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Visit: http://www.InsurancePricedRight.com A.M. Best Special Report: Life/Annuity Companies Adjust to Volatile Markets OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Publicly traded life and annuity companies are feeling wide ranging impacts from volatile equity, fixed-income and housing markets, affecting not only financial statements but business strategies. Executive teams are rethinking investment allocations and evaluating impairments while retooling their product portfolios and operating plans. Most publicly traded life and annuity companies recognized net realized and unrealized losses in 2008 and through first quarter 2009. Net investment income generally has declined, reflecting weakness in institutional spread based business and decreasing short-term interest rates. The slide in equity markets through first quarter 2009 has cut sales, fee-based revenues and assets under management. Credit spreads have narrowed and assets under management have inched upward as markets hint at the possibili...

Do you ever wonder if you are making the right decisions about health Insurance ? Here are some things to consider: If you are a business owner, self-employed or an employee of a company that is not offering medical coverage though your employer, you may have to undertake the frustrating, daunting and time consuming task of purchasing health insurance on your own. If this is the case, there are certain things that you can do become an informed consumer so you can ensure that you are purchasing the type of health insurance coverage you really need at a price you can afford. When you purchase a health insurance plan, it is important that you balance four important variables : wants, needs, risk and cost , before you spend your money. Although you may "want" a health plan that offers you 100% coverage and a $5 Copay for prescription medications, you may not "need" this type of health plan if you are healthy, take no medications and do not have any significant heal...

A weekly compilation from Aetna of health care-related developments in Washington, D.C. and state legislatures across the country Week of June 8, 2009 President Obama once again jumped into the Congressional health care reform process last week when he met with key Senators on health care and then sent Senators Kennedy and Baucus a letter outlining his priorities for health care reform. In the letter, the President says he is open to an individual coverage requirement, as long as the poor are excluded from the mandate. His position is very similar to that adopted by Aetna several years ago. But if some were energized by the letter, others were disappointed. President Obama calls for any reform package to include a public health insurance option alongside private plans, an idea that many Republicans strongly oppose. Based on the response of some to the letter last week, the process this summer (see below) could become a contentious one. The President has asked the House and Senate to fi...

Barack Obama will soon send Hillary Clinton packing back to the Senate. Once she's gone, he needs to borrow one of the key tenets of her health care plan. She's right about health insurance: It needs to be mandatory. The Massachusetts Remedy That's not just a Democratic idea. Mitt Romney came to the same conclusion. As governor of Massachusetts, he implemented one of the most innovative state-level health care reforms. A key piece of that reform is mandatory health coverage. Obviously, many people can't afford health insurance -- that's the reason they don't have it in the first place. But Romney's plan in Massachusetts provided government subsidies to make insurance more affordable for low-income residents. Any sensible program at the federal level would do the same. That would leave no excuses: Everyone would have to have some kind of health insurance -- through an employer, through Medicaid or Medicare, or through some other approved plan. In the Massachu...

Jobless rate jumps to 7.6 percent, 598K jobs lost By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer 9 mins ago WASHINGTON - Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight. The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan , both of which are nearing completion. The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported. With cost-cutting employers in no mo...