Home » Insurance

Insurance

Articles

BEHIND THE NEWS: Judge in fraud case fines Brightpoint defendant $50,000

A federal judge in a high-profile fraud case has slapped a former Brightpoint Inc. manager with a $50,000 fine-a relatively modest sum, but one the manager says he lacks the resources to pay. Judge Harold Baer of U.S. District Court in Manhattan late last month assessed the fine against Tim Harcharik, the former director of risk management for the wireless phone wholesaler. Harcharik, 53, was the sole remaining defendant in a securities fraud lawsuit the SEC brought in 2003 against…

Read More

Happily ever after?: How to avoid the roadblocks to financial security

Happily e ver after? How to avoid the roadblocks to financial security In her new book, “The Feminine Mistake,” author Leslie Bennetts cautions women to seriously consider the financial consequences of exiting the workplace to be a stayat-home wife and mom. The former journalist and Vanity Fair writer says “few intelligent people would sink a lot of money into refurbishing a rental, but stay-athome wives think nothing of subordinating their own financial interests to those of their husbands, blithely assuming…

Read More

Insurers hope new law boosts their speed to market: But some entrepreneurs fear dereg could burn them

Small businesses should be able to purchase new kinds of property, casualty and Worker’s Compensation insurance quicker than in the past under a new state law that delays regulatory oversight of new products. But some business owners say the law puts them at risk of buying insurance that includes surprise clauses — since regulators won’t be checking them in advance. The law rolls back regulations that slowed insurance sales in Indiana by effectively requiring insurers to clear new products with…

Read More

PROFILE: Georgetown Chiropractic Clinic PC: Demand spurs chiropractor to grow clinic Massage, Pilates, yoga classes round out northwest-side practice

P RO F I L E Georgetown Chiropractic Clinic PC Demand spurs chiropractor to grow clinic Massage, Pilates, yoga classes round out northwest-side practice If life gives you a pain in the neck, chances are you’ve sought relief from a specialist at working out the kinks-like Georgetown Chiropractic Clinic PC. Chiropractic use has tripled in the last two decades, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. To accommodate some of that growth locally, Georgetown Chiropractic has doubled…

Read More

EYE ON THE PIE: Hoosiers are not getting full truth

Goodnews serves up economic and business reports about Indiana. Recently, I read his draft press release: “Indiana’s personal income rose to $211.1 billion in the first quarter of 2007. That is an increase of $8.2 billion, more than 4 percent in the past year.” “Is that it?” I asked. “Those are the latest facts from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,” he said. “Anything else would be putting a spin on the basic truth.” “Goodie,” I said, using his nickname,…

Read More

Home Helpers: Aging population fuels home care business Service offers household help for elderly, infirm

Service offers household help for elderly, infirm Julie Sullivan’s “a-ha” moment came when she was trying to coordinate home care for her elderly grandfather in Huntington while she was in Indianapolis. Even though, as a supervisor at Visteon, she had significant control over her schedule, Sullivan said she couldn’t visit as often as she needed. “I thought, ‘My word, what does the rest of the world do?'” she said. So Sullivan set out to help, starting a local franchise of…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Will state’s job growth always trail nation’s?

You usually have to swallow your pride when it comes time to forecast the growth of the Indiana economy. That’s because no matter what your heart says, your head tells you what the best forecast will be. That is the one that pulls up well short of growth in the rest of the country. There are a lot of talented people working hard around the state trying to change that. And if the full truth be told, most of our…

Read More

Long-term care a long-term problem for Conseco: Losses mount in spite of huge insurance market

Conseco sells that coverage, called long-term-care insurance. But right now, it wishes it didn’t. The Carmel-based company has been losing millions of dollars a month on long-term-care policies, as the costs of providing care have outstripped the premiums collected. Conseco also is facing lawsuits and an investigation by a congressional committee into whether it wrongly denied customers’ claims under its long-term-care policies. The troubles have kept Conseco’s stock price depressed, furthering speculation that the company might be acquired. “It’s certainly…

Read More

EYE ON THE PIE: Saving shouldn’t put you in jail

Here is a test for you. The state government sends you a check for $2.5 million. What do you do with the money? According to the Associated Press, Sabrina Walker received such a check from the state of Minnesota. She then “bought a $500,000 certificate of deposit, funded two retirement accounts, [and] bought a $500,000 Treasury bond.” Prosecutors claim she also bought $5,500 in jewelry, and spent $3,817 at Best Buy and $2,000 on limousine services. This prudent woman is…

Read More

New WellPoint plan makes wellness push: Program lets members join fitness clubs-for free

Want to join a gym but don’t feel like splurging for the membership? No problem, if your company is one of a handful to offer a new wellness product that lets employees exercise at no charge. Called InTune, the program from Indianapolis-based insurance giant WellPoint Inc. is loaded with an array of services not unlike existing wellness offerings. Online and in-person coaching, diet advisers and holistic practitioners are among the benefits, for instance. But it’s the free gym membership that…

