A View from the Press Box

The world of insurance journalism lost one of its most prominent, talented and dedicated players with the retirement last week of Steve Piontek, editor of NU’s life and health insurance edition. Read the rest of this entry »

For risk managers to keep their jobs in this difficult economy, they must remain “highly visible” by making sure their senior management and board members appreciate the bottom-line savings that loss control, safety programs and alternative risk-transfer efforts produce.  Read the rest of this entry »

They say that he who pays the piper calls the tune. So why don’t more risk managers just pay their brokers a set fee like they do their lawyers, accountants, consultants and other professional advisers, rather than complain about contingent commissions corrupting the insurance placement process? Read the rest of this entry »

Risk managers at organizations of all sizes are earning six-figure incomes on average these days, while most are substantially boosting their base salaries with bonuses and additional benefits based on their own performance and the bottom lines of their employers, according to the latest compensation survey by National Underwriter, in partnership with Logic Associates. Read the rest of this entry »

Not only are most risk management departments being spared substantial cutbacks despite the deep contraction in corporate America, but the overwhelming majority of risk managers are happy in their jobs even in these challenging times, an exclusive survey by Logic Associates and National Underwriter has revealed. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the major consequences of the recently passed health care reform legislation hasn’t generated much attention, let alone debate. What might that be? How about the fact that with tens of millions of uninsured people likely to get coverage over the next few years, who is going to perform all of these additional medical services, and how will costs be controlled as demand quickly races ahead of supply? Read the rest of this entry »

Back on March 30, I blogged about how most people are clueless about the cost and advantages of employer-paid group health insurance. Now it’s clear such ignorance is merely the tip of the iceberg, with 60 percent failing to correctly answer basic questions about their insurance coverage in a recent survey. This is both a threat and an opportunity for insurance carriers and producers. Read the rest of this entry »

The Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year Award program, run for the past eight years exclusively by National Underwriter, is being expanded and managed in partnership for the first time with its sister publication, American Agent & Broker, with entries due by July 1. Read on for details. Read the rest of this entry »

It was not the finest moment for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Amid disturbing confusion, the group last month managed a 180-degree policy reversal, recommending that states ask insurers to voluntarily respond to surveys about climate-related risks, and then keep any information collected confidential. Read the rest of this entry »

In a development sure to send shock waves throughout the insurance industry, President Barack Obama today named New York’s disgraced former governor and attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, as his new “Czar” to implement health care reform. Read the rest of this entry »