Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Korea Shells South in Fiercest Attack in Decades
Nov 23 2010 // North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island, killing two soldiers and setting houses ablaze, in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953. The...
Pre-Paid Funeral Services Controlling Officials Indicted
Nov 23 2010 // The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the indictments of six controlling officials of National Prearranged Services Inc., in a 50-count indictment charging wire, bank, mail, and insurance fraud; money laundering; and...
Best Affirms Assurant and Subsidiaries Ratings; Outlook Stable
Nov 22 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength ratings (FSR) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of the property/casualty and life/health insurance subsidiaries of Assurant, Inc. Best also affirmed the ICR of...
Moody’s: P/C Insurers’ Losses Under Municipal Bonds Manageable
Nov 22 2010 // U.S. property/casualty insurers are not likely to sustain substantial losses on municipal bonds, Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report. While muni bonds make up a high 27 percent of P/C insurers’...
Calif. Court Rules Federal Proceedings Equivalent to CGL-Covered Lawsuit
Nov 22 2010 // The California Supreme Court has ruled that the term “suit” in a comprehensive general liability policy includes federal administrative adjudicative proceedings before an administrative law judge of the U.S....
Health Insurers Win Some Breaks with Medical Loss Ratio Rule
Nov 22 2010 // New U.S. health insurance spending rules aimed at ensuring more customer dollars go toward medical care were finalized on Monday, ending a source of uncertainty for investors in the sector. Although the limits are mandated...
Firefighters Busy on Thanksgiving Day
Nov 19 2010 // For most Americans, Thanksgiving Day invokes memories of safe and warm family gatherings featuring hot turkey dinners. But for some 2,000 families a year, and for firefighters across the country, the memories are not so...
Best, S&P Put RenRe’s U.S. Operations under Review/Negative
Nov 19 2010 // A.M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have both placed their credit and financial strength ratings on RenaissanceRe’s U.S. insurance companies under review with negative implications. The...
Best Upgrades Ratings of Zurich’s U.S. Subsidiaries to ‘A+’
Nov 19 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A+’ (Superior) from ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) to “aa-” from “a+” of the U.S....
RenaissanceRe to Sell U.S. Insurance Operations to QBE
Nov 18 2010 // Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. announced that it has “entered into a definitive agreement with QBE Holdings, Inc. to sell its U.S. property and casualty business underwritten through managing general...
CCRIF Details Payments to Members for Tropical Cyclone Tomas
Nov 18 2010 // The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) announced that it has completed insurance payments to the Governments of Barbados, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines following the passage of...
Feds Urges All States to Require Motorcycle Helmets
Nov 18 2010 // Federal safety officials are calling on states to require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets, citing a surge in fatalities since the late 1990s. Motorcycle deaths have increased over the last decade even as other...
Aspen Insurance Adds Inland Marine, Ocean Marine Cargo Insurance
Nov 18 2010 // Aspen Insurance now offers inland marine and ocean marine cargo insurance products in the U.S. Aspen will utilize both broker and agency distribution and will consider specialized managing general agents for select lines...
U.S. Auto Fatalities Down But Safety Efforts Lag
Nov 17 2010 // The United States is lagging behind nearly every other high-income country in reducing annual traffic fatalities, said a report released this week by a U.S. government research panel. There’s some good news: U.S....
Employers Given More Leeway to Switch Providers Under Obamacare
Nov 16 2010 // U.S. employers offering health insurance to workers will not lose protected status under the new healthcare law if they decide to switch healthcare plan providers, U.S. administration officials said Monday. At issue is...
Countries Finalize Anti-counterfeit Trade Pact Text
Nov 16 2010 // Negotiators from nearly 40 countries have finalized the text of an international agreement to help fight the growing trade in fake and pirated goods, the European Commission and the United States said on Monday. The...
Iowa Joins States Barring Activities of Former U.S. Fidelis Owners
Nov 15 2010 // Attorney General Tom Miller and ten other state attorneys general, have obtained judgments against the owners of a former Missouri company, barring them from ever again selling auto service contracts or engaging in...
U.S. Drug Safety Agency Gets Tougher on Risks After Avandia
Nov 15 2010 // U.S. regulators appear to be increasing their scrutiny of product risks after cases like the bitter debate over the diabetes pill Avandia, industry executives and experts said this week. The Food and Drug Administration...
Fight the Gloom and Doom
Nov 14 2010 // The recovery will not be led by those who are ruled by gloom and the fear of doom. It’s a cat-chasing-its-tail scenario. Or maybe a Catch-22. Chicken-and-egg? Whatever it is, it’s a mess. The scenario is this:...
Reporting Firms Face Risks as U.S. Cracks Down on Medicare, Medicaid Costs
Nov 14 2010 // New Insurance Products Cover Risks Created by New Laws and Regulations The federal government’s crackdown on fraud and errors in Medicare and Medicaid is raising liability issues for firms that specialize in managing...
