Insurance Companies

Thank you to Maryland's congressmen who voted for health care reform for having the guts to vote for the poor without thinking of your political future. Im very proud of you. Insurance companies will be held accountable -- they will no longer be able to hike up premiums, deny care when you need it most or deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Ibok Esema, Gwynn Oak

Richard F. Ober, a retired lawyer and insurance company executive who enjoyed sailing the Chesapeake Bay, died April 13 from vascular disease at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. He was 98. The son of a lawyer and a homemaker, Richard Francis Ober was born in Baltimore and raised on St. George's Road in Roland Park. After graduating from Gilman School in 1933, he earned a bachelor's degree in 1937 from Princeton University and his law degree in 1939 from Harvard Law School.

The Maryland General Assembly is presently considering a bill that would require health insurance companies in the state to provide coverage for therapy designed to address the challenges of autism. Half the nation's states have already passed similar legislation, in one form or another, and Maryland should too. At primary issue is a type of therapy known as applied behavior analysis, or ABA. This is the most thoroughly researched and peer-reviewed method for addressing the challenges faced by those with an autism spectrum disorder.

That's right, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., blame the subprime crisis on poor people ("Did we learn from subprime crisis?" April 21). Government over-extension of housing funds to marginal buyers is only one small part of why the crisis occurred. Instead, let's put the blame where it really lies. That would be in the repeal of Glass-Stegall which enabled banks and insurance companies to become gambling establishments, the fraudulent and illegal bundling of good loans with bad while rating these packages triple-A, the teaming of Wall Street and insurance companies which encouraged credit buying and subprime loans, the ignorance and collusion of ratings agencies, and finally the intentional laissez-faire "putting the foxes in charge of the hen house" attitude of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

New York--When the troubled Executive Life Insurance Co. toppled recently, you got your first look at what such a disaster means to policyholders. Their insurance-based savings have all been frozen. They cannot cash out their policies or borrow against them. Years may pass before they finally get full access to their money.For now, at least, the company will continue paying all life, health and annuity claims. Eventually, however, these policies will probably be restructured. Customers may get lower benefits or less cash than they'd counted on.What forced the hand of insurance regulators was the massive run on Executive Life policies by customers trying to get their money out. The question is whether this collapse will set off runs on some of the other low-rated insurance companies.

CHICAGO -- America's giant insurance companies are abandoning their cherished tradition of paternalism, cutting jobs a scale almost unthinkable a few years ago.The cutbacks come after insurers have failed to improve results through more tentative means like dropping poorly performing insurance lines and brokers who yield the companies no profits.Several major companies have begun cutting back.USF&G Corp. of Baltimore, with major losses in its real estate and "junk bond" portfolios, said this month that it would reduce its work force by 2,800 people, or 25 percent, in 1991.

In the six months that have passed since Margaret Fulcher received her most recent homeowners insurance policy, she has moved on from being shocked to simply incensed. The premium to fully insure her Baltimore rowhouse increased fourfold last year — to a sum she can ill afford and one that she thinks does not accurately represent the cost of replacing her home. "This is a case of homeowners insurance underwater," said Fulcher, comparing her premium to a mortgage that is worth more than the home to which it is attached.

Autistic children of federal workers in 22 states begin receiving insurance coverage this month for a key behavioral treatment, under a decision by the Office of Personnel Management. Maryland, home to the third-largest population of federal workers in the nation, is not one of them. "These families desperately need the best coverage for their kids," said Stuart Spielman, senior policy adviser and counsel for Autism Speaks. He said the advocacy group would petition the OPM to expand its coverage as quickly as possible.

Nearly three months after Alex and Janet Yeung lost their new Crofton home in a fire, they are trapped in a morass of competing insurance claims and paying $1,800 a month for a house they can't live in.Only a platform for the garage and the walls of the basement remain of the house that burned to the ground July 10."Right now, only the mailbox belong to us," said Alex Yeung from the couple's sushi bar and restaurant on Route 3.The Yeungs bought the fully decorated, $290,000 home on Chelmsford Drive June 30 and leased it back to Ryland Homes, the builder, for use as a model and sales office until they could sell their home in Glen Burnie.

The scars across 16-year-old Dominic Solesky's face are faint, but that doesn't stop people from asking where he got them. The Towson High School junior and his family have told the story many times. Six years ago, Dominic was mauled by a pit bull named Clifford in the alley behind his red brick rowhouse in East Towson, an attack that resulted in trauma surgery at John Hopkins Hospital and a year of rehabilitation. The family's case seeking restitution resulted in last year's Maryland Court of Appeals decision labeling pit bulls "inherently dangerous" and broadening the liability of landlords.

