Digital Platforms

Insurance IT Budgets: It’s a tricky time for those who must make plans for next year, but where should insurers draw the line between caution and boldness?

While endorsements of an optional federal charter for insurers were easy to come by during the previous administration, the Obama administration has largely avoided offering an opinion on the controversial issue.

Photos from INN’s Women in Insurance Leadership Forum.

Now’s the time for life insurers to target consumers, as Americans show increased interest in financial protection, according to surveys.

Association says their proposal offers a more comprehensive solution to cross-border reinsurance transactions.

While the universe of financial services regulation is in flux, one key component, a proposed consumer financial protection agency (CFPA), is taking shape. The CFPA will have a mandate to set rules governing all financial institutions,

Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) (www.naic.org) passed legislation today that adds changes to the Standard Valuation Model Law. When enacted by state legislatures, the changes, addressed at the Executive/Plenary session of NAIC’s Fall national meeting in National Harbor, Md., are designed to improve the way life insurers calculate the reserves held to protect consumer’s financial interests in insurance products, says the organization.

The Professional Insurance Agents of Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York State are offering access to the PIA Technology Hotline, a new member-exclusive resource to help agents navigate the myriad technology options available for their businesses.

Productivity and cost control lead the list of key challenges; business intelligence, meanwhile, tops the list of application and technology priorities.

Vice President Joe Biden faced a standing-room-only audience yesterday at a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), where he discussed the Administration’s health care proposal and the need to create a level playing field in the insurance industry. Biden was invited to speak at the NAIC Fall meeting in National Harbor, Md., where he told members that the reform health care would not impact health insurers’ competitive set. “I want insurance companies to make money,” he said.

Federal and state authorities have a bone to pick with rating agencies, and insurers could feel the effect.

Public option out of the mix as Senate Finance Committee considers America’s Healthy Future Act.

Shares rocketed upward in trading yesterday, rising about 21% based on the announcements from the GAO and Government Reform Committee.

A Blues plan enables members to create PHRs, using Google Health, that automatically populate with claims data, and can link to select EHRs.

The Senator's plan would establish a timeline for accelerating the development, adoption and implementation of a set of operating rules for each HIPAA transaction.

Centurion, Fidelity and National Life are just a few insurers seeing ratings changes.

Department of Health and Human Services allocates $25 million for medical liability pilot initiative.

A new study says that nearly 26,000 state and federal rules impacting the insurance industry will change or be created this year.

Pressure to pass health care has reforms picked up additional momentum as the American Journal of Public Health released statistics tied to mortality for uninsured Americans.

While economists can't exactly predict the future, they can tell us what policies will fail.

A mid-year report from IBM confirms that the World Wide Web is a very insecure place.

AIG board puts kibosh on plans of new CEO to use company jet for personal use, Bloomberg says.

New report finds the industry spent $15.5 million lobbying Congress in the first half of 2009.

Gulf Coast construction standards are 'woefully inadequate' to withstand storm flooding, study finds.

Study’s findings of a lack of FCPA compliance, coupled with a potential increase in federal enforcement activities, could prove a perfect storm for D&O insurers.

Odds are more than a few insurers' IT projects were scrapped this year, but does it need to be that way going forward?

Organization of mutual insurers says that seeking to apply the Community Reinvestment Act to insurance companies would be “forcing a square peg into a round hole.”

Baucus’ bill proposes to expand coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans by creating nonprofit health insurance cooperatives, which require a $6B “fee” from the health insurance, pharma and clinical stakeholders to fund them.

Consequential bills will advance in House in the coming weeks, NAMIC says.

While insurers have unique challenges differentiating them from other industries, this shouldn’t deter efforts to apply BPM across the board.

Federal official says havoc ahead if Congress allows NFIP to lapse.

Customer data is the lifeblood of the insurance industry, but should the government be in charge of its safekeeping?

Norkom Watch List Smart Update designed to reduce costly false positives in detection of financial crime.

Solution provider receives positive rating in analyst’s claims administration systems MarketScope report.

Vendor noted for its market acceptance as a provider of operational risk across the organization.

INN recognized 10 of the industry’s most successful female insurance leaders at the second annual Women in Insurance Leadership Forum.

Health care reform resolution will not be easy, says the noted journalist, but insurers can help by instilling trust in the American public.

GNAIE says measurement approach for insurance contracts proposed by IASB is problematic.

Following Obama's speech last week, a health care expert sees rays of hope in a rapidly moving debate.

While its assessment of other areas wasn't exemplary, the Electronic Privacy Information Center gave the Obama administration high marks for its medical privacy efforts.

New CEO Benmosche prefers selling stakes in the company's businesses to Liddy's method of selling them outright.

Given experts' mixed reviews of TARP's effectiveness as it nears its one-year anniversary, perhaps insurers were wise to seek alternative solutions to their financial problems.

A significant benefit for both sides is the ability to work jointly on product development, distribution channels and customer service.

Given the preponderance of insurance workers tend to be over the age of 40, odds are they would prefer laptops with larger screens.

Feeling pressure to reduce costs, IT managers eye savings in document management.

Insurers react to President’s call for new mandates and taxes on their industry.

Insurance tech marketers would be well served by remembering that less is more when pitching their products.

Plan calls for mandate for individuals to purchase coverage but prohibits insurers from excluding patients due to pre-existing conditions.

Bill intended to reduce overlapping regulation of ceding insurers.

Given its high transaction volumes, BPM implementations are most likely to be seen in the property/casualty industry.

Goal is to review agencies’ role, effectiveness.

The goal of the health insurer’s marketing plan is to keep members engaged and informed.