Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Home Price Appreciation in Highest-Risk Areas Outpaces Overall Rate
Sep 20 2018 // Natural hazards are good at grabbing headlines, but they aren’t as good as dissuading people from buying homes in high-risk areas, a new report shows. Median home prices in areas that are in the top 80 percentile for...
Government Ends Criminal Case Over GM Handling of Ignition Switch Defect
Sep 20 2018 // A federal judge in New York on Wednesday dismissed a criminal case brought against General Motors Co. in 2015 over the largest U.S. automaker’s handling of an ignition-switch defect linked to 124 deaths. U.S....
Why Small Mutual P/C Insurers, Insurtechs May Need Each Other: A.M. Best
Sep 19 2018 // Technology-oriented insurance startups and established small mutual property/casualty insurers may find they are better off partnering than competing. Mutual property/casualty insurance companies continue to face...
After Blasts, Massachusetts Gas Customers Face Long Wait
Sep 19 2018 // The blast of high-pressure natural gas that led to dozens of home explosions last week in Massachusetts very likely damaged the system’s antiquated pipeline network and could lead to a long period of testing and...
After Florence Floods, Uninsured Awaken to Painful Reality
Sep 19 2018 // Flood insurance was far from Stephanie Walker’s mind in 2015 when she moved her family into a home in Fayetteville in central North Carolina, nearly 200 miles (320 km) from the coast. The next year, a creek at the...
Karen Clark & Co. Estimates $2.5B in Insured Losses from Hurricane Florence
Sep 18 2018 // Insured losses from Hurricane Florence will reach $2.5 billion, according to an estimate from Karen Clark & Co. The estimate of insured losses to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and autos comes from...
Cigna Says Express Scripts Acquisition Passes Antitrust Review
Sep 17 2018 // Health insurer Cigna Corp.’s $52 billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co. has passed U.S. antitrust scrutiny, the companies said on Monday, allowing them to proceed with a...
Cline Named CEO of Ascot’s U.S. Platform Ethos Specialty
Sep 17 2018 // Ethos Specialty Insurance Services, Ascot Group’s U.S. managing general underwriting platform, has appointed Rory Cline as president and chief executive officer. Cline takes the helm from his current role as chief...
San Francisco May Screen Insurers for Their Fossil Fuels Investments
Sep 17 2018 // The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has become what is believed to be the first U.S. municipal body to try to force insurance companies to stop insuring and investing in fossil fuels. In July, the board voted...
Cannabis: Striking a Balance Between Federal and State Laws
Sep 17 2018 // Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of cannabis in some form. Some states restrict use to medically necessary uses, while other states have legalized recreational use. Still other...
High Customer Expectations Leads to New Challenges for Insurance Satisfaction
Sep 17 2018 // Record high customer satisfaction among auto insurance customers is clearly good news for customers, especially at a time when their overall customer experience is being tested by the rising cost of auto insurance. For...
Business Moves
Sep 17 2018 // Hub International, Kilbride & Harris Insurance Services Hub International Ltd., a global insurance brokerage, has acquired the assets of Kilbride & Harris Insurance Services LLC. Terms of the acquisition were not...
Lloyd’s Modernization Plans Move Full-Steam Ahead
Sep 17 2018 // From Electronic Placing to Artificial Intelligence: Lloyd’s America CEO Earlier this year, this reporter was walking on Lime Street, the home of Lloyd’s of London, dodging raindrops. She observed a broker,...
Harassment in the Workplace
Sep 17 2018 // More than one-third (35 percent) of employees in the U.S. feel they’ve experienced workplace harassment, and half of them believe it was due to their gender. That’s according to a study released by specialty...
How U.S. P/C Commercial Insurers Will Fare Through 2019: Moody’s Investors Service
Sep 17 2018 // The outlook for the U.S. property/casualty commercial insurance sector for the next 12 to 18 months remains stable given healthy core earnings and sound balance sheets in the view of analysts at Moody’s Investors...
Vindati Platform Looks to ‘Delight’ Brokers Seeking Specialty Markets for Small-Medium Businesses
Sep 17 2018 // There will soon be a new specialty insurance site that promises to quicken and simplify transactions for U.S. insurance brokers who are serving small and medium sized businesses. Vindati, a New York-based managing general...
U.S. Business Owners Find Varied Paths to Post-Disaster Recovery
Sep 17 2018 // Small business owners across the U.S. who are cleaning up from this year’s various catastrophes will find there’s no one formula for recovery. The same disaster can hurt businesses in divergent ways — a...
State Farm Settles, Avoids Racketeering Trial
Sep 17 2018 // Insurance giant State Farm on Sept.4 reached a $250 million preliminary settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit claiming the company funneled money to the campaign of an Illinois Supreme Court candidate. The lawsuit...
Rhode Island’s ProTucket Launches First Cell with $35M Surplus Funding
Sep 17 2018 // Pro US Holdings, the sole shareholder and immediate parent of ProTucket Insurance Company — the insurance carrier established in Rhode Island to provide run-off transfer solutions in the U.S. — has contributed...
Former Postal Worker Charged in N.Y. for Falsely Obtaining $160K in Disability Benefits
Sep 17 2018 // A former motor vehicle operator for the United States Postal Service (USPS) has been charged with making false statements to obtain federal employees’ disability compensation, according to a complaint unsealed in...
