Claims

Executives from a group of life insurers March 8 announced the formation of the Affordable Life Insurance Alliance (ALIA), co-chaired by Jefferson Pilot Financial President & CEO Dennis R. Glass and John D. Johns, Protective Life Corporation Chairman, President & CEO.

CHICAGO, March 4-- Aon Corporation has reached a comprehensive agreement with five agencies in three states to settle investigations relating to contingent commissions and other business practices that may have created actual or potential conflicts of interest. Parties involved in the settlement, in which Aon admits no wrongdoing or liability, include the attorneys general of New York, Illinois and Connecticut as well as the insurance departments of New York and Illinois. The settlement involves no fines or penalties.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has selected and begun to implement applications from Webify Solutions' Healthcare On Demand solution. The product consists of a suite of service-oriented business applications that will enable BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to rapidly expand the breadth and depth of information exchange and process automation with its health care provider community by implementing a direct connect strategy, the company says.

Three years ago, The Baltimore Life Insurance Co. implemented an automated sales and underwriting system in conjunction with striking a marketing deal with a large membership organization. The Owings Mills, Md.-based carrier believed the affinity deal could drive unprecedented new premium growth for its death benefit products through a concerted campaign of television ads and mailers."It was a significant opportunity," says Garry Voith, Baltimore Life's assistant vice president and director of distribution technology and marketing.

When Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in October 1998, banking and insurance experts universally hailed the deal as the beginning of a new era in financial services in the United States: the one-stop financial superstore.Indeed, given the emergence of technologies that enable companies to slice and dice customer data to pinpoint cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, the Citicorp/Travelers combo was viewed at the time as a powerhouse that would set the stage for similar deals.

Although the specter of organized crime rings receives the brunt of the publicity, the proliferation of "garden variety" insurance fraud continues to badger insurance companies.In their efforts to implement best-practices claims management, fraud and buildup (the inflation of an otherwise legitimate claim) added between $4.3 billion and $5.8 billion to auto injury settlements in 2002, representing between 11% and 15% of all dollars paid for private passenger auto injury insurance claims that year.

SIMSBURY, Conn.--Looking to meet a growing financial need, The Hartford Financial Services Group is introducing a new last survivor universal life insurance policy to help affluent couples transfer their wealth to children and other loved ones. Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL is a flexible premium universal life policy that is issued by Hartford Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Co., subsidiaries of The Hartford. Last survivor policies insure two people, typically couples, and pay a death benefit upon the second death. Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL provides affordable, permanent life insurance protection with an available secondary guarantee for the death benefit. The death benefit guarantee for Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL is based on the claims-paying abilities of Hartford Life and Hartford Life and Annuity.

TAMPA, Fla.-- SCI, a national leading Professional Employer Organization (PEO), announced today that it has renewed its agreement with top-rated insurance carrier Zurich, North America to provide workers' compensation coverage for its client company employees effective March 1, 2005, through February 28, 2006. "Our renewal with Zurich, once again, reflects the continued strength of SCI as a leading provider of PEO outsourcing services in the marketplace," said J.C. Dominguez, president, SCI. "We continue to improve our performance and refine our processes to exceed customer expectations. Working with the best companies in the market will allow us to extend the best products and services to our clients; Zurich is just one example of that."

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--In response to a rapidly growing voluntary benefits market, UnumProvident has announced enhancements to its critical illness and individual short term disability insurance products. The specified critical illness insurance now includes the option of base or enhanced coverage. Base coverage features a benefit payout for heart attack, stroke, permanent paralysis, kidney failure, organ transplant or coronary artery bypass surgery. Enhanced coverage includes all conditions listed under the base plan, plus an additional benefit if diagnosed with cancer. Enhancements also include increased benefit amounts for covered children, and, for eligible employee groups, the first $10,000 in coverage is guaranteed-issue (some restrictions apply).

Over the next 18 months, employees will be spending more time online--not surfing the Web or checking e-mail but rather logging onto their company Web site and signing up for employee benefits with a click of the mouse. According to MetLife's recently released 2004 Employee Benefits Trend Study, employee self-service on the Internet is an important benefits strategy, particularly among large employers. As a result, companies expect a huge surge in e-benefits use over the next two years.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.--As some insurance carriers tinker with proprietary policy download solutions in their electronic interfaces with independent agents and brokers, agents are seeing increased workflow time as well as other unanticipated issues, according to the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet), the user group of Applied Systems agency management technology. "Agents are paying the price for unconventional download," said ASCnet President Robby Dunn. "For years, IVANS, trade associations, carriers, agents and their vendors have worked side-by-side to integrate common, multi-company communication components, develop file retrieval and update processes, and establish clear agency support services. We all saw the advantage of an industry solution. Competing on technology in this space did not make economic or business sense then, and it still doesn't."

Newark, Calif.--Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced that it will fund technology improvements for the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program that will support its collection of real-time wind speed data during major hurricanes. The Florida Coastal Monitoring Program (FCMP) is a joint venture to develop full-scale experimental methods to quantify near-surface hurricane wind behavior and resulting loads on residential structures. The program's aim is to provide data necessary to identify methods to cost-effectively reduce hurricane wind damage to residential structures.

SIMSBURY, Conn.-- The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., one of the leading sellers of group life and disability insurance in America, has acquired 100,000 group life and accident policies from the Union Labor Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of ULLICO Inc. The $29 million purchase is a strategic acquisition by The Hartford's group life and accident insurance businesses, according to Richard Mucci, executive vice president of The Hartford's Group Benefits Division. The Hartford sells group life and accident policies through Hartford Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co.

ATLANTA, GA--The year 2005 should be challenging, with additional complications from regulatory and legislative issues, say members of the LOMA Board of Directors. LOMA's Resource magazine surveyed members of LOMA's board for their views on what the industry can expect in 2005.

Conshohocken, PA--RippleTech, a provider of security, compliance and systems management solutions, announced today the launch of the LogCaster for Sarbanes-Oxley solution.

ISO, a provider of anti-fraud and personal injury claims solutions, has identified ten key factors that can help insurers reduce the rising costs of handling personal injury claims.

NEEDHAM, MA--New challenges in the US insurance industry are creating one of its most difficult operating environments in recent memory. In the context of such divergent issues as terrorist threats, state and federal regulatory activity, competition from other financial services players and tight global economic conditions, TowerGroup forecasts a cautious approach to technology spending by US insurers in 2005.

WAUSAU, Wis.-- Financial executives for mid-sized companies expect greater productivity savings by reducing workers compensation claim costs than by reducing claim costs for other lines, according to a new survey commissioned by Wausau Insurance.

Uniondale, NY--OnlineBenefits Inc., provider of Internet-based HR solutions, has officially unveiled AgencyWare, the first integrated sales, service and commission tracking software product specifically designed for group benefits brokers.

Over the years, a number of oxymora have established their place among the most popular in the American lexicon-among them "airline food," "jumbo shrimp" and "working vacation."These terms are all regarded seemingly as incongruous or contradictory. So is "business intelligence"--at least in the manner that it relates to the insurance industry.