Life insurance: Safe bet? Insurers poised for safe landing
Dec. 17, 1990
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As savings-and-loan bailout costs mount and cracks in the banking industry widen, people across the USA are wondering: Are life insurance companies next?
The stakes are huge. You have an interest in the outcome if you have life insurance or a retirement plan. The life insurance industry, which has $1.3 trillion in assets, stands behind:
- An average $93,400 in life insurance per household.
- $150 billion of guaranteed income contracts, the most popular choice in employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans.
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Chipping away at insurers; Pension-fund managers run scared
July 29, 1991
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Troubled life insurers are facing a new and potentially lethal threat: Nervous pension-fund managers.
They may not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but for insurance companies already reeling from junk-bond and real-estate losses, they could be turning into terminators.
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Opening the books on insurance; High risks standard for some firms
Oct. 7, 1991
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George and Agnes Kirk wanted a modest inheritance for their children. So two years ago the Southfield, Mich., couple invested $30,000 in what they thought was safe: an insurance policy.
The Kirks entrusted their money to Fidelity Bankers, a Richmond, Va.-based life insurer. "We thought it was a good, solid company," says George Kirk, a retired banker.
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Tower of loan losses; Real-estate woes build for insurers
Oct. 7, 1991
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After bashing banks and savings and loans, a nationwide real-estate collapse is bearing down on the USA's life insurers. Already, one big insurer, New Jersey's Mutual Benefit, has been crushed. Giants such as Equitable Life, Travelers and Aetna are struggling with hundreds of millions of dollars in bad mortgages.
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Health plans shift strategy to trim costs
Apr. 27, 1992
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Combatants in the war against soaring health-care costs are counting more heavily every day on one weapon - managed care.
The past five years, employers have been changing en masse to managed care - the broad term for any health-benefits system that combines insurers, doctors and hospitals in a network and manages them with an eye toward cost-effectiveness.
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Insurers face steep claims from violence
May 5, 1992
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The Los Angeles riots could leave property insurers facing more than $1 billion in damage claims, industry experts say.
But some policyholders may be stuck with steep uninsured losses because of limits on coverage provided by a state-sponsored plan.
