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The sweeping federal health care reform law enacted last year is having a major bottom line impact on insurance agents. New rules preventing insurers from including commissions in medical loss ratios means some agents are seeing their commissions fall by 50 percent or more, say Bob Rusbuldt and Charles Symington of the Independent Agents & Brokers of America. In Washington, lobbyists for agents are scrambling to reshape those rules, they say in this report from Insurance Journal’s East Editor Kenneth St. Onge.

The first thing on an independent insurance agency owner’s mind might not be public relations and communications, but Ann Basco says owners shouldn’t overlook its importance. As director of corporate communications for Top 100 Agency Heffernan Insurance Brokers, Basco oversees everything written or designed that clients view, whether it’s the company’s Web site, brochures, seminars, advertising, or another form of PR. Based on her experiences, Basco shares the basics to boosting an agency’s brand with Insurance Journal‘s West Editor Patricia-Anne Tom.

In this interview with Claims Journal’s Denise Johnson, Dori Sperko, “Workers’ Comp” executive producer, describes the creation of a new television sitcom and the show’s path to a produced TV pilot with a cast of veteran actors, including Morgan Fairchild, Robert Carradine and David Proval. Sperko is no ordinary executive producer; she lived and breathed workers’ compensation claims, as the co-owner of NELCO, an employee leasing company, for several years prior to the show’s development.

When disaster strikes, insurance becomes the lifeline to rebuilding a devastated community. But for some homeowners struck by recent tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Missouri, insurance will not be an option for help after they chose to drop coverage due to tight budgets. Here’s what a few readers on InsuranceJournal.com had to say about the article, “States Hit Hardest by Recent Tornadoes Among Least Insured”

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