Editors' Featured
-
Agents Battle MLR Rules
The sweeping federal health care reform law enacted last year is having a major bottom line impact on insurance agents. New rules preventing insurers from including commissions in medical loss ratios means some agents are seeing their commissions fall by 50 percent or more. In Washington, lobbyists for agents are scrambling to reshape those rules. [...]
-
Woudstra to Receive City of Hope’s 2011 ‘Spirit of Life’ Award
Robert Woudstra, CEO of Farmers Insurance Group, is the 2011 Spirit of Life Award honoree for City of Hope hospital. City of Hope is one of the best cancer research and treatment facilities in the world. The Spirit of Life Award recognizes outstanding philanthropic commitment. In this interview, Woudstra talks with Mark Wells [...]
-
New York Evaluating Certificates of Insurance Problems
When clients ask insurance agents to alter certificates of insurance, it can create a lot of legal and liability issues. In New York, where it’s a major problem, some lawmakers are considering penalizing clients for even asking for changes. It could go a long way to eliminating a lot of those problems, says Dick Poppa, [...]
-
Best Practices in Insurance Agency PR and Communications
The first thing on an independent insurance agent’s mind might not be public relations and communications, but Ann Basco says they shouldn’t overlook its importance. As director of corporate communications for Heffernan Insurance Brokers, she oversees everything written or designed that clients view, whether it’s the company’s Web site, brochures, seminars, advertising, or another form [...]
-
World Likely to See More Frequent Catastrophic Events
Given the recent flooding, hurricanes and earthquakes, it appears the number of catastrophic events that inflict mass casualties and severe economic losses has increased. According to Dr. Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center in Pennsylvania, the higher probability of extreme events doesn’t mean the world is coming to [...]
-
Hone in on the “Home State” Definition in New Surplus Lines Regs
On July 21, 2011, the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act must be implemented. Key to complying with the new regulation, according to insurance regulatory attorney Richard Brown, is an understanding of the “home state” definition.
-
California Gears Up To Meet New Surplus Lines Guidelines
With the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act July 21, 2011, implementation deadline looming, California is gearing up to comply with new surplus lines regulations.
-
Interstate Compacts? Forget About Them
In preparation for new surplus lines regulations, states are considering whether to join a surplus lines tax allocation compact to share surplus lines premium taxes. Recent activities have called into question whether large states are willing to participate in an allocation compact. But insurance regulatory attorney Richard Brown says it’s not important whether states join [...]
-
N.Y. Agents Seek Principles for Health Insurance Exchange
Federal health care reform laws mandate that every state sets up a health insurance exchange. In New York, insurance agents plan to weigh in on the creation of the exchange by forming a coalition of trade groups to advocate for core principles for it.
-
Tips to Prepare for Surplus Lines Tax Reporting Changes
The surplus lines industry is facing a new deadline. On July 21, 2011, the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act must be implemented. In this interview, insurance regulatory attorney Richard Brown shares what effects the NRRA will have on surplus lines brokers.
More information from Richard Brown on the effects of the NRRA can be found at [...] -
New Texas General Agency Helps Retail Agents Tap Hispanic Market
Tony Gonzalez has 30 years of experience in the company side of the independent agency channel of the property/ casualty insurance business, serving in various leadership roles at companies including Safeco and the Republic Group. His expertise extends from marketing to sales to commercial underwriting and more, but recently he’s undertaken another challenge — a [...]
-
Revealing Commissions is a Pain in the Neck
New York insurance agents must now reveal to their clients how much they’re paid, thanks to “transparency” regulations that went into effect in January. Agents say the that new regulation has created significant, daily problems in their offices. Among those problems: compliance, paperwork and potential E&O issues.
-
Spring Flooding Renews NFIP Anxiety
Agents across the country are concerned about what will happen in September when the most recent extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) expires. On the wish list for a future program: A longer term solution to flood coverage that includes better protections — like business interruption —for property owners.
