State, federal insurance sites - first-day hiccups

State, federal insurance sites - first-day hiccups

On Saturday 15^th November 2014, the open enrollment on federal HealthCare.goc started in a smooth way. Some areas reported a problem of logging in into accounts  by consumers and brokers.

It has been reported that more than 23,000 people submitted application in the initial eight hours. As the federal log in issues appeared to be resolved, issues related to state run sites started by Saturday afternoon.

There was a mixed response across the U.S state –run exchanges regarding their success in enrolling people. But the report from brokers of Health Insurance Store, Louisiana in Baton Rouge was different. They were unable to log into their accounts until 1pm Saturday.

CEO for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange ,Richard Onizuka, , said in a statement that the staff of The Exchange and Department of Social & Health Services will work together closely to come to a solution, and are hoping to have the site back up very soon.

To know more on this you can visit 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/15/open-enrollment-healthcaregov-affordable-care-act-site-performance/19085637/

Health Insurance Costs for State workers lowered-Louisiana

Health Insurance Costs for State workers lowered-Louisiana

Governor Bobby Jindal administration has said that it will try ways to reduce the impact of newly added changes for the state worker health insurance program. This decision comes after lawmakers and retirees have put great deal of pressure on the administration

Out-of-pocket costs and deductibles for employees have been reduced by 10% whereas the increase of the same planned for the retired people from  March 1 have been stopped. The trade-off premiums are set to rise by 11% for both the retirees and employed by July1.

Retirees and employees have unanimously said that they prefer a hike in premium to massive increase in their our-of-pocket costs.

To know more about this piece of news visit http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2014/11/09/346332.htm  which has been last modified on Nov 9^th 2014

Flooding & Flood Risks

Flooding & Flood Risks

Flood map update schedule

https://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/map_update_schedule.jsp

The above given is the official link of National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP) got from its offiial site.
Just by entering your zip code, you can  know about the flood insurance and flood risk information in your zip code,
community, and county.
 Even if your community is not listed, some changes may still be underway.
For the latest updates do keep visiting this site. The last modification in this page was done on Oct 31st 2014.

Illinois Lawmakers Reject Firearm Liability Insurance Bill

The Illinois House has rejected a measure that would require $1 million in liability insurance for people carrying concealed weapons.

Lawmakers voted 34-74 against Rep. Kenneth Dunkin’s plan. It was among seven amendments on gun issues that legislators debated Tuesday as they consider a court-ordered law allowing conceal-and-carry.Read more..

(Ref: Insurance Journal, March 21, 2013)

Advantages of ‘Being Local’ ..

This is a very interesting article which offer some tactics to make use of "Being Local"....Please check this link below..

As an independent agent, you possess many advantages over the national P/C marketers that operate mainly online and over the phone. One strong point, among many, is that you operate out of a local office..More..

(Ref: Insurance Journal, Jan 28, 2013)

Liberty Mutual to Phase Out 8 Regional Insurance Brands

Liberty Mutual Insurance announced it is planning to retire its regional brands in 2013 to focus on the more recognizable Liberty Mutual brand.

“We’re retiring the brand names of our eight commercial lines regional companies that sell exclusively through independent agents so we can use the Liberty Mutual Insurance brand name in all markets,” Liberty Mutual Insurance spokesperson Chris Goetcheus told Insurance Journal. Read more..
(Ref: Insurance Journal, Jan 10, 2013)

Kobylowski Confirmed as N.J. Commissioner of Banking and Insurance

Kenneth Kobylowski, who has been serving as acting commissioner of New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance for the past one year, was recently confirmed by the State Senate to be the new commissioner. Kobylowski has been serving as the acting commissioner since February 2012 when then-commissioner Tom Considine left the post to become the chief operating officer of MagnaCare, a health plan management company. Read more..

(Ref: Insurance Journal, Jan 3, 2013)