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Test Your 2010 Insurance News IQ: 25 Questions

Are you an insurance news hound? Test your insurance news IQ and find out. The following questions and answers (at bottom of the page– don’t cheat!) were developed based on news stories published by InsuranceJournal.com in 2010. Good luck!

1. During the year, Congress let the National Flood Insurance Program lapse several times. The last vote extends the NFIP until when?

  1. Jan. 31, 2011
  2. Sept. 30, 2011
  3. Dec. 31, 2013
  4. Sept. 30, 2012

2. What state had the highest number of Internet fraud complaints in 2009?

  1. Florida
  2. Texas
  3. New York
  4. California

3. About how much of its $182 million bailout does AIG still owe U.S. taxpayers?

  1. $100 billion
  2. $50 billion
  3. $25 billion
  4. $0

4. Who won the November election to be the next Georgia insurance commissioner?

  1. Ralph Hudgens
  2. John Oxendine
  3. Wayne Goodwin
  4. Kevin McCarty

5. The nation’s largest insurance brokers received the go-ahead to begin accepting contingent commissions again in 2010. But which of the following large brokers said they would not resume accepting them?

  1. Aon
  2. Marsh
  3. Willis
  4. All of the above

6. The attempted takeover of what company by Texas-based based Biglari Holdings Inc., owners of the Steak n Shake restaurant chain, prompted a new Michigan law requiring that a perceived hostile takeover of a small insurer be approved by two-thirds of the shareholders?

  1. Michigan Insurance Co.
  2. Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp.
  3. Northern Mutual Insurance Co.

7. In 2010, which of the following insurance entities announced and then cancelled plans for an initial public offering of one of its units?

  1. Allstate
  2. Liberty Mutual
  3. AIG
  4. ISO

8. How many managing agencies at Lloyd’s had gross written premiums in excess of $2 billion in 2009?

  1. 2
  2. 3
  3. 4
  4. 5

9. Under the Obama federal health care reform, medical malpractice insurers will lose their limited exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

  1. True
  2. False

10. Who won the November election to be the next California insurance commissioner?

  1. Mike Villines
  2. Dave Jones
  3. Steve Poizner
  4. Jerry Brown

11. How much did oil giant BP set aside to pay claims from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster?

  1. $20 billion
  2. $100 billion
  3. $75 billion
  4. $200 million

12. How much have the world’s insurers and reinsurers paid out in catastrophe claims so far this year?

  1. More than $10 billion
  2. More than $20 billion
  3. More than $30 billion
  4. More than $40 billion

13. For the years 2006 through 2010, Florida property insurers will have paid an estimated $2 billion in claims for what?

  1. Fires
  2. Hurricanes
  3. Sinkholes
  4. All of the above

14. Which of the following insurance firms fended off a mini-tender offer by an outside firm looking to buy 2 million shares?

  1. Harleysville Insurance
  2. Chubb Insurance
  3. Markel Insurance
  4. Willis

15. In July, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray negotiated a settlement in long-running securities fraud lawsuit with insurer American International Group on behalf of three Ohio pension funds. Under the terms of the July settlement, AIG agreed to pay:

  1. $10 Million
  2. $1.5 Billion
  3. $725 Million

16. What was the workers’ compensation industry’s combined ratio for 2009?

  1. 110
  2. 101
  3. 98
  4. 103

17. New York, under fire for tough workers’ compensation requirements for out-of-state businesses, agreed to ease some of its rules for businesses that do only occasional, non-construction work in the state.

  1. True
  2. False

18. In which South Central state will an insurance agent be installed in January as lieutenant governor?

  1. Louisiana
  2. Oklahoma
  3. Arkansas

19. Which insurer said it warned federal officials about safety problems with Toyotas as far back as 2007, years before the carmaker’s massive recall in 2010?

  1. State Farm
  2. Allstate
  3. Progressive
  4. Travelers

20. Voters in which state rejected a measure to privatize the state’s workers’ compensation system??

  1. Washington
  2. Oregon
  3. Arizona
  4. California

21. Unless the provision in the federal health care law is repealed before it goes into effect in 2012, businesses will be required to file a so-called 1099 form identifying anyone to whom they pay at least how much in a year?

  1. $60,000
  2. $6,000
  3. $600
  4. $60

22. The Georgia Supreme Court in 2010 heard arguments on the constitutionality of the state’s law setting caps on medical malpractice awards. What did the court decide?

  1. The law constitutional
  2. The law is unconstitutional
  3. The law is constitutional but the amounts are too low
  4. The question is a political one for the Legislature, not the courts, to decide.

23. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in July signed a bill that prohibits insurance companies from dropping homeowners insurance coverage for insureds that have a particular product in their homes. That product is:

  1. Vinyl flooring
  2. Chinese manufactured drywall
  3. High VOC paint

24. Last May a volcanic eruption grounded flights in Europe for several weeks. Where was the volcano located?

  1. Italy
  2. Indonesia
  3. Georgia
  4. Iceland

25. Despite requests from brokers, the California State Compensation Fund refused to modify its policy on paying commissions on direct accounts where there is a broker of record letter.

  1. True
  2. False

Answers: 1. B, Sept. 30, 2011; 2. D; 3. A, $100 billion as of November; 4. A; 5. D; 6. B; 7. B; 8. B, there were three – Catlin, QBE and Beazley Furlonge; 9. B; 10. B; 11. A; 12. C; 13. C; 14. B; 15. C; 16. B; 17. A; 18. C; 19. A; 20. A; 21. C; 22. B; 23. B; 24. D; 25. B