Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, August 27

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South’s governors echo Florida insurance woes

They say insurers are forcing states to step in with property coverage.

BILOXI, Miss. – Governors of other coastal states are starting to sound a lot like Florida.  Near the second-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Southern governors met on Sunday at a renovated casino hotel in a city nearly devastated two years earlier.

 

State budget negotiations to begin this week

Legislative committees to talk before special session

TALLAHASSEE — The budget ax starts swinging this week when lawmakers return to Tallahassee for committee meetings that will set the stage for a Sept. 18 gloom-and-doom special session.

 

With no no-fault comes no need to prove insurance

TALLAHASSEE — In two months, the first words Florida motorists hear from a police officer pulling them over will no longer include: “Can I see your proof of insurance?”

 

Leaders discuss Florida’s goals

Sunday’s talks focused on water policy.

Leaders from around the state met in Largo Sunday to discuss long-term goals for Florida’s future. The Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida will meet again this morning to continue that conversation and identify priorities.

 

Floods Underscore Insurance Problems

WASHINGTON – Despite promising changes, Congress has shown little enthusiasm for taking the unpopular steps experts say are necessary to fix the nation’s main flood insurance program.

 

Medical Network To Start Helping Those Lacking Insurance Coverage

The Pasco Primary Care Access Network was formed to provide services to the uninsured and underinsured of Pasco County.

 

Future also grim as lawmakers begin budget cutting process

Economists warned lawmakers the state’s financial outlook will remain grim for the next three years as legislative committees Monday began working on budget cuts to offset a $1.1 billion shortfall in tax revenues for the current fiscal year.

 

Tampa Tribune, Part One:  A Bill Of Health That Doesn’t Add Up

TAMPA – Humana, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, says it has to pay about $90,000, including doctor bills, each time a member has a heart bypass operation at Brandon Regional Hospital.

 

Tampa Tribune, Part Two:  How We Selected And Reviewed Hospital Data For This Story

At the request of The Tampa Tribune, three insurers allowed a reporter access to hospital cost and quality information they post on password-protected Web sites for their members. The companies were Humana, UnitedHealthcare, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. One insurer declined our request.

 

As states play ‘Me First,’ primaries fall into chaos

CONCORD, N.H. — Don’t be fooled by the mild manner and balding pate: William Gardner just might be the most powerful person in American politics at the moment.

 

Allen solicitation trial date set

Rep. Bob Allen will go to trial on the solicitation of prostitution charge Sept. 19.   Judge Oscar Hotusing also said he would rule by the end of the week on Allen’s defense motion to suppress some of Allen’s statements to police when he was arrested.

 

Open government joins the 21st century

Toward the end of the first public hearings of Florida’s new Commission on Open Government, JoAnn Carrin neatly summed up what Gov. Charlie Crist’s big initiative is really all about.

 

Ohio sues Marsh & McLennan and other insurers

The state of Ohio is accusing a group of insurers including Marsh & McLennan and AIG of price fixing and anti-competitive behavior.

The state of Ohio has filed an anti-trust lawsuit accusing Marsh & McLennan Cos, the world’s largest insurer, AIG and three other insurers and their subsidiaries of price fixing and other anti-competitive behavior, Attorney General Marc Dann said Monday.

 

Small insurers to the rescue?

When some national carriers announced that they were withdrawing from the troubled Gulf Coast insurance market, a handful of ambitious specialty insurers saw the move as an engraved invitation.

One such company is Ironshore Insurance (ironshore.com), a startup formed in January specifically to serve the businesses that the majors had declined to insure. Specializing in “nonstandard” insurance lines, Ironshore offers policies for wind, flood, and earthquake damage as well as directors’ and officers’ liability.

 

New York Times Magazine:  In Nature’s Casino

It was Aug. 24, 2005, and New Orleans was still charming. Tropical Depression 12 was spinning from the Bahamas toward Florida, but the chances of an American city’s being destroyed by nature were remote, even for one below sea level.

 

Collateral damage

Katrina also laid waste to the market for homeowners insurance. Here’s what you can do about it.

Among the many obstacles homeowners in New Orleans face as they rebuild is the challenge of finding affordable homeowners insurance – by some estimates, premiums have doubled since the storm.

 
New Orleans: Where’s the money?

Billions have been spent to rebuild the city, but not enough is reaching the local economy. Residents wonder where the funds are being spent.

Ask New Orleanians how their city is faring these days, and their responses follow an eerily consistent arc. They begin with gratitude that you bothered asking and then move on to recitations of all the good that’s going on.