Declarations – Midwest

All Alone

“I’m by myself.”

—Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger acknowledged recently that she’s a lone Republican voice in her state in support of setting up an online system for consumers to comparison shop for health insurance. The federal health care law requires states to set up health insurance exchanges. Praeger has praised the law as a “market-driven” step toward ensuring access to health care for all Americans, the Associated Press reported. That’s a sharp contrast with Gov. Sam Brownback and the state’s all-Republican delegation in Congress, which promised to redouble efforts to repeal the law after it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Good News, Bad News

“The good news for this week is that temperatures are due to slip back from last week’s record readings, the bad news is that all of the rain forecast is for the southern third of the nation.”

—ABN Amro analyst Charlie Sernatinger comments in a note to clients on the drought that is encompassing the Midwest United States and threatening the nation’s corn crop. A record heat wave that began in late June had eased by the end of the first week in July, but the Midwest still was not seeing the rainfall it needed to avoid the worst drought damage in nearly a quarter century, officials said. The most affected areas were from Iowa to Illinois, the heart of the Corn Belt.

Added Protection

“Insurance scoring has been shown to benefit consumers and Michigan has strengthened its law by adding protections for individuals experiencing extraordinary life circumstances based on the National Conference of Insurance Legislators model act.”

—Jeffrey Junkas, regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), lauded the signing by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder of bills that address the use of credit-based insurance scores. PCI reported that House Bills 4593, 4594, 4595, 4596 and Senate Bill 300 had broad bipartisan support. Michigan is one of the few states where insurance scoring is used only to provide discounts for insurance customers. Credit-based insurance scores are not used in Michigan to apply a surcharge or to determine whether a person can be insured by a company, PCI said.

Topics Michigan