|
InsuranceSpecialists Blog your source for insurance information
|
 Subscribe RSS Feed
Comments Feed
|
GEICO announced recently that it is planning to hire 100 associates for its regional office in Virginia Beach, VA by May, 2011, and add another fifty on top of that by the end of the year.
GEICO is the second largest insurer of automobiles in Virginia, and is offering a wide array of job opportunities, including customer service and claims representatives and sales agents.
Many different schedules are available.
Tags: GEICO, hiring, Virginia Beach
Even though all Americans are living longer, women still tend to outlive their husbands, or not marry at all, which means they need to be active in their retirement planning before finances in their golden years become an issue.
To help with that, the MetLife Mature Market Institute has partnered with WISER (Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement) to offer a comprehensive free publication called What Today’s Woman Needs to Know and Do: the New Retirement Journey. It’s available for download from the Mature Market Institute.
The publication speaks to the different challenges that women face as they mature and offers assistance with financial planning issues, with such tools as a Retirement Savings and Planning Checklist for every decade of a woman’s life, with guidelines for women from age 20 through their 70s. There’s also a glossary to define common financial terms, as well as other resources.
According to data from a MetLife Mature Market Institute study, financial planning is a major issue for the modern woman, especially since women still earn less than men, with 62% of career women expressing concern that they may never have enough money to retire.
Explains Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., the director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, “While women today have more economic opportunity than ever before, they also have a great deal more financial responsibility. Compared to previous generations of women who likely had a pension [theirs or their husband’s) and a deed to their mortgage-free home, many of today’s women are less prepared. They may now have a 401(k), 403(b) and/or IRA savings, a Social Security benefit and Medicare benefits, but they may not have pensions and private health care coverage. Many are likely to have a mortgage or other debt. New approaches are, therefore, required.”
No matter how old you are, this publication is worth checking out.
Tags: financial planning, insurance, women
Blue Shield of California announced earlier this week that it has canceled health insurance premium increases that averaged 6.5 percent and went as high as 18 percent.
The increase would have affected almost 200,000 Blue Shield customers, and would have been the insurer’s third such increase in recent months. The decision to cancel this increase was influenced by pressure from California state officials, and by opposition from policyholders, the Los Angeles Times said, yesterday.
Insurance industry analysts don’t believe this rate increase cancellation will cause much financial impact to Blue Shield, since it’s been paying out less money in medical claims than it anticipated when building the year’s budget. In fact, medical spending has been lower than expected lately for WellPoint, Inc., and Aetna as well as Blue Shield – saving all three companies millions of dollars, although officials at those companies say that it’s not because people are healthier, but rather that more people are choosing not to have health insurance.
As WellPoint spokesperson Kristin Binns said, “In times of recession, you see people choosing to forgo elective procedures because of their budgets.”
Some analysts say that if people continue to base their medical decision on economics, it could slow the rise of health care costs.
“This is a win-win potentially for both health insurers and the insured,” said Gavin Magor of Weiss Ratings in Jupiter, Fla. His company reported that hundreds of insurers across the nation saw no rise in benefits payouts last year.
However, other analysts warn that this trend also comes with the risk that people will skip vital care.
Explains Shana Alex Lavarreda of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, “When you put preventive services off, you put off appropriate care that may have helped save you from having a more costly condition.”
Tags: Blue Shield, going uninsured, health insurance, rate hikes
It’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.
The 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.
21st Century Insurance, a California-based insurance company, has received recognition for “call center operation customer satisfaction excellence” from the J.D. Power and Associates Call Center Certification Program for the fifth consecutive year.
To become certified under the program, 21st Century Insurance had to pass a detailed audit of more than 100 elements comprising the call center’s customer satisfaction measurement, including recruiting, analysis, employee incentives and quality assurance. As well, J.D. Power and Associates conducted a random survey of the insurer’s customers who recently used the call centers.
Mark Miller, senior director of the global contact center practice at J.D. Power and Associates, spoke on behalf of his company, saying, “In achieving certification for a fifth consecutive year, 21st Century Insurance has demonstrated its commitment to provide customers with an outstanding customer experience.” He added, “Call center representatives receive notable high ratings for their courtesy and knowledge.”
Speaking for 21st Century Insurance, Karen Alejnikov, senior vice president of operations, said, “On a daily basis, our service team exemplifies what it means to deliver an outstanding customer service experience. This fifth consecutive certification from J.D. Power and Associates demonstrates our commitment to provide each and every customer individualized attention and assistance.”
The Call Center Certification Program was launched by J.D. Power and Associates in 2004.
Tags: 21st century, customer service, industry news, news
The state of Oregon currently requires all motorcycle riders to wear helmets, regardless of age or type of bike.
Twenty members of the Oregon legislature want to change that. Specifically, they believe only bikers under the age of 21 should be required to wear helmets.
State Representative Andy Olson (R) sponsored a bill to relax motorcycle helmet law in just that way, House Bill 2141, because he feels that without helmets riders will be able to better see and hear what is around them on the road.
The measure is headed to the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee.
Tags: auto insurance, motorcycle insurance, oregon