Read More

Classic Niche: Local insurer riding wave of classic-car enthusiasm

In 1993, Dan Yogodnik started a business with a friend that leased out exotic cars for special occasions. The biggest hurdle the partners encountered was lining up insurance for the cars. That experience spurred Yogodnik, who had been working in the banking industry, to start his own insurance firm. “If we had our own insurance agency, then we wouldn’t have to chase all over the country [for the niche policies],” he said. What started out as a side business targeting…

Read More

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: How variable annuities can ruin a good vacation

As I’m sitting on a sunny Mexican beach during vacation enjoying yet another all-inclusive beverage, all I can think about is how much I hate variable annuities. I despise them. Whether you are north or south of the Rio Grande, you should understand that variable annu ities, or VAs as they’re called in the industry, are typically lousy investments for just about everyone. This vacation was almost ruined by my associate, who put in my stack of reading materials an…

Read More

Insurer stays on roll by hitting the brakes: Baldwin & Lyons profits more despite revenue drop

But that axiom doesn’t seem to apply to Baldwin & Lyons Inc. The quiet trucking-fleet insurer headquartered in Indianapolis happily let its revenue slide last year 7 percent, ending a four-year run of rapid growth. Why? Because new competitors have aggressively entered Baldwin’s traditional trucking market with lower prices. The industry’s margins have been slashed by half or more. Most businesses would call that trend a threat. But not Baldwin. President Joe DeVito disdainfully calls these new competitors “naive capital,”…

Read More

Law lets small employers band together for insurance: Experts disagree on whether associations will take off

The Healthy Indiana Plan, which enacts a system to bring affordable health insurance to low-income Hoosiers, is one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation to arise from the General Assembly this spring. The noble cause could provide coverage to about 15 percent of the state’s population. Yet it could affect the small-business community as much as the state’s growing number of uninsured. House Bill 1678, introduced by State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels May…

Read More

Contamination reconsidered: Developers show more acceptance toward environmental trouble spots When property is scarce, mitigation becomes viable

When property is scarce, mitigation becomes viable The plan to close Citizens Gas & Coke Utility’s coke manufacturing plant this year has already brought a few inquires about its reuse potential. But perhaps the biggest impact of the foundry fuel-maker’s demise will be stoking discussions over whether other environmentally scarred properties are ripe for redevelopment. Until recent years, many developers regarded any property with even a tinge of environmental contamination as if a parcel in Chernobyl. The coke plant “illustrates…

Read More

What’s ailing Indiana’s banks?: State-based bank stocks are trailing national peers as industry deals with tough period

Indiana bank stocks have taken a beating on Wall Street over the past year, lagging behind larger peers as the entire industry rides out an unfavorable environment. Shares of Indiana’s 16 publicly traded banks dropped an average of 3 percent from May 4, 2006, to May 4, 2007, according to research by Carmel-based banking consulting firm Renninger & Associates LLC. Meanwhile, the nationwide SNL Financial bank index was up 4.4 percent. During the same period, the Dow Jones industrial average…

Read More

Award-winning financial planner not ready for retirement: Cooke, sons gain notice for helping well-heeled clients

As veteran financial planner John Cooke rehashes the highlights of his venerable career, it’s evident that nothing can top the experience of working with his two sons. Close behind, though, are the accolades he’s picked up along the way, including several mentions in various publications as one of the nation’s top advisers. The latest recognition comes from Barron’s magazine, in which Cooke is the only money manager in Indianapolis to make its list of the nation’s top 100 brokers. His…

Read More

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: A word to the generally assembled

Like everyone else who’s interested in these sorts of things, I have my opinions about the recently completed 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly. Considering how long it took lawmakers to get on track, they accomplished some reasonably important business when it got down to the wire. Aside from the all-important balanced budget, tops on my list is the 44-cent increase in the cigarette tax. It should’ve been higher, but this will do for a start. For all you…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Employers hope to save by promoting healthy living

“Mandates are a form of love,” a state legislator once said, explaining a vote that added requirements to privately funded health insurance programs statewide. And our governments evidently love all of us-businesses, individuals, and even other governments-very much. Our legislatures tell us the lowest wage we can pay our workers, the questions we can and cannot ask during job interviews, and how many gallons of water we use to flush our toilets. To the admittedly narrow-minded thinking of an economist,…

Read More

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Gambling quenched lawmakers’ appetite for new revenue

The 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly is now history. Whatever else might have been involved in shaping its outcome, nothing was so determinative as the revelation in the closing days that property taxes-driven by the first application of trending, rising property values in general, the elimination of the inventory tax, and some old-fashioned political legerdemain on the part of some assessors in different regions of the state-were expected to rise an average of 24 percent for taxes payable…

Read More