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The article investigates why property insurance can be difficult to obtain in urban core areas in the U.S. Federal programs have been instituted to help alleviate the problem, but the causes have attracted little attention from researchers. The author presents an empirical study of fire losses in various neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Regression analysis on fire-loss and insurance company data identifies price ceilings as the chief cause of insufficient availability of fire insurance. At prevailing prices insurance firms realize losses, and thus stop insuring certain areas.

The article examines laws related o defences to claims based on the lender force-placed insurance practices in the U.S. Topics discussed include Mortgage indebtedness; lender force-placed insurance (LFPI) premiums; ways in which LFPI premiums force-placed on the borrowers for insurance that does not usually provide them any protection; and increased average amount of mortgage debt in the U.S.

One major reason why healthcare spending is much higher in America than in other countries is that our prices are exceptionally high. This Article addresses whether we ought to rely more heavily on buyer power to reduce those prices, as other nations do. It focuses on two sectors where greater buyer power could easily be exercised: prescription drugs covered by Medicare and hospital and physician services covered by private insurance. The Article concludes that the biggest buyer of all, the federal government, should be allowed to negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices. This would likely reduce the prices of many branded drugs substantially without causing a large reduction in innovation. Multiple studies indicate that drag companies have been exceptionally profitable in recent years. As a result, they could lower prices on many drugs and still earn a competitive return on most research and development. Moreover, the incentive to develop important new medicines would remain high because the government would have little leverage over the prices of these drugs. Finally, if problems with innovation develop, payments for new drugs can be increased. In contrast, encouraging large insurance companies to merge does not appear to be a promising way of lowering healthcare costs. While some large mergers may be procompetitive--lowering both excessive provider prices and insurance premiums--most would present significant competitive risks. They may allow the merged firm to exert monopsony power over small providers, they may create market power and lead to higher premiums, or they may permit the merged firm to gain a discriminatory advantage over smaller insurance companies, threatening downstream competition. Because of these dangers, it would not be wise, as a general rule, to permit large health insurers to merge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Court of Justice has held that as from 21 December 2012, insurers may no longer charge men and women differently on the basis of scientific evidence that is statistically linked to their sex, effectively prohibiting the use of sex as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits for the purposes of insurance and related financial services throughout the European Union. This ruling marks a sharp turn away from the traditional view that insurers should be allowed to apply just about any risk assessment criterion, so long as it is sustained by the findings of actuarial science. The naıvete' behind the assumption that insurers' recourse to statistical data and probabilistic analysis, given their scientific nature, would suffice to keep them out of harm's way was exposed. In this article, I look at the flaws of this assumption and question whether this judicial decision, whilst constituting a most welcome landmark in the pursuit of equality between men and women, has nonetheless gone too far by saying too little on the million dollar question of what separates admissible criteria of differentiation from inadmissible forms of discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a partially observed recursive optimization problem, which is time inconsistent in the sense that it does not admit the Bellman optimality principle. To obtain the desired results, we establish the Kalman-Bucy filtering equations for a family of parameterized forward and backward stochastic differential equations, which is a Hamiltonian system derived from the general maximum principle for the fully observed time-inconsistency recursive optimization problem. By means of the backward separation technique, the equilibrium control for the partially observed time-inconsistency recursive optimization problem is obtained, which is a feedback of the state filtering estimation. To illustrate the applications of theoretical results, an insurance premium policy problem under partial information is presented, and the observable equilibrium policy is derived explicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses certain funding issues related to defamation litigation in Northern Ireland. It provides information that plaintiffs in defamation actions cannot be considered for conditional fee arrangements (CFA) nor they are entitled for recovery of any after-the-event (ATE) insurance premium. It mentions that provisions for the introduction of the CFA and other litigation fund agreements are provided under the North Ireland's Access to Justice Order 2003.

The article discusses the legally contentious issues surrounding social insurance payments for temporary and contracted out workers (überlassene Arbeitnehmer) in Germany, particularly with reference to foreign workers. The relevant law and regulations are cited, most of which deal with illegalities in such transactions.

A revision of Germany's Haushaltsbegleitgesetz (Ancillary Budget Act) of 1984 is examined for its ramifications in balancing social security premium income and retirement entitlement spending. Provisions of the law dealing with annual adjustments to pension benefits are addressed, as are the wage level bases for calculating insurance premiums.

