Free Republic

BRUSSELS — The European Union and the United States are signing a major agreement on insurance and reinsurance, capping off 20 years of discussions and a year of negotiations. The EU Commission said Friday that the deal will let reinsurers boost their investment capacity, and that the accord offers more regulatory certainty without watering down consumer protection. A big advantage for EU reinsurers is that the agreement does away with the need for around $40 billion that they have paid as collateral to sign reinsurance contracts in the United States.....

This summary describes key provisions of a proposal by Senators Graham, Cassidy, Heller, and Johnson. drafted as an amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 1628, the House-passed bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Senate faces a September 30, 2017, deadline to use budget reconciliation to repeal Obamacare this year. In the wake of the Senate’s recent failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, Senators Lindsey Graham (R–SC) and Bill Cassidy (R–LA) have released an updated version of their bill in a renewed effort to take advantage of this expiring legislative vehicle. Like others considered this year, Graham–Cassidy falls short of fully repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a new patient-centered system, but it does include significant improvements over current law by repealing the individual and employer mandate tax penalties, providing Medicaid reform, and...

LAKELAND — Geico plans to add between 300 and 500 new jobs and build a new $12 million, 50,000-square-foot facility near its current site in Southwest Lakeland. Both the city and county will offer big tax refunds to the second-largest auto insurer in the nation. On Tuesday, county commissioners approved a package that provides $369,000 in incentives over five years to Geico if the company meets certain hiring targets each year. The city of Lakeland is offering the same $369,000 incentive package to Geico, which has its current building at 3535 W. Pipkin Road. Other incentives were approved for Geico....

Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that he’s pushing President Trump to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. “What I would do, and what I’ve been talking to President Trump about, is I think we should allow people to buy across state lines through health care associations, and actually I think the president is going to do this on his own within a week or two, and I think this could help millions and millions of people get affordable insurance,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on Fox News. “It’s not a federal program, and it doesn’t cost any...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - One year after opening an information technology center in southeast Grand Rapids, Auto-Owners Insurance announced a $1 million expansion of that office that will add 60 new technology jobs. The Lansing-based insurance company moved into offices at 3949 Sparks Drive SE in August, 2016 and has hired 20 technology professionals. Since then, the Grand Rapids technology center has experienced rapid growth and company officials believe that trend will continue over the next three years, according to an announcement by The Right Place Inc. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The company intends to invest significant resources in recruiting,...

It could transform the way the community thinks of itself. Daytona Beach finally landed “the big one.” And to think it’s been here the whole time. The announcement Friday that Brown & Brown Insurance plans to build a 10-story, $25 million headquarters on Beach Street and bring 600 additional employees to downtown was remarkable, not just for its impact on the local economy, but also for the fact it was a local business. So much of the community’s focus on economic development has involved pursuing outside investment, hoping to lure grand hotels, high-rise condos and sprawling retail complexes to build...

Hurricane Harvey's massive flooding has displaced tens of thousands of people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes across southeast Texas and Louisiana. Now, Wired reports Harvey's devastating path has also left as many people without cars. Insurance companies have received at least 100,000 claims for cars impacted by Harvey, according to Wired. Seventy-five percent of those claims have been for totaled cars, with the number of claims expected to rise. Others estimate Harvey has destroyed up to five times more: Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke told USA Today he believes 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles were destroyed by Harvey's...

The Affordable Care Act (section 9010) created an annual fee on certain health insurance providers beginning in 2014. This is often referred to as the “HIT tax” or health insurer tax. The HIT tax was suspended for the 2017 calendar year but it will again be effective as of January 1, 2018. If you will have an insured group health plan in 2018, keep this in mind when you review 2018 rate quotes from health insurers. Here’s Why this is Important Some carriers have estimated that the HIT tax will be about 3% in 2018, although amounts will vary among...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Allstate Insurance Co. announced on Wednesday plans to more than double its North Carolina workforce by expanding in the Charlotte area, investing more than $22 million and creating 2,250 new jobs by 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper and leaders of the nation’s largest publicly-traded personal insurance company were joined by local leaders in announcing the expansion, beginning in 2018, at the Charlotte Chamber office. Allstate listed a wide range of jobs to be filled, but a company official said they were still working on specifics. “We’re still putting the final touches on them,’ said Harriet Harty, Allstate...

