Best's Review Examines Insurance Innovations, Recaps 2004 Influential Court Cases and Highlights the Year's Noteworthy Insurance News.

OLDWICK, N.J. -- In an industry hardly characterized by change, Best's Review examines seven insurance companies that break the mold and employ novel ideas to reshape and revitalize the way business is done.

In addition to spotlighting companies with creative concepts, the January issue of the magazine evaluates seven industry-altering judicial decisions of 2004 and presents the year's top 10 insurance news events.

Best's Review is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals, including home office executives, agents, brokers and others who are affiliated with the industry, including bankers, lawyers and educators.

Among the innovators described in the cover story, Progressive Insurance Group truly earns its name. Although the company claims many firsts, from being the first company to offer a drive-in claims office in 1937 to being the first to sell insurance directly over the Internet in 1997, Progressive is probably best known for breaking ground in the auto insurance industry as the first company to establish an in-depth, segmented risk analysis chart, while competitors offered far less comprehensive plans, grouping large numbers of risks into only a few pricing categories.

CNA Financial Corp. prioritizes inventive approaches as well. Credited with the original concept of long-term-care insurance, CNA can hardly be overlooked in a list of insurance innovators. Best's Review delves into the specifics of LTC and distinguishes between the original concept and the present-day form of such insurance.

Other innovators described in the article include Swiss Re, Kaiser Permanente, American International Group, RenaissanceRe and TIAA-CREF.

In the roundup of influential court cases, New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's fraud and antitrust charges against Marsh & McClennan Cos. not only changed commercial insurance practices, but also prompted similar investigations in other states and even Congressional and regulatory hearings.

Spitzer's case, however, was only the latest litigation in a year of unprecedented insurance court decisions. World Trade Center leaseholders and insurers debated whether the towers were one insured event or two; federal law overruled state law to declare individuals could not sue their HMOs for denied benefits; diminished value in repaired automobiles brought inconsistent reimbursements on a state-to-state basis; and so on.

Finally, this month's Best's Review assesses the year's major insurance news. Florida's horrific hurricane season wreaked havoc on property, but the property/casualty insurers remained relatively stable. The life insurance industry continued consolidating, as Manulife Financial Corp. merged with John Hancock Financial Services Inc. and Axa acquired MONY Group Inc. European reinsurers--especially Munich Re, Swiss Re and Hanover Re--improved profitability for the year by controlling underwriting and sacrificing premium volume for results.

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A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at http://www.ambest.com.