1999: The Year in Review.Passage of the financial-services reform law sets the scene for an industry makeover in 2000. The deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. of financial services gives insurers the freedom to craft new alliances, but the legislation is a double-edged sword. It gives other financial-services providers entree into insurance. Signed into law late last year, the legislation may level the playing field, but the game will be played with a new set of rules. Financial-services reform was just one of several blockbuster stories of 1999 that will continue to play out this year. As Congress works on a compromise patients' rights The legal interests of persons who submit to medical treatment. For many years, common medical practice meant that physicians made decisions for their patients. This paternalistic view has gradually been supplanted by one promoting patient autonomy, whereby patients and bill and high-profile lawyers set their class-action sights on health maintenance organizations, the managed-care industry took dramatic steps to improve its fiendish image. A workers' comp reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. pool that unraveled, a swindle swindle v. to cheat through trick, device, false statements or other fraudulent methods with the intent to acquire money or property from another to which the swindler is not entitled. Swindling is a crime as one form of theft. (See: fraud, theft) that caused a small group of insurers to fail, and a liquidity crisis at a well-established life insurer made the list of top insurance stories, not only because of the impact on the industry last year, but because the ripples could lead to heightened regulatory oversight. Top 10 Insurance Events in 1999 * Financial Services Deregulated * Patients' Rights Legislation Moves Forward * After Tobacco, Class-Action Lawsuits Target Guns and HMOS (High-density MOS) A chip with a high density of NMOS transistors. * States Deregulate deregulate To reduce or eliminate control. One of the major forces in the financial markets in the 1970s and 1980s was the federal government's decision to deregulate interest rates. Commercial Insurance * Strategic Buying Spree * Unicover Workers' Comp Pool Fails * Bond Trader Swindles Insurers * Short-Term Obligations Fell General American * Canadian Demutualizations * Catastrophes: Earthquakes and Floods |
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