There's nothing like the sight of Republicans and Democrats working together and scrambling to save big time government aid to super-rich corporations. Whether it's a bailout for major banks, tax credits for Big Oil, or big subsidies for large agriculture businesses, this kind of crony capitalism seems to anger almost everyone but nobody really does anything about it. Now, we're about to witness another scramble to provide our hard-earned taxpayer money into the pockets of an industry that's already raking in the big bucks. The Senate Health Committee is going to hold hearings in September to find ways to keep...

Top health insurance companies in numerous states are looking to hike premiums by double-digits – some by roughly 30 percent or more – for ObamaCare plans in 2018, according to newly released figures that could light a fire under stalled efforts on Capitol Hill to fix the program. “A lot of us have lost focus on the fact that the system we have doesn’t work,” White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday, referring to the proposed premium hikes. The Wall Street Journal reported that major insurers in Idaho, West Virginia, South Carolina, Iowa and Wyoming...

Galveston County men accused of destroying airplanes, defrauding insurance companies By MATT DEGROOD The Daily News Jul 29, 2017 2 Two Galveston County men face multiple wire fraud charges in what federal law enforcement officers allege was a plan to destroy aircraft and other vehicles for insurance money, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday in federal court. Theodore Robert Wright III, of Kemah and Las Vegas, and Shane Gordon, of League City, were among four people charged with fraud and conspiracy in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas in Tyler, records show. Both men are charged with one...

If you’ve read a newspaper or watched cable news in the last month, you’ve probably seen someone say that the Senate GOP health care bill would “kick 22 million Americans off of their health insurance.” But it’s not true. New information from the Congressional Budget Office—leaked to me by a congressional staffer—shows why. CBO’s faith in the individual mandate’s magical powers For years, the CBO has been convinced—despite real-world experience to the contrary—that Obamacare’s individual mandate is the biggest reason why that law has increased the number of Americans with health insurance. When Senator Barack Obama ran against Hillary Clinton...

The Democratic Party will consider proposing a single-payer health insurance system, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said. “We’re going to look at broader things [for the nation’s health care system.] Single-payer is one of them,” Schumer said to ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday. The top Democrat in the Senate added that single-payer is among a number of health insurance options. “Many things are on the table,” Schumer said. “Medicare for people above 55 is on the table. A buy-in to Medicare is on the table. Buy-in to Medicaid is on the table.”

I would like truly affordable coverage. Put a bill in the hopper: 1. Allowing insurance companies to sell mandatory issue during PPACA open season, lower-cost coverage for a insurer-set number of days (24-hour periods), of at least 5, of hospital care coverage (EMTALA scope, essential newborn congenital surgery, operative tumors, pallitative cancer surgery, fractures of major bones), with a $1,000 hospitalization deductible, with available riders, only mandatory issue and federal law exempt from previous condition restrictions with the purchase of at least five, for coverage: a. up to $1,000 for outpatient/ER insurer-selected, Medicare Part B covered tests with patient Medicare...

Republicans are approaching health insurance as if they were the better managers of socialism. Why not take this opportunity to express the core principles of conservatism for better solutions? As the Senate grapples with the Gordian Knot of universal and affordable health insurance, senators have fallen into the script that publicly funded health insurance is tantamount to a constitutional right. It isn't, and through the collective fog of "government money," they're obscuring the reality that, in effect, one neighbor is knocking on the door of another, demanding that he pay up for a "human right." Blindness to this reality is...

A proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz to let insurers provide less comprehensive coverage under the Senate health care bill could lead to an explosion of limited-benefit “junk insurance” in states that weaken consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act. Junk insurance can include specified disease plans that cover only certain diseases; supplemental plans that cover only the expenses another policy doesn’t; and fixed-dollar indemnity plans that provide a specified amount per day toward medical costs. The Congressional Budget Office considers people with these policies to be uninsured “because they do not have financial protection from major medical risks.” Before the...

Do you buy insurance covering your carrying guns, specifically CCW, but any for that matter? And if you are a range safety office, do you buy insurance coverage for that?

A City Council committee on Wednesday endorsed a property tax break for a fast-growing insurance company to support the addition of 1,000 new jobs to downtown Kansas City. The full Council votes Thursday on the proposal for Spring Venture Group, which hopes to move next year from its Crown Center offices into a largely vacant office building on West 12th Street. “It’s very exciting. It’s a big job creator,” attorney Evan Fitts, representing Spring Venture, told the council’s planning, zoning and economic development committee. Spring Venture Group has not yet signed a lease for the building at 120 W. 12th...