Posts Tagged ‘insurance news’

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Insurance Brief: PA City Regulates Sledding

December 20th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance news, insurance specialists

It’s mid-December, and in places where there’s snow kids are playing in it, especially on sleds. (I remember sledding down the hill behind a local brewery when I was a kid – we always just managed not to end up in the busy cross street at the bottom. )

But a town in western Pennsylvania, citing concerns about liability raised by its insurance company, has voted to ban sledding in a popular local park, while also agreeing to lay out an actual sledding course in another.

The borough council of Beaver, PA, unanimously approved the restrictions, which banned sledding in a park that overlooks the Ohio River, but allows sledders to use a marked course in a different park, though they’re not allowed to start from the top of the hill.

According to the Beaver County Times, the sledding regulations also ban sledding after sunset, require children under twelve to wear helmets, and forbid metal and plastic disc sleds.

Councilwoman Shirley Sayers told the press that officials are merely trying to make the best of a bad situation, and that it was pending lawsuits against the borough for sledding incidents are what prompted the concerns from the insurance company.

I’m all for protecting kids, but is it just me, or is it really sad when something like sledding has to be regulated?

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Statewide Covers Medical Marijuana…Nationwide

December 14th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in business insurance, insurance news, insurance specialists

If you live in one of the fifteen states where medical marijuana is legal, and are concerned about the cost of being involved in the medical cannabis industry, you can rest a little easier. Last March, an insurance company based in Rancho Cordova, CA launched the first nationally available coverage designed specifically for the medical marijuana industry.

As reported in the Sacramento Bee, Mike Aberle, a commercial insurance agent with the firm – Statewide Insurance – and the national director of its new Medical Marijuana Specialty Division said, “Given the growth in the industry, I think it’s only a matter of time” before other states allow medical marijuana. Now that we can offer (services) in all 50 states, we can start the minute they go legal, without delay.”

According to Aberle, the program covers all of the various aspects of the medical cannabis industry, including dispensaries, general liability, workers’ compensation, equipment breakdown/damage, property/product loss (including pot spoilage), auto insurance (for vehicles that transport medical marijuana) and other related operations.

It was California voters who took the first steps into medical marijuana as an industry back in 1996 when they initially approved Proposition 215, which allows physicians to recommend cannabis for the treatment of cancer, chronic pain, AIDS, glaucoma, and other chronic illnesses which could benefit from treatment with cannabis. It’s estimated that there are now over 2,000 dispensaries in that state.

Aberle began forming Statewide’s Medical Marijuana Division (MMD) in 2007, and since then it has provided insurance to clients in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode Island. Last year, he began expanding the national program. Premiums, he said, range from $650 – $25,000 a year, with different variables affecting the cost. A typical policy has premiums between $1,000 and $4,000.

A lobbyist with California Capitol Solutions in Sacramento told the Bee that Statewide’s MMD program is a “milestone in an industry that needs insurance protections for everyone in the distribution chain, from growers of the product to those that use it. He also said, “It’s very big, especially right now with public safety. Safety protocols need to be put into place.”

Del Real said that he represents medical cannabis dispensaries and other segments of the medical marijuana industry throughout California. He also said that the group with the fewest protections is the growers, asking, “How do we move out of residential areas and into commercial and industrial space?” He continued, “A lot of people are trying to get their minds around the cultivation of medical marijuana.”

According to Del Real, governments throughout California have decided numerous issues like whether insurance for dispensaries will be required. He said that there was, “… a big thing of catching up going on. Each community is passing its own laws, and that becomes problematic.”

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Wyoming Releases First Crash Report with Expanded Data

November 29th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance, insurance news

The state of Wyoming updated their data collection practices with regard to automobile crashes two years ago and have now compiled the first report using the more detailed information. The new system includes more specific information about factors like driver distractions, and what injuries were incurred.

Wyoming Department of Transportation representative Stephanie Lucero said that the greater detail gives officials a better, more complete view of a crash. Specifically, she told a reporter from the Casper Star-Tribune, “It gives the engineers, and anyone analyzing this data, a clearer picture of the crashes going on in the state.”

Matt Carlson, a state highway safety engineer, also supported the use of the enhanced data collection, saying, “We can use the statistics and the data … so folks who are working on safety issues can make better decisions.”

