 billion.
Spokespeople for the Treasure Department expect that every dollar of AIG’s bailout – which was $182 billion at its highest point – will eventually be recovered.
As of this evening, about 70% of the still-outstanding TARP funds are from AIG, Ally Financial, and General Motors.
Texting Ban Approved by Oklahoma House
March 7th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insuranceA proposed texting-while-driving ban has been approved by Oklahoma’s House of Representatives.
Under the conditions of the ban, texting would be disallowed for anyone driving in school zones, and prohibits motorists below the age of eighteen no matter where they are.
The measure, which was written by Representative Danny Morgan (Prague) was approved in a 9-7 vote by the House Public Safety Committee and sent on for consideration by the full House.
According to Morgan, the use of hand-held devices to compose, read, or send text messages has been statistically proven to be dangerous when it’s done at the same time as driving a car. Law enforcement data says it has caused many fatal auto accidents throughout the state.
Nevertheless, some members of the committee are concerned about how police and highway patrol officers will enforce the measure. Representative Fred Jordan (Jenks) believes laws already on the books allowing officers to pull over cars for weaving already cover the texting issue.
Friday Filmstrips: Auto Insurance 101
March 4th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insuranceDid you know that auto insurance is as important as homeowners insurance? Don’t worry, you’ll know even more than that after this week’s video, Auto Insurance 101.
Tags: auto insurance, basics of coverage
NM Rejects Driver’s Licence Ban for Illegal Immigrants
March 3rd, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance, insurance news, insurance specialistsThe New Mexico state Senate has voted against two proposals meant to prevent the state from issuing driver’s license to illegal immigrants. Both proposals were backed by senate Republicans.
Unsurprisingly, the two measures under consideration failed on party-line votes, with 25 Democrats opposing the GOP proposals, and 14 Republicans supporting them. The proposals were meant to amend a bill changing the driver’s license requirements for teenagers in New Mexico.
Governor Susana Martinez, a Republican, has often encouraged lawmakers to vote up-or-down to scrap a 2003 law permitting the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
Republicans in the New Mexico Senate believe that the licensing system in their state constitutes a security risk. They have even suggested that terrorists could get state driver’s licenses.
Senator Eric Griego (D-Albuquerque) said that the legislation was driven by a fear of primarily-Mexican immigrants.
State Republicans maintain that they will push for a ban on licenses for illegal immigrants in the House.
