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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has signed an ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind for a municipality, that will require employers to offer employees at least one of three commuter benefit options. Under the ordinance, which is intended to help reduce San Francisco’s 2012 greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% from 1990 levels, employers will have a choice of three transit options to offer to employees: Set up a program under which employees can make pretax contributions to the federal legal limit of $115 a month to pay for mass transit expenses. That option is expected… Read More »Mayor Signs San Francisco Commuter Mandate

The number of people without health insurance in the United States fell slightly even as employment-based coverage continued its long, steady decline, the Bureau of the Census reported Tuesday. Last year, the number of Americans without health insurance fell to 45.7 million, down slightly from 47 million in 2006, while the percentage of the population without coverage dropped to 15.3% from 15.8%. That drop in the number of uninsured is attributable to the growth in coverage provided through government programs such as Medicaid, which offset the decline in employment-based coverage. Last year, the percentage of the population covered through government… Read More »Number of Uninsured Falls Slightly

New forms of private-public partnerships are needed, particularly for developing nations, to deal with risks and costs related to climate change, Swiss Reinsurance Co.’s chairman said in a presentation Monday. Speaking at the International Disaster and Risk Conference in Davos, Switzerland, Peter Forstmoser said the impact of hazardous events continues to rise, driven by interacting forces, including global warming, population growth, density of assets and aging infrastructure. Developing countries likely will bear the highest share of the costs needed to adapt to climate change, he said. By 2030, it is estimated that these costs will amount to 49 billion Swiss… Read More »Swiss Re estimates costs to deal with climate change

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has proposed regulations that would make green auto insurance option available for California consumers. If implemented, pay-as-you-drive auto insurance would allow motorists to more accurately pay for the coverage they need, by linking their premium more closely with the number of miles they drive. Any incentive like this to get people to drive fewer miles will help reduce greenhouse gases and vehicle accidents, the Commissioner indicated. “I am thrilled to pave the way for California drivers to obtain insurance that is more environmentally friendly and more accurately reflects driving habits,” Poizner said. “As a strong… Read More »Pay-As-You-Drive Regulations – California

A new study on teen driving habits and safety found that 59 percent of teens always buckled up in the driver seat but only 42 percent always wore seat belts as passengers. However, only 38 percent of all teens in the study reported always buckling up as both drivers and passengers. Researchers from the Meharry-State Farm Alliance at Meharry Medical College say the lack of seat belt use by teen passengers is a big problem. “Because seat belts can reduce the risk of injury and death in crashes by more than 50 percent, there is a critical need for interventions… Read More »Less Then 50% of Teen Passengers Wearing Seat Belts

Yes… Lighter Vehicles Could Mean Higher Insurance Costs… The cost of auto injury claims involving lighter-weight vehicles tends to be higher than the cost of claims involving heavy vehicles, according to new research from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). The average claims payment involving lighter weight vehicles is more than 14 percent higher than it is for claims involving heavier vehicles, the researchers said. Injuries in lighter vehicles are more likely to be more serious, require hospitalization and keep people from returning to work right away, they found. The insurance research group said its findings may have implications for those… Read More »Higher Gas – Higher Insurance Costs?

With Teensurance™ powered by Safeco, you can help parents change the conversation they have with their teen drivers. Think about how thankful parents will be when you take some of the worry out of the day! You can give parents tangible tools for helping them improve their teen’s driving. Imagine talking about more than just price! Here are some key answers to typical questions that will help you change the conversation.   Q:  What is Teensurance?A:  Teensurance is a completely new kind of package that gives parents a way to determine how their teen is driving. The program offers parents a comprehensive… Read More »Teen Insurance Safeco

Surplus lines insurers’ share of the market is expected to continue decreasing over the near term unless a catastrophe curtails competition from standard market insurers, according to an A.M. Best report released Monday. “While surplus lines insurers outperformed the property/casualty industry in underwriting and operating performance in 2007, the softening market and more aggressive competition portend deterioration in profitability as premium levels decline,” Best said in its annual report on the surplus lines industry commissioned by the Derek Hughes/National Assn. of Professional Surplus Lines Offices Educational Foundation. The soft market’s impact on surplus lines insurers was evident merge from an 8.7%… Read More »Bad days for Surplus Lines Insurers

A Rapid City neurosurgeon who said he had been sued more than 30 times for malpractice lost two appeals on August 21 in the South Dakota Supreme Court.The court upheld a jury verdict awarding a woman nearly $552,000 in damages from Dr. Steven B. Schwartz because of mistakes in surgery on her spine. In the second case, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict of a jury that had found Schwartz did not commit malpractice in performing surgery on another woman. The high court said the trial was flawed because the jury did not learn that a state board had put… Read More »Malpractice Appeals Lost Again in SD