Insurance Companies

When Regis Philbin stepped away from Live With Regis and Kelly last year, it was widely assumed that his record of 17,000 hours of airtime amassed over a career was unassailable. Instead it's being pecked away at in innumerable 30-second increments by a perky lady in white overalls and a little walking, talking lizard. You're not imagining it - commercials for car insurance, many of them featuring the aforementioned Flo or the Gecko, have overrun TV. Why the tsunami?

CHICAGO - The nation's most influential pediatricians group says the health benefits of circumcision in newborn boys outweigh any risks and insurance companies should pay for it. In its latest policy statement on circumcision, a procedure that has been declining nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatrics moves closer to an endorsement but says the decision should be up to parents. "It's not a verdict from on high," said policy co-author Andrew Freedman. "There's not a one-size-fits-all answer.

Sidney Grossman, 91, who after a near-fatal accident while in his mid-20s was inspired to go into the insurance business, died June 29 in Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., of complications after a fall. Mr. Grossman had homes in Northeast Philadelphia, Medford Lakes, and Ocala, Fla. Mr. Grossman learned to work hard as a child and kept his work ethic throughout his life. From age 5, Mr. Grossman worked with his parents and five siblings in the family's deli at 40th Street and Girard Avenue.

Just as New Jersey motorists begin paying a new $66 surcharge on their cars, controversy has flared over whether insurance companies were allowed to charge too much money to issue policies through the state's auto-insurance fund. The state's Public Advocate's Office and a state assemblyman who has specialized in insurance matters say that companies were allowed to collect higher-than-necessary fees and that the money could have been used to offset the need for the $66 levy. "Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars would have been available," Deputy Public Advocate Donald W. Bunda wrote the Insurance Department earlier this month.

In the midst of his campaign for re-election, Gov. Casey yesterday embarked on a second campaign, this one to sell motorists on the state's new auto-insurance law and to prod insurance companies to help drivers save money. Casey announced in Pittsburgh that he was sending letters to the presidents of the state's 231 insurance companies, urging them to educate motorists who are confused about the new law and who are being bombarded with "misleading" information by opponents of the law. The governor's letter criticized trial lawyers for trying to discourage motorists from selecting a type of no-fault insurance that will save them the most money.

A group of Philadelphia lawmakers disclosed yesterday that they had formed their own auto-insurance company designed to lower the price of coverage for city residents. But one member of the group, Rep. Ralph Acosta, conceded that a similar company that he and other lawmakers promoted last year was later determined by the state Insurance Department to be a "fictitious insurer. " Acosta said he was serving as a board member with the new company, Futura Mutual Insurance Co., because "we've got to keep finding ways to help the people of the city.

Every Pennsylvanian has a stake in the insurance industry's bid for a 28 percent increase in premiums for workers' compensation - which covers job- related illness and injuries. Such a big increase, costing employers nearly $700 million more in the next year, would hurt the state's competitiveness. Yet workers, who never know when they might need this coverage for health care and lost income, must be sure that the system stays on a sound financial basis. Right now, these vital interests must be balanced by Insurance Commissioner Constance B. Foster in her rate decision.

A Havertown businessman, who needs larger quarters for his growing insurance company, has told the Haverford school board that he is interested in purchasing the vacant Llanerch School for offices. Walter Lenhard, owner of Continental Life Insurance Co. at 812 Darby Rd., told the board on Feb. 24 that the school, also on Darby Road, would be a fitting location for his company. The company sells insurance and performs computer work for other insurance companies. "It would be a very attractive building and an asset to the neighborhood," Lenhard said in an interview later.

A prominent Center City lawyer accused of building a fraudulent insurance empire on a network of shell companies was found guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court of fraud and racketeering charges. Allen W. Stewart, 58, a former partner with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, was convicted on all 135 counts of an indictment for mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and racketeering in a case that hinged on whether criminal activity on his part forced the financial failure of two insurance companies under his control.

The Pennsauken First Aid Squad has a new leader and is heading toward a new way of doing business. Mike Coyle, the squad's newly hired chief, and township officials held the first in a series of four public meetings last week to discuss plans to begin billing insurance companies for ambulance services. The next meeting is at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at St. Cecelia's Catholic School on Camden Avenue. The meetings are a result of an advisory committee's report on ways to improve service at the formerly all-volunteer squad, which was suffering under manpower shortages that left it unable to respond to 450 calls in 1994.

The drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said Monday that it would begin selling its erectile dysfunction drug Viagra online in hopes of thwarting counterfeit Web-only pharmacies, holding off legitimate competitors, and boosting profits. The pharmaceutical industry will watch this closely because it could change how drugs are bought, paid for, and delivered through the many layers of the current and complicated system. Pfizer will market the drug through viagra.com, but CVS Caremark will handle the online processing and shipping.

THERE'S A PRICE to pay as the fuel mileage of the cars we drive increases. Increases in miles per gallon mean less gasoline is consumed. That means less fuel-tax revenue for highways. Unless new revenue is found, the result is more potholes and more traffic jams. Many experts believe that we should eliminate the fuel tax and replace it with a user fee based on the number of miles we drive. That's easier said than done given the current political climate around taxes.

WHEN ED WHITE'S family would drive past Northeast Catholic High School for Boys on Torresdale Avenue, they could easily envision a halo around the building. The image came to mind because of the near-holy reverence Ed had for his alma mater. What was it about that school that Ed White held in such deference? A quiet man of few words, Ed might have had trouble putting his feelings into words, but his family attributed it to the gratitude he had for the education he received there, and his deep respect for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales who run it. Whatever it was, Ed continued to serve the school long after he graduated in 1955.

WEST, Texas - From money, food and clothing to new appliances and crews armed with chain saws, help is pouring into the tiny Texas town where a fertilizer plant exploded. As the donations come in, how long and how much it will take for West to come back aren't yet known. Residents have just started burying the 14 people who died in last week's blast and some don't yet know what happened to their homes. They're struggling to replace missing medications and documents. Others are just starting to work with insurance companies to figure out how much money they'll get for repairs.

WASHINGTON - A new study finds insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Obama's health-care overhaul. That could mean higher premiums for at least some Americans - those who are uninsured or who buy policies directly from an insurance company. But for those with an employer plan, like most workers and their families, odds are they won't have much to worry about. The administration is questioning the Society of Actuaries' study, saying that it doesn't give a full picture - and that costs will go down.

By Kathleen Sebelius This week marks the third anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For Pennsylvanians, that means a health-care system that is stronger than it was three years ago, and a future that looks even brighter. Pennsylvanians who have health insurance have benefited from market reforms and consumer protections under the law. Preventive services like mammograms and flu shots are newly accessible to 3.2 million people with private plans. More than 220,000 of the state's Medicare beneficiaries have saved an average of $753 on their medications.

TRENTON - It was a late-afternoon panel of disaster, insurance, and recovery experts speaking in a committee room far from the Shore, but the sobering message Tuesday was aimed squarely at the state's vulnerable edge: Your way of life may be as tenuous as your house was during Sandy. " Retreat is a bad word," said Judd Schechtman, a graduate fellow at the Rutgers University School of Planning and Public Policy. " Retreat has a very negative connotation, especially in New Jersey.

S TEPHEN GILL AND Zachary Robbins, both 26 and of Center City, cofounded Leadnomics in 2007 while classmates at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. The company, now based in the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station, generates leads for banks and insurance companies with online advertising campaigns. The fast-growing company employs 35. I spoke with Gill. Q: How's the business model work? A: We own a portal, a micro-content website for auto insurance. Cheapquotesdirect.com is one such site.

NEW DELHI - Factories were attacked, vehicles were burned, and a man was crushed to death by a bus in India on Wednesday at the start of a two-day trade union strike to protest price increases, low wages, unemployment, and the government's economic reform measures. The man killed by the bus was a trade union leader in the city of Ambala. Authorities said he squatted on the ground in the path of a bus in an attempt to keep the buses from moving, then was fatally injured. Across India, millions of workers from banks, factories, and the transportation industry did not report to their jobs because of the strike, which is likely to cause an economic loss of up to $4 billion over two days, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India says.

If you've even glanced at the fine print in a typical homeowners insurance policy, you might have seen reference to damage-causing events that would seem to be, well, out of this world. Events Friday in Russia prompt the now-real question: Does your policy cover meteor strikes? "Insurance companies love to cover things that are unlikely to happen," Bill Wilson, associate vice president of education and research with the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, said in an e-mail.