Free Republic

Former BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) employee Tanja Benton has been awarded over $680,000 by a Tennessee federal jury following a verdict that the insurer failed to offer reasonable accommodation for her religious beliefs. The jury concluded that BCBST “did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence either that it had offered a reasonable accommodation to Plaintiff or that it could not reasonably accommodate the Plaintiff’s religious beliefs without undue hardship.” The total damages awarded to Benton amounted to $687,240, which included $177,240 in back pay, $10,000 in compensatory damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages. In a related case,...

State Farm recently requested its largest home insurance rate increase to date, a move that would worsen the insurance crisis in California but also signaled that the company may be in financial trouble. State Farm General, the company’s California subsidiary, recently submitted a request to the California Department of Insurance to raise insurance rates for homeowners, condo owners and renters in the Golden State.

CV NEWS FEED // The Delaware Senate has approved legislation requiring Medicaid and most private health insurance plans to cover abortion. According to the Associated Press, Democratic senators passed the legislation on a party-line vote, though it still needs to be approved by Democratic Gov. John Carney. The bill does include an exemption allowing churches and religious employers to seek a waiver from covering abortions, but other insurance providers must provide abortions without charging copays or applying deductibles. The coverage would be limited to $750 per person per year. The bill is one of many recent anti-life laws, as Delaware...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) and co-counsel Jonathan F. Mitchell secured a resounding win before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra. A unanimous panel of the Fifth Circuit held that a key provision of the Affordable Care Act violates Article II’s Appointments Clause by empowering the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to dictate the preventive care that all private insurers must cover. In other words—unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats don’t get to make unilateral decisions about Americans’ healthcare coverage, which has led to tremendous increases in the cost of...

Hundreds of thousands of pet owners have been left without coverage after Nationwide abruptly canceled pet insurance policies earlier this month. The company suddenly announced it was dropping policies for around 100,000 pets - blaming the soaring cost of veterinary care and recent underwriting changes. In a statement on June 14, it said the policies would be dropped when they expire, which is typically between now and next summer. Nationwide said the non-renewals are not associated with the pets' age, breed or prior claims history. But an affected pet owner has dogs aged 10 and eight who have recently had...

Popular smartphone apps used to track people’s location and provide weather reports may hand over driving data to a firm that sells the information to insurance companies for the purposes of setting rates for unsuspecting motorists... apps Life360, MyRadar and Gas Buddy are providing user data to an Allstate-owned company, Arity, which computes the numbers to create a “driving score” that takes into account any risky behavior behind the wheel... That information is then sold to other insurance firms — with user consent — which set rates for their customers ... Life360, which is used by parents to keep track...

More than one fifth of all crashed cars are now totaled by insurance assessors. Proportion of new vehicles written off has increased due to high repair costs. The cost of fixing ADAS systems designed to prevent accidents is often deemed not worth it. The rocketing cost of repairing crashed cars means 21 percent of wrecks now result in a vehicle being totaled by insurance firms, a five-fold increase versus 1980. And some experts think that number could jump to a staggering 30 percent as cars become even more complex. Ironically, it’s the same ADAS driver aids designed to save us...

Nationwide, the nation's largest pet insurer, is dropping coverage for about 100,000 pets across the country, blaming the rising costs of veterinary care and other factors that it says are threatening long-term viability and profitability of its pet insurance business. "As pet lovers ourselves, we understand the emotions connected to the protection of our family pets. Inflation in the cost of veterinary care and other factors have led to recent underwriting changes and plan availability in some states — difficult actions that are necessary to ensure a financially sustainable future for our pet insurance line of business," the company said...

Hundreds of nursing homes in Florida have been forced to shut their doors over the past five years because of the soaring cost of commercial property insurance in the state. In the five-year period ending in 2023, an average of 146 nursing homes or assisted-living facilities in Florida have closed each year, according to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. During that same five-year period, commercial property insurance premiums rose 125% in Florida. Last year alone, annual premiums rose by around 27% in the state, according to Bloomberg News.