The scars across 16-year-old Dominic Solesky's face are faint, but that doesn't stop people from asking where he got them. The Towson High School junior and his family have told the story many times. Six years ago, Dominic was mauled by a pit bull named Clifford in the alley behind his red brick rowhouse in East Towson, an attack that resulted in trauma surgery at John Hopkins Hospital and a year of rehabilitation. The family's case seeking restitution resulted in last year's Maryland Court of Appeals decision labeling pit bulls "inherently dangerous" and broadening the liability of landlords.

This week marks the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. For Marylanders, that means a health care system that is stronger than it was three years ago, and a future that looks even brighter. Marylanders who have health insurance now have more security, thanks to new insurance market reforms and consumer protections put into place by the law. Preventive services like mammograms and flu shots are newly available for free to 1.5 million people with private insurance plans. About 48,950 Maryland Medicare beneficiaries with the highest prescription drug costs have saved an average of $768 on their medications.

A federal court in Virginia was asked Friday to determine the proper ownership of a miniature landscape painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and purchased for $7 in a box of odds and ends in a rural flea market. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria is essentially the first step in determining where the 1879 "Paysage Bords de Seine" will end up. Such a document is frequently filed by a third party — in this case, the U.S. government — that is holding property whose ownership is in dispute.

Charles L. Hayes, former secretary and senior vice president of Monumental Life Insurance Co., died Feb. 3 of cancer at the Brookshire Hospice in Hillsborough, N.C. The former Towson resident was 85. Charles Lawton Hayes was born and raised in Cherryville, N.C., where he graduated in 1944 from Lowell High School. After serving in the Navy during the waning days of World War II, Mr. Hayes enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1949.

In the six months that have passed since Margaret Fulcher received her most recent homeowners insurance policy, she has moved on from being shocked to simply incensed. The premium to fully insure her Baltimore rowhouse increased fourfold last year — to a sum she can ill afford and one that she thinks does not accurately represent the cost of replacing her home. "This is a case of homeowners insurance underwater," said Fulcher, comparing her premium to a mortgage that is worth more than the home to which it is attached.

Autistic children of federal workers in 22 states begin receiving insurance coverage this month for a key behavioral treatment, under a decision by the Office of Personnel Management. Maryland, home to the third-largest population of federal workers in the nation, is not one of them. "These families desperately need the best coverage for their kids," said Stuart Spielman, senior policy adviser and counsel for Autism Speaks. He said the advocacy group would petition the OPM to expand its coverage as quickly as possible.

A federal court in Virginia was asked Friday to determine the proper ownership of a miniature landscape painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and purchased for $7 in a box of odds and ends in a rural flea market. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria is essentially the first step in determining where the 1879 "Paysage Bords de Seine" will end up. Such a document is frequently filed by a third party — in this case, the U.S. government — that is holding property whose ownership is in dispute.

This week is a bad week to commit insurance fraud in Baltimore, at least at the Stouffer Harborplace Hotel.That's where 375 of America's most aggressive fraud-fighters will gather, at the annual Insurance Fraud Investigation and Management Conference.The problem, which costs the nation's property/casualty insurers -- and therefore their customers -- an estimated $18 billion a year, will be the focus of attention at the hotel today through Wednesday. In 1992, the latest year for which figures were available, about $2.5 billion in claims were paid to Maryland customers who filed for property loss or because of accidents.

The Consumer Federation of America says yes. The nonprofit estimates Sandy will lead to 200,000 flood insurance claims, exhausting the National Flood Insurance Program. The CFA says Congress will have to swiftly authorize additional money to meet those claims. Makes you wonder if a polarized Congress will be able to pass such an authorization, or whether stalling will occur by politicians seeking to score some points.  But I digress.  Anyway, the CFA offers tips on how to get a fair claim payment on homeowner's insurance:  -     Report the claim as quickly as possible, because with insurance companies, it's first come, first served.

Therese M. Goldsmith spent most of last week preparing to deal with Cyclone Sandy's second wave: Thousands of Maryland residents who filed insurance claims and began working with contractors and mechanics to repair damage to their homes and cars. As the commissioner of the Maryland Insurance Administration, she's charged with regulating Maryland's insurance industry and making certain that insurance companies comply with Maryland insurance law. The MIA also handles complaints from consumers and helps them work through problems with their providers.