Storm of Money
Storm of Money

Special report from the Post and Courier on hurricanes, insurance, and the black boxes that determine how much you pay.
Price Optimization: Pennsylvania is the Latest State to Prohibit the Practice While the NAIC Works Towards a Final White Paper
Price Optimization: Pennsylvania is the Latest State to Prohibit the Practice While the NAIC Works Towards a Final White Paper

Published August 27, 2015, by Susan Stryker “Price optimization,” a long-established economic concept, generally refers to the application of mathematical techniques using data to address pricing at a more granular level. Price optimization in property and casualty insurance ratemaking, or what has been referred to…
Give it back? Homeowners who got Hurricane Sandy repair funds may have to repay ‘Build It Back’ money
Give it back? Homeowners who got Hurricane Sandy repair funds may have to repay ‘Build It Back’ money

Sandy-ravaged homeowners who got “Build It Back” funds for repairs might have to repay the money because of Draconian HUD rules — even though federal bungling is what drove many to the program in the first place. As many as 3,000 homeowners — one-third of…
What does my credit rating have to do with my driving?
What does my credit rating have to do with my driving?

Most auto-insurance companies use your consumer credit rating as a significant factor in determining what rate to charge you.Who knew?Maybe you. But two-thirds of customers didn’t know, according to a Government Accountability Office survey. Spokesman Mike Barry of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade…
ServiceMaster and Water Damage Claims
ServiceMaster and Water Damage Claims

Couple Recalls ‘Leaky Toilet Nightmare’What started out as a leaky toilet turned into a local couple’s worst nightmare. They got into a battle with their insurance company and are now suing.It is a case their attorney says could affect hundreds of thousands of homeowners.Ora Tamir…
Retirees Stung by ‘Universal Life’ Cost
Retirees Stung by ‘Universal Life’ Cost

By LESLIE SCISM, The Wall Street Journal Updated Aug. 9, 2015 10:02 p.m.Retired high-school teacher Nicholas Vertullo long felt confident that his wife, Grace, wouldn’t have to pinch pennies after he died. Nearly three decades ago, he bought a $238,000 life-insurance policy, and later bought…
Class sues State Farm for manipulating homeowners with water damage
Class sues State Farm for manipulating homeowners with water damage

Insurer directed claimants to repair services it had under contract to hold down costs, class action states. A putative class action accuses State Farm Insurance, the nation’s largest property insurer, of willfully directing homeowners to substandard water damage repair services, bolstering the company’s bottom line…
Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Health and Disability Plans—Are They Still Viable?
Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Health and Disability Plans—Are They Still Viable?

(for Bloomberg BNA)Following the Supreme Court’s issuance of Firestone Tire & Rubber Company v. Bruch in 1989, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan administrators, including insurers that underwrite health, life and disability insurance plans subject to ERISA, have been able to insulate their decisions…
Manitou takes a step to move city hall out of harm’s way
Manitou takes a step to move city hall out of harm’s way

Manitou Springs officials are trying to land a $25 million federal grant to move City Hall operations to a new building.Built in the laste 1800s, the exisiting facility is in a flood plain, the city’s flood recovery manager Shelley Cobau said Monday.A draft of the…
BOPs Are Like Hospital Gowns – They Don’t Cover You Fully
BOPs Are Like Hospital Gowns – They Don’t Cover You Fully

Businessowners Policies, traditionally referred to simply as “BOPs,” were introduced in 1976 and significantly revised in 1987. The BOP evolved gradually from the 1987 revisions to include risk classification and business sizes (sales and square footage) not contemplated in the original or “first revision” editions…
Appeals process for flood insurance claims needs work: Senate probe
Appeals process for flood insurance claims needs work: Senate probe

The U.S. government’s appeals process for reviewing flood insurance claim disputes is riddled with flaws, but there is no evidence of systematic underpayments by insurers to flood victims, an investigation by U.S. Senate staffers has found.”Despite widespread concerns, it does not appear that systematic incentives…
Flaws but no abuse, Senate finds in Superstorm Sandy flood insurance study, Reuters reports
Flaws but no abuse, Senate finds in Superstorm Sandy flood insurance study, Reuters reports

The Senate Banking Committee will release a report that calls the appeals process for federal flood insurance claims after Super Storm Sandy badly flawed, but also that it found no signs of systematic underpayments to victims, Reuters reports.”Despite widespread concerns, it does not appear that…
FEMA re-opens claims, but some Sandy victims say ‘no thanks
FEMA re-opens claims, but some Sandy victims say ‘no thanks

A few weeks ago, FEMA sent out 146,000 letters to homeowners who were possible victims of Sandy-related flood insurance fraud, offering to reevaluate their damage awards and make them whole. That’s a lot of people with a lot of money at stake.FEMA is also offering…
Flood program must focus more on needs of disaster victims, new chief says
Flood program must focus more on needs of disaster victims, new chief says

The newly appointed director of the National Flood Insurance Program said the organization needs to focus more on the welfare of disaster victims and rethink gaps in coverage that bedeviled homeowners after superstorm Sandy. Roy Wright, who takes over the federal program next week, said…
FEMA To Allow Superstorm Sandy Victims To Review Flood Claims
FEMA To Allow Superstorm Sandy Victims To Review Flood Claims

FEMA is mailing letters to more than 140,000 Superstorm Sandy victims. The letters ask if they want their flood insurance claim to be reviewed. This comes after months of scrutiny and accusations that the private insurance companies who help run the federal flood program shortchanged…
Letters go out to Sandy victims who want to reopen claims
Letters go out to Sandy victims who want to reopen claims

The National Flood Insurance Program began mailing letters to superstorm Sandy victims Monday to start the process of reviewing thousands of claims that may have been underpaid after the 2012 disaster.The first round of roughly 15,000 notices are going to homeowners whose properties were inspected…
Being A Loyal Auto Insurance Customer Can Cost You
Being A Loyal Auto Insurance Customer Can Cost You

Many companies reward their most loyal customers with incentives, discounts and freebies. But in car insurance, the opposite can actually happen. A driver can be punished with a higher premium just for being loyal to the company. It’s called price optimization, and it happens to…
Why Sandy Homeowners Were Left In The Lurch
Why Sandy Homeowners Were Left In The Lurch

Superstorm Sandy’s storm surge was so strong when it hit Long Island in October 2012 that it lifted up Dan Stapleton’s Long Beach home and then kicked in the corner of the foundation. It left a 30-foot hole around his house. Stapleton, unlike many Sandy…