Core systems

Increasingly, life and health insurers are underwriting man-made catastrophic risks involving deaths and disabilities resulting from terrorists making use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, according to the latest LOMA study on risk exposure for the insurance industry. "The New World of Risk describes these risk exposures in detail and the efforts being made by the U.S. government and other institutions to control them," says Stephen W. Forbes, Ph.D., FLMI, senior vice president of research at Atlanta-based LOMA, and report author.The report also reviews catastrophic loss exposures involving technological networks, a continually expanding universe of legal liability, and global risks that affect all insurance companies and U.S. businesses. "Fortunately, there are actions available in both the public and private sectors that can significantly reduce these catastrophic risks," says Forbes. "The insurance industry has an important role to play in encouraging the implementation of the many well-thought-out methods that are available to improve the risk environment."

TORONTO, April 6, 2004 - SOLCORP, a leading provider of software solutions to the life insurance and financial industries and a subsidiary of EDS, announced today that it is co-sponsoring a global insurance survey in conjunction with partner companies Whitehill Technologies and DSPA Software.

Miami, FL-- SunGard Insurance Systems, an operating group of SunGard, announced today the SunGard VIP sales illustration system has been awarded the Designed for Windows XP logo certification. This certification is a result of a long-standing technology affiliation between SunGard Insurance Systems and Microsoft, further strengthening the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner relationship recognized for many years. SunGard VIP clients running on Windows XP can realize benefits such as greater application stability and efficiency; as well as, the assurance that the SunGard VIP system will be fully functional in later versions of Windows.

WebMD Corp., Elmwood, N.J., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dakota Imaging, Inc., a privately held provider of automated healthcare claims processing technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services.Dakota's scalable software and BPO services provide automation for mailroom, document processing, scanning, data capture, data scrubbing, automated workflow and online secure document management. Dakota's solutions can reduce costs associated with manual processing of healthcare documents and increase auto-adjudication and auto-payment of medical claims through advanced data scrubbing.

The insurance industry's response to fast-changing regulatory and corporate governance demands is characterized by a primary reliance on manual processes and ad-hoc measures, according to survey conducted by ILOG, a Mountain View, Calif.-based business rules software vendor, and Pearl River, N.Y.-based ACORD.Although specially appointed compliance officers generally have been assigned to manage the impact of regulatory demands, the survey reveals the industry is failing to fully embrace the high business value of information technology when addressing regulatory requirements such as HIPAA and corporate governance demands driven by mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Insurity Inc., a ChoicePoint company, today announced that Georgia Casualty & Surety, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlantic American, has selected Insurity's Commercial Intellisys property/casualty policy processing services and software. A complete Web-based rating, intelligent underwriting and electronic issuance platform is being deployed across 11 states for workers' compensation, commercial business auto, general liability, commercial package and umbrella policies.

An Internet-only health plan for individuals and families, called Net Saver, has been introduced by Health Net Life Insurance Company, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based health insurer.With Net Saver, there are no paper-based application or enrollment materials. Once a secure, encrypted online application is completed by an applicant, it is downloaded by the consumer for record keeping and submitted at the same time to Health Net for processing. Net Saver's online processes help to speed the application submission process. It's not uncommon for applications to be submitted in the middle of the night by Internet-based brokers such as EHealthInsurance.com, according to Health Net Life Insurance Co.

One-third (34%) of workers believe they may outlive their retirement savings. Among individuals who make less than $25,000, 54% believe they run the risk of outliving their retirement savings. This, according to the 14th annual national Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), American Savings Education Council (ASEC), and Mathew Greenwald & Associates.Men are slightly more confident than women (65% versus 61%) when it comes to believing they will not outlive their retirement savings, and married people are more confident than non-married individuals (66% versus 58%). When it comes to long-term care (LTC) in retirement, 51% of workers are confident that they will have enough money to pay for LTC expenses.

OLDSMAR, Fla. -- eAutoclaims today announced that it has secured a two-year contract with Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company. eAutoclaims will provide its national network of body shops and independent appraisers (IA) to process Michigan Millers' automobile and commercial heavy equipment physical damage claims.

New York, NY--Atlantic Mutual announced that it closed the sale today of its subsidiary, Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company, and the renewal rights to select commercial insurance business, including the unearned premiums on the acquired book, to OneBeacon Insurance Company, after receiving regulatory approval. The overall gross written premium for this book of business totals over $400 million.