Law enforcement officers across Wyoming file 15,000 to 20,000 crash reports each year with the state Transportation Department. The reports, which come from the police and sheriff’s departments as well as state troopers, submit the reports on any wreck that involves more than $1,000 worth of damage.

Even though the increased data has been collected since 2008, last month’s report was the first to use the information. Officials explained that it takes time to compile enough information to make the results worth reporting.

Carlson explained, “One year to the next doesn’t give you enough information to see a trend or figure out an issue or a problem.”

The crash form was changed in 2008 to comply with updated federal guidelines. The original form had 150 elements. The current version has 300.

In addition to helping engineers improve highway safety, it is hoped that crash data will be used to help the auto insurance industry with pricing and claims processes.

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RateWatch: Michigan Judge Halts Blue Cross Rate Increase

November 18th, 2010 by Iris | 2 Comments | Filed in health insurance, insurance news, rate watch

A circuit court judge in Ingham County, Michigan has called a stop to Blue Cross Blue Shield’s planned rate increases there. The increases in question would have increased the cost of premiums by up to 66% for some senior citizens.

The preliminary injunction, which was filed on Tuesday, requires that a public meeting be held.

Last September, the Michigan attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross and a state regulator, claiming that a hearing should have been held by the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.

According to state officials, 8,000 – 9,000 polices out of about 200,000 existing Blue Cross Blue Shield Medigap policies are affected by this decision.

Spokespeople for Blue Cross and the regulator said that the rate changes resulted from the elimination of a discount on Medigap policies for people who either reside outside of Michigan, or get help from their employers in purchasing coverage.

Blue Cross also said they were ordered to end the discounts.

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Buckle Up in the Back Seat, Study Says

November 17th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance

Wearing your seat belt may not help you find lower auto insurance rates, but it could keep you alive – even if you’re riding in the back seat. Rear seat passengers who die in automobile accidents are twice as likely as front seat passengers to be riding without their safety belts on, an Illinois study says.

The Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) Division of Traffic Safety recently released the information from a six-year study which took place from 2003 to 2009. Among their findings included the fact that, in 2009, 74 back seat passengers died in car crashes in their state, but only twelve percent of those were wearing seat belts.

Under Illinois state law, safety belts are not required when you ride in the back seat of a car.

As a result of these findings, the Illinois State Police and IDOT are planning to operate about 900 seat belt enforcement zones with the cooperation of more than 150 local law enforcement over the next few weeks. Local police departments will also conduct roadside safety tests an increase the number of patrols for impaired drivers.

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Cyber Crime on the Rise

November 16th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance fraud, insurance news, insurance specialists

If you think the concept of cyber-insurance is just a scam, consider this: last Tuesday (November 9th), the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged its two millionth complaint of online criminal activity.

The IC3 began operating in May, 2000, as a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, and it took seven years before it received its millionth complaint, which was logged on June 11, 2007. It took less than half that time to reach two million complaints but that may be partly because the IC3 is more visible, not only because the cyber crime rate is rising.

Cyber crime complaints made to the IC3 are then referred to local law enforcement agencies. So far, agencies around the world have been referred 757, 016 criminal complaints, the majority of which involve fraud, and the complainant suffering a financial loss. The total reported loss from these crimes is roughly $1.7 billion, with each complainant claiming about $500.

And how is this fraud being perpetrated? Well, most complainants point to identity theft, so be sure to add protection to your bank account or credit cards.

An earlier report from the FBI said that among Internet crimes, advanced fee scams that fraudulently used the FBI’s own name ranked number one.

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Connecticut Has New Interim Insurance Commissioner

November 15th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in insurance news, insurance specialists

Days before the Connecticut state insurance department is due to hear a rate increase request from a major health insurance company, Governor M. Jodi Rell has appointed an acting insurance commissioner.

According to the Insurance Journal, Governor Rell’s representatives confirmed the official appointment of Barbara C. Spear on Friday.

Spear will take over the position from Thomas Sullivan, who has served as Connecticut’s insurance commissioner since April, 2007. Friday will be his last day on the job.

Sullivan agreed to a public hearing about a request from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to raise their insurance premiums. He said he scheduled the hearing, which will be on Wednesday, because of a series of rate increase requests from this insurer, which has a significant share of Connecticut’s market.

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