The economic recovery and the increases in prices have helped to boost the largest publicly traded insurance brokers as a whole throughout 2011 when compared to the year before. According to the director at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., Meyer Shields, these two factors were very helpful to the collective fortune of these insurance brokers. He stated that “It’s not the strongest recovery we’ve ever seen. It’s not the strongest rate cycle we’ve ever seen. But it’s helping.” The industry has discovered that as there is not as much income…
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Ranking the states by the cost of auto insurance coverage
According to the Insure.com study results, which have only just been released, Louisiana is the state in which it is most expensive to insure a vehicle in the entire country, whereas Maine enjoys the lowest insurance rates in the U.S. The average annual cost of insuring a car in Louisiana is $2,536, whereas in Maine the average cost is only $889. The issues that have been driving the rates higher in many states includes the insurance laws within those states, larger numbers of drivers without insurance, the number of different…
Read MoreReport shows that more insurers are looking to automate their underwriting process
Strategy Meets Action (SMA), a research and consultancy firm serving the insurance industry, has released a new report concerning underwriting practices in the industry. The report, “Underwriting Automation: Insurer Plans and Trends,” notes that insurance companies are making a move to completely automate their underwriting process. The report draws upon data collected by SMA from 144 insurance professionals throughout the industry. This trend may be a result of insurers being unable to meet underwriting goals due to flaws in their systems. Of those participating in the survey, 21% claimed that…
Read MoreGender gap continues to play an important role in health insurance premiums
According to the latest research issued in a report by the research and advocacy group, the National Women’s Law Center, women continue to pay higher premiums than men for the same health coverage. In 2014, when the new healthcare laws are fully implemented, the discrepancy between what men and women will pay for health insurance will cease, but at the moment, many states continue to see significant gaps between the premiums of men and women without any indication that the insurers intend to shrink them. The report will become available…
Read MoreOhio leads all other U.S. states for metal theft insurance claims
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Ohio is the state in which there are the largest number of property insurance claims due to the theft of metals such as copper. This insurance fraud-fighting industry-supported organization revealed that there were 2,398 claims of this nature made by property owners in Ohio, within the three year span from 2009 to 2011. Comparatively, across the country, there were more than 25,000 claims of this type within that same period of time. This represents an increase of 81 percent over the number of…
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