Insurance News

Largest American medical insurance provider in state of Georgia - Blue Cross - has suffered from serious information leakage.
having studied the information about computer state experts of the analytical center of company Perimetrix have come to conclusion, that the firm is not able to arrange post dispatches and competently to test the software.
Blue Cross’s employees tried to send about 200 thousand letters to own clients; however, they have by mistake specified incorrect addresses on envelopes. According to Blue Cross representatives, the reason of a mistake relies in replacement certain «computer system», which new version has been tested not up to the end. In result of this mistake, addressees of letters have appeared under threat of theft of the person - in each envelope the weight of private data, including numbers of social insurance contained.
Except for outflow of financial data, now it is meaningful to speak about medical information outflow. In spite of the fact that these data have not been specified in letters directly, experts will manage to understand, what disease the present addressee of the letter suffered. Thus, Blue Cross has broken law requirements, demanding to protect the data making medical secret.

The elderly inhabitant of American state Wisconsin Bean Fenning has offered the unusual transaction to the potential buyers of the house: if he dies within 10 years after the conclusion of the contract on sale of the house, the buyer will receive $500 thousand under the contract on Fenning’s life insurance.
Cost of the house (the area is about 520 square meters) makes $498,9 thousand. According to local real estate agents given offer favorably distinguishes Fenning from other real estate sellers, demand on which in staff has sharply fallen because of the hypothec crisis, which has recently burst in the USA.
The buyer will receive nothing in case if Fenning will commit suicide or he will be killed.
The buyer can study Fenning’s medical card. The man proves, that his parents and sister have died, not having lived till 79 years old.

In the fourth quarter 2007 losses of American International Group (AIG) have reached the record sum of $5,29 billion because of the write-offs, connected with crisis in the hypothec market.
The world’s largest insurer did not face such losses for all 89-years history. Company AIG has not justified expectation of the analysts expected smaller losses - at the level of $0,15 per share.
For comparison, during the similar period of 2006 AIG has received net profit in the sum of $3,44 billion, or $1,31 per share.
The corrected losses for the fourth quarter have made $3,2 billion, or $1,25 per share. Thus in the fourth quarter, 2006, the company has taken the corrected net profit at the rate of $3,85 billion, or $1,47 per action.
The chapter of the company Martin Sullivan has declared, that despite of “obviously unsatisfactory results” and possible write-offs in the further, AIG does not think, that contents of its investment portfolio will strongly worsen in long-term prospect.