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Slow growth for the top 20 property and casualty insurance brokers resulted in a mere 6.4% increase in revenues for 1991 over 1990. $11.2 billion in revenues from $10.53 billion resulted from the global recession and a 3.1% increase in value of the US dollar against the British pound. This report included 281 brokers, with a list of the 100 top US brokers, information on US broker compensation and profiles of the world's 20 largest insurance brokers.

A disagreement between the US and the European Community (EC) over EC farm subsidies and foreign negotiators' uneasiness over the outcome of the US Presidential election threatens to forestall completion of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Negotiators currently are discussing the liberalization of services industries such as insurance. Though the failure of GATT would hurt multilateral trade agreements, the US has achieved success in negotiating bilateral trade agreements that open up foreign markets to US firms.

The stands of candidates for the US Senate on a variety of issues facing the insurance industry, specifically tort reform, health care cost containment, anti-trust law, and the federal government's role in health care are presented. The candidates are Daniel Coats and Joseph H. Hogsett, Indiana; Rich Williamson, Illinois; Charles E. Grassley and Jean Lloyd-Jones, Iowa; Robert Dole, Kansas; Christopher Bond and Geri Rothman-Serot, Missouri; Don Nickles, Oklahoma; and Robert W. Kasten, Jr, Wisconsin.

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, established by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, is as entangled in legal disputes, lack of financing and lawsuit backlogs, as the tort system it sought to replace. This 'no-fault' fund was devised to collect damages for victims without penalizing the pharmaceutical manufacturers or the physicians in each case. It could also be used in future AIDS vaccine formulation and experimentation.

A panel of four insurance industry analysts gave a bleak forecast for the industry at the 1992 National Association of Insurance Brokers conference. Maurice Slayton believes the market is being eroded by growing losses and higher competition. He estimates the pretax cash flow will drop to below 5% in 1992. However, Russell Miller believes there will be a slow growth of 3% in the years 1992-2002. Peter Walker said the industry's structure was changing and regional companies were doing better than large companies and George L. Priest spoke of a need to control liability cases. While reforms have made a difference, they have not eliminated the problem.

Congress is unlikely to pass family-leave legislation in 1992, so multistate businesses must attempt to comply with state laws which differ in coverage by state, and which are being continuously altered. A survey by A. Foster Higgins and Co Inc found great variety in family-leave regulations, from length of leave to reasons for taking the leave. Small companies face economic as well as management challenges to comply with state laws.

Even though most standard auto insurance policies cover rental cars, roughly 20 percent of consumers always purchase supplemental coverage when renting a car, and 20 percent do occasionally, according to [...]

Joan Jett may not have given a damn about her 'bad reputation,' but perhaps you should. According to the annual Harris Poll 2014 RQ (Reputation Quotient) report, based on the [...]

Everyone in our industry knows about the many great four-year college and university programs available to students who want to pursue an insurance career. But not every kid is lucky [...]

At this writing, the Midwest--and specifically, what is now known as 'Chiberia'--is in the grip of a post-snowstorm spate of sub-zero days (and when I say 'sub,' I mean 30 [...]

Doctor reports, from Nov 1990 to Aug 1992, indicate that over 300 children died and another 17,000 had adverse reactions to childhood vaccines. The Childhood Vaccine Injury Act requires doctors to report adverse reactions.

The Conference Board found in a study of 183 US corporations that 74% use strategic long-range employee benefit planning. Of that 74%, 45% found this method of benefit planning extremely useful, 38.3% found it useful, 9% found it incomparable and 6.8% found it moderately useful. The majority of the companies cited cost control as the major objective for strategic benefits planning.

The imminent merger of Poe and Associates Inc and Brown and Brown Inc will establish the largest regional insurance brokerage in the Southeastern United States and the 15th largest insurance brokerage in the US. Poe will give Brown stockholders over 3 million shares of common stock to ensure that Brown owns the final 36.6% of Poe's outstanding shares from the merger. Combined annual revenues for both firms will be over $83 million.

Lisa M. Barnaby filed a lawsuit against Principal Mutual Life Insurance Co on Aug 12, 1992, because the firm would not reimburse her for nicotine patch treatments under her group health insurance policy. Ms. Barnaby, a secretary for Holstein Mack and Klein law firm, filed the case in Chicago's Cook County Circuit Court through her employer. The patch was prescribed by the plaintiff's physician to stop her smoking habit and decrease her risk of lung and heart disease. Principal's policy covers non-experimental prescription drugs. Also, the health insurance firm offers non-smokers rate reductions on policies.

Acordia Inc plans to increase its property and casualty operations after primarily focusing on life and health insurance. Concentrating on middle market corporate customers in midsized cities in the Southeast, Southwest and Middle West, Acordia promotes the 'small is beautiful' philosophy in its client base and its own corporate structure. 1991 gross revenues rose to approximately $210 million from 1990 gross revenues of $101.6 million.

Inessential substance abuse and mental health treatment can be isolated by utilization review. However, a lack of treatment standards in outpatient mental health and substance abuse care makes the utilization review process hard to carry out. Some benefits administrators and mental health administrators believe setting up a network of independent mental health professionals with a standard of quality amenable to employers and practitioners is the method to use.

Alexander and Alexander Services' Tinsley H. Irvin spoke at the 1992 National Association of Insurance Brokers conference in favor of federal regulation of insurer solvency. Many insurers may become insolvent without federal regulation because of the soft market, high competition and extremely litigious nature of society today. Irvin approves of the legislation sponsored by Congressman John Dingell on federal solvency regulation and believes it will assist not only with solvency but also with foreign competition.

Insurance industry executives believe that legislators and businesses must be made aware of the need for insurance reform and federal solvency regulation of the insurance industry. Marsh & McLennan co-CEO David D. Holbrook believes that insurance brokers have a key role in explaining the cost savings possible from federal oversight, which would free insurance companies from the patchwork of state regulations. Some insurance executives are critical of a plan by Rep John D. Dingell (D-MI) to allow insurers to choose between state and federal solvency regulation. Workers' compensation insurance is another area insurance executives agree is very much in need of reform.

The National Assn of Insurance Brokers (NAIB) has endorsed a larger role for the federal government in regulating the insurance industry. The NAIB proposes that federally-chartered insurance companies should be exempted from state insurance regulations. Insurers would have the option to be federally- or state-chartered. A federal charter would be beneficial to insurance companies doing business in many states because it would eliminate dealing with overlapping and contradictory state regulations. The NAIB supports national standards for liquidating insolvent insurers and tightening financial disclosure practices to reduce insolvencies. The NAIB joins a number of insurance organizations and legislators, notably Rep John Dingell (D-MI), that are sponsoring similar measures. The measures are opposed by the National Assn of Independent Insurers, which supports state regulation.

A survey of 300 businesses by the Wyatt Co revealed that managed care programs help the businesses surveyed keep their prescription drug costs down. Mail-order pharmacies are used by 28% of the firms, drug-card programs are used by 22% of the firms and organized pharmacy networks are used by 6% of the firms. A similar survey in 1991 found that mail-order pharmacies were used by 20% of the firms and drug-card programs were used by 24% of the firms.