Four years since Covid-19 lockdown curbs forced Burger & Lobster to close its restaurants, the purveyor of gourmet patties and crustacean rolls is still battling with its insurance company to recover some of the resulting losses. Alongside more than 20 other businesses including the owners of Hawksmoor steakhouses and Newcastle Falcons rugby club, the chain has brought a claim against Allianz in London’s High Court after the insurer declined to pay out on its business interruption policy, a type of cover designed to compensate for lost revenues. The case is one of dozens being fought between insurers and UK policyholders...

[H/T Grey_whiskers]https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1785134881481048569April 29, 2024

Now John Eastman, one of the attorneys who worked with former President Donald Trump, has been debanked by both Bank of America and USAA. That USAA debanked Eastman for his ties to the 2020 election contest comes as a surprise. USAA — now an insurance, financial services, and banking powerhouse headquartered in San Antonio, Texas — got its start in 1922 as a mutual self-insurance company for Army officers. Its clientele is mostly service members, veterans, and their families, with membership limited to those who can show a military tie. That means that, per a 2019 Pew Research poll, its...

Amid the ongoing insurance crisis in California, Allstate says it could soon resume writing new policies, though the move would come with some conditions. Allstate Insurance stopped writing new homeowners policies in California two years ago but says it may start offering them again if the state Department of Insurance will allow them to use catastrophic modeling when requesting rate increases. Catastrophic models are computerized reports that simulate potential catastrophic events and could be used to justify rate increases.

The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. Several of the recent cases have been in infants too young to be fully vaccinated. Officials said the cases indicate “community spread” of pertussis on Hawaii Island. Because of that, the state Health Department is strongly recommending that parents stay up...

... According to filings from the state’s Department of Insurance, Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co. said they would both stop offering homeowners and personal umbrella insurance in the Golden State.... ... Those impacted will receive nonrenewal notices beginning on July 1. The proposed effective date for these filings will take place on Aug. 1, 2025....

Luc Van Gorp, president of Christian Mutuality, pushed suicide for older people who are ‘tired of life’ and shockingly described the elderly as a ‘mountain of meat’ that ‘starts to smell.’ The president of Belgium’s largest health care fund has promoted euthanasia as a solution for the country’s aging population problem. Luc Van Gorp, head of Christian Mutuality (CM), pointed out that the number of people over 80 in Belgium will double up to 1.2 million by 2050, putting large financial pressure on the health care system and insurance companies. According to De Specialist, Van Gorp said the problem cannot...

The president of Belgium’s largest health care fund has promoted euthanasia as a solution for the country’s aging population problem. Luc Van Gorp, head of Christian Mutuality (CM), pointed out that the number of people over 80 in Belgium will double up to 1.2 million by 2050, putting enormous financial pressure on the health care system and insurance companies. According to De Specialist, Van Gorp said the problem cannot be solved with more money and called for “a radically different approach.” “Doctors and other health professionals are now doing their utmost to make everyone live longer, but for what purpose?...

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Friday mandating annual skin cancer screenings for more than 300,000 state employees and their families at no out-of-pocket cost. The law, sponsored by Rep. Ralph Massullo, a dermatologist by trade, stipulates that the state group health insurance plan managed by the Division of State Group Insurance must cover skin cancer screenings conducted by dermatologists, physician assistants, or advanced registered practice nurses, without requiring deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or any other form of cost-sharing.

Inflation ticked higher once again in March, with consumer prices up 0.4 percent over the previous month and 3.5 percent compared to one year earlier. The latest data marks the third month in a row that the consumer price index (CPI), a closely watched gauge of inflation, has come in hotter than expected, likely throwing cold water on hopes that the Federal Reserve would begin cutting interest rates soon.

Shares of U.S. health insurers fell after the Biden administration didn't boost payments for private Medicare plans as much as the insurance industry and investors had hoped...The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services late Monday said that government payments to Medicare Advantage plans are expected to rise 3.7% year over year...That is effectively a 0.16% decline after stripping out certain assumptions baked into that rate, according to insurers and analysts.