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Subject: insur Tue, Mar 24 1992
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 92 05:43:45 EST
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03-24 0000
DECISIONLINE: Insurance
USA TODAY Update
March 24, 1992
Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network
    
COURT WANTS INPUT ON SUIT:
   The Supreme Court Monday sought the Bush administration's view 
of a huge antitrust lawsuit filed by 19 states and numerous local 
governments and businesses against four insurance giants and other 
insurance industry members. The justices asked administration 
lawyers for comment on whether the suit should proceed in a 
federal trial court.
(For more, see special Antitrust package below.)
    
LOUISIANA AUDITS ALL INSURERS:
   Louisiana's new insurance commissioner is making good on his 
promise to clean house. Rather than take on a few problem 
companies with shaky finances, Jim Brown ordered a special team of 
examiners to do solvency audits on each of the 285 insurers 
domiciled in Louisiana. A special team of 20 examiners will 
perform a "desk audit" of every insurer's financial report.
    
HEAD-INJURY CENTERS PROBED:
   Operators of head-injury treatment centers are being accused of 
preying on some of the most vulnerable of patients, while reaping 
millions of dollars in profits from insurance payments. Patients,  
state and federal investigators accuse the centers of 
systematically directing sophisticated marketing efforts and 
offers of near-impossible cures to emotionally devastated 
families.
    
PATIENTS OFTEN NEGLECTED:
   Critics contend that head-injury patients are often neglected 
after being admitted. Insurance companies are billed up to $30,000 
a month, and the patients are discharged once their coverage runs 
out. The complaints add to a House subcommittee report, issued 
last month, that was highly critical of the little-regulated but 
mushrooming head-injury treatment industry.
    
FLORIDA MDS TO FUND POOL:
   All Florida doctors will have to pay a $250 tax to fund a 
no-fault insurance pool for obstetricians. The Florida Supreme 
Court has upheld the 1988 tort reform measure designed to 
compensate families of infants injured neurologically at birth. 
The Florida Medical Association opposed the plan, saying 
non-obstetricians benefited no more than the general public.
    
DOW CORNING PROGRAM HALTED:
   A federal judge in Cincinnati Monday ordered Dow Corning Corp. 
to temporarily halt a national program that would pay women up to 
$1,200 to have their silicone gel breast implants removed. The 
program allows payment of up to $1,200 to defray the medical costs 
for women who need the implants removed for health reasons but 
cannot afford the procedure.
    
HARTFORD DECLARES DIVIDEND:
   The board of directors of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection 
and Insurance Co., meeting in Hartford, Conn., Tuesday declared a 
regular quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share, payable April 
30, 1992, to shareholders of record at the close of business April 
10, 1992. The board will also repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares of 
the company's common stock for employee benefit plans.
    
FRONTIER ANNOUNCES DIVIDEND:
   Frontier Insurance Group, Inc. last week declared a cash 
dividend of 15 cents per share payable on April 30, 1992, to all 
shareholders of record at the close of business on April 6, 1992. 
The company indicated that it is the intention of its board of 
directors to consider the declaration of cash dividends on a 
quarterly basis.
    
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ANTITRUST:
    
INSURER CONSPIRACY ALLEGED:
   The 1988 suit alleges that four insurance companies - Aetna 
Casualty and Surety, Allstate, Insurance Company of North America 
and Hartford Fire - conspired with reinsurance firms to shrink 
coverage offered in "commercial general liability" insurance to 
state and local governments and to businesses.
    
LAW PROHIBITS COERCION:
   The suit contends that the four primary insurers and the 
reinsurers they enlisted plotted to force unwilling competitors to 
stop insuring certain risks, such as all pollution coverage. The 
McCarran-Ferguson Act exempts the insurance industry from federal 
antitrust laws so long as their activities do not involve 
"boycott, coercion or intimidation."
    
BRITISH INSURERS INVOLVED:
   Among the "friends of the court" briefs submitted in support of 
the insurance industry appeals was one from the British 
government. Some of the reinsurance firms named as defendants are 
based in London. The British government's brief said U.S. courts 
should not exercise authority over antitrust claims concerning 
conduct that occurred in the United Kingdom.
    
NINETEEN STATES IN SUIT:
   The 19 states that led the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, 
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
(End of package.)
    
Insurance Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies 
of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution 
violates federal law.
    

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