A View from the Press Box

For the life of me, I cannot imagine how the Liberals in Congress–particularly in the Senate–can possibly get a health care reform bill passed that includes a public option of any kind. Can you? (more…)

If having 30-to-40 million uninsured Americans constitutes a “crisis,” how is it Congress is willing to wait three- or four years to put its “solution” into effect? What are people without coverage supposed to do in the meantime? I have an idea. (more…)

U.S. Senate leaders can’t be serious about proposed penalties against those who don’t buy insurance under their health care reform proposal. It is so low that if this provision survives, it almost assures the death of the private health insurance market.

(more…)

I came away from our annual P&C Executive Conference impressed by the feistiness of many of the top players speaking, compared to last year’s far more introspective and downbeat lot. (more…)

How long can independent agents and brokers survive depending upon price-sensitive commissions to make a living? Will producers ever be compensated like lawyers, accountants and other business professionals, or are they doomed to live and die with the property and casualty premium cycle? (more…)

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” That famous quip–delivered by a cruel prison warden to sassy convict Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”–captures perhaps the most important finding in the “Producer Satisfaction Survey” conducted by Deloitte, in partnership with National Underwriter.

(more…)

Now that Democrats in the House are nearing a vote on an historic health care reform bill, with the Senate not far behind, the Republican leadership is touting its own 11th hour alternative that will be more market-driven. What took them so long? What has House Minority Leader John Boehner been waiting for?

(more…)