Maine Mutual Group Insurance Co,, a regional provider with operations in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, has joined a growing number of companies that are partnering with Trusted Choice, the national branding initiative created to educate consumers about the benefits of using independent insurance agents and brokers.consumer branding initiative. Trusted Choice was created by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA), Alexandria, Va., and its company partners to highlight the benefits independent agencies and brokerage firms offer consumers–choice of companies, customization of policies and consumer advocacy. Just two years after its inception, more than 3,500 independent insurance agencies and brokerages throughout the country are participating in the branding program.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --Humana Inc. announced today that its subsidiary, Humana Insurance Company, has completed its acquisition of Ochsner Health Plan of Louisiana from the Ochsner Clinic Foundation. Ochsner Health Plan is one of the largest health benefits plans in the New Orleans market and the third largest in the state of Louisiana with approximately 152,000 Commercial medical members, primarily in large group accounts, and approximately 31,000 members in the MedicareAdvantage program. Ochsner Health Plan is licensed in all 64 of Louisiana's parishes.

If insurance carriers want their online shoppers to become online buyers, they need to give their customers more respect.That's a warning derived from recent analysis of 70 insurance Web sites that gave the insurance industry an average online Customer Service Index of 6.8 out of 10. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that although 93% of insurers post online privacy policies, 35% of them share customer data without the customer's permission.

The credit-based insurance scoring controversy continues with the latest volley coming from the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA). In January, MIA released a report indicating that the data it had collected in 2003 was insufficient to conclusively determine if credit scoring has an adverse impact on low-income or minority populations.Last month, Insurance Networking News reported that a recent study conducted by the Missouri Department of Insurance found that minorities and low-income populations are harmed by insurers use of credit-based insurance scores (see March 2004, page 8).

The personalized attributes of Web portals have generated appeal among a growing number of insurers. But while Web portals possess a great deal of upside, the return on investment (ROI) prospects that portals-as well as extranets - can deliver to an insurance organization are still difficult to quantify.Despite this uncertainty, the perceived benefits continue to propel portal adoption. A study conducted by Stamford, Conn.-based research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. found that 75% of property/casualty insurers and 83% of life/health insurers have developed distributor portals or extranets.

There was a time when Atlanta-based Ebix Inc. and Darien, Ill.-based Quotesmith.com could have been mistaken for one another, but not anymore. In two strategic acquisitions forged in February, Ebix Inc. continues its quest to emphasize its business process outsourcing strengths. This became apparent when Ebix said it was acquiring LifeLink Corp., a provider of life insurance sales software applications.Based in Park City, Utah, LifeLink designs products in partnership with independent brokerage clients to create multi-carrier sales proposals.

The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts insurance information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be faxed to Insurance Networking magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by electronic mail to Stephen.Dwyer thomsonmedia.com Computer Sciences Corp.

BOSTON-- The family with a car each for dad, mom, the college sophomore and the high-school senior. The tenant in apartment 2B who's never had a ticket or an accident in 20 years of driving. The distracted shopper who backed into another vehicle in the supermarket parking lot. With OneChoice Auto, OneBeacon Insurance is delivering comprehensive protection to fit the needs and lifestyles of a broad range of Maine drivers. "We've expanded our approach to auto insurance significantly," said Dan Bridge, Vice President of Personal Lines New England for OneBeacon, "and we're now able to offer insurance solutions to most drivers and for most vehicles in the state. The key is to meet customers' needs at a price that's competitive in the marketplace yet appropriate to the skill levels and driving histories of individual operators."

INDIANAPOLIS--Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield continues to make managing health care benefits easier for its members through its award-winning Web sites. MyAnthem, Anthem's new personalized member Web site available at anthem.com , provides members an individually tailored online experience that offers quicker, easier and more efficient access to self-service tools and member-specific health information. "Members come to anthem.com for four reasons: to view their membership information, to choose or change health care providers, to learn about health and wellness, and to shop for health-related products and services at discounted prices," said Mary Scanlon, Anthem's vice president of eBusiness. "We simply designed MyAnthem for our members based on the way they use anthem.com -- all in an effort to make managing their health care easier than ever."

Tomorrow's workforce will be older, heavier and unable to retire, according to CIGNA's disability claim operations leader Mark Marsters. Speaking at the recent national Disability Consulting Group (DCG) conference, Marsters outlined the profile of the future workforce and some of the major factors likely to shape integration of health and disability benefits in the next decade.Health care costs, the aging workforce, and the economy are three of the main suspects that will conspire to shock the health and disability industry, according to Marsters, senior vice president at Philadelphia-based CIGNA Disability Management Solutions.