Lenders ease their grip on claims funds for Hurricane Sandy relief

Hurricane Sandy Damage flood Insurance surcharge

Hurricane Sandy claims payouts to be freed due to agreement with Department of Financial Services Eleven of New York’s major lending companies have reached an agreement with the state’s Department of Financial Services. The agreement involved expediting the claims payouts that are due to homeowners that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. Many of these homeowners are waiting on their claims payouts in order to begin the recovery process, but insurance companies have been issuing payouts at a sluggish pace for some time. The state government is keen to increase…

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Health insurance premiums set to rise due to new tax

Health Insurance Premiums Rise

New tax threatens to increase health insurance premiums A tax associated with the federal Affordable Care Act could lead to significantly higher health insurance premiums in the U.S., according to a new report from Oliver Wyman, a leading management consulting firm. The report was commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans, one of the leading trade groups in the country’s insurance industry. The tax is linked to health insurance and the report suggests that it could end up making the Affordable Care Act less deserving of its namesake. Affordable Care Act…

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Anthem Blue Cross seeks to raise rates in California

montana Health insurance

Anthem Blue Cross aims for rate increase of an average 18% California’s Anthem Blue Cross, the state’s largest for-profit health insurance company, is looking to raise rates on individual policies by an average of 18%. The rate increase proposal has put the insurer at odds with state insurance regulators once again. Anthem Blue Cross has proposed rate increases regularly in the hopes of addressing issues it considers to be important, including the rising cost of medical care. Regulators have renewed their scrutiny of the health insurance company to determine whether…

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