-
Producer Compensation: The Good and the Great
Creating a compensation plan that is both fair to producers and the agency is critical in today’s competitive market, the experts say. But to do this, agency managers must distinguish between the good and the great. What makes a great producer and how should their compensation differ from that of average producers? In this interview [...]
-
Agents Await Final Signature on 1099 Bill
Insurance agents don’t want to have to send all of their vendors 1099 forms and — thanks to a repeal recently passed by Congress — they’re anxiously waiting for President Obama to sign legislation that would prevent them from having to do so next year, says Big “I” President Bob Rusbuldt.
Featured
-
Norwood on Workers’ Comp
John, principal of Norwood & Associates, has been an lobbyist for insurance and financial services sectors across several decades. Norwood offered a focused looking at the all-important workers’ compensation issue, and he gave his thoughts on health insurance exchanges. In fact, Norwood forecast that 2012 will rank as an important one when it comes to [...]
-
Lobbyist Norwood Analyzes Consumer Watchdog Legislation
John Norwood is one of California’s best known legislative advocates for the insurance and financial services sectors. Norwood spoke to the Insurance Journal about legislation and regulation, including a proposal by a consumer advocacy group that would establish prior approval for healthcare insurance and would make major changes to auto insurance and homeowners insurance in [...]
-
At-Home Insurance Careers for Disabled Veterans
For insurance agents Gary Trippe and Jim Pender, the idea for DVIC, or Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers, which aims to guide disabled veterans into careers in insurance, evolved in part from their own personal experiences with disabled family members. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson, the two share their dream of an organization [...]
Popular
-
Entrepreneurial Technologists
This year the Entrepreneurial Insurance Alliance (EIA), sponsored by MarketScout, named Vertafore and Risk Metrics, as winners of it 2011 Entrepreneurial Award in technology. Vertafore’s WorkSmart and Risk Metrics’ Insurance 360 technology products received recognition from the EIA as being some of the industry’s most innovative concepts in technology. Each year, the EIA receives hundreds [...]
-
How Insurance Distribution Is Changing
Retail and wholesale brokers face the challenge —and opportunity— of redefining their relationships and value proposition in today’s changing insurance distribution world, according to Glenn Hargrove, president, MarketScout Wholesale, Dallas, Tex. In this interview from the recent Western Insurance Agents Association’s Insurance Industry Roundtable in California, Hargrove outlines the value proposition of agents and brokers [...]
-
Interesting Times in Medical Liability
The medical liability market continues to perform well even as the nation struggles to implement health care reform. Robert Allen, senior vice presidents at Torus Insurance, says many health care institutions are implementing new strategies to be successful in today’s health care reform world. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrea Ortega-Wells from the annual [...]
-
Pat Ryan Asks, ‘Are You Happy?’
Patrick Ryan is an innovator who sees opportunity. And it was opportunity that drove him to launch Ryan Specialty Group in early 2010. Success lies in hiring “good people,” Ryan says. In this interview from the annual National Association of Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) annual convention in San Diego, Ryan says his newest venture gave [...]
Random
-
MyNewMarkets.com Exchange Conference Connects Agents with Markets
The MyNewMarkets.com Exchange is an insurance “market fair” where agents and brokers who need markets are brought together with the MGAs, wholesalers and carriers who provide them. The intent of the Exchange is to help insurance agents obtain new markets for their customers at the event itself. Participating sponsors staff “trading desks” consisting of a [...]
-
Growth and Developments of the National Insurance Producer Registry
Joel Ario, who also serves as chair of the NIPR, says that during the last two years, the
-
Jane/Millie, Zurich Small Business / IIABA 2003 InfoXchange
Interview with Jane and Millie of Zurich Small Business at the IIABA 2003 InfoXchange
-
LexisNexis Insurance Exchange 2: Privacy, Security Issues
The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, LexisNexis, key agencies and a variety of insurance and technology partners are currently testing the LexisNexis Insurance Exchange, a single entry submission platform for commercial lines business. In this Part 2 of his interview at the recent MarketScout Entrepreneurial Insurance Symposium, Frank Sentner, CIAB’s technology director, discusses the [...]
- Copyright © 2012 Wells Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.