The premium payment test has returned through contemplation of death. This article first traces the history of the test, from its origins in 1918 to its elimination by Congress in 1954. Then the article discusses in detail the concepts, rules and guidelines for applying the test through treatment of premiums as having been paid in contemplation of death, setting forth the arguments for and against such use. The article then concludes with brief discussions on the estate taxation of group life insurance and insurance under qualified employee trusts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a German Labor Federation's critical response to a proposed law revising laws governing socialized health insurance. The Federation's major objection is that the measure is not socially progressive and is burdensome to the insured in the amount required as a contribution and effectively discourages early treatment for illness and health maintenance in general.

The article discusses the legal status, rights, and duties of a chief executive officer (CEO) in Germany with respect to business financial and social insurance matters. CEO responsibilities include agreements with insurance carriers, oversight of book-keeping, financial affairs, and personnel matters, publication of regulations, and administration of social insurance premiums.

The article presents information about a convention held by the parliamentary group of the West German Social Democratic Party (SPD) on February 13, 1958 in West Germany. Topics of discussion included the implications of the pension reform, suggestions for alleviating inequalities caused by the new legislation, and plans to adjust premium laws to protect refugees. An overall evaluation of the reform is also given.

The article discusses the constitutional court debate in Germany over whether a mother's time spent in child-rearing should be figured into her eligibility for social security pension benefits. Also discussed is the legal question of equalizing the social security premium burden among families with one or more children and those who are childless.

The article discusses a September 1982 legislative proposal put forward by factions of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) for greater equalization of the financial burdens posed by the premiums in statutory health insurance (GKV). The bill provides for reduced premiums for the unemployed. A computational model of premium distributions among carriers is provided.

The article discusses a position paper of Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) presenting concrete proposals for social pension insurance. Key elements included the strengthening of the administrative self-government of social security, partial pensions for those employed past age 60, and women's pension premium credits for years spent in child-rearing.

The article discusses Austria's adjustment of pension benefits and premiums as of January 1, 1970 by an amount of 5.4%. Other adjustments were made to casualty, agricultural workers', and self-employment social insurance. Benefit amounts are presented also for widows, orphans, and children's allowances.

The article discusses proposed 1959 legislation of Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) on the amendment of regulations governing pension insurance. The main features of the bill include exemption of older and high paid workers from obligatory pension insurance premiums and the automatic adjustment of premiums.

The article discusses controversy surrounding the German law governing children's allowances. One source of disagreement stems from unequal premiums and unequal treatment of independent persons with low incomes as well as among the self-employed and agricultural workers. Children's allowance law relating to equalization from carrier to carrier is described as a "fiasco."

The article, in contrast to the immediately preceding one, presents the view of the insurance funds in the debate over a hospital law in West Germany. The author cites the comparative costs of hotel and hospital rooms, and relative costs of hospital beds, and he seeks to demonstrate that raising the premiums on health insurance is the only sensible course.

The article offers information on the deductions made from the wages including the National Insurance contributions, redundancy payments along with the eligibility for National Insurance.

The article reports approval of Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Kathleen C. Hittner to lower rates on commercial health insurance premiums for 2016.

The article discusses provisions of U.S. legislation effective as of January 1979 that mandate a deduction of a premium from all workers' pay of 6.13% up to the first $22,900 of annual salary. The assessment is applied to social security pensions for old age, surviving dependents, and disability pensions. Part of the assessment is used to fund the Medicare program of health services for those over 65. Also legislated were Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

The article presents information about socio-political developments in West Germany in 1964. Legislation for coal and iron ore miners' premiums was altered, a sixth old age pensions standardization law was passed, and income taxes were raised for West Germans living in company housing. A report has revealed that many West German rural working mothers still do not have vacation privileges.

The article discusses moves by Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party to amend German health insurance reform legislation due to be effective in spring 1961. The CDU proposals involve fees for a patient's requisite health insurance certificate and for prescription medication. Additionally, new rates are set for those privately insured and for physician compensation.

The article offers information about voluntary extended insurance in West Germany. In spite of higher wages and lenient legislation regulating entitlement to extended insurance, many citizens did not request extended insurance stamps in 1957 because they were not adequately informed of their entitlement. The relationship between voluntary extended insurance requests and a raising of annuities is also discussed.

The article states that the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have introduced legislation that would make it illegal for health insurance companies to deny coverage to healthy people or charge higher premiums based solely on genetic predisposition to certain diseases. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act would forbid employers to make job decisions based on an employee's genetic information. Representative Louise M. Slaughter cosponsored the bill in the House of Representatives.