1999: The Year in Review.Passage of the financial-services reform law sets the scene for an industry makeover in 2000. The deregulation 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 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 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 * States Deregulate 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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