Digital Platforms

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and U.S. News Media Group released the fifth annual edition of America's Best Health Insurance Plans on USNews.com. Published at the start of open-enrollment season, when Americans nationwide prepare to select their health coverage, the 2009-10 Best Health Insurance Plans guide provides consumers with comprehensive rankings and important detailed information for over 600 commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid health plans.

Designed to manage claims operations for group employee benefits products, the new system replaces an in-house legacy system.

The visible departure of several high-profile employees has not weakened the insurer, but instead created room for others to take bigger roles, says firm’s CFO.

Producers’ status affects unique preferences, and shapes business plans, notes Mintel Compermedia.

Putnam Investments' CEO says 401(k)s need to be improved so that their income stream does not run out too early.

Program administrators and managing general agents are interested in growing through acquisition—in other PAs/MGAs and carriers, according to a recent survey.

The patent-claim elements of Accenture’s 2007 lawsuit against Guidewire were never dismissed.

IIABA study finds that buyers foregoing savings when purchasing insurance.

Holy temblors, Batman, what will the global warming acolytes do with this one?

A study says a failure to implement service catalogs can blunt process improvements.

While legacy architectures may make things easier on IT departments, they don't necessarily ease headaches for users.

The rhetoric is heating up as Accenture issues clarification, justification statements in response to Guidewire’s strong response to technology patent infringement charges.

HP's acquisition of 3Com will speed the convergence of networking and storage in insurance company data centers.

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You know that you don't have an enterprise BI strategy if:

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it's impossible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A pair of California-based economists probably recognized this following an attempt to construct an “early warning system” to predict another global financial crisis in the wake of the 2008 catastrophe.

Year-over-year growth for Software-as-a-Service is forecast at five times that of the total application market.

Critical to 75% of personal lines P&C carriers, predictive modeling is also becoming a popular pricing tool with commercial lines insurers.

The European Parliament and Council have reached agreement on new solvency rules for insurance companies.

Blue Cross Blue Shield confirms that its laptop containing personal information on healthcare professionals was stolen in Chicago area in August.

The banking committee chairman’s sweeping regulatory reform to limit systemic risk has significant implications for insurers.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance bestowed the “Accreditation with Performance Reporting” rating on the insurer for its health and wellness programs.

AIG's restructuring plan will still rely heavily on government support, advises the ratings group.

Critics contend the failure of Gramm-Leach-Bliley is that it failed to produce a coherent regulatory mechanism that was up to the new powers it created.

An expanded sales force will be expected to sell the company's MainStay mutual funds to advisers, brokers, plan sponsors and consultants.

A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings and S&P react to Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition announcement, and announce changes to 14 other insurers’ ratings.

Pending regulatory approval, Assured Guaranty Ltd., the holding company for Assured Guaranty Corp. and Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA), will change the name of FSA to Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. The Company also plans to change the names of the FSA companies worldwide.

Access and authority can be tricky and risky, but someone—or some thing—has to be in charge. Is automation an option?

The legislation, which carries a bevy of new restrictions for insurers, passed in the House 220-215. Industry associations expressed disappointment, and concern about a repeal of its exemptions from antitrust oversight.

Lawmaker proposes granting government authority to preemptively restructure firms that pose systemic risk.

The U.S. insurance industry lost 3,400 jobs in October, and 67,100 jobs in the past year.

New CEO Liam McGee says the insurer is "emerging from the challenges of the last 18 months."

While much progress has been made, the insurance industry still struggles with standardization.

Insurers with thrifts wait for next week when Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd finally unveils his regulatory reform bill.

In the past five years, BB&T Insurance developed a network of agencies in both the Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg areas.

The alignment of IBM’s IAA data model with the ACORD Framework is designed to provide insurers with accelerated capabilities to implement ACORD standards and SOA.

Legislation mandates that broker-dealers put client interests above all else.

In addition to offering proprietary life insurance, Phoenix now provides—through its Saybrus Partners unit—life insurance consulting services to financial advisers.

Downward pressure was effectively mitigated by the excess capital built up from several consecutive years of surplus growth prior to 2008, notes research.

As the health care debate drags on, time constraints may end up dashing efforts for broad-based reform.

Rising global temperatures will put the heat on insurance as flood costs rise, says new research from the Association of British Insurers.

A benefit-based approach to a data warehouse project can be boiled down to a list of bullet points.

Although not currently negotiating with firms that took bailout money, Kenneth Feinberg admitted that “egregious” situations may force the feds to recoup payments.

In its fourth annual program, INN recognizes Farmers Insurance for its enterprisewide “IdeaPoint” innovation.

Trillion-dollar losses projected if a medium-sized comet or asteroid strikes Manhattan.

While insurers wait and see what Washington does regarding the proposal to create a systemic risk regulator, experts say firms need greater transparency into decision-making process and an enterprisewide view of their risk.

Arbella Insurance Group upgraded, MassMutual downgraded and Pacific Life’s mortgage-backed securities ratings affirmed. Find out other actions from A.M. Best, Fitch and Moody’s.

A new report says substantial capital outlay will be necessary to fund health care co-ops or a public plan.

S&P places CMG Mortgage Insurance Co., not CMG Mortgage, on CreditWatch.

Bolstering its ranks with experts from within insurance companies, Novarica announces Martina Conlon, previous senior manager at Arbella Insurance, will join the research and advisory firm.

The company has decided not to sell AIG Star Life Insurance Co. and AIG Edison Life Insurance Co., but the future of Alico Japan remains to be seen.

The reciprocal insurance provider will use Maximum Processing’s Web-based, policy, billing, claims and reinsurance insurance administration system.