Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Sees Rise in Workers’ Comp Medical Cost per Claim
Apr 18 2011 // Medical costs per claim in Texas rose 8 percent in 2008, after a period of declining costs following reforms enacted in 2001 and 2005, and increased payor focus on managing medical care, according to a study by the Workers...
HMO Ordered to Cover Claims in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma
Apr 18 2011 // The Louisiana Supreme Court on April 1 ordered health maintenance organization Health Net Inc. to cover more than $180 million in claims by consumers, health care providers and creditors in Louisiana, Oklahoma and...
Insurance Council of Texas Scholarships Have Honored 201 Students
Apr 15 2011 // More than 200 students in Texas have benefited from scholarships provided by the insurance industry since 2002, the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) Education Foundation announced. The group has awarded academic...
Texas Wind Insurance Pool Selects Polak as Interim General Manager
Apr 14 2011 // The board of the insurer of last resort for property along the Texas coast has selected John Polak as the association’s interim general manager. Polak succeeds Randy Wipf, who was named acting general manager of the...
Texas Lawmaker Cancels State Farm Policy Over Refund Issue
Apr 14 2011 // Texas State Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio has announced he is terminating his policyholder relationship with State Farm Insurance Co. because of the company’s persistent refusal to pay back customers that have...
A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of National Lloyds, American Summit
Apr 14 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a+” of Texas-based National Lloyds Insurance Company (National Lloyds) as well as the FSR of A...
National Weather Service Confirms 4 Tornadoes Hit North Texas
Apr 13 2011 // A National Weather Service storm survey team has confirmed that at least four tornadoes struck rural areas south and east of Dallas and Fort Worth on April 11. A line of savage thunderstorms packing damaging winds and...
Texas Approves 10 Companies to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp
Apr 13 2011 // Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) approved one initial application and nine renewals of the Certificates of Authority for companies to self-insure their workers’...
State Farm Again Ordered to Refund Texas Policyholders
Apr 12 2011 // A judge in Austin, Texas, has ruled that State Farm Insurance Co. must comply with a state insurance department directive to repay policyholders in a long running dispute between the insurer and Texas insurance regulators...
North Texas Residents Assessing Storm Damage
Apr 12 2011 // The Dallas/Fort Worth area is cleaning up after storms rocked the area with major wind and hail damage. The National Weather Service Regional Office in Fort Worth said there were four general areas of damage with the...
Fires Remain Out of Control in Texas; McDonald Observatory Threatened
Apr 11 2011 // Two huge range fires remained out of control on April 11, burning thousands of acres in far west Texas and northwest Texas. Together the fires have consumed more than 150,000 acres. The Rock House Fire in far west Texas...
Parts of Ft. Davis, Thousands of Acres Burn in Texas
Apr 11 2011 // Firefighters struggled on April 10 to bring a massive wildfire in the Fort Davis, Texas-area under control. The fire has burned more than 25,600 acres and destroyed an estimated 50 homes. The Fort Davis fire spread from...
Texas’ February Enforcements Bring Nearly $1M in Fines, Restitution
Apr 8 2011 // Enforcement actions taken by Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during February 2011 resulted in fines and restitution totaling $920,170. The Texas Department of Insurance announced that the...
O’Hare Joins Texas-based Medicus as Claims Director
Apr 8 2011 // Medical professional liability insurance carrier, Austin, Texas-based Medicus Insurance, announced that James O’Hare as has joined the company as Claims director. Prior to joining Medicus, O’Hare was vice...
Texas Company Sued for Abuse of Iowa Workers
Apr 8 2011 // A Texas company is accused of severely abusing and discriminating against 31 mentally disabled men who worked at an Iowa turkey processor, in a federal lawsuit filed April 6 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...
Wildfire Danger Critical in Oklahoma, Texas
Apr 7 2011 // Bulldozers and airplanes have been put on alert as Texas faces an increased threat for wildfires. In Oklahoma, that state has experienced the driest four month stretch the Dust Bowl and thousands of acres have burned in...
Texas Sees Rise in Workers’ Comp Medical Cost per Claim
Apr 6 2011 // Medical costs per claim in Texas rose 8 percent in 2008, after a period of declining costs following reforms enacted in 2001 and 2005, and increased payor focus on managing medical care, according to a study by the Workers...
Insurance Network of Texas Opens New Location
Apr 6 2011 // Insurance Network of Texas has opened a new location in Rockwall, Texas. The Rockwall office is the ninth location for the growing company, which is headquartered in Giddings, Texas. Insurance Network of Texas is an...
Texas Regulators Settle Race-Based Discriminatory Pricing Case
Apr 5 2011 // The Texas Department of Insurance has reached a settlement with Texas Imperial Life Insurance Co. to secure additional benefits to African-American consumers who were historically sold various types of insurance policies...
People
Apr 4 2011 // The Obama administration named Michael McRaith to head the new Federal Insurance Office. McRaith, currently the head of the Illinois Department of Insurance, will run the Federal Insurance Office set up under 2010’s...
