Latest Pricing Trends Headlines

All the headlines from our Pricing Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida’s 21st Century Drops Bid to Acquire HomeWise; Gets Rate Hike

Apr 28 2010 // Florida’s 21st Century Holding Co. has dropped its bid to acquire domestic property insurer HomeWise Holdings at the same time it reported that its own Florida property insurance unit it has received approval to...

Anthem Blue Cross Postponing Rate Hike Again

Apr 26 2010 // Anthem Blue Cross has again put a planned rate hike on hold. The Los Angeles-based health insurance company said this week that policyholders will not see a rate change beginning May 1. A spokeswoman for Anthem’s...

United Fire & Casualty Earned Premiums Down in Q1, Net Income Up

Apr 26 2010 // Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based insurance company United Fire & Casualty Co. reported a dip in premiums earned in the first quarter of 2010 compared with that in the same period in 2009, but total revenues and net income...

Zenith Affected by Declining Premium, Lower Investment Income

Apr 22 2010 // Zenith National Insurance Corp. based in Woodland Hils, Calif., has reported a net loss for the first quarter 2010 of $0.8 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to net income for the first quarter 2009 of $2.6 million, or...

Why Economic, Market Risks of Ash Cloud Are Hard to Measure

Apr 21 2010 // Policymakers and markets trying to react to the volcanic gas cloud paralyzing air travel in Europe face a host of variables, unknowns and hard-to-measure risks that make modelling almost impossible. No one can accurately...

North Carolina Court Upholds 2008 Rate Hikes Opposed by Coastal Towns

Apr 20 2010 // The North Carolina Court of Appeals has declined to upset a 2008 agreement between the state’s former insurance commissioner and insurers that hiked insurance rates for some coastal homeowners up to 30 percent and...

State Farm Sues TDI; Files to Increase Homeowners Rates in Louisiana

Apr 19 2010 // State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Insurance after the state agency took the unprecedented move of publicizing on its Web site recent rate hike proposals by the...

Louisiana Citizens OKs 7% on Average Residential Rate Hike

Apr 19 2010 // Homeowners who are dependent on Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort will see rates increasing by an average 7 percent statewide. Rate increases — as well as decreases — will vary widely, especially in...

Judge Says Texas Can’t Post Some State Farm Rate Hike Information

Apr 19 2010 // A judge in Austin has blocked regulators from posting on the Texas Department of Insurance Web site some documents on two rate rate filings by State Farm Insurance Cos. that would increase homeowners insurance premiums for...

Lockton: Soft Market Pricing Continues to Benefit Insurance Buyers

Apr 19 2010 // Commercial insurance buyers continue to benefit from lower prices and steady or increasing insurance capacity in property/casualty markets, reports the nation’s largest insurance broker. In its newly published...

Oregon Medical Malpractice Rates Decline

Apr 16 2010 // For the fourth year in a row, most physicians and surgeons in Oregon will see a decline or no change in medical professional liability insurance rates, according to rate changes reviewd by the state Department of Consumer...

Risk Managers Continue to Report Soft Market Pricing

Apr 15 2010 // Seven years and running, the soft market shows few signs of loosening its grip on commercial insurance pricing, according to a new industry study. Average premiums in every line tracked by the RIMS Benchmark Survey, fell...

North Dakota Workers’ Comp Agency Proposes 3% Rate Increase

Apr 9 2010 // North Dakota’s workers compensation agency is proposing a 3.3 percent average increase in its rates, starting in July. Agency director Bryan Klipfel says most of the increase is because of North Dakota’s rising...

Louisiana Citizens Insurance OKs 7% on Average Rate Hike

Apr 5 2010 // Homeowners who are dependent on Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort will see rates increasing by an average7 percent statewide. However, rate increases – as well as decreases – will vary widely,...

Soft Market, Weak Economy Will Challenge Insurers, Brokers in 2010

Apr 2 2010 // The recession may be over, but recovery is not happening quickly enough for insurers and brokers. From unemployment rates hovering at about 10 percent to still rising business bankruptcies, the lingering effects of the...

State Farm Files to Increase Homeowners Rates in Louisiana

Mar 31 2010 // State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. has filed an average 9.9 percent rate increase request for homeowners coverage in Louisiana, according to the Associated Press. State Farm is Louisiana’s largest home insurer with...

‘Poor’ Albuquerque Levees Could See Insurance Premium Hikes

Mar 30 2010 // Questions about aging river levees in metro Albuquerque, N.M., could mean insurance premium hikes as high as $2,000 annually for thousands of property owners. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has rated the condition of the...

Mobile Expects Homeowners Premium Hike After ISO Fire Downgrade

Mar 18 2010 // Mobile’s fire-rescue chief says a downgrade in fire protection rating is likely to boost insurance premiums the most for homeowners just outside the city limits. Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Dean said that while city...

U.S. Traffic Fatality Rate Fell to Lowest Ever Recorded in 2009

Mar 11 2010 // The number of overall traffic fatalities reported at the end of 2009 reached the lowest level since 1954, declining for the 15th consecutive quarter, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported. According to early...

Letter from Iowa Governor Prompts Wellmark to Delay Rate Hike

Mar 10 2010 // Iowa’s largest health insurance provider will delay a planned premium increase after Gov. Chet Culver raised questions about the higher rates to the state insurance commissioner. Culver sent a letter to